Christchurch Earthquake and The Forest for The Trees!
I would like to take a moment here to say to all of our friends in New Zealand we are thinking about you and wish for you all the healing necessary to get through this horrible earthquake. A frequent contributor to this blog, Lesley McIver (please read her blog post about the earthquake) tells me her hometown of Christchurch is like a war zone and the stories are horrific. The world is with you, New Zealanders! It truly must feel as though you can’t see the forest for the trees.
As I was looking through some of my paintings and sketches the other day I noticed something. I have had a thing for finding my way through the forest or at least I seem to be making that analogy from time to time. First I noticed this one which reminds me of a bamboo forest and someone (a woman) is trying to find her way with that darn flashlight (torch).
Then I found this in my sketchbook which is also about finding my way through the forest…
It is interesting to go back and look at some of these things from time to time. I often just draw or just paint without thinking about it, but sometimes there are links. I suppose I am just trying to find my way at the moment. With all of this forest talk and door talk, I seem to be looking looking for something, waiting for something or just down right procrastinating. If truth be told so far this year it has felt as though there has been change in the air. I still have not been able to put my finger on it, but I feel as though maybe I haven’t been listening closely enough. So I am working on that, too. It is a slow process, but slow art is a good thing…slow living is a good thing.
It is all really quite exciting, really. I am eager to get going with some serious work and looking forward to the snap in the air autumn brings. I began a new project yesterday which I will be sharing with you as I get it settled in. I also will be bringing out some more color around here. It is about time…but I am not abandoning my sketchbook, either!
With that said, I leave you with this small gift of appreciation for bearing with me. It has been a challenge and I appreciate your loyalty.
Please feel free to print this and use it as a bookmark or whatever you wish. I hope you find simplicity and gratitude in your life each day.
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There are 10 Comments to "Christchurch Earthquake and The Forest for The Trees!"
I often wonder what we would do when total devastation visited our door. Lesley’s blog and pictures are thought provoking.
As to walking through the forest……your not alone girl. I think many people are doing the same. We are also strong and will come out with a vision that we will love.
I too am looking forward to the autumn weather……I am even looking forward to winter. Being able to hibernate in my studio will be soothing.
Also, thanks for the gift, …..it is a reminder of how we should be.
Hello Gwen, You pose an excellent question wondering what we would do in such complete devastation. I suppose we never really know how we would react. I have friends in NYC who stayed and rebuilt lives in the city after 911 and others who moved away. In NZ, I am sure the focus is just making sure the people stay healthy after this one as electrical, water and sewage services appear to be disrupted. I so feel for them.
I understand there are so many people who are walking through the forest right now. I am good. This has been a challenging 2 years for me, but things are settling down a little bit and I am searching for my muse again. The human spirit is amazingly strong and oh so resilient. I think this change of season is doing me good. We have had a couple of teaser days and just the refreshment from those is amazing. Like you, I am also looking forward to winter when I can hibernate in my studio (which is upstairs and can get pretty hot in the summer). That sounds really wonderful, doesn’t it?
You are so welcome. It seems I have been doing a lot of these contemplative graphics which cause words to just come out of me. I am just going with the flow here.
Thanks so much, Gwen! Have a Beautiful Day!
Hi Kim. I too have read Leslie’s posts about the earthquake. I am so glad her friends and relations are well. But I cant imagine what the city looks like now and how difficult life must be there. In fact today I was also thinking about all the folks in CA and Boulder who have lost their homes and lives in some cases. How devastating to loose ones home, the place of security and warmth. And all things within the home, the treasures from a lifetime. Of course most important is to be alive through it all. It takes a very long time to recover from such things. I complain about my life, but I am so far blessed to have a warm place to hang my hat for the moment. I take it for granted.
I am sorry you have felt lost in the forest, but I must say I think some of your previous posts have hinted that you are going through a stressful time. It sounds like things might be settling down now though and you anticipate soon getting to work again. Work is so healing.
I thank you too for your continued emphasis on slow living. So often I get angry with myself because I have not accomplished a goal i set for myself. I must try to remember that things are happening, I just can’t see them. Changes are in the making. I will slowly emerge into …..what?
Your image of being lost in the forest is so lovely and one I feel too. It is hard to see the sun in the midst of all the trees. Hard to see the horizon line over their tops and through their branches. But I guess putting one foot in front of the other eventually one moves along.
