Sunnyside Up 2013 by Drea Jensen
Even though it often seems impossible, sometimes we have to force ourselves to see the glass as half full and remember that there is good in almost everything.
http://dreajensengallery.artistwebsites.com/featured/sunnyside-up-2013-drea-jensen.html

Why I Wake Early
by Mary Oliver

Hello, sun in my face.
Hello, you who make the morning
and spread it over the fields
and into the faces of the tulips
and the nodding morning glories,
and into the windows of, even, the
miserable and crotchety–

best preacher that ever was,
dear star, that just happens
to be where you are in the universe
to keep us from ever-darkness,
to ease us with warm touching,
to hold us in the great hands of light–
good morning, good morning, good morning.

Watch, now, how I start the day
in happiness, in kindness.

Red Coral 2003 by Drea Jensen
There are layers upon layers on nearly everything that cover up what they really are.
Peel those layers back to see that most things are honestly the same.
http://dreajensengallery.artistwebsites.com/featured/red-coral-2003-drea-jensen.html

What I Have Learned So Far

Meditation is old and honorable, so why should I
not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside,
looking into the shining world? Because, proper-
ly attended to, delight, as well as havoc, is sug-
gestion. Can one be passionate about the just, the
ideal, the sublime, and the holy, and yet commit
to no labor in its cause? I don’t think so.

All summations have a beginning, all effect has a
story, all kindness begins with the sown seed.
Thought buds towards radiance. The gospel of
light is the crossroads of—indolence, or action.

Be ignited, or be gone.

— Mary Oliver 

https://occidentalroadcellars.com/
http://www.eastwestcafesebastopol.com/

During February and March please visit these two local businesses and enjoy paintings by Drea Jensen. 10% of all paintings sold will benefit ARK.

Devotion 2012 by Drea Jensen
Following what we believe in always ends with a positive outcome. Dedication and passion generate beautiful structure in our world.
http://dreajensengallery.artistwebsites.com/featured/devotion-2012-drea-jensen.html

West Wind #2

You are young.  So you know everything.  You leap
into the boat and begin rowing.  But listen to me.
Without fanfare, without embarrassment, without
any doubt, I talk directly to your soul.  Listen to me.
Lift the oars from the water, let your arms rest, and
your heart, and heart’s little intelligence, and listen to
me.  There is life without love.  It is not worth a bent
penny, or a scuffed shoe.  It is not worth the body of a
dead dog nine days unburied.  When you hear, a mile
away and still out of sight, the churn of the water
as it begins to swirl and roil, fretting around the
sharp rocks – when you hear that unmistakable
pounding – when you feel the mist on your mouth
and sense ahead the embattlement, the long falls
plunging and steaming – then row, row for your life
toward it.

~ Mary Oliver ~

Elements 2012 by Drea Jensen
People and things are made up of so many different parts that it’s often hard to judge them from the outside.
Take time to get a cross section and see what they are really made of.
http://dreajensengallery.artistwebsites.com/featured/elements-2012-drea-jensen.html

The Whistler

By

Mary Oliver

All of a sudden she began to whistle. By all of a sudden I mean that for more than thirty years she had not whistled. It was thrilling. At first I wondered, who was in the house, what stranger? I was upstairs reading, and she was downstairs. As from the throat of a wild and cheerful bird, not caught but visiting, the sounds warbled and slid and doubled back and larked and soared.

Finally I said, Is that you whistling? Yes, she said, I used to whistle, a long time ago. Now I see I can still whistle. And cadence after cadence she strolled through the house, whistling.

I know her so well, I think, I thought. Elbow and ankle. Mood and desire. Anguish and frolic. Anger too. And the devotions. And for all that, do we even begin to know each other? Who is this I’ve been living with for thirty years?

This clear, dark, lovely whistler?

Drea Jensen Art:
Come view these paintings at East West Cafe Sebastopol.
http://www.eastwestcafesebastopol.com/

Lingering in Happiness

By Mary Oliver 

Here is an event invitation for Sweet 116.

Spirit 2007 by Drea Jensen
Thinning of the veils between worlds is the feeling invoked in this painting. The spirit behind the universe comes through.
http://dreajensengallery.artistwebsites.com/featured/spirit-2007-drea-jensen.html

The Soul at Last

By Mary Oliver 

Curiosity 2012 by Drea Jensen
Remember the importance and value of innovative creativity.
http://dreajensengallery.artistwebsites.com/featured/curiosity-2012-drea-jensen.html

In Praise of Craziness, of a Certain Kind

By Mary Oliver