tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35542402485055273782024-03-13T12:13:59.955-07:00Pets, Petals & PoetryArt by Michelle SimpsonMichelle Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06682547392285826371noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3554240248505527378.post-74573079512005741782013-03-12T14:34:00.000-07:002013-03-12T14:34:53.428-07:00Imperfections<div style="text-align: left;">
Life isn't perfect. It doesn't always work according to plan. And it doesn't always provide the right environment to help you achieve your goals. That can be frustrating at times. An example is me trying to complete my pet portrait diploma. It should have been completed a long time ago. However, since I started it, I've moved house 9 times! I started my painting of 'Inca' in Canada. I'm completing it in the UK. Between then and now, I've lived in 3 different homes. During that time, my brushes were either packed or I couldn't find them, or I just didn't have the energy or conditions to get the acrylic paints out. 'Inca' remained hidden among my pieces of art. </div>
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One thing I have learned in all the change I have been through, is to not give up. After being in our current house in the UK for 4 months, with suitcases unpacked for long enough to feel relatively 'normal', and a place to put my developing artwork, I pulled 'Inca' out from her hiding place. Her half-completed eyes looked up at me as if to say, 'Please'.<br />
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She was given place on my easel and I set to work to complete her. After months of waiting, she is almost done. Like life, she is not perfect. I can find errors in my painting. But it doesn't matter because in the midst of life's challenges, she is an achievement. <br />
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When she looks at me now, she tells me the story of the past few months. She tells me that although things can be frustrating at times, that
although circumstances are not always the best, and although things
don't always happen exactly when we want them to, if we don't give up,
we can achieve something wonderful.<br />
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<br />Michelle Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06682547392285826371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3554240248505527378.post-14847090580485098312013-01-30T06:23:00.000-08:002013-01-30T06:23:25.247-08:00Rays of SunshineI haven't written on here for a long time because I got...well, I got discouraged. With moving so much, trying to find a new home, financial issues, moving into a new house and area, and due to lack of training feeling like a complete baby in the world of art, it has been easy to feel down.<br /><br />The earth (at least our part of it) has been blanketed with snow, and my creativity seems to have been buried underneath it, struggling like a new shoot to reach up through its heavy layers and find some sunshine. This morning however, with most of the snow gone at last, with green fields revealed once more, and golden rays of sunshine casting warm hope on the ground, I managed to find a smile. That smile grew into laughter on my walk with our dog, Ruby, who was extra playful as if to cheer me up, and as I watched birds soaring across the promise of a blue sky enjoying their flight, I even began to feel elated at the simple yet amazing beauty of creation.<br /><br />My prayer on my walk was that I might become more focused. I know I have gifts in many different areas, and even just in art itself, I can do a lot of different things. But I don't want to be a 'jack of all trades' and master of none, and recognised the need to ask my heavenly Father to help me focus in specific areas of creativity, design and media.<br /><br />On my return, I glanced at some of my artwork. It's not bad, I thought, but I have such a long way to go. And I need so much help knowing how to get there.<br /><br />As I did some of my online communications, one of them being to try and get my artwork onto Folksy, a UK art and craft site, some paintings caught my eye. As I looked at this lady's paintings, I realised they expressed so much of what I want to do, combining nature, beauty, expression, bright colours and imagination. I felt a spark on the inside. On a whim, I wrote to her, telling her how much her paintings inspired me to continue, how they helped me to see the kind of thing I want to produce myself, how they helped to give me focus, the very thing for which I prayed.<br /><br />We began to communicate and I discovered things about her which are similar to myself. Her blog is an inspiration and great help in seeing the processes she uses to achieve her paintings. She also loves words like I do and writes poetry. I have found a new friend, someone who understands, and someone whose work can encourage me to new levels.<br /><br />It is raining now. The promise of sunshine was brief. But rays of sunshine have fallen on my heart today and warmed it, casting a golden glow of hope and helping that small shoot to continue reaching higher.<br /><br />Michelle Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06682547392285826371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3554240248505527378.post-90190516201587416422012-07-10T08:21:00.002-07:002012-09-07T13:57:59.136-07:00Pets, Petals & Poetry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Since I last wrote, I've moved house more times than I dare sit and count! We've moved country too, and we are now back in our home country of the UK. Staying with my dad, our first weeks have been taken up with some serious sorting and tidying to help him be safer and function better in his home as he usually lives alone.<br />
