SoCS: Brushstrokes

Today’s prompt is …brush.” Use it as a noun, a verb, or an idiom. Have fun!

“Brushstrokes” keeps coming to me. Oh there’s brushing my hair, brushing the dog, don’t brush too much under the rug, or you’ll trip over it…. I could brush up on my yoga and do more than just stretch and warrior poses…..

But brushstrokes keep coming back to me. I like painting whether it’s painting a wall, a painting, or a cabinet. Just one cabinet, not all of them. Did that years ago. I’d rather paint a painting.

Sometimes, I’ll plan something I’m going to paint in great detail and then it turns out differently. So, I’ve learned to go with the flow. Just start with a general idea and see what happens. It’s not easy for me to do that until I get in the zone. It’s good to have a clear idea of what you want, but even though God listens, God might have something even better in mind.

I wonder if God, our Creator, knew exactly what she or he or both, whoever, whatever – God – wanted to create in the beginning. Was there an outline? A blueprint? I don’t think so. I bet creating earth and fish, trees, animals, and human beings was more organic, like a great experiment, flowing from one adventure to the next.

Does God ever wish there had been a blueprint? Does God shake her head and think, maybe that free will business wasn’t such a good idea after all?

But here we are with our free will. Making messes that hopefully we can fix. I don’t know. I think I’d rather paint. Brush strokes, or dabbing like Bob Ross. He used brushes in different ways. I’ve been meaning to watch one of his videos just for fun. Maybe I can find one now! If I do this in a real SoCS way, I might pick one at random.

I have a plan to paint a bridge, so that’s the one I picked. I have not always been a big fan of Bob Ross, but my how relaxing it is to watch him. It’s an ASMR thing. Can I remember what that stands for? Autonomic Sensory Meridian Response. Soft, repetitive… I could get hooked…..

Watching Bob, I’m all relaxed now. Forgot what I was writing about. Seems like I remember reading Bob Ross was in the military before he became a sweet, painter. I bet he had another side, cause we ALL do.

Here’s the photo of the idea I have for a painting.

Wait. Where’s the bridge?

There’s’ the bridge in the distance.

Except I’m going to make it one of those stone bridges with an arch. But who knows….. Anything is possible.

Thanks for letting me ramble around getting ready to paint. It’s actually a little scary, because I have a BIG canvas for this one, and I’m not used to painting on a big canvas. I have to get psyched up for it. Bob will help. I’m going to start before the end of the year. I’ve already done a very simple sketch. One step at a time.

I have a lot of art on my Redbubble page if you’re interested. 🙂 If you go there, you’ll see my artist name which is also my married name. My author name is my maiden name. Shhhh. Don’t tell anyone.

…

For more brushes with the Stream of Consciousness, visit our host, Linda Hill at:

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Aug. 22/2020

Here are the rules:

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing (typos can be fixed), and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. I will post the prompt here on my blog every Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The,’” or will simply be a single word to get you started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read all of them! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later or go to the previous week by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!

Retirement Ball on the Horizon

Retirement is coming, and it’s gonna be a ball.

Not the kind of ball Cinderella went to, or the Marine Corps Ball my parents went to when I was a kid. Not a volleyball that I really enjoyed in college, but it might hurt my hands now, unless they have Nerf volleyball for seniors.

Wait a minute. I’m not really a senior. Am I? I don’t feel like a senior. Okay, I am 60, and I am tired more than I used to be… Oh, let’s not go there.

Let’s go back to the ball! For me, having a ball is going to be writing, painting (both art and walls of my little urban cottage) puttering around the yard as I sculpt mother nature just a tad, and naps! I love naps. That would have sounded boring to me 30 or 40 years ago, before I had kids, but ever since I had kids, I love naps – even though the kids are grown – maybe because I don’t get a lot of naps.

I also want to do some swimming. I miss swimming so much this time of year, before the water is warm enough, which now is in June. When I was 18, I went into the ocean in March. Yikes! But I still love to swim. Maybe I’ll join a club where I can swim year round.

So the ball of retirement is coming one step at a time. It will be process, but the ball is rolling! I’m taking vacation time, and in about two months, I’ll be cutting down to working one day a week at the agency where I do counseling. I want to keep doing my stress management group,  cause I always need reminders about that. But some day, I’ll be a full time artist and writer and putterer – puttering around my back yard.

I don’t have a crystal ball, but I do love snow globes, and I have a plan- a plan to have a ball as I slide down the water slide, a slow but not that slow water slide – faster than a lazy river anyway – into the lovely pool of retirement, which for me, will be full of creativity and service work without all the paperwork, and puttering, and naps – naps on the beach!

I think I need some practice!

 

Photo by JoAnne Silvia

 

I bet you can guess today’s Stream of Consciousness prompt. If you’d like to have a ball, visit Linda at :

http://lindaghill.com/2016/03/11/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-1216/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!

Giving Birth, Now and Then

Isn’t it great when you are finally about to do something you’ve been excited about, and they you’re nervous as hell? Well, I’m not as nervous about the art show as I was, I’ve got everything organized and the last little painting done. But I do hope I will relax and enjoy this weekend as an artist.

It reminds me of getting ready to have a baby. My paintings are a little like my babies. Not a lot, but a little. I created them. Okay, God helped. But I worked on them, and now, I’m going to sell them, or offer them for sale. They can spread love and joy and whatever if I sell them, or give them away, like the books I’m done with or the clothes I don’t wear. They’re not doing anyone any good in my closet. But I can’t help but have a little attachment to my paintings. Hey, I can make more though, unlike babies. I can’t make babies anymore. And that’s a good thing.

I remember the first few contractions as labor started, remember like it was yesterday and not 22 and 30 years ago. I remember how the contractions got worse and worse. No let’s just say stronger and stronger. I had decided to go all natural with my first baby – no meds at all. Ha! After several hours of labor, I was having some doubts about my plan. After about ten hours, I realized: I can’t do this. Not without some medication. The contractions were starting to feel like my hips were coming apart.

Now I know that technically, it would have been possible for me to have a baby without any pain medication. Women have done it that way for a very long time through history. That’s why after the first shot of stadol started to wear off, and I was told it was too late for another shot, I took a deep breath and started getting ready to push. That was with my first baby. With my second, I knew I’d probably get some drugs. My water broke before labor, and after walking for a couple hours to see if labor would start, I finally let them give me some Pitocin to induce labor. An hour or so later, the nurse came in and said my contractions weren’t very strong, so she turned up the pitocin. Then, a few minutes later, I knew they were plenty strong. When it was time to push, the doctor wasn’t there yet and they told me not to push. Ha! Tell that to my body.

I could go on and on about childbirth that happened 22 years ago. Now, I’m birthing my creativity. It didn’t exactly hurt to paint, except my neck and hands do ache just a tiny bit, but I have poured my soul into some paintings, just a little. Fortunately, my soul is also fed by creativity. And art can be therapeutic. I can finally make good on the promise I made to paint an angel helping the person I saw sitting on the curb outside the fast food restaurant a couple of years ago. I didn’t have time to stop and buy him a chicken biscuit, but I said a prayer asking angels to help him and made a plan to paint that some day. Here’s the sketch I did a year ago:

And here’s part of what came out a few days ago:

From  a yet to be titled painting by JoAnne Silvia

Well, you never know what’s going to come out of a stream of consciousness post. Today’s prompt was “contraction.” That’s when I thought of contractions during childbirth/labor. Then Linda clarified: “Make the first word of your post a contraction.” 

To join in the fun and adventure of Saturday SOC, visit:

http://lindaghill.com/2016/02/19/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-2016/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!