Thursday, April 30, 2015

Now that I'm 50...



I am fifty today. Turning 30 was devastating, 40 was liberating, and 50... well, I'm not sure yet. When I tell my kids I'm now old, they just tell me I'm only at the half way point in my life. Interestingly, that made me think of a parabola or a bell curve in which the apex occurs at 50. 


The optimist in me looks and says, "from now on, life is easy." The pessimist in me says, "Everything from now on is in decline." It's silly. Fifty is just a number, I tell myself, but I can't help but wonder which version it will be. I have a gut feeling that 50 is going to be a good year.  

I worked on two pieces of art the last two days. The one above will become a part of my Woman of Wonder series. I used an ad from a magazine as my inspiration.


My purpose was not to copy her but to use her as a reference. As with other pieces from the Wiman of Wisdom series, I created her hair with using zentangle patterns.


I usually don't like to use a pencil but in this case, I had to make sure the zentangle patterns used looked interesting. I used Derwent Inktense to color and Prismacolor colored pencils for details and shading. The quote used describes a bit about me, I think.


For this piece, I didn't need a pencil at all. I knew I needed lots of space for the quote so I decided on half a face and lots of hair. As I get older, I get pickier about the people I interact with. And I think because of that, I've gotten more confident about sharing my thoughts, my art. So thank you, for your support and encouragement. ❤️



 

18 comments:

  1. Beautiful art from the soul of a beautiful person! Happy Birthday!!! <3

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  2. Ditto what Matt said, Angelcake. By the way, fifty is only the half way point if you live to be one hundred :) . You probably will because of your unflagging optimism and the joy you get out of life. There is something about your art that speaks to me. I don't know what it's saying but it is very compelling. I hope I don't get on your non interactive list. Thank you for sharing your art and musings, Ms Kari. You have a wonderful day and weekend. {{{ Kari}}}
    Deedles

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    1. Deedles! You are on my permanent list, there is no getting away from me. Thank you so much for being a good friend! ❤️

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  3. Kari, if it helps you, look at your birthday this way: today you are only one day older than you were yesterday. HB :)

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  4. Happy Birthday! I am in awe of your beautiful art. I don't know you personally Yukari, only from being members of FJ and it's very hard to know someone from being online however, I can feel you have a beautiful spirit and it shows in your artwork.

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  5. Happy Birthday, Kari!! I hope you have a fantastic day!

    I join you in the 50 club tomorrow so this post was especially relevant. Love the quote on the second piece of art.

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  6. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I love your artwork so much, and I love how inspiring you are! <3

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    1. Thank you, Brad! I hope you know how much your encouragement has helped me. ❤️

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  7. Happy Birthday Kari! I love your artwork and seeing the step by step process. Beautiful art and thoughts from a beautiful person!

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  8. Happy birthday! Your art is gorgeous. I get the emails a day later so I never get to comment on time. I really should do the Google thing. ..

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  9. Happy Birthday Yukari :)
    I hope you had a wonderful birthday.
    Your art is always stunning and your drawings are so beautiful.
    I have a couple of years until I turn 50….I keep thinking that I am 50, so when I finally hit it, it shouldn't really bother me…but we will see :)

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