According to a law of internet marketing, this should be either an art blog or one to promote my books. It“s neither - and it“s both. My art, in all its forms, and my books, are extensions of my inner life. I suppose it doesn“t hurt to repeat this from time to time - as I do - as I have no intention of creating one just for one or t“other. This is an all-round package - art, educational books and Wise El’s Big Thoughts.
The last couple of days have been spent revisiting my business plan - or rather my art tasks which became a revised business plan. And what a lot there is to do.
I managed to mess up Poppy“s birthday card which she now won“t get in time (apart from an e-card version). Am currently gearing up mentally to re-draw the whole thing. And the draft for an Easter card has a manic-looking bunny (see corner).
Happiness is when I paint loosely, freely, almost in an abstract way, and people see what I see and BUY. Soon.
Meanwhile: Are all children really born innocent? If cellular memory is viable, or indeed reincarnation, then logically (in spiritual terms) the soul would not be a totally clean slate.
I currently subscribe to the spiritual idea of different circuits being switched on (or off). It would be horrendous to be reborn with appalling memories. It would immediately negatively impact a fresh life. That said, there would be undercurrents; attractions to people and places; affinities or repulsions. But it would also give credence to the idea that some children are born with less good natures.
Having worked as a housemother in three children“s homes, I know children can be very devious and manipulative. In one home, I had to lock the door as one child had taken to leaving lit candles under the bed.
From this distance, I wonder why the senior house parents didn“t just removed the matches and candles. Being behind a locked door would not be much fun if the blasted home had burned down!
But it was a short-stay home so she wasn“t around for long. Maybe not evil, but there were examples of even worse behaviour - and one cannot always blame the parents. Many of us have had a troubled upbringing without going out and killing another sentient.

Freedom of self-expression is a mixed blessing. Like the Monarchy losing its mystique, or discovering how really stupid most MPs are (take a bow, Ed Vaizey), the more we say, me included, the more we expose our faults and prejudices to the world. So why do we do it?
At Rank Xerox, we were taught that if someone did not understand something, the fault lay with how we were explaining it. I“ll blame the second bout, in one week, of negative food reaction for my lack of clarity, and start again.