Water Thoughts, we are what we think

While tidying up today  I came across a shoe box from last year when I gave a speech at Toastmasters entitled Water. In this box were three glass jars sealed with equal amounts of cooked rice inside each one, as I spoke about during the speech, this experiment was inspired by M. Emoto who set out to prove that Human Consciousness has an effect on the molecular structure of water.

you can read about him here....https://betterbelieveit.net/masaru-emotos-experiments-water/

Each jar I labelled in turn with the words……Love,  hate  & Ignore and spoke words to the first two jars in turn daily to reflect either love or hatred and the third one I ignored, taking them out of the box one at a time  to do so and returning each before removing the next one

I also put emotion behind what I said to each jar like.

I love you , you are wonderful etc……….or you are horrible, I really hate you etc for about 10 seconds only every day for a couple of weeks and left them then for a month or so in the closed box in a quiet corner at room temperature.

When I opened the box at the end of my speech the audience were amazed to see the the jars with Ignore and hate written on them were obviously full of green and black mouldy rice while the one with Love on it was still white with only a slight yellow staining on it which denoted a healthy baterial fermentation.

Now the whole point is that our bodies are made up of between 60% and 70% water and clearly this experiment shows that this water retains the emotional effect of what we say to ourselves.

The amazing thing is that a whole year after I did this experiment I discovered by opening the box I had put away in a corner of my studio and since forgotten about as the jars were sealed,  well you can see for yourself below

Extraordinary, right?  does this prove that even a small amount of positive self talk can have a benificial effect of oneself and indeed others, as well the obious neccessity to paying attention to our self talk in general…food for thought! excuse the pun!!

Sunday Morning Bliss

Horrah Its Sunday!  I love Sundays not only because its a quiet day on the street where I live, as in there is relatively no traffic but also because its the start of my weekend as I work satudays.

 

Today is a rainy Sunday which is extra special as we have had no rain for what seems like months now and those kind of wet days always seem quieter and of course the air is ionized due the water falling through the athmosphere. A great time to affirm positively just like in a shower.

 

 

 

 

Resting in July

July arrived last week and already this year its been a rollercoaster. The weather has been amazingly warm, dry & sunny since it seems like forever, A rare phenomenon in Count Leitrim. Five weeks ago I started a new Job which has been very physical. I do love it and am now consequently back to my normal weight after an over indulgent winter. Since I started at the beginning of June I have been too tired on my days off to be creative much, though I always have a series of works on the go and they have patiently waited in the studio for any attention they get, which daily may only be a few minutes or somedays nothing at all…But you know something no matter how little is progression when it is consistent, so slowly but surely they progress.

Today I was so wiped out after last weeks activities I had a whole day at home without going anywhere except down the road to the shops actually walking!   So came to spend some time in the studio and this is just a quick post to share where we are at with the current  paintings on the go.

 

These first 3 pieces were started last November and left to brew from january until now

 

 

Mixed Acrylic media on Board  24 x 24 in  July 2018

 

Pretty much finished I think, just awaitinga title if any….

 

Detail of the above

 

 

 

Acrylic media on board  24 x 24 in  July 2018  Unfinished..

 

 

 

Detail from the above

 

 

 

 

Acrylic media on board  24 x 24 in  July 2018    Unfinished.

 

 

 

 

Detail from the above

 

 

 

 

Acrylic on deep canvas     23 x 23 in    unfinished

 

This piece is ccurrently in the process of being reinvented as I was not happy where it was going, so the only thing to do is radically overpaint whole areas….and we will see where it brings me to.     When in doubt…play!

 

 

Acrlics on board  36 x 22 in    unfinished   but like it a lot

 

 

 

Acrylics on canvas   47 x 31 in   Unfinished but loving the journey

 

 

 

April Showers

April is here but practically gone already! tomorrow is the first day of May and officially summertime. Amazing how it crept up on us so quickly, though I am grateful its finally warm enough to both have a summer duvet on and actually wear a pair of shorts today!!

Summertime in county Leitrim of course does not mean endless sunshine, though thankfully we have had enough dry recently to be able to cut grass, however the rain is never far away and always brings with it some spectacular rainbows. This day there were two at the same time! and no it was no photo trick, the air was lighter and brighter under it.

 

 

However the great thing is no matter what the weather is doing…in the tunnel its always dry and even a small amount of sun makes it total summertime in there. everything is growing fast, the lettuces have more quadrupled within only a week and all the salad from earlier or last year is very quickly going to flower now.

The cucumbers and tomatoes are a bit behind but no doubt they will catch up as they usually do given enough heat which they certainly have at the moment. It was 26 C in there today.

 

 

The canaries are growing like crazy too and are barely covered by their mother now ,so wont be long before they are just too big to sit on.  Its only been 9 days since the first chick hatched and their wing feathers are starting to appear. Their eyes are starting to open also. I was concerned yesterday when I noticed a green lump in one of their necks, but after research discovered it to be their craw, where they store food before swallowing or digesting it and consequently noticed they all have one. It is amazing that they grow so quickly on a diet of parent saliva, Brocolli & lettuce, Canary grass, Millet and linseeds and a slice of apple or banana.   Their father is working constantly now, eating like a machine, daily he devours an entire brocolli floret, a slice of fruit and  perhaps his own size in seeds which he regurgitates to the chicks and their mother when she is on the nest. She is also eating and feeding now regularly but spends more and more time off the nest Washing and flying about in a very speedy and excited fashion twittering with delight at the few minutes freedom perhaps.

