Last Summer I took a course on Abstract Painting at the Burren College of Art. 
Set in Ireland’s famous Burren you can’t help but absorb all its natural beauty.
While there I had a time of both personal and creative growth.
The campus contains centuries of architectural grandeur including a castle as its center axis and fields with rows and rows of stonewalls carefully stacked by generations prior. Each wall has its own little micro-garden growing on, in and over it. They were each and every one of them exploding with colors that would fill a rainbow.
While walking the lanes and narrow roads around the college I had times of great peace and contemplation which resulted in a harvesting of a wealth of creative research.
My abstract painting instructor, Rita Wobble challenged us to think of our world in a more simplified manner. I’m talking circles, rectangles, triangles and flat colors. I found it to be an interesting but yet a tall challenge to a realist painter. However, by the middle of the week I realized I was starting to get the hang of it.
One morning middle of the week I was eating my breakfast while watching birds on a wire only to find myself creating those simple lines and colors just as we had talked about several days earlier.
I found it to be both relaxing and peaceful to not need to include every detail and leave a bit to be interpreted later. I no longer had the demand of many little feathers to draw but a circle with two triangles coming off of it that now represented my small bird.
Could life really be this easy?
Part of simplifying life for me includes working on myself. One of my favorite places to collect my thoughts, create and write is Dzogchen Beara, a Buddhist meditation center in Ireland. I can’t think of any place more peaceful for reflection, contemplation and strengthening of my inner-soul. In order to make changes in my life I must be strong and at peace in myself. Where is your favorite place to recharge and collect yourself?
In order to give the best of yourself, you need to be the best of yourself!
Little reminders I like to have around the studio and my home are quotes. I find having a few simple wise words to be just that meaningful or funny message I need as I’m going through a tough time or just having a cup of coffee trying to decide how to proceed with my day.
Combining the ordinary (weeds) and the extraordinary (favorite quotes) is such a great juxtaposition! By combining the ordinary with the more refined I think allows you to realize that life isn’t perfect and that we can meet it where it is at and transform it into the simple life it was meant to be. This series of work is one I really enjoy working on so I’m continually adding to it. Do you have a favorite quote I should use? I’d LOVE to hear it! Leave it in the comments below.
During my creative adventures I rejoice in finding the ordinary, that which is passed by, and turning it into a work of art in an attempt to show people that there is beauty all around them. Some of my favorite “flowers” to paint are those “weeds”. They are wild, not planned and still they evoke a life lived to their fullest.
The world has so much to offer if we will open our hearts and minds to the love, beauty and kindness of who and what is around us.
Way too often we magnify the differences and conflicts of this world are brought out. I challenge you to look more closely for the similarities next time and what can inspire you to be a better person. Which can in turn inspire you to be the best, whether that is more simplified or not, person you can be.
Over the next week look for the beauty in this world so love and kindness can win!
Prints of the two inspirational designs with quotes above are available in my etsy shop MargaretDukeman.etsy.com
