Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Live the Life Bob Ross Would Want to Paint

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-ORhEE9VVg
Click the pic for "Blank Space" by the wonderful T Swift.
The world is a blank slate and we've all got pencils.

Some let theirs get dull. Some keep theirs sharp. But there's more to this life than dark sketches and negative space. There's more out there than merely variations of eraser skids and gray.

There's colour. There's texture. There's shadow, depth - and everything has a reflection. Our recollection of what beauty looks like can be transposed onto the canvas of our futures. 


What do we value? What hues look best to you? Is it limelight, moonlight or natural light? Is it infrared, incandescent or sunshine?

Paint a picture. Create an album. See the world that you want to see. It's beautiful out there. Don't let the hazy daze and blank phase get in the way of your crazy ways. Each stroke of your imagination, set to color, is a breath of fresh air.

And I want to breathe it in.

I long to live in it. Basque in the glory of the faded, but still vibrant saturation that you bring to the coloring table. We get to be children again, but we don't have to paint between the lines. We can still dance, but now we know how to keep time. And align ourselves with the masses or break off and do our own thing. Place your hand in mine and let the music begin.

We've changed pace. From artistic space to an even more creativity-harboring place. I hope you can relate. I hope you don't act your age. I pray and beg and plead that you still hold onto that youthful embrace.

Because what do we lose as the years pass us by? Not wonder, nor life, but only time. With a focus on the future and an eye on tomorrow, we forget how to live and forget how to grow. There's money in our pockets and jewelry on our fingers, but what lingers is the longing for an existence when we were merely beginners.

I know that we're happy. I know we're complacent. I know we both complain, but our lives are halfway decent. But they can be better. They can be so much more. With an inkling toward adventure we can continue to explore.

The world is ours. We've been told that since we were kids. Each brush stroke we have made has brought us to this very portrait in which we live. But what can make it better? What happy accidents can be made? What mistakes can we partake in that help us grow along the way?

Follow your hand and see where your pencil takes you. Does it lead you to the paper or toward something new? Don't be afraid to lift the lead up, don't fear falling in Love. You have the basic foundations and features drawn, now it's time to paint an endless skyline above.

I can be a constellation in your horizon. And you can be my mesmerizing, ever-consistent sunrise. Either way we end up painting the portrait of our lives, all will look just right.

There's no wrong way to do this, no pattern to follow or fail. And when my painting is done, it will be labeled "not for sale."

Because when you put your all into something, every last effort is left behind. And as my vision starts to go, I'll always remember the time. The hours wasted away, working with variations and adding something new. But most of all, I'll never forget the time I spent painting this masterpiece with you.