 

 

I really have to get on with building an aviary in the back garden as 5 canaries in  my living room is just too much……It looks like it might just work out perfectly too. I will need a very tall ladder though!!!!

 

 

 

So….Meanwhile in the Studio.   The paper mache sculpture is coming on…Slowly but surely..Patience training……..didn’t I say I was determined to get a smoother surface this time …well its coming on ….layers of pulp over the armiture and paper layers to establish a basic form.  Wait for a few days to dry…then filling in with plaster and pulp mix to smooth out and fill out where needed. Wait for it to dry… then painting to see whats going on, Paint drying exercises…. more filling in and sanding.  then more layers of paper to smooth out the surface with more painting to see where its at,   Drying again…more sanding and more layers of paper and we are getting somewhere…but still a while to go….Filling Sculpting drying painting drying sanding filling sculpting, filling drying sanding…Will I ever get to the actual painting! …..yes indeed….after much patience training…grasshopper!    Wax on  wax off!!!!   Thankfully because of the dehumidifier it now takes weeks instead of months  so alls good in my world.

 

 

Paper mache pulp over plaster over more paper mache, hopefully will be dry within 3 days!

 

 

 

 

So far very pleased indeed…………………..Later folks!

 

 

Spring is finally here!

Yes Spring is finally here in leitrim, well more correctly spring is actually nearly over as officially summer begins on May 1st.  but I suppose we are used to the unpredictable weather patterns here as we are so close to the Atlantic Ocean.

I always say we don’t have a climate here, we have weather and lots of it.   Often all in one day, hey ..In one morning we can often experience sun, rain, stormy winds and perhaps even some hail or snow depending on the time of year, though we can have snow or hail even in summer, I suppose that is global warming or perhaps its just Leitrim…..

Anyway I didnt want to waffle on about the weather im here to talk about my Artwork and what i have been up to in relation to that exploration. Though I could mention the new additions to my family, as in the pair of canaries which i adopted recently and have facilitated in their desire to nest.

Im not entirely sure yet if I may regret that decision as they are currently feeding 3 enthusiastic and somewhat ridiculous chicks ,which have the appearance of blind robtic dinosaurs with punkrock hairstyles.

Robotic i say as when the parents appear over them ,their scrawny red necks erect in swaying unison displaying their gaping mouths before wilting back to a constant slumber looking like a pile of red flesh topped by white down with the odd leg here and there.  So cute I say with  strange fasination as I await the progression these alien creatures. Will they indeed evolve to become the fluffy yellow feathered parents that look over them, apparently in only one month they will be fully feathered and ready to fly around my living space, depositing their small but constant poos everywhere.  I think I need to build a garden aviary immediately!   What have I gotten myself into…

 

 

 

 

 

So back to Art……As usual I spent the winter drawing and painting on my lap beside the fire as my studio is just too cold to sculpt in. Mind you now i have a dehumidifier next winter will be a different story.  I wonder why personal evolution is such a slow process and why its taken me so long to go buy a dehumidifier which makes drying out paper pulp so much easier. Instead of waiting for weeks now it only days a matter of days….Happy days!

 

 

The collection of paper mache pieces in progress, April 2018

 

 

 

As I mentioned in my 2017 page I spent the winter painting on small canvas boards and plain wood boards which I always enjoy as the small size especially the square ones encourage me to return to basics and concentrate more on composition than anything else, which is for me akin to meditation as in returning ones awareness back to a central point of focus.   In this way the winter passes very plesantly and a get a lot of work done.

 

 

 

Acrylic on 8 x12in canvas board  Dec 2017

 

 

 

 

 

Acrylic on 8 x 12in canvas board  Dec 2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Acrylics on 12 x12in canvas   January 2018

 

 

I do love the way that small canvasses or boards encourage me to both draw and paint in the one piece, which of course I also do with much bigger pieces, but the smaller pieces allow me to explore lots of different thoughts or ideas and the progression is far quicker. This is important for me as Im not the type of artist who works on the same theme over and over for long periods of time. I do need diversions regularly from landscape to figurative work and enevitably back to abstraction which allows my mind to delve into the strange and wonderful and come back to reality for a rest before heading out again.

The process seems to enable me to navigate between without losing myself in either space…like a kind of grounding before bouts of flying I suppose.

 

 

 

‘Sailing to the undying lands’  Acrylics on 12 x12in canvas  January 2018

 

 

 

Acrylic on 12 x12in canas  February 2018

 

 

 

I am known to be very prolific and so this year I am determined to get more video work done in order not only to record my toastmasters speeches and indeed share them, but also to put out some creative Art tutorials which will provide me some outlet for classes which I have been missing the past few years.   So we shall see what the next while brings, As for the weather its a lovely sunny day today and I need to go open the tunnell or my seedlings will fry with the heat!   So until next time,   Stay fabulous!