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Art, Chingonas, Strong Women

Art and Community

Heart of the Sea by Ray Ferrer

 

While reading a favorite blogger’s post “Emotion on Canvas,” this image caught my attention. Truthfully, all of Ray Ferrer’s artwork catches my attention.

The majesty of the ship, shrouded in the indigo shadows of night and ocean, seemed ominous. The words in the January 26th post were more forbidding:

Hi Friends and Fans of Ray! This is his wife, Rhian Ferrer….
Tuesday morning I found Ray in bed having a seizure (he has never had one before) I brought him to the hospital and he is stable but has a massive baseball sized tumor in/on his brain.  He will be undergoing surgeries, radiation and chemo therapy in the upcoming months.

This young artist and his wife are now in for the fight of their lives. But fighters they are, as evidenced by Rhian’s post, yesterday:

As Ray deals with the hard news of a baseball sized brain tumor, I, his wife, am adding some of his works for public availability / purchase to offset some of the expenses and costs of his costly procedures.

Ray and his wife have their artwork on Etsy. This is the great gift, I bought for my daughter’s birthday, from Rhian’s site:

Frida Kahlo by Rhian Ferrer
Frida Kahlo by Rhian Ferrer

Go and check out Ray Ferrer’s site. They are so generous that even when they need all the funds they can get, Ray is discounting his art. Use coupon code ART50 for half off. 

His wife set up a GoFundMe site. She is the epitome of a strong woman, una buen chingona. (Loosely translated as a badass, strong woman.)

Writers, poets, artists and those who love the arts are a community. Prayers, healing energy, and strength to this couple and their family.

I hope you visit the Ferrer’s artist pages and make a purchase.

Encouragement, Inspiration, Writing

Obituary and Passion

From Birmingham H.S. Project-flickr.com
From Birmingham High St. Art Project-flickr.com

You know, the Greeks didn’t write obituaries. They only
asked one question after a man died: “Did he have
passion?” – Serendipity, the movie

 

Whether the Greeks wrote or didn’t write obituaries isn’t as important as the question.

Passion is a zeal, a fervor, a barely controllable emotion towards a subject or person.

Do you have that feeling for something? Art, writing, cooking, service…

a feeling that if you did not do this ‘thing,’ your spirit would dampen, keep you in regret, have you say ‘what if?’

For me, if I’m not writing, I’m not truly living. My body and spirit often feel like a container of thoughts, waiting for my hands to hold a pen or hover over a keyboard ready to dive in and release those thoughts into a journal or on a keyboard.

To not set free those thoughts, is to keep everything in a container until it’s in danger of imploding, or worse, create a slow burn from the inside out.

The word passion comes from the Latin verb patere meaning to suffer.

Sometimes we suffer when working towards that passion. We always suffer if we don’t even make the attempt.

I say this only to give an example of what can happen when not heeding your enthusiasm.

Sometimes we do this to ourselves. Other times we allow someone else, through their criticism, to reduce our conviction for a subject.

It’s not their fault, it’s up to you to fulfill your own dream. To crave it so much that you hear their words and work on your passion anyway.

Critics can either wrap your passion in words of doubt until your light goes out or you can decide to follow your dreams and see where they lead. 

Your art, writing, cooking, ‘fill in the blank,’may not lead you to fame or fortune. You may need to work hard to fulfill your dream, and this might takes years…

but your family or friends could affirmingly answer the obituary question;

better, yet, you would know the answer before anyone wrote your obituary.