Thanks for the lovely sketch and reminder. I needed that! Take care dear Kim. Blessings, Suki
Dear Suki, it is a real blessing there was no loss of life in that violent earthquake and it was just a major life disruption. You are so right, we need to be very grateful for that! There are a lot of sad stories and the fires in the Bay area and in Boulder are two of the big ones. We sure do need to find the grace and the gratefulness for all of the good things…I often believe we don’t contemplate on that part of living enough (and maybe that is what gets us into a lot of trouble, too). On the other hand, if we don’t consider what isn’t, then we also have no reason to consider what is. Allowing yourself full contemplation is also a good thing, it is where you put the emphasis that matters, it seems to me.
This has been an emotionally tough year for me, however I am feeling as though I have found the stream to lead me out of the forest. Like you, there are so many good thing happening around me and so many things to be grateful for. For me, and maybe for you as well, the greatest challenges come when I have to step outside of my normal left brained contemplating and deal a lot with the right brained stuff.
I think I just need to learn to stop fighting it and try to get it all balanced…a life lesson I keep struggling with from time to time.
Slow Living is so important to me for just the reasons you describe. You are right things are happening and even if they were not, it is not always bad. Consider how important zazen is to many who practice zen and during that time the goal is for nothingness and that, in itself, brings amazing things to life. It is always a question what the next moment will bring, but focusing on the present is the real gift…the future will come no matter what, right? You are right, just put one foot in front of the other.
Suki, you have absolutely made my day! It is a great honor to hear that this little sketch I did was one you needed to experience! It is a great joy in my artist heart to touch another in some way. Blessings to you, as well, Darling Suki!
Hi dear Kim,
I have been distracted lately by my travels which included 24hours in Christchurch.
My poor hometown is just devastated – if you can imagine the threads of a spiderweb placed over a city, each one being a fracture of the earth running through everything that lies in its path – homes, roads, rivers, bridges…It is truly a mess. Although we could not get close enough to be absolutely sure, it seems that one of the homes that we lived in in Christchurch has gone. The solid earth turned to black slimy sludge in that area (called liquifaction), and everything on or around it has sunk into it.
I also love your sketch of the forest parting but menacing on the sides of the path – it holds a lot of symbolism for me too just now.
This seems to be a time of such change – is it just me, or have there been more enormous natural disasters in the world recently?
Slow living is the answer – I also need to make changes in the way I live – return to more conscious living, I think.
With love,
L x
Oh Lesley, I am so very sorry. I can’t even imagine what it was like for you going there and seeing all of those familiar places not there any longer. Ah, that sounds really hard to see one of the homes you knew so well as possibly not being there any more. You mean the earthquake caused this black slimy sludge or is that from all of the water and sewer problems? It has created like a sink hole? How awful! Truly awful!
I am glad the sketch is symbolic for you…believe me when I say there is a path to lead you and New Zealand out of the forest. It is so hard to imagine right now, but it is there.
No, it isn’t just you, there seem to truly be more natural disasters in the world lately. Some of them happen naturally, but I believe others are more frequent due to what we are doing to our precious earth.
Slow, Conscious Living! That is a mantra! I agree with you completely. There is truly nothing wrong with that and a lot of good can come of it when we allow it, model it and help spread the word.
Hang in there, okay?
Hello there,
I’m wondering if I could ask something of you. my blog is in dire need of a name change. I have wanted to change it to creating space for some time now. i googled that name to see what was out there and I stumbled upon your older blog. It looks as though it is not a live blog any more and was wondering if I could perhaps take this name. your blog was out there first, so out of courtesy i wanted to ask your permission to use the name for my own blog.
thank you
Hello and Welcome! I have responded to you on your blog.
Kim thank you for the nice reminder about silent simplicity and daily gratitude, and for the bookmark, your lines are very zenlike and go well with your words:)
I think that acknowledging that there is change in the air and that you can just let yourself being carried by this, that’s huge. You wait and see. Let things sizzle:)
New Project…exciting!!!
love
Andrea
Thanks Andrea! I am working on making this all happen again here. It is a challenge, as all artists know, to keep that focus and to be able to continue to make the connection with the muse. Oh how life has a way of twisting things. Zen is good, I am focusing in a zen way, so I am glad you can see this.
Yes, waiting and seeing…letting things be as they need to be. Life will continue to unfold in the way it is supposed to unfold to be sure.
Well, the new project is what I have written about today in the post above this one. For now, it is working, so we will see where it leads. I am having fun with it!
Thanks Andrea!