It’s the evening of Sunday 30th of December as I write. All is quiet and the moon, spied once or twice through a parting of the clouds, still looks full. The sidewalks are empty and there is little movement on the streets. There is a hush in the air, expectant perhaps, as we move inexorably towards 2013. It’s always a bittersweet feeling for me as the old year closes and the new arrives – I can shut the book on my not so successful ventures and look forward to the potential of the new year and the promise of a fresh start.
PASTEL PAINTING VIDEO – Red Bra Tangle
I have uploaded my newest pastel painting video to YouTube. Please let me know what you think of it. All your feedback helps me create more useful videos.
Click here to see the video.
And here’s the finished pastel:

A BRIEF LOOK BACK AT 2012
This will be my last post of 2012. Looking back on the year, I’m pleased about a number of things, first and foremost, the creation of a website (thanks June!!). I also started blogging in earnest in July this year and feel I’m getting the hang of it and fallen into a rhythm, well sort of. I also am very pleased about the new direction my artwork is taking. I feel a new freedom to take chances and make mistakes – quite liberating! – and I know I will continue on this new path in the next year so watch for it! I have managed to create and upload videos of pastel painting to YouTube and look forward to finding new and creative ways to produce more (please let me know what you’d like to see). In May, I travelled to Sedona to take a workshop from Carol Marine, an artist I admire, and while there, made some new friends. I taught a couple of workshops to keen and willing students (you know who you are!). I participated in a few exhibitions in 2012 including another well-received solo show in La Manzanilla, Mexico. And of course there was that Honourable Mention in the IAPS 2012 online web show, the cherry on top. All in all, a good year in my art world. And a pretty wonderful year all round.
I am so appreciative of your following of my blog, for your support and encouragement, for your feedback. Your words warm my heart and help me progress forward. Much of my growing subscriber list is thanks to many of you who have shared my blog with friends and colleagues and I thank you so much for that.
A POEM
I couldn’t think of anything particularly wise and wonderful to say to you at the end of this year so instead, I offer you this poem by John O’Donohue (1956-2008). Cam came across it and gave me a printed copy back in January of this year thinking I would find the words moving, meaningful, and clarifying. And he was right. I read it and by the end, I am in tears as the words speak deeply to me. I hope you will find some sustenance in it too.
A Morning Offering
I bless the night that nourished my heart
To set the ghosts of longing free
Into the flow and figure of dream
That went to harvest from the dark
Bread for the hunger no one sees.
All that is eternal in me
Welcome the wonder of this day,
The field of brightness it creates
Offering time for each thing
To arise and illuminate.
I place on the altar of dawn:
The quiet loyalty of breath,
The tent of thought where I shelter,
Wave of desire I am shore to
And all beauty drawn to the eye.
May my mind come alive today
To the invisible geography
That invite me to new frontiers,
To break the dead shell of yesterdays,
To risk being disturbed and changed.
May I have the courage today
To live the life that I would love,
To postpone by dream no longer
But do at last what I came here for
And waste my heart on fear no more.
***
And with that, I bid you a most HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!
~ Gail
PS. If you would like to hear John O’Donohue recite his beautiful poem “Beannacht” (or Blessing), click here.
2 thoughts on “Pastel painting video (red bra) and a look back at 2012”
Outstanding work how do you fit it all into such a small space Best wishes for 2013.
Thanks Sandy. It’s always good to get feedback especially when it’s as positive as yours!!