Sharika Roland

I am doing this very big mural like painting. Usually for paintings on a grand scale you work out the whole design first then just copy it. Even though this breaks every rule in the mural world, I am doing it one inch at a time. I am just being with it and letting it speak to me. I do not have a finished image i n mind.

I did another painting like this. Three French Hens. I consider it one of my finest paintings. I spent three weeks working on it day and night and what emerged was beautiful I think. Three French Hens started out as a woman standing beside a dresser. Eight million layers of paint later it turned into what you see in the post pic.

I have heard this technique called chaos painting. I call it looking for what the painting wants. When you do that you have to be in the zone where awareness of time is gone. You are just with it.  When you are in the zone you are in total right brain and it is hard to go to the left side very quickly. I cannot talk when I am in the zone. You pray for being in the zone when you are a painter. It is where you meet heaven’s time and you can fly.

Everyone seeks approval all the time. Everyone wants to be loved and so seeks approval from others. Artists are even more vulnerable to this. First we have this thing in us, this bent that compels us to do what we do. The way we do our art is not a personal choice. I am pretty sure it is chosen for us from the beginning of time. We do art that feeds our soul first.

Because not everybody likes all your work does not mean it is bad art.  Resonation is such a personal thing. There are natural laws that make something look right in our minds and when you disturb those laws it does give you an uneasy feeling. Depending on what is inside of you you will gravitate to the natural law or you will go toward the opposite. People can relate to you or they do not.

Art makes the unseen world visible. So if some art seems really too weird to be called art, just remember there is a  person behind it baring his soul. An artist is just doing what he must do. It is not a choice.

Everything in your swirls around all day and night and makes you into what you will be right now. All the past is floating around in your memory, all the nooks and crannies of your decisions lie waiting for you to process. It is much more effective to use this instead of it using you.

I wear big flashy bracelets for a reason. they remind me of the time I have spent and the time I have left. I do not have time left not to wear big flashy bracelets. Everything I want to do better be in the works right now. I do not have the luxury of being nervous or cautious. NO after 50 you better give your best performance. But if I was young I would start immediately to start my dreams.  Nobody ever told me that when I was young. Nobody told me anything about life.

If I had children I would teach them to not be afraid of being who they are and going after it. If I had a class of kids I would tell them everything I learned and cheer them on. You cannot discount the power of getting cheered on.

bracelet photo by this person

We are like movie projectors. What is in us is projected. Whether we like it or not. You might think nobody can see what your are feeling inside  but you cannot hide it. The image we have of ourselves comes through loud and clear.

I knew a gal that was  not physically very attractive , she was kind of mousy looking. But she projected extreme self confidence and beauty. even though she did not have a lot of natural beauty you totally thought she was beautiful.

Her insides were coming through loud and clear. She not only projected self  value but she was intimidating.

A person that knows where they are going and doing is intimidating.

And they are a gift.

we don’t own our lives. We should go forth and be ourselves as though we are extremely valuable, because we are. How can everyone else get to use our value if we shut it away in self loathing.

A friend of mine says “she is rocking that dress”  You can rock your life if you are aware of this . WE BELIEVE WHAT YOU PROJECT ON YOUR SCREEN

If you have a big decision to make you weigh the pros and cons look at strengths and weakness and then you have to throw in the unknown factor. The unknown factor is the part is you don’t see coming. Like the housing crisis. When you bought an investment house in 2005 , you felt like you were making a responsible, sure fire, good to go investment. You did not see the housing crash coming. Or did you?? Some things are too easy. easy money is one of them, it always has a price. That was the biggest indicator of risk. How easy is it “AT FIRST”.

Investing now is even scarier. Because you saw what happened. On the other hand, people are people and they still have needs and they still want to enjoy life.

Which brings me to my biggest point. It is only a risk if what you have is not high quality. Quality and Value do not go out of style. or demand. People want those two things always. Houses still sell in 5 minutes if you have a pristine good value house. People know a value when they see it and that is what they want. Give them that and you will reduce your risk factor. Even in the great depression some things always did well.