© Katie Jeanne Wood
Golden Daze
Oil pastel portrait drawing
9×12 inches
135 lb watercolor paper
Available here
I created this piece back in the early summer when the sun was busy tanning my skin a golden brown while I practiced my daily walking meditation outside, pulled weeds from the garden, and mowed the lawn. Hence the title of this painting, and the golden glow of her skin.
I don’t dwell on how I miss the warmth and brightness of those days during these chilly, gray autumn days because I know it will only cause me unnecessary dukkha.
I’ve gone through many seasons fixated on my love for other seasons, and I was causing my own misery. If I’ve learned anything from studying Buddhism, it’s that we cause 99% of our own suffering, mostly because we don’t accept the reality of the present moment. We dwell on the past or the future. We think life should be better, nothing should ever go wrong, we deserve more, we should be rich, everyone should love us, our loved ones should never die, we should never get old, have pain, suffer, and life should be a continuous party. Most of the time, that isn’t our truth in the moment, and that kind of fairytale or magical thinking causes our own suffering. Life can be pretty dull, boring, uneventful, lonely, depressing, and we all go through days of unhappiness, physical & mental pain, and discontentment.
Having thoughts such as: I wish it wasn’t so hot. I wish it wasn’t so cold. I wish there wasn’t so much snow or rain. I wish the gray sky would go away is just silly, I now know. There’s nothing I can do about the weather, but I can, and have done something about how I think about the changes the seasons bring – outside my door, and within me.
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See my artwork in a new movie – The Whale starring Brendan Fraser, which will be released December 9th, 2022.
If you haven’t checked out my eBay store in a while, you should. Some artwork I have marked down to only $10 or $15. I add new stuff every single day. Same goes for Etsy.
I’m also accepting orders for custom paintings, and drawings. Because commissions take a great deal of time, Christmas delivery isn’t possible at this point in time.
As always, if you want to say hello or have any questions you can write me here. I love getting email, and hearing from you.
Other places to find me online.
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