I share a poem I received today via email ... it's one of those show stopping... take a big-deep-breath-in ones that make you want to live your life a lot bigger.  I also found it so close to my heart resonating so clearly.  I believe the greatest thing I could do with this right now was to share it with you.

love Denise xo

YOUR LIFE IS YOUR CANVAS 
Your life is your canvas. 
You are your own greatest creation. 
Don't you remember 
how when you were little 
you knew in your bones you would be able to do anything? 
Anything that was really yours to do? 
This is our chance, right now. 
To move out of the place 
of victim and into the place 
of creating our life as if we could do anything with it. 
I know you feel trapped sometimes 
I know you don't see the way through
I know the mountain is so big 
that needs moving. 
But I also know this... 
Our life is our art. 
You are art. 
You are the one with the brush 
and the one with the colors. 
Your emotional landscape 
is the place to create your life from. 
This isn't about it being 
ALL GOOD 
and there being no mistakes. 
This is about continuing to 
create even when you feel like you are on fire or
 underwater with no way to catch a breath. 
This is about opening your 
heart to love one more time. 
About risking being hurt,
again. 
About moving the cage of 
the body off and dancing 
your hips back to life. 
About moving the grimace 
of your mouth away and kissing 
kissing the very air in front of you. 
This is about an inquiry 
into how to be in love with anything 
and anyone even when you feel 
so all alone. I know you feel so all alone 
some days. So do I. 
But there is one thing I know for sure, 
that you are with me and I am with you. 
The red thread of connection 
between is as strong as ever and if you 
close your eyes you will see 
I am your companion for the journey. 
Fellow seeker on the path of life 
looking to make art out of the past 
and make the future into our own 
greatest creation. 
I once thought, not so long ago 
that the best of my life was behind me. 
I now know that is a lie I told myself. 
It is my decision for the best of life 
to be in front of me. 
Will you choose with me? 
Right now will you CHOOSE? 
See my hand extended reaching for you. 
We can do this together. 
We can open to love again. 
Open to light again. 
You don't have to get rid of your 
fear first, or your pain. 
There is a divine spark 
at the end of God's finger 
lighting the pilot light of your 
heart right now.
 I see itI! I see it! 
Come with me... 
Come with me... 
Come with me... 
to the other side of the 
scars of the heart. 
Come with me 
and together we will 
paint our new legends 
over cups of steaming 
tea and use as much 
gold paint as we feel 
we need to make the world 
glow again. 
~ Shiloh Sophia 

The end of a year is another opportunity for pause and reflection.  I get a little nostalgic about these things... this has not been the easiest of years...but this applies to so many of us it's almost normal now?  Some of the challenging things have been some amazing artists have died leaving behind incredible paintings and memories and stories... some left untold, Margaret Olley, David Boyd, Michael Challen spring to mind ... 
Personal struggles with depression and other depleting conditions have played a part... 
Some of the good stuff needs remembering too : 
A visit to Melbourne, staying with an old school friend and her family... exhibiting some paintings at the Canterbury Art show.  Discovering the 'perfect blend' talks at Caloudra Regional Gallery... hearing from various artists and seeing their amazing works on display... and attending a mixed media workshop there.  Later in the year attending a couple of arty workshops with Kym Barrett and Lynne Marshall.  Hearing from a lady who lives in Singapore that a painting I donated a couple of years earlier has touched her heart.  
These are the part pertaining to my art life... there will be some things I've missed, but anyhow.... farewell 2011 ... I appreciate the lessons, I hope I don't have to relearn some of them!
Of course I hold hopes for a great 2012 and I wish you, dear reader a very warm and Happy New Year too.  
Each morning we have a fresh start.... I intend to enjoy my life as much as I possibly can .... and make Self Love a priority this year.
Much love,
Denise xo

A couple of days ago I had the absolute pleasure of hearing how a little girl of just 9 years old loves my paintings, because they make her feel happy.  Emalisse has some very serious health challenges in her life and she and her Mum have to be ever so courageous to get through all that goes with that.  I loved her painting so much I've put it on my kindness page for keeps... but I wanted to make a little blog post in her honour as well.her Aunt said to me "Not bad for a little autistic girl with good vision in only one eye. Thank you for filling her with joy through your beautiful work Denise"

how precious.

with love

Denise.

A surprise 'bubble mail' today....."Congratulations Denise! Your work is on the RedBubble homepage today yay!! One of our homepage curators picked your image because they thought it was brilliant. Less than 3 in a thousand works make it onto the homepage – so congratulations :)"

Yesterday I was so unproductive and flat... it's amazing what a lift and personal affirmation something like this can give. In these current changing times where things are often quite uncertain it seems to take larger amounts of self love and trust in the flow of love and life to move from complacency to shiny again.