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It's been a busy time, but art has not altogether taken a back seat. Before leaving Canada, I began a new interest in the First Nations/American Indians and produced a piece of artwork I called 'Native Trail' to reflect the beauty of their culture and creativity (see <a href="http://michellesimpsonart.blogspot.co.uk/p/on-easel.html">On the Easel</a>).<br />
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After all the efforts of sorting and packing suitcases and finishing on a rental house in Canada, and then two weeks in the UK of sifting through piles of paper, throwing out old, unwanted or unnecessary stuff, and scrubbing away, not just at dirt, but at some of the habits of a lifetime, my soul was crying out to express itself in some form of art again. It certainly wasn't inspired by the cleaning and rearranging of furniture. In fact, I have often found that when I move house or country, my creativity wanes for a time. Sometimes it has taken months to recover and get back on my artistic feet again. But this time, just two weeks in, I was really keen to get hold of a paintbrush, get my sleeves rolled up, and make something with my hands. So what inspired this speedy return to creativity after the exhaustion of moving my own home, and doing a complete overhaul on someone else's?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Profusions of colour in my dad's garden</td></tr>
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<br />Thankfully, while not being much of an indoors man (hence the disorganisation in the house), my dad is very much an outdoors man. Although his mobility was curtailed somewhat by an accident some months ago, he still manages to get outside in the garden and plant things. He is always planting things. If he can't plant them due to physical limitations, he has a gardener who comes once a week who will plant them for him. We arrived to a garden full to its fenced brim with pinks and yellows, oranges and blues, whites and purples. There are beds of California Poppies, Lillies, Dahlias, Peonies, and Fushias. Pots of pink and red Geraniums smile in the sun. A Foxglove has planted itself in the soil as though drawn to an irresistible dwelling place. Since being here, my daughter and I have planted Sunflowers, Clematis and Sweetpeas. Baskets of multi-coloured beauty hang from the shed and yellow Roses climb trellises on the house walls. Much of the colour is edible too. I have picked fresh, ripe strawberries each morning to have with my breakfast; raspberries have ripened against the far fence; blackcurrants and redcurrants hang in beckoning bunches; beans are sprouting tendrils and climbing their bamboo frame. As well as that, there is an apple tree growing three different types of apples, a pear tree with two types of pear, and a cherry tree. All of this fills this one small garden to abundance with joy and delight.<br />
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My dad may not be a tidy or trendy man, but he is a smart one when it comes to things outdoors. His old house had a lovely long garden which ended at a wide and flowing stream. My dad built a bridge over the stream which gave us access to acres of grassy fields filled with wild flowers. When he knew he would have to move from the larger house and garden which he could no longer manage, he bought a bungalow in the adjoining road. This garden backed on to the hedge of his old garden. He bought a right-of-way for his lifetime; a path along the edge of his old garden allowing him to still cross the bridge in to the fields.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'The Bridge at the bottom of the garden'. <br />
It has no hand rails now but still leads to<br />
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It was in these fields that we used to play and explore as children, getting lost in the tall grasses before they were cut for hay. We picnicked on the banks of the stream and swung on rope bridges over its flow. We fished and waded there, laughed and giggled, and held our breath as we walked over the water on old bridges just a few inches wide. We stroked horses over wire fences and watched the bright blue Kingfisher play near the water. Whatever the season, it was always beautiful, and part of its beauty was that it was always there. It is wonderful to still be able go there so many years later.<br />
