The Best Drug of All

Artwork by Ralph Solonitz

Give a man with a warm soul, like Craig Arthur James, two umbrellas, and the miraculous will happen. His short story, "The Best Drug of All," published at Screwball Universe City, reminds me of the goodness to be found in the simplest deeds, often within arms reach. Being a superhero or a miracle worker so rarely requires powers beyond those of mortal men. Sometimes, it's something as simple as an umbrella on a rainy day.

To love is to be vulnerable

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”

~ C.S. Lewis

For more love, and 21 Lessons They Didn't Teach You in School, check one hell of an entertaining online creative hub, "celebrating the Art of Being Alive," Rebelle Society.

Upcoming Show: Rochester Erotic Arts Festival (REAF)

Above: "Wrapped." by Portia St. Luke 2003. (Pen and ink.)
One of the pieces invited to be displayed at the Rochester Erotic Arts Festival

The good news is that I've been invited to have three pieces displayed at the Rochester Erotic Arts Festival (April 5-6, Rochester, NY). This international juried exhibition, now in its fourth year, seeks out “high quality original works that are creative, erotic and thought-provoking.”

I loved being part of the experience last year, and I loved reading this reviewer's take on last year's exhibit.

The pieces that are selected for the coming exhibit include "Astarte," "AutumnFairy," and “Wrapped.”  My deepest gratitude to Graeme Fletcher for his help and “hand-holding” in what was a very intimidating process. His experience in the art world and consummate professionalism were invaluable. I couldn't have done this without him.

Do you want to be part of the party? The "Hotel REAF discount" is available through March 25th for $109 per night, plus state and local taxes (currently 14%). [Click here for more information.]

Even if you are not near the Rochester, NY area, and have no way to be able to make it to this festival, virtual hugs to all of you who sent love and great advice. I read through all of it (even if I did not respond to each one individually.) The encouragement I've received from the community here has really allowed me to have the confidence to try taking my work as, specifically, as an erotic artist to another level, and I'm grateful to each of you who has played part in that.

Our deepest fear

is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

-Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on a Course in Miracles, (ch. 7. sec. 3)
(Often attributed to Nelson Mandela)

“If you fear nothing, then you are not brave. You are merely too foolish to be afraid.” ― Laurell K. Hamilton (Skin Trade)

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
– Nelson Mandela

So many exciting things are going on, and I'm really happy.  I can't express anything but gratitude to the universe, but, of course, there's always that little kernel of fear:  fear of failure, fear of looking like an idiot.  The truth is, everybody feels that, all the time.  John Wayne famously said, "Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway."

Everybody has that fear. Really, It's OK.  Anybody who has ever gone into a creative field has to wonder if they're going to look like a damned fool.  It's a common adage in the art world that to make art is to stand naked on stage.

“Until you're ready to look foolish, you'll never have the possibility of being great.” 

― Cher

When I found this article by author and inspirational speaker Danielle LaPorte, it really spoke to that inner demon.  

Then again, maybe my inner 6-year-old just needs to understand it's OK to be scared.  

Great writing by Kate Courageous: The Truth about Getting What You Want

I'm sharing this article by Kate Swoboda, (a.k.a. Kate Courageous) because I've read it several times over the last couple of days and it resonates with me more each time.  A wise woman once told me, "In this life, there are phenomenal cosmic 'yes-es' and then there is everything else. Follow those 'yes-es.'"

In my own life, I have seen this in play countless times.  When I have begun an endeavor because I was "expected" to, knowing my heart really wasn't in it, the project was naturally doomed from the start, whether that was a job as a typesetter or having somebody else's dream of a house in the suburbs.  By contrast, if I care deeply about a project, I know it and the world knows it.  The spirit catches fire.

"The truth about getting what you want is that the things that are most significant in our lives will start to enliven us even with the first step. Even the fear will be accompanied by that sense of vitality–a vitality that shows up as intrigue, or a new bad-ass attitude towards facing fear, or curiosity about facing a challenge.

