Showing posts with label Birds of Paradise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Birds of Paradise. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Birds of Paradise II Daily Painting #15





This Painting is SOLD.

Daily Painting #15

November 7, 2007

“Bird of Paradise II” acrylic on unframed, 8”x8” canvas.

I’m in a flower mood. I decided to paint another view of the Bird of Paradise Flower. By the way, I forgot to mention in the previous painting the source of my subject matter. I used a photograph as inspiration from a book titled, ‘Flowers and Plants of Hawai’I’ by Paul Wood, Photography by Ron Dahlquist. I bought the book in Hawaii and always love looking through it. Well, I used another photograph from the book as inspiration again. If you like flower books as coffee table books, then this is a good one. I bought it in the airport on Maui, but I’m sure Amazon.com has it too.

Since I spent 3 days with 500 people and Wayne Dyer on Maui last week, the Tao has been on my mind… A LOT. The movie, ‘The Secret’ came up in discussion and apparently Wayne Dyer was approached to be in the film. He declined because he thought there was too much focus on the ego and not enough focus on sharing and giving back to others. He then talked about the following four important virtues of the Tao (the true Secret… what a paradox that is!):

1. Natural Sincerity: Find your truth in nature and be willing to live by it. If you do this you’ll see it everywhere. Live honestly, with simplicity, and as natural as possible.

2. Gentleness: Be kind to the kind, and kind to the unkind. Instead of saying, ‘What’s in it for me?’ start asking, ‘How may I serve?’ When you are inspired, spirit takes you in the direction you want your life to go towards. (‘When you are inspired, dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive and you find yourself to be greater, by far, then you ever dreamed yourself to be.’ –Patanjali)

3. Reverence for all Life: Love all creatures. Stop using force in your life, only use power. Using Force will weaken you, while power will strengthen you. If this is something new to you I HIGHLY recommend you read the book, ‘Power Vs. Force’ by David Hawkins. After reading this it will make you think twice about the thoughts you think to yourself or toward others. You are only a part of the problem or the solution and this all stems from your thoughts.

4. Supportiveness: Live a life in service to others. Try your best to stand in the center of your being and forget you are even there. What is your inner calling? Everyone has a gift to share with the world. How will you support others by following your inner calling?

There is a great quote by Albert Einstein that I immediately thought of after hearing Wayne talk about these 4 virtues, ‘I want to think like God thinks… the rest is just details’. What a great quote, huh?

Well that’s all for today. That is until the next painting….

Peace & blessings,
Gayle Etcheverry

eBay auction at:
http://stores.ebay.com/Gayles-Paintings

Gayle’s Art web page:
http://www.GaylesPaintings.com

and of course….
http://www.GodBlessHumanity.com

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Birds of Paradise #14




This Painting is SOLD.

Daily Painting #14

November 6, 2007

‘Bird of Paradise’ acrylic painting on unframed, 9”x12” canvas.

Well I am back on the mainland. We returned from Maui late Sunday evening. The trip to Maui was incredible and very difficult to return to Los Angeles after spending 10 days in paradise.

One thing that I looked forward to the most (besides seeing our dog, Lucy) was to return to my loft to paint. Hawaii is such an inspiring place and it is filled with artists. Every evening after dinner, Blaine and I would walk down Front Street in Lahaina and look through all the art galleries. Needless to say, my head is spinning with new ideas for future paintings.

I thought the perfect first Daily Painting after Maui would be of a Birds of Paradise plant. Hawaii has so many beautiful plants, flowers and birds… and this is a little blend of them all (in my mind). Every time I see one of these plants I think of Lucy when she was a puppy. My friend Merrill and I used to be roommates and we lived in a house in Mission Hills. We had a Birds of Paradise bush in the backyard and she’d take the flowers and shred them and shake her head like she killed a real bird. Maybe it was her future training for catching pigeons on our rooftop patio (we have a MAJOR pigeon problem in Sherman Oaks). Anyway, that thought makes me laugh and reminds me just how crazy our dog used to be.

The holidays are quickly approaching which I just cannot believe. I read somewhere that there’s about 8 weeks until the new year. Now that is NUTS! No way it is already that time of year. Oh well… what can you do? Nothing. Just let it ride and let go.

So I am happy to wrap this up by saying I AM BACK AND READY TO PAINT.

This painting is up at my ebay store at:
http://stores.ebay.com/Gayles-Paintings

and of course at my web page:
http://www.gaylespaintings.com

And don’t forget to visit my new web page:
http://www.GodBlessHumanity.com

peace & blessings,
Gayle Etcheverry