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We brought our rough collie dog with us from Canada. It is delightful to open the wooden gate at the end of my dad's garden, walk the path down the side of our old garden, and cross the bridge into the fields. There is a sense of largeness and openness, a fresh smell of grass and flowers. Our dog, Ruby, notices it each time we excitedly go through the gates and cross the wooden bridge. She sniffs the air to catch the abundance and newness of smells and runs the paths through the fields as though there was no greater pleasure to be found. Her long sable and white hair blows in the wind and she is a picture of loveliness as she bounds towards me.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Late summer flowers bloom by the water's edge</td></tr>
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We walk there twice a day, morning and evening. Even in the short time we have been here, my senses have been reawakened to the gentle beauty of the English countryside. The tall grasses wave in the breeze, their greens and golds interrupted by dots and splashes of purple, yellow and white. Daisies, Dandelions, Buttercups, Thistle flowers and Cow Parsley look so lovely against the green that I am always filled with wonder at such a natural work of art. The fields are lined by magnificent oak trees, their majestic shape and colour silhouetted against the blue/grey sky which seems unable to make up its mind about which season it wants to be. I notice how the grass changes from a darker to a lighter gold as it stretches into the distance and meets the tree line. Deer dance and leap in a distant field, their performance secretly observed. Foxes meander through the grass and rabbits sit bolt upright and stone still to avoid observation. Birds sing from tree tops and flit from grass and tree, taking to the sky.<br />
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Is it any wonder that my artistic inspiration has returned to me so quickly when I can daily partake of this feast of nature, colour and light? It has inspired me to take up my paintbrush and to change this blog from just a 'pet portrait' blog to an 'art' blog which I have appropriately called 'Pets, Petals and Poetry'. From childhood, animals, nature, and expressing their beauty in words and pictures, and even in song, have been a pleasure for me and that is what I want to share with you.<br />
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He may not be the tidiest man in the world, but he has always brought the outdoors close to my eyes and heart. Well done, dad.<br />
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<br />Michelle Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06682547392285826371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3554240248505527378.post-42724409423989111372011-04-18T14:10:00.000-07:002012-08-06T07:49:55.274-07:00Sincerely Paws - Life Just Gets More Interesting!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times,";">You are most welcome to my blog and my pet portraits! I do hope you enjoy the various aspects of my life on this blog. I've led a very interesting life so far. I have lived in four different countries. We brought up our children for 7 years of their lives in China, learned to speak Mandarin, and have eaten authentic spicy beef noodles with chopsticks sitting on wooden stalls in noodle shops in remote Chinese cities. I've thrown water at people in Thailand's Water Splashing Festival, done animal-assisted therapy with disadvantaged children, and visited remote villages in North Thailand. I've lived in over 5 different homes in Canada in 7 months, walked the sea wall in Vancouver city, and now live at the foot of the mountains in British Columbia. What about the fourth country? Well, that was the UK where I grew up loving being outdoors in a garden with my father who grew masses of different vegetables, kept a menagerie of animals, and often quoted to me from Winnie the Pooh. Could my life be any more interesting?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times,";">Yes! I own dogs, and with them I find life just gets more interesting all the time! In fact, the more I am involved with animals, the more varied and exciting life seems to become! It was having my dog, Jasper, that first prompted me to try my hand at showing dogs for the first time - a completely new and confidence-building experience. It was owning him, with his patient and willing personality that urged me to learn more about dog training,. I found I was not just training him, but training myself and becoming a better person in the process. It was owning Jasper that inspired me to study animal-assisted therapy and train him as a registered therapy dog, becoming the only registered and active therapy dog team in Thailand at the time. We worked with orphaned children, helping them grow in trust confidence and self-esteem. I am sure that I grew in all those things too.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times,";">There is no doubt that when treated with the love and kindness they deserve, animals can change us and our lives for the better, forever. I hope on this blog, and in my portraits, you will see a reflection of that. Enjoy!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times,";">Sincerely Paws,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,";"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: x-large;"><i>Michelle</i></span> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>Michelle Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06682547392285826371noreply@blogger.com0