A Masterpiece A Day - Tuesday

I know, I know. The date is actually Wednesday. And my daily masterpiece didn't exactly yesterday happen on account of I wasn't here. Work. Furry fluffballs and sharp claws and the like. So, no time for masterpieces - let alone the mental capacity.

However, in keeping to my experimentation of a week's worth of artworks, I will include in today's (yesterday's) post a work I completed last week - and which may not, exactly, be classified as a 'Masterpiece' (by my own standards) it certainly is very artistic and well done.







Horse Friends Fridge Magnet

Completely hand-painted (by me) this lovely fridge magnet features a pair of friendly and gentle horses nuzzling.
Above horse is painted in a rich, red bay colouration, while the bottom horse features black colouring and a small, white stripe on the snip of its muzzle.

Painted using acryllics and a small paintbrush, these horses even have the small, white highlights included on the eyes to add expression and character.

In keeping with Monday's masterpiece tradition, this small-sized artwork is also available for sale.
Custom hand-paints of this style and design are always available, as well as model remaints/customs. (More information on those a bit later on.)

A Masterpiece A Day - Monday

This week I have decided to do something a little different. Well, I decided a few weeks ago, but my idea required me beginning it at the start of a week and it was the middle.

I have set, (or am setting) a personal challenge for myself, to simply improve my art skills and techniques by experimenting with different styles, methods and outcomes. This includes using mediums I am not overly comfotable with, just to strecth myself that little bit more - and do what I always do - the same methods I have used to teach myself how to draw.

It's funny, I actually find my art improves when I am doing something different as I have to pay a lot more attention. No room for mistakes. Repeditive stuff, well, I let it slip a little.
There's no room for that now.

Time for my self-taught masterpieces.

One other thing. I will have each individual masterpiece up for sale.


Monday.

Today's Monday. Eeeh, Mondays. Well, yeah, enough said. The day aside, Monday still has room for artwork.  You see, for me, art isn't a job. It's not work, and I never want it to be that way. That's why I'd suck as a professional designer or something. No, My art needs to be free. It needs to be inspired.

My art is also my stress relief. The more art I do... the less stressed. (In theory, unless you say the opposite, I need more art because I am more stressed...) anyhoo.

Monday's Masterpiece.

"Tigress and Son"

Isn't she such a beauty?
My favourite part of this adorable loving pair is actually the cub. Small, shy, and completely unaware of the big bad world, he is simply focused on loving mum back.
And she loves him.
Touch. Smell. Taste.
He is her child, her offspring. She would give her life for him.
Love.

Companionship.
Togetherness.

This cub will grow up, become a lone and fierce tiger.

But right now, all he knows is mum.

And safety.

And home.

. Charcoal drawing, done using natural organic charcoal, black.

. Drawn on A4 sized heavy duty sketch paper.

Photographs, and artwork (c) mine. Artwork currently available on Ebay.au.

Kaelen the Kelpie - Crazy, superbly intelligent and just straight out loopy.

 

 

"Hullooooooo Mum!"

Yep. That's exaclty the impression, not to mention the silent greeting I am getting while staring directly at that face. Just. sit. still!  
As if. Kaelen, sitting still, is like, well, trying to make a jellyfish stand up... if you get my meaning.
It's in his bones, his whole purpose is honed in on bounce.
Reminds me of Tigger from Winnie The Pooh.

In fact, I swear his thought patterns are somewhat similar.

"Are you waiting for a cuddle? 'Cause if you are I can cuddle you but I am like, very busy, and right now I have just got to go find my ball because it is my ball and I love it... and well I love you too but please don't make me choose.. anywya goodbye I have to go get my ball!"

60 seconds later....

"Hullooooooooo Mum! Here I am again and I'm saying hullo - can't you see my tail - it's wagging, I love you so much, and I am so clever, 'cause I can say all this with a ball in my mouth right now, and could you please throw my ball oh please?"

... "Sure, K, sure. Only that requires you dropping it... So, Kaelen, drop the ball!

"Ball? What ball? Where? Did you find my ball? I am so clever, I know where all my balls are, I can go and get you one... wait there I'll be right back!"

And..... believe it or not... another 60 seconds later... The dog returns. Only this time clearly asking me to follow... all the while carrying the first ball in the mouth.

"Look, Mum, look! Here it is, you said 'ball', I have found the ball for you, now can I just say I love you so much so let me cuddle and kiss you, you really are a wonderful mummy so could you please throw my ball? I will even look at it so you can see where it is - so you don't lose it or forget. Please oh please mum!"

Ughhhh. Dilly dog. So clever he's bordering on canine autism. I am positive there is such a thing. But somedays, he's also the opposite of clever. Witty and duh at the same time....

Pick up the ball....

"Yes! At last you understand me, so now will you throw it pleeeeeeeease?"

Drops ball in mouth...

"Oh Mum! LOOK! Now I have TWO balls! This is so exciting! Ohhhhhhh please throw my ball now, throw it please! And watch me run and catch it, I'm so fast and clever, and again and again.."

