Love What You Are Painting

Variation No. 1 © 2010 by S'zanne Reynolds
10x10" pastel



Ring 'Round the Rosy © 2010 by S'zanne Reynolds
12x12" pastel

Two of my pastels, Variation No. 1 and Ring 'Round the Rosy, have been accepted into the Austin Pastel Society's Annual Juried Member Exhibition. Juror, Liz Haywood-Sullivan, PSA.

Showing March 7- April 30, 2011
Reception and Awards Ceremony: Sunday, March 27 from 3 - 5:00 p.m.
At the Corridor of Art - 700 Lavaca, Austin, TX 78701

Give your love to whatever you are doing, and your own special art will come to life. ~ Ralph Marston

To see the rest of Ralph's article on "Your Inner Artist' click here to visit Greatday.com.

Reality Check

Looking Out from the Rabbit Hole

This time of year we all tend to get a bit introspective. We examine our achievements and judge whether or not we are reaching our goals, becoming successful or in need of an over-hall, at the gym, in our relationships, at work or on the mountain top. I found this article on choosing priorities a helpful reminder...and a good reality check into my own!

"Success in life depends upon persistent effort, upon the improvement of moments more than upon any other thing. A great amount of time is consumed in talking nothing, doing nothing, and indecision as to what one should do. If one would be successful in the future, let him make the most of the present." --Mary Baker Eddy

"Choose Your Priorities" by Ralph Marston

Your priorities are not determined by what you say they are. Your most genuine priorities are expressed by what you actually do with your life and your time.

Look around you, and you'll see very clearly what your priorities have been up to this point. Those priorities have brought you to where you are right now.

If something is truly a priority for you, you absolutely are able to find a way to reach it. If it's not a priority, it's probably not going to happen for you.

You can set your priorities and you can change them at any time to be whatever you choose. But merely wishing for something does not make it a priority.

The priorities that are really priorities are the ones that dictate where you focus your awareness. The priorities that truly matter are the ones in which you invest your interest, your attention and, most importantly, your action.

You can follow whatever priorities you choose, and in every moment you are constantly choosing. Remember, as you go through each day, to choose those priorities that will bring the special joy and fulfillment that is yours to live.

Copyright ©2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All rights reserved for greatday.com

Being Now

First Kiss by S'zanne Reynolds

I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life - and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do. --Georgia O'Keeffee

Always do what you are afraid to do. --Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Just Do" by Ralph Marston

There is no need to try. Just do.

Feel what you feel without judgment or regret. Those feelings connect you with the power of your authentic purpose.

Use your head wisely to follow your heart faithfully. There's much that you can think, and yet even more that you can know.

Let the experience of each moment come, and then let it go. Rest assured that the goodness will stay with you always, because you love it so.

Be now in spirit where you would most like to be. Imagine waves of pure joy as they carry you along.

Somewhere within you, all is well, no matter when, no matter what. Feel the peace of knowing the beauty of who you truly are.

Copyright ©2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All rights reserved for greatday.com

Just Keep Swimming

I love the character Dory in the movie "Finding Nemo". She never sees the big picture, has no clue where she is going, often forgets who or where she is. Optimistic and caring, she just keeps on swimming towards the goal, one fin at a time, and sings about it! "Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming, just keep swimming." She makes it in the end. Here's a bit by Ralph Marston on the subject of achievement:

"Pathway to Achievement" by Ralph S. Marston

The best way to figure out how to do something is to do it. Make the commitment to make it happen, and you'll start working your way through the details.

Don't get bogged down speculating on how something will come about. Instead, get started on the best approach you have, and follow the path wherever it may lead.

When traveling along a road, you can never see the entire road at once, but that doesn't really matter. What does matter is successfully making your way through the portion of the road that is right in front of you.

Work through the things that are to be done right now, and you'll put yourself in position to handle the things that come along later. Travel down this section of the road, and you'll then be able to travel the next section, and the next.

If you put all your energy into worrying about every little detail of how to reach your goal, you won't ever get started. Instead, put your energy into reminding yourself why you have chosen to go there, and then do whatever it takes along the way.

You'll never know precisely how something is to be done until you actually do it. So go ahead, get started, and discover your own unique pathway to achievement.

Copyright ©2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All rights reserved for greatday.com

What's Stopping You? Road Block or Mirage?

"Somewhere within each obstacle is a pathway for moving forward."

~Ralph S. Marston

Challenges on our journey to success often feel like insurmountable road blocks. Often we stop right there, never moving forward and give up on our dreams-- dreams of better health, the perfect love, the inspired painting, the big trip, the grand career, the great revelation. I find myself at the year's end, no closer to going on my painting trip than I was last year...no closer to a date for New Year's Eve, and not much closer to my ideal weight...or my ideal painting!

