''Beautiful symmetries'' - 11.07.2014

The word happiness has such a broad meaning. Wikipedia's definition of happiness is as follows:

"Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy."

Fair enough, their definition makes sense. But what makes a person truly happy? You can ask as many people as you want and they would all give you a different answer. Some would say success, money, others will say friends and family, some people would say that working-out makes them happy and so on. You get the picture. The definition, reason or condition for happiness differs dramatically from person to person. We're all different, have our own life experiences which significantly affect our choices.


Sometimes it's not easy to decide whether your decision will result in your happiness... That's why it's always better to give yourself some time. Some time to think, some time to analyse. Not to overthink, just to weigh the options. What I find very helpful when making an important decision is making a list. I write all of the pros and cons of my decision. I also imagine myself making one of them and then I write a page or two of what it feels like after the decision has been made. I do it for the other one too and then decide which version I prefer. If one of the decisions seems daunting and all of the pros are uncertain then it's probably better to go for the other option. Not necessarily the easier one, but the better one in the long term. My goal in life is to be happy. Nothing more, nothing less.

Our lives are full of beauty, love and happiness. Sometimes we just fail to see it all. That doesn't mean it's non-existent. 

Sometimes what we need is a couple of friends who will be able to guide us through our problems and who will make us see the bright side of it all.

One way to deal with problems is to paint.. but this isn't the topic of this post :D

Here's a painting I haven't published here yet... 

It's called ''Beautiful symmetries'' and it was painted using Artists' oil paints from Winsor and Newton on a 30" x 20" canvas.

Why is it called "Beautiful symmetries" if the only symmetrical thing in the whole painting is the reflection in the sea? Well, let me quote my friend "Transformation w is a reflection in the beach axis". That didn't really explain my choice for the title, but it sounds cool :) Yup, we do maths :)

Lots of Love,
Marlena 

Uncomfortable Conscience - 23.05.2014

A couple of days ago I was talking to someone about nature and I realised how disgusting London actually is. I always thought that it was a beautiful city with a lot of parks and with a lot of trees, but it actually isn't.
I was walking home after choir last Friday and I thought I'd check how long I have to walk for before I see a tree.. and it was 20 minutes!  I was really surprised.. I thought we had more trees than that.. but I guess that because there aren't so many of them we notice them more than we would have if there were more of them. 

I love nature and I'm really surprised how blind I was for all those years.... I mean, you don't really get to see stars in the sky due to light pollution... I knew that was the case because whenever I went to Poland the sky looked so much nicer there.. but I didn't actually think about it...

We live in a world where money is the only thing that matters... Dreams don't matter anymore.. those who dream are regarded as immature and crazy.. but what's the point of living if you have no dreams? For money...? Are you going to buy yourself some happiness? Are you going to go to a shop and buy a family? a dream? love...? no. What are you going to do with all the money you're earning? 

Dreams are like trees. They keep us alive. We should treasure them and keep them alive.

Being successful today means having a well paid job and no time for life. If that's what it is, then screw it. I don't want to be successful anymore. I'd rather be happy, fulfilled and ''crazy''. 

Some people think they can earn some money now and then be happy later when they're finally able to follow their dreams.. but what if you die next year? or next month? or tomorrow? You would have lived a life without actually being alive for a single day.

People are so blinded by money that they don't notice the problems we face everyday. We're killing animals... all the time.. due to pollution. And nobody seems to care... People don't talk to eachother anymore.. it's all become virtual.. some people prefer their virtual lives to their real ones... they can be whoever they want online.. but why can't they be whoever they want in real life? It doesn't take that much to face your fears, leave your comfort zone, change your personality.. Your friends need you. A conversation online is not the same as a real conversation. Some people are unable to talk to other if they're face to face. Talking online is easier, alright, but it shouldn't be a substitute for a real conversation. I hate it when I see couples who are supposedly together, but they actually aren't because they're constantly on their phones while they're with one another, living their second lives..

People used to live peacefully, surrounded by nature and now people try to destroy it because they can't generate an income out of a tree, so it's better to build an ice cream shop in a park and get some money out of it than it is to plant more trees there.. 

I feel sorry for future generations... some kids will never see a real tree... there's this thing called global warming and everyone's panicking about it, but not many people actually do anything about it. Money money money.

...

ah... okay. so there is no new painting for this weeks entry, because I'm really busy recently. Yesterday I really wanted to paint something but I only had one hour so I decided to try something new. I took a piece of A4 paper, some black acrylic paint and set myself a challenge. I was supposed to paint a picture using just one colour and water. This means that I had to plan it out carefully in my mind because I wouldn't be able to fix it with white paint like I usually do :D

It looks a bit like an ink drawing but it was done using acrylic paint (Mars Black) from....... Winsor and Newton as always haha  :)


Here's the outcome of my exercise:

It's not really a proper painting, but it has a name nonetheless haha :)

It's called ''Uncomfortable Conscience''  

Lost of Love,
Marlena