Throw the ball. Speed. Lightning, perhaps? The ball is about to be snatched up, before it even descends, and not from behind either. Somehow that Kelpie has, as always, raced faster than the ball, and in time to set an ambush in falling ball's path.

Snap.

Jaws, chomp, the prize has been returned to the Master.

Proudly returning to the scene, Kaelen brings his trophy home.

But, it just so happens his mum has an evil sense of humour, and likes to test out the intelligence of the canine. Oh, that and the fact that he won't relinquish his prize immediately.
So, 'mum' tries the tactic of a diversion - in the form of another tennis ball.

Fast, it's flying, whirling through the air. Speed. Flying faster.

Whizz.

The noise, movement and sight of the flying ball are enough to alert the advancing Kelpie to the outgoing object.

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!"

Run. Leap. It would be a snap, only for one thing. Jaws opened wide, ready to catch the prey.
But there's one small problem.
It's called a tennis ball.

The one in your mouth, stupid!

Apparently it doesn't matter.

Ball collides against ball, and both objects fall, down, away from the Master.
Dog, unsure which object to recapture, snaps up one as the other escapes, but before it has completed its roll, the second escapee is stopped suddenly - be the body of the Kelpie.

He may not have stuffed both ball sinside his mouth, but that dog sure knows how to get his prize back. Whatever it takes.

The Danger of Derailing Trains - and How to Prevent It

To write, or not to.

Writing requires thought.

Tought which, after a long, endless day at work, seems to become more and more mangled and disconnected.  At which point, speech itself becomes nothing more than jumbled sounds resembling, perhaps, some exotic variety of monkey...

Still, I have given you enough description to easily understand the current state of my mind.  Mush. Pulp. Oooh. Pulp.

Yeah, that sounds like my day.  Like my head. 
Millions of fragments of various thoughts racing (not walking) their way about my mind, each intent on its own train being first.

Trains of thought, that is.  Yes, I can see why they call them that. Each individual thought roams about with the subtlety of a train - make that one without controls or brakes. 
Yet just as suddenly as one great long freighter takes centre-stage, it is quickly de-railed by another, perhaps smaller, yet obviously as important, engine.
Just like those fast-pelt trains chugging along full speed in the old Western movies, these trains seem to never stop.  And they certainly don't like being driven.

I, for one, have always thought that it was pointless trying to lasso these wild beasts as they apparently don't stop or slow down for anyone.  Let 'em run loose.
Well, that's not always true. It's time - time to find the traindriver whithin yourself and master the madness in your mind. (Not madness, you say? Bah - you are human, as am I, the mind is madness.)

I used to think my thoughts were entirely my own. But I have recently learnt otherwise.
Tricky devil uses these 'trains of thought' to create as much catastrophe as possible!
Add to that the fact that, like in real life, if these trains are left to run loose they cause havoc and inevitably end up in destructive collisions. And that is exactly what the enemy wants - destruction.
He will cause your thoughts to de-rail, collide, blow up, run havoc and destroy you if you don't recognise that you can run your own trains!

My trains are crazy.  Sometimes they are colourful, bright, and fast.  Other times they are simply fast, dark and furious. Sometimes they are slow, pensive and lurking. And, sometimes, they are covered in graffitti.

But there's one thing that doesn't change.  They are MY trains.

 Like the professional manager of a real life train company, I should protect my trains from graffitti. I should control the speed, power outage and destination of my trains.
All this I should do, simply because my business will fail if I do not. Neglect leads to destruction.

Truth is, if our thoughts becomes toxic, pensive, powerful and dangerous, we will end up de-railing and eventually self-destruct.  Blow up. Destroy ourselves from whithin - not to mention possible passengers along with us.

My trains have long been given full reign of my mind. I have never really 'thought' of consequences. (This seems to have been a common trend in my life till now, pah)
Again, not giving thought to this has kept me in darkness about the mutiny aboard my trains.
Deceived. Kept in darkness.

But no more. There is a very simple way to say what I am saying in the above example.

'Think about what you are thinking about.'

It's that simple.  We choose what we think on. Sure, the enemy may put those thoughts there in the first place, but we always have that choice to think about them or not to.

There is one really simple thing we should all do, as christians,  - regularly.

   Romans 12:2 clearly states:

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

 

 Renew your mind. Think as God thinks. 

. Remember, only God can help you change your thoughts, to become holy and pure.

Philippians 4:8-9 states:

^{8 "}Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."

This verse is an excellent reference and guide to follow regarding what we shouldbe thinking.

- Again, only God can change what and how you think.
He is the only one who can prevent these trains derailing.

Keep in mind that unless you set these trains on a course, they will automatically derail.
It's a default setting - called SIN.
 

... Light. Makes a Change from Darkness....

 

Sun. Light. Warmth. How ironic that it is the complete opposite of death. Duh, you say. Of course it is.
But there is a greater purpose at work here. Did not God create these extreme opposites for a distinct reason? Perhaps as an example of something greater?

