Be Soft

Be Soft

​​"Be Soft" - acrylic on cradled wood panel, 16" x 20" x .75".  Ready to hang (sides are painted, back is pre-wired.  No framing necessary).  Available here and at Artfinder.


“Be soft.
Do not let the world make you hard.
Do not let pain make you hate.
Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness.
Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place." - Kurt Vonnegut

​What the world needs now is...ducks.  Why?  Because ducks like ponds. Ponds come from rain.  Rain puts out fires.  We have so many fires. 

I'm not going to jump on the back of 2020 and hit it with a rubber mallet.  I am going to go soft and let it roll off me - yep, like water off a duck.

But truly, Vonnegut is saying something important here.  Hanging on to softness, sweetness and a belief in something wonderful - maybe this is our primary purpose when the world is pushing us to become hardened and bitter and filled with hate. Even our own limbic systems (I think of them as a 3 year old chimpanzees who were somehow mistakenly left in charge of our human bodies) need the reassurance of softness and sweetness in our thoughts to keep us from becoming internally weary, inflamed, hyper-vigilant and over-producing cortisol in a steamy bath of stress hormones.

​So today, let's be the ducks. Well maybe not THESE ducks.  They look a little put out by the lack of rain. 

---

About the art- layers of acrylic paint (including florescent paint) over a rough sketch done with a Uni Posca Paint Pen.  Infused with malarkey and a bit of sour grapes.

Want even MORE malarkey in your day?  Head over the the ABOUT ME page for an interview with this shenanigator on The Left Brain Artist Podcast.

Wonder Mike drew the winner in  the SUBSCRIBE giveaway - congratulations, Cass!  An original painting is coming your way. Check your email in-box for details.