Christmas Orange

Christmas Orange
Originally uploaded by Marit Cooper.

I do like my oranges :-) I make these clove stuffed oranges (my mother calls them Pommanders) every Christmas and hang them on the mantlepiece by red satin ribbons. I particularly enjoy cutting patterns into the peel. If I'm lucky they dry out completely and I can keep them for years, they look quite decorative in a bowl with potpourri.

I started on this painting before my eye operation and only added the final touches to it today. I'm finding detailed work a bit of a struggle still, but it's what I enjoy doing, and I think the result is worth it.

It's a Miracle - I can see!

I'm currently home on sick leave recovering from a cataract operation. On a scale from 1-10 it ranks pretty much on a strong 7 on my Shittometer scale. Being poked in the eye with sharp objects is probably my least favourite thing in the whole world.

On a more positive note I have discovered where the zoom button is on Firefox which makes reading text on screen a whole lot easier than doing it in hardcover.

However...

My mother sent me a sweet little Swedish book by the artist Ernst Billgren called 'What is Art and 100 other incredibly important questions'. I don't think it has been translated into English which seems a pity really as it is very funny and profoundly true. Here's a taster:

Question No 23.
How do I become successful?

Short answer:
Make someone happy.

Long answer:
You become successful to the extent that someone profits from what you do, have their ideals, conceptions confirmed, ideologically, economically, aesthetically or in some other way. This applies if you mean successful in the eyes of others. If you mean successful in your own eyes megalomania will suffice.

Oh dear, there goes my alarm again - time for another dose of eye drops :-(

Mindfulness with Jon Kabat-Zinn

Please don't miss this opportunity to partake of this meditation workshop, it is well worth your time.

Gotan Project

Hearts!

Find more photos like this on The 100 Day Reality Challenge

I keep seeing hearts everywhere, at least one a day, and I have been doing this for quite some time. Maybe it's the old thing that once you start noticing something you spot it more easily, or perhaps it's the law of attraction. But maybe, just maybe, the Universe is trying to tell me something - telling me to be more loving - for certainly when I am, things run much more smoothly :-)

SeaDragon

Acrylic on 60 x 60 cm box canvas

A gift for a pregnant friends nursery. It's the first painting I've finished in a long time. Can't say I'm that pleased with it, but then again, I can't really hope to improve unless I practise a lot and am prepared to fail, again, and agin, and again... I'll get it right some day, I know it.

Create!