recent work with words and images

"So Glad You Were Born" c. 2009 annie farnsworth
original mixed media collage on 9"x12" stretched studio canvas

Henri J. Nouwen wrote:

"Birthdays need to be celebrated. I think it is more important to celebrate a birthday than a successful exam, a promotion, or a victory. Because to celebrate a birthday means to say to someone: "Thank you for being you." Celebrating a birthday is exalting life and being glad for it. On a birthday we do not say: "thanks for what you did, or said, or accomplished." No, we say: "Thank you for being born and for being among us."

On birthdays we celebrate the present. We do not complain about what happened or speculate about what will happen, but we lift someone up and let everyone say: "We love you."

Celebrating a birthday reminds us of the goodness of life, and in this spirit we really need to celebrate people's birthdays everyday, by showing gratitude, kindness, forgiveness, gentleness, and affection. These are ways of saying: "it's good that you are alive; it's good that you are walking with me on this earth. Let's be glad and rejoice."

This was a gift for my sister.
Happy Birthday, Joani!
I am grateful you are walking with me on this earth.


"So Glad You Were Born" c. 2009 annie farnsworth

"We Are All One" c. 2009 annie farnsworth
original mixed media collage on 9"x12" stretched studio canvas

This was a "thank you" piece for my friend Eric who was kind enough to do a shamanic journey for my son and me when we were going through a hard time. I credit Eric for much of my healing and am ever grateful for his work. If you are interested in energy work or having someone take a journey to the ethers on your behalf, contact me and I will get you some contact info.

The finished piece is mounted on a 9"x12" stretched canvas. I've been doing that with my collages lately because it really gives them more presence and heft and they are ready to hang as is. The edges are "finished" and hanging hardware is included so no fussing with mats or framing is required.

"Everlasting Truth" c. 2009 annie farnsworth

I was grateful to have this little piece of "pocket art" included in an Etsy treasury recently. And it sold! Alas, it is so tiny I somehow "misplaced" it! I had put it in a nice safe place so it wouldn't get lost - (ha ha fat lot of good that did, yes?) Anyway, it did turn up just a few days later (indeed it was in a safe place!) and it is now winging its way to Hawaii where, coincidentally, another of my hummingbird ACEOs ended up. I love that they are both there in that beautiful, sunny place. Both pieces part of my ongoing "Yogi Tea Tag "series of ACEOs, of which more can be seen in my shop. :-)

I have two more mounted collages finished and ready to put up in my Etsy shop; will try to get some decent pics of them today since it's a sunny day, the Maine weather isn't blowing snow or freezing rain, and I can take photos outside in natural light. Have also been working on two quilt projects that will be ready soon..... stay tuned! :-)

I found that quote

The "self help guru" I mentioned in yesterday's blog was actually Stephen Covey and the quote I was thinking of came from his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families, which is actually much warmer and readable than its business seminar-sounding title might imply.

Covey tells the story of a conversation he had at one of his workshops, during which a man came up to him and said, "[...] My wife and I just don't have the same feelings for each other that we used to have. I guess I just don't love her anymore, and she doesn't love me. What can I do?"

"The feeling isn't there anymore?" Covey inquired.

"That's right," the man reaffirmed, "And we have three children we're really concerned about. What do you suggest?"

"Love her," Covey replied.

"I told you, the feeling just isn't there anymore."

"Love her."

"You don't understand. The feeling of love isn't there."

"Then love her. If the feeling isn't there, that's a good reason to love her."

"But how do you love when you don't love?"

"My friend, love is a verb. Love -- the feeling -- is a fruit of the love the verb. So love her. Sacrifice. Listen to her. Empathize. Appreciate. Affirm her. Are you willing to do that?"

Covey goes on to admonish Hollywood for giving us all the deluded idea that love is a feeling and not a verb; we've all come to expect other people to induce in us some nirvanic feeling of bliss when in actuality that feeling comes as a result of loving someone (loving, as in the action word. the VERB.) He also offers a quote by M. Scott Peck:

"The desire to love is not love itself love... Love is an act of will -- namely an intention and an action. Will also implies choice. We do not have to love. We choose to love. No matter how much we may think we are loving, if we are in fact not loving, it is because we have chosen not to love and therefore do not love despite our good intentions. On the other hand, whenever we do actually exert ourselves in the cause of spiritual growth, it is because we have chosen to do so. The choice to love has been made."

"Live Reverently"
2.5" x 3.5" ACEO c. 2008 Miz Annie
AEDM for Nov. 9, '08 & one for the Yogi Tea Tag series

mixed media collage on recycled pasteboard with magazine cutouts, glitter hearts and Yogi Tea tag.