Lions and Ants

 It's the end of JENUARY at Get the Gallery , where this artist has been tickled and delighted to be named Artist of the Month.  After a fun art drop in the Denver area (congratulations lucky art hunter!), we're going to end the month with a virtual art drop!

Go to Get the Gallery's Facebook page and find a piece of art you love!  Share it to your own page and tag me!  My studio hound, Wonder Mike, will choose TWO taggers to receive these mixed media pieces in the mail.  Woot!  Read? Set?  Share and TAG!

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Once a hunter met a lion near the hungry critter's lair, and the
way that lion mauled him was decidedly unfair; but the hunter
never whimpered when the surgeons, with their thread, sewed up
forty-seven gashes in his mutilated head; and he showed the
scars in triumph, and they gave him pleasant fame, and he
always blessed the lion that had camped upon his frame. Once
that hunter, absent minded, sat upon a hill of ants, and about
a million bit him, and you should have seen him dance! And he
used up lots of language of a deep magenta tint, and
apostrophized the insects in a style unfit to print. And it's
thus with worldly troubles; when the big ones come along, we
serenely go to meet them, feeling valiant, bold and strong, but
the weary little worries with their poisoned stings and smarts,
put the lid upon our courage, make us gray, and break our
hearts. - "Lions and Ants", by Walt Mason

I've been pondering my ability to fiercely slay big challenges, but be anxious and nearly undone by the small ones.  Oy!  Mason's words captured this so well for me.  I smile at the thought of "lots of language of a deep magenta tint."   

I mean, we've been weathering a pandemic, political, social and racial issues, wildfires (here on the west coast) gun violence and (insert your current "lion" here).  You, dear reader, are finding ways every day to make the best of it, get involved, keep yourself sane, stay healthy AND find joy!  (I see you out there - well done, you!)

And yet, if you're like me... some small thing can cause the heart to crumble a little and have you wondering how the heck CALM was maintained when dealing with the lion.  This week, I am going to examine those "weary little worries" and find the beauty and the lesson in them.  Like our fluttery, creepy-crawly insect friends, there are golden nuggets there.

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About the art:  these insect studies were created as inspiration for a graphic novel project (currently in process).  Pen and ink and watercolor on watercolor paper, with hand printed paper collage.  In the moth piece, old-timey cap=gun caps were detonated with a rock on the paper to leave a tiny vertical trail.  Because with mixed media, anything goes!