What a Day!

See this oil painting of a jellyfish come alive in about 1 minute (time lapse)

I’m so exhausted, I feel like this jellyfish painting- surreal and floating. Guess what? Day one of the sale (I mentioned this yesterday) already exceeded my first level goal and we are very close to the secondary goal! I sold my gardening carts, potting table, etc. and nearly all of the big furniture and other items that we don’t want to pay to move (avoiding the physical toll and the cost of the space on the pod). I’ll be loading the pods mostly on my own while my husband is at work and I don’t want too many heavy things that I can’t handle on my own, plus the cost of how many pods we need for the household. So, anyway- I’m THRILLED at this outcome!

Also, they bought so many of my plants! I made fast friends with strangers who wanted to talk about gardening. I answered questions from newbie gardeners and it was really fun to share my passion and what I know about how to successfully grow plants and enjoy them. I still have a lot of plants left, but I’m pleased with how many were sold.

Of course there were some highly stressful moments and people whose behavior or rude attitudes really got under my skin, but for the most part, people were delightful! Even so, I will be much relieved and euphorically giddy when this is over. Then I can focus on packing the things we have kept.

Tomorrow’s sale day (day 2 of the community wide sale) isn’t likely to last beyond noon. We don’t have much left compared to what we started with. There are only three items remaining that we’d like to make sure we sell rather than discard or donate. The rest are things we can let go of without raising funds from them if we have to. I hope we can make our secondary goal and I think we will- if so, I should have the two pods paid for.

That will ease the burden! It will feel as if the move is “free”. It will have only cost our time, labor, and emotional sacrifice to let go. When realizing that the cost is those three things, wouldn’t it be easier to just lose the money by moving it all or donating things without much thought? Easier isn’t better.

We must be good stewards of our possessions: evaluating them, using/caring for/storing/disposing/gifting/selling/moving them responsibly, and knowing when it is time to let go of them. When we are trusted with little, we are trusted with much. And when we are good stewards with things, we can be good stewards of people. So, I take this responsibility very seriously and I give it my all. Then, when the hard part of moving is over, I celebrate!

Whatever life path you’re on at this moment, may you be encouraged that what you do matters. Even when no one sees the extra work and care you put into every task, it matters. You matter. God bless you and keep you, this day and always.


Hidden Danger

Watch this jellyfish oil painting come to life in just over a minute (time lapse)

When we wade or swim in the ocean we risk contact with jellyfish, as we can’t see them until it’s possibly too late. Every time I’ve seen jellyfish wash up on shore, I feel a trickle of anxiety, thinking that one day my luck will run out and I’ll touch a live one. This hidden danger of a painful or even an allergic reaction from a jellyfish sting is a risk, but is it a risk that should keep me from ever enjoying the beach?

No.

There are times in our lives when we must choose living freely despite the risk of hidden dangers, or hide from danger by not living. What do you choose? God bless you and keep you, this day and always.


Things we See

Watch this jellyfish oil painting come to life in just over 1 minute (time lapse)

You might remember when I shared this one in April? I painted this using ordinary oil paint on a black matte canvas. These are not special neon paints, even though they seem to glow. They are not paints of vibrant hues, they only appear that way because of how the wet blue and white oils look on the black matte. As we know that jellyfish have bioluminescence, and appear as if they are doing an electric light show, our brains are more susceptible to the illusion that these paints are glowing.

But these are the same kind of low budget paints I always use, on a cheap budget pack of black canvases. Illusions are very effective. Sometimes the world’s global powers pull off convincing illusions in the form of psychological warfare against the human race for their own gain, agenda, and ideology. When we can see beyond the illusion, we can make good decisions for ourselves and our families.

Who cares about our health and safety? What does history of deception, patterns of past behavior, conflicts of interest, alliances, ideological or cult views, propaganda, profit motive, and other observable factors tell us? When we see that the canvas isn’t glowing, but is just a flat matte with ordinary paint on it, we no longer see what the artist expects us to see. Maybe then we see what’s real.

New Painting – Something Cool!

Watch me paint this jellyfish in 1 minute (time lapse)

Make sure your sound is on for full eerie effect. The ocean is a surreal place, isn’t it? This art is part of the 2021 collection “50 Oil Paintings Inspired by Nature“. I’ll start the next one today. Another one toward my lifetime goal of 1k finished oil paintings!

See more art using traditional oil paints on black canvas.