I've got some new images to add to my red bubble page... they'll be available to order as cards and little prints asap.

with love
Denise xo

Here they are all finished and ready to be packaged and sent on their way . . .

If you live in Victoria and you'd like to attend the 
Amberley Art & Craft Show 
opening night is on Friday 18th November 7.30pm - 10pm
and the show is open Saturday 10 − 5pm and Sunday 10 − 4pm.  Go along and support some local and interstate artists.  We appreciate it always.

with love
Denise xo

I have this gorgeous print here in my studio... it's time she was hanging out in a snazzy office somewhere... 
I'll take orders.. but if you're quick you can enjoy this one immediately.

Stretched Canvas Print ready to hang, in studio now...
80 x 60cm vlaued at $475 stretched, 
Studio Special $375 save $100. 

See the 'add to cart' button on the Home page... or Studio Wall & Specials.

love Denise xo

They're going ok... still tweaks and things for some.... and 'pray' isn't finished yet... but here is a little look at the three that are almost done now.  

Also, I just received an email today from Red Bubble ...... and they are soon to make iPhone covers part of their range!!! Woo hoo, I've always wanted to have one of my paintings be available for this.  If you have any ideas about particular designs you would LOVE to see on your iPhone sometime... do let me know.

I hope you're having a great week.


love Denise xo

It's already a month!  Since I last blogged, I can't believe it, all that facebooking makes you feel like you're doing more. I don't know why I often find myself feeling guilty over using facebook... it actually keeps me in touch with some dear friends who are overseas, but I have to admit... it keeps me very busy doing not much as well!

Facebook also keeps me up to date with news... sadly today I learned of the death of a wonderful man, Steve Jobs, I own an iMac and iPhone and iPod... one of the cutest and most apt things I saw today was the word iSad.  I am grateful for the passion and dedication Steve gifted the world  in his lifetime, what an inspiration!  RIP Steve Jobs.

Right now, I'm working on 4 little canvas's... they were bound for Italy to be included in a very exciting group exhibition, but with things being as they are it became a little upstream for me to go that way, (I hope to sometime in the future though). I've taken inspiration from the very popular book/movie 'Eat, Pray, Love' .... it was an easy little thought ramble that brought that about once I started thinking about Italy, and food and fun... .. so I added in another making my subjects for the four; eat, pray, play, love.  I'll be submitting them into the Amberley Art Show in Melbourne next month.
They're not all complete ... but here is a sneak preview of them sketched up :

I love using one of my iphone apps to take quick pics of my paintings, the nifty effects they have give them all kinds of new looks. This is how the scooter one turned out.  I think I'll call it : "The wind in our hair"  (Inspiration = play)

I'll let you know when the others are finished.... I'm thinking they will make an excellent little card collection... so once they're photographed I can feature them on my red bubble page.  That way, you can order cards of your favourites.

Oh... that's another thing that happened this month, a substantial order via my redbubble account, and two paintings ('Skippity Hop' and 'Tea & Butterfly Cakes') sold from Tiffany Jones Fine Art Gallery... it's given me a lovely boost.  

bye for now,
Denise xo

I had the pleasure of receiving an email (the night before heading off on my little Bali Adventure) from a lovely lady who saw one of my paintings featured in a magazine article... on display in a store window.  She set about finding out more.  The story goes . . .

Back in 2008 I donated a painting to a Breast Cancer Research fund raising event in Mooloolaba, Qld, Australia... little did I know that an admirer of my work won the auction by phone from Singapore.  So my painting set off on its own journey across the sea to it's new home... then in March of this year that very home was featured in expatliving.sg/online-magazine I had no idea of this until I received an enquiry from the lovely lady who passed by the picture in a store in Singapore.  I emailed the magazine and they have generously provided the pdf of the article so I may feature it on my website.  What an amazing gift to me to see the circle of love that came around due to my giving of this painting.  
You can see the article here. 

Warm fuzzy wishes,
Denise xo

Hi there, 
With the help of random.org I drew the winners of my prints today.

"Spring" goes to Anita
"Champagne O'clock" goes to Xanthe.

Thanks for the lovely comments along with many of your entries I so enjoyed hearing from you, and how some of you follow me on facebook or my blog and I didn't even know til now.

I've just come back from a WONDERful 10 days in Bali... so once I've got a little photo or video finished about that I'll let you know.

love Denise x