This reminds me of some of my recent thoughts regarding amusing story-lines of all children's stories, movies and tales.  There is always a good guy and a bad guy, always light and dark, always clearly defined. Even some stories that begin more 'grey' end up with black and white. Good and evil.

God must have drawn that line long ago.  And for good reason.  We cannot understand that fully, merely can we appreciate the parallel and what it represents.

Darkness must flee in the presence of light. Any light floods out dark in its circle, however big or small the amount of light.

A big flood light does just that - floods the streets so all can see.
Chases away darkness.

This parallel between light and darkness is a scriptural principle and is mentioned often in the Bible.

 - Genesis speaks of the distinction between the two. Of the separation of the bright, pure light, and the suffocating, often deadly darkness.

Throughout life both are referred to in this manner. Each represents its own.God is always represented as light. Light is represented as everything good, and lovely, and Holy, and pure, and as life itself.

So what is this greater hidden depth? This mystery we only understand the surface of?

Gastroparesis - my misdiagnosis, and those confused doctors...

It takes a lot of evidence to convince me of something. And when that evidence doesn't add up, that's when I start to question. Doctors don't like questions.

They like 'yes, sir, as you say sir' - 'you are the professional, sir, you know all, sir'. Well, I beg to differ. No, I am not out there bagging out all doctors for the sake of it. (Mind you...)

I am speaking from personal experience, however, as one who has been under 10+ doctors in 12 months (not to mention 2 specialists) and still gotten nowhere. In fact, the most help I had at all was when I left hospital and went away from seeing doctors entirely!

Did I mention that each doctor I see (aside from our GP, who unfortunately isn't a specialist) advises a series of this medication or that? Yes, being a medically trained person myself, I understand and appreciate the value of this myself. It has its place. But then things can become way overcomplicated - as I have learnt.

Especially when that involves the way our body digests food. Thing is, the simplest method of solving digestive disorders looks to me to be looking at what we put it. But, that seems to be completely foreign to most 'specialist' doctors - nutrition is irrelevant. And not in a good way either. Anyhoo.

As I said, I am a hard one to convince of something - and I'll say the only one who doesn't have to work hard to convince me is God. Ah yeah, well, it speaks for itself, really. So it's not surprising that the one with the actual illness and 24hr symptoms actually begins to question those experts who have very little life experience and only medical journals to back what they are diagnosing.

For starters, my Gastroparesis. Paralysis of the stomach, right? That condition is what it says. But, the more those facts didn't add up for me... the more questions I asked.

Like, why is my digestive system normal now that I eat a selective diet?!!! Why does food 'leave' my stomach within 2 hours instead of 'hanging around' for 6+ hours? Well, the facts speak for themselves.

I am pretty much convinced that I do not have Gastroparesis.

What I do have, however, is probably more difficult, in terms of what I cannot eat. Eosoniphylic Gastroenteritis. Yeah, simplest way to describe it is food allergy - severely. But hey - I don't have any kind of stomach emptying problems. Just doctor problems.

Woot.

I think honestly some doctors know they don't have all the answers and float around pretending they do. Or, tell you to go home regardless of if the symptoms are still prevalent. I think some doctors are just plain confused, and too afraid to admit it.
I've learnt doctors are just as human as the rest of us. They certainly are not the be-all-and-end-all for human life. They make mistakes too. Doctors have their place, most certainly - but I must, however, remember that I have the master Physician on my case. The best specialist.

We all should remember that. It seems most, if not all of my real diagnostic breakthroughs have been directly from God.  Fancy that.

Kaelen the Kelpie ... Photoshoot

Time for something a little different. Something stress-releiving and joyful. And adorable.
Kaelen update time.

ah yes, my Kelpie boy is busy working his tail off chasing after so many tennis balls, not to mention sheep, and his training (sheep, not tennis balls) is improving daily. His blue eyes are always twinkling mischeviously and his tail is always up or wagging madly. Nevermind the many rouguish things this pup (now 8 months old) has been up to lately....

It's time for some Kelpie Kaelen cuteness. 

Ah some of these photos just need captions...

And there are the more interesting, more professional ones I actually want to keep for reasons other than
adorable cuteness... these are experimentals using shutter speed, etc. I own a Canon DSLR 500D.

  

 

 

 

The infamous ball gets a starring..

 And of course, Kaelen's big sister Ditzy gets to be star in this photoshoot as well.... with her attitude and all.

 ...It's a good thing you're cute, miss Ditzy...

- Sibs, kids... happy snaps. Amazing just how many shots it actually takes to get a decent one, even with really fast shutter speed. Oh - did I mention this Kelpie never stops bouncing?!

And that's all for now. For anyone who is interested, I used a few different settings on my camera, and some are a little blurry as they were taken on dark just after our routine sheep training session. Kaelen hadm surprisingly, a lot of energy left which needed using up... hence the ball. Actually, he's addicted to it. He has a minimum of 5 tennis balls floating about at the moment.
* Starring: Kaelen the blue & tan Kelpie, Ditzy the Blue Heeler x JRT, and Bouncey... the well loved tennis ball.

*All photography copyright me, no stealing!