"Vitality is that way. A life does not wait to begin when something is fully formed; life is happening, right here and right now, with every stage of development, and when I look around at the natural world, it seems to me nothing but sheer celebration, from acorn to root to trunk to tree."

Support small businesses this season

A big round of applause to all of the friends who have encouraged folks to "buy from small businesses, artists, and craftsmen this season."  Some of you ("love!") are compiling lists of those artists and crafters, and have asked for my information.  I'm grateful to have friends who are this organized!

Posters, prints, and cards of original Portia St. Luke artwork are available at: http://www.zazzle.com/lamagnificaNew this year:  Yuletide cards!  "Yule Log," and "Freya at Her Spinning Wheel" have been re-imagined as holiday cards. Of course, the earlier Yuletide illustrations, such as "Holly King & Oak King", are still available as blank cards and prints. 

Like me on FB at http://www.facebook.com/PortiaStLukeIllustrations

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes, the whole world around you,

because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.”
by Roald Dahl

Above: "Satyress." Mixrd media on Bristol. c. Portia St. Luke 2012

Saturno Butto: A Florentine Master in the Modern World

Above: by Saturno Bruno

High Renaissance and early Baroque painting holds a fascination for me in a way than no other artistic period or style possibly can. The meticulous attention to detail, light, shadow, reflected counter-light, textures, drapery, anatomy... For me, the art world reached its apex in the 1500's - 1600's.  Caravaggio has always been a favorite.  Artemisia Gentileschi, his contemporary, was influenced by his work, and rose to a level that was clearly on-par with his brilliance. Often, I feel I could work my entire life with the hope of being that good.

(Pictured right: Caravaggio's "Judith Beheading Holofernes," 1598.
Left: Artemisia Genteleschi's treatment of the same subject, 1614) 

Finding Saturno Butto was like finding a light in the middle of a very dark world. Here is a living painter who has the skill to paint as well as either Caravaggio or Gentileschi ever did, while throwing disturbingly modern twists such as medical equipment, modern lingerie, and weapons, into what could otherwise be a flawless reproduction of the Renaissance Masters.  Far from being a run-of-the-mill copyist, his work has its own dark, uneasy feel to it... elements of psychology and theology intertwine to create a so-real-you-could-touch-it mixture that is, somehow, both sacred and profane at the same time.

Unfortunately, his main portfolio site is possibly the most Flash-heavy piece of web-construction I've run into, making it very slow or difficult to navigate if your computer is not running at peak efficiency.  It's worth taking the time to look through, but, sadly, that may mean time, and lots of it.   Thankfully, the interwebs are vast, and he can be found just as easily on FaceBook.  The on-line gallery von Scaramouche was able to provide this intriguing interview with the Master himself. 

Von Scaramouche describes "a man who, with the exception of a decade related to art studies, never left Bibione, a small Venetian city alongside the sea, where he lives and works," and yet can be called "one of the most captivating figurative painters around today."

For a real treat, find a time when you will not be interrupted and music by Claudio Monteverdi (16th century) or Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (18th century)   (This is very easy to do if you have Pandora.)  Mute your phone.  This world can wait.  Listen to the music, and loose yourself in the dark and twisted beauty of the world that lives within Saturno Butto's paintings.   

(Left and below:  various paintings by Saturno Butto) 

Who is the most persistent person who has ever lived?

Above: "Amontillado I" c. Portia St. Luke, 1997
(Pastel and charcoal on paper)

Slightly before 1960, Dashrath Manjhi's wife died without any treatment, because the nearest town with a Doctor was 70 km away from their village in Bihar, India. Unfortunately, most of that distance was over a hill in between the village and the town. If it was removed, the trek would have been one-tenth of the distance. Dashrath did not want anyone else to suffer the same fate as his wife. So he did the unthinkable: he single-handedly carved a 360-foot-long (110 m), 25-foot-high (7.6 m) and 30-foot-wide (9.1 m) road by cutting a mountain of Gehlour hills with a hammer, chisel and nails working day and night for 22 years from 1960 to 1982. 