...or am I?

"What if the things you thought would hold you back actually were to provide you with new ways to move forward? What if within your greatest annoyances (you) could find your greatest effectiveness?" -RM

Even though it's not a good time to sell my house (or go on a diet), and even though it seems impossible to get financing for an RV (or find a date), and even though my bills are stacked high against me...I feel closer mentally to my goals than ever before. I'm having to find new ways to look for solutions that are making me clarify what I really want--and take a deeper look at what I'm holding on to and why.

"Instead of fighting against the perceived obstacles, take a closer look at them. Somewhere within each obstacle is a pathway for moving forward."

I'm also reminded of a possibility that I'd declared for myself over the last two years: "I am unstoppable creativity". So am I really being unstoppable creativity? Am I applying it to the house, the RV, the bills, the dates, the diet...not just my paintings?

"Consider that it's not the obstacle itself that's stopping you. What's stopping you is your assumption that you can be stopped." -RM

And, I find myself wondering if the so-called obstacles are rather more like a road mirage than a road block. Notice my photo above. It looks like a huge boulder will be further down the road, preventing me from going forward...the end of the road! Yet, I know, because I've been there, that the road will continue to take me around what is really a small mountain. It looks like there is an obstacle directly in my way, but in reality, there is none.

"Yet you can change that assumption. You can choose to find a successful way through the situation, whatever it may be." -RM

How many of life's problems are just like that? And, how many of life's solutions are already inside us, waiting to be discovered? I made just such a discovery this fall. I'd been thinking that I have to strive for perfection...the perfect painting, the perfect life, etc. I began to see that I have everything I need in me already to create the perfect Zanne picture of life. In fact, I cannot not paint a Zanne painting or somehow stop being Zanne. It's going to come out just as it's supposed to...in certain colors, tones and a specific point of view...in true Zanne fashion...a perfect, Zanne work of art....a perfect Zanne life!

"The various challenges that come your way can be quite intimidating. Yet when you let go of the intimidation, you'll see that those very same challenges are filled with opportunities." -RM

We each of us have what we need to be who we are...to express perfect health, love, creativity and supply...in the way that is uniquely us. These forms of self-expression are innately a part of us...how we are already made and inherent to our being. So what of the road blocks? Aren't they just there to help us on our journey of self-discovery?

"Embrace those obstacles, embrace those challenges. For they are essential components of your eventual achievement." -RM

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Inspired by a tid-bit by Ralph S. Marston:

"What if the things you thought would hold you back actually were to provide you with new ways to move forward? What if within your greatest annoyances could find your greatest effectiveness?

Instead of fighting against the perceived obstacles, take a closer look at them. Somewhere within each obstacle is a pathway for moving forward.

Consider that it's not the obstacle itself that's stopping you. What's stopping you is your assumption that you can be stopped.

Yet you can change that assumption. You can choose to find a successful way through the situation, whatever it may be.

The various challenges that come your way can be quite intimidating. Yet when you let go of the intimidation, you'll see that those very same challenges are filled with opportunities.

Embrace those obstacles, embrace those challenges. For they are essential components of your eventual achievement."

Copyright ©2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All rights reserved for greatday.com

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Putting One Foot in Front of the Other

"The people who succeed in this world are the people who get up
and look for the circumstances they want, and,
if they can't find them, make them."
- George Bernard Shaw

Today one of my blog followers shared a wonderful excerpt by Ralph S. Marston, Jr. (thank you!) that can be applied to any goal your reaching for... from dieting to painting to finding your true love! Enjoy...

Intention into Reality by Ralph S. Marston, Jr.

The moment you have the intention is the moment to begin moving steadily toward the fulfillment of it. Habits, distractions, procrastination and discouragement can stop you if you let them, so make the decision not to let them.

Your desire to persevere can be stronger than anything, which stands in your way. Every single moment you have the option of continuing in the direction of achieving what you intend to achieve.

The moments will pass whether you make full use of them or not. They can lead to achievement or to regret. If you're sick and tired of enduring the sting of regret, you do not have to experience it even one moment longer. Always, you can choose to give all you have to all you can be, and what a grand experience that is.

Always you can choose to put the moments to work, to put yourself to work making a difference, making headway, making it happen. Always, you can choose to take one more step in the direction of your goal, and after that another step, and another.

There is no deep, dark secret for turning intention into reality, yet there is every possibility for anyone who is willing. When you put one foot in front of the other, take one step and then the next, when you start immediately and then keep on going, whatever you intend to do will get done.

Copyright ©2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All rights reserved for greatday.com