INSPIRED BY ART: And Thoughts On Turning 100!

No I am not turning 100 years, but I have reached my 100th post. Yet this moment, although perhaps mundane in the big scheme of life, has made me think about how I would feel if I had reached the age of 100 years! What would my life be like? Who would I have become? Where would I have invested my energies and what could I look back on and feel proud of? Would I have achieved my life goals? Will I have led a happy and purposeful life?

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Well.. I just don’t know! Every year that passes, I am less sure of what my life goals are. I think though blogging has helped me to find new aspects of my nature or abilities that I did not know existed. It has helped me to recover some lost passions long forgotten. So perhaps it is becoming a little clearer what pursuits I enjoy, even if the actual ‘goals’ still escapes me. It is also clear that even with a goal in mind, our behaviour and habits will either assist, or hijack our dreams.

I strongly believe we are all born with certain traits, archetypes if you will. Some will be more obvious and active in our lives, others may lie dormant, waiting for fate, destiny or inspiration to come a knocking. Whichever, there will most likely be a dark & light side to accompany each of these attributes, and each will influence the direction our lives take. What makes it interesting though, is whether we allow the ‘dark’ side to be the dominant aspect, or work towards developing the ‘light’ side.

In this busy busy world we live in, it becomes easy to let habit dictate our behaviour. The problem with this is years can pass and we can find ourselves still in the same rut, still postponing our dreams, and still having the same kneejerk reactions to certain scenarios and not realising our dreams at all. Blogging at least allows you to practice developing some of these traits, exercising the atrophied muscles of our childhood passions, and fuelling the desire to put our dreams into action.

So to celebrate the big 100, here are some portraits that have caught my eye over the years. Funnily I am often drawn to images of single, strong women. Feng Shui will tell you, this is not desirable artwork to have in the home if being single is not your goal [the law of attraction]. I’ve long since stopped worrying about my single status, but what is it about these images I admire? Is it purely the artistic appreciation? Or something more that is speaking to me? Not having personal knowledge of the individual portrayed allows the imagination to find the character within the image.

I think each of the following images represents a certain archetype, or trait to me. Positive traits that I would like to grow and strengthen.

The Hermit: Independent, Self Sufficient, Content with one’s own company

The Adventurer: Brave and curious. Steps outside their comfort zone to find new worlds. Willing to explore the unknown

The Observer: Patient and unbiased.

The Traveller: Embraces new cultures. Inquisitive & open minded

The Mother: Compassionate, Considerate and Nurturing

The Scholar or Student: Seeker of the truth. Thirst for knowledge.

The Judge: Discerning , loyal and fair. Weighs up the options and acts with a measured response.

The Artist: Creative, Individual and unique. Actualizes ideas and concepts. Expressive.

The Inner Child: Retains ones youthful innocence and humility.

So to sum up, I think these Women [real and fictional] have many qualities I admire. All from varied backgrounds, with varied interests, but common in their desire to be their best and develop their interests. Reminds me of all my new blogging friends really.

As you can see I am somewhat ‘Hooked On Portraits’. I hope you have enjoyed this latest addition to my ‘Inspired by Art’ series. I know I am also inspired by all the wonderful blogs out there in cyber land, and their fabulous blogger owners. In fact I could also say, I am ‘Hooked on Blogging’.

See other ‘Hooked On’ posts at Julia’s Hooked On Houses

Have a great weekend everyone

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FOOTNOTES:

I’ll get back to more light hearted posts soon. This post took a more serious tone as it has been one heck of a week [year really]. Time poor and exhausted from work, I haven’t been visiting blogs, nor my friends, nor doing what is necessary to keep life moving forward. Sort of in survival mode and also had a colleague hospitalized through working too hard. A bit intense and makes you think what your real goals should be. So when I got home from work at 1am this morning!! this is the direction my mind wandered.

IMAGE SOURCES:

1. Elderly Lady [source: LIFE Archives] 2. Amelia Earhart [source unknown] 3. Mona Lisa [source: wikipedia] 4. Jinx by Ruth Orkin [source: Orkin Photo] 5. Sybil of Delphi – Sistine Chapel [source: scanned from poster I bought at the Vatican Museum] 6. ‘Blue Lady’ [source: found via Absolutely Beautiful Things Blogspot] 7. Birth of Venus [inset] [source: wikipedia] 8. Coco Chanel [source: LIFE Archives] 9. ‘Child’ portrait by Mira Hermoni-Levine [source: Jewish Women's Archive]