This hand-chiseled passage reduced the distance between Atri and Wazirganj blocks of Gaya district from 70 km to just 7 km.

In 1979, in northern India's Assam region, after flood waters had receded, Jadav "Molai" Payeng, only 16 then, found the place dotted with the dead reptiles. That was the turning point of his life. The teenager began re-seeding the barren sandbar. 30 years later, the spot today hosts a sprawling 1,360 acre of jungle that Payeng planted single-handedly.

22 others, including Cambodian Aki Ra, who personally removed and cleared over 50,000 land mines by himself from Siam Reap region of Cambodia, and Simon Wiesenthal - the Nazi Hunter who dedicated most of his life (post WW II) to documenting and helping hunt down Nazi criminals from all over the world - comprise a list of the most persistent people to have ever lived.

Each story told is amazing, and speaks to the power of perseverance and the will of the human spirit. To read their stories, and vote on which one(s) you feel to be the most persistent person (people) in the world, I encourage you to visit Quora and read the answers to the question, "Who is the most persistent person who has ever lived?"

"It Begins With a Dream," by Scott Sonnon

It begins with a dream.

Add preparation through diligent research.

Add courage to initiate momentum without support.

Add faith to meet ubiquitous resistance.

Add passion when failures arise frequently.

Add humor when passion temporarily drains.

Add adaptability to adjust to the unknowable.

Add patience as success slowly, occasionally unfolds.

Add perseverance when backslides happen often.

Add gratitude when reflecting upon the great process.

Add service to share the experience of the process.

Add another bigger dream, and restart.

~ Scott Sonnon

Above: Stock image (photographer unknown)

“How far you go in life

 ...depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life, you will have been all of these.” – George Washington Carver

Above: "Walking beneath the Rainbow Sky" (Kenya) 

- Photographer unknown

Gratitude

When I read this today, I was reminded of everyone who has helped me in the process of becoming what I need to be. Wise man, the Dalai Lama. I believe "gratitude" is another virtue he promotes.  To you, if you see this, read this, follow my work, give encouragement, share the love, and so much more... Thank you.

"Our good fortune is dependent upon the cooperation and contributions of others. Every aspect of our present well-being is due to hard work on the part of others. As we look around us at the buildings we live and work in, the roads we travel, the clothes we wear, or the food we eat, we have to acknowledge that all are provided by others. None of them would exist for us to enjoy and make use of were it not for the kindness of so many people unknown to us." -Dalai Lama

Success

above: Lesson #28 from "Surviving the World."

Happiness and Success 
(...with thanks to Jaana Nyström at G+!)

1. Marry the right person. This one decision will determine 90% of your happiness or misery.
2. Work at something you enjoy and that's worthy of your time and talent.
3. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
4. Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
5. Be forgiving of yourself and others.
6. Be generous.
7. Have a grateful heart.
8. Persistence, persistence, persistence.
9. Discipline yourself to save money on even the most modest salary.
10. Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated.
11. Commit yourself to constant improvement.
12. Commit yourself to quality.
13. Understand that happiness is not based on possessions, power or prestige, but on relationships with people you love and respect.
14. Be loyal.
15. Be honest.
16. Be a self-starter.
17. Be decisive even if it means you'll sometimes be wrong.
18. Stop blaming others. Take responsibility for every area of your life.
19. Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you'll regret the things you didn't do more than the ones you did.
20. Take good care of those you love.
21. Don't do anything that wouldn't make your Mom proud.
     21-B. (Portia's correlary) If you choose to do something that would go against what you raised to know as "the rules," know first which rule you're breaking, know why you're breaking it, and know how while causing the least unwanted harm.  (Remember, some of humanity's greatest discoveries were made by bloody-minded people who were willing to question Mom!)