Interests: Accomplishment + Productivity, Humility, Thinking About Things, Philosophy + Psychology, Good Conversation + Debates, Volunteer Work, Reading, Drawing + Painting in Various Mediums, Increasing my Drawing Abilities, Writing (see blog for examples), Math + Science, Overcast Days, Astronomy + The Ambiance of Moonlit Nights, The Shapes of Clouds + Hues of Sunset, Taking Long Walks + Observing Trees, Gardening + Plant Care, Penpaling, World Cultures, Respecting Diversity, Cooking, Healthy Eating, Movies, Collecting Music, Thrift/Flea Shopping, The Net, The Sound and Feel of Laughter, Having Fun, Dry Humor, Silver Linings, Problem Solving + Learning New Things, Improving Myself as a Person, Growing From My Mistakes, Enjoying Thunderstorms + The Melody of Rain.
I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality ~ Frida Kahlo
An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. ~ Charles Bukowski
I shut my eyes in order to see. ~ Paul Gauguin
What is certain is that setting a piece of nature in place and drawing it are two very different things. ~ Edgar Degas
Artists create in lonliness, but they cannot create apart from the chaos of existence. They need the tension of the physical universe. They also need each other. ~ Donald Wharton
The mind of the painter should be like a mirror which always takes the colour of the thing that it reflects, and which is filled by as many images as there are things placed before it. ~ Leonardo da Vinci
The aura given out by a person or object is as much a part of them as their flesh. The effect that they make in space is as bound up with them as might be their colour or smell ... Therefore the painter must be as concerned with the air surrounding his subject as with the subject itself. It is through observation and perception of atmosphere that he can register the feeling that he wishes his painting to give out. ~ Lucian Freud
Every great work of art has two faces, one toward its own time and one toward the future, toward eternity. ~ Daniel Barenboim
Art is a kind of innate drive that seizes a human being and makes him its instrument. ~ Carl Jung
At different moments you see with different eyes. You see differently in the morning than you do in the evening. In addition, how you see is also dependent on your emotional state. Because of this, a motif can be seen in many different ways, and this is what makes art interesting. ~ Edvard Munch
Art will remain the most astonishing activity of mankind born out of struggle between wisdom and madness, between dream and reality in our mind. ~ M. Abakanowicz
It's on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way. So we must dig and delve unceasingly. ~ Claude Monet
The emotions are sometimes so strong that I work without knowing it. The strokes come like speech. ~ Vincent van Gogh
An artist is not paid for his labour but for his vision. ~ James MacNeill Whistler
If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants. ~ Issac Newton
The lessons of failure are an important part of the curriculum of success. We learn from them. They push us to do better; they teach us humility. ~ Tom O'Malley
The human voice is the organ of the soul. ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The world is not respectable; it is mortal, tormented, confused, deluded forever; but it is shot through with beauty, with love, with glints of courage and laughter; and in these, the spirit blooms timidly, and struggles to the light amid the thorns. ~ George Santayana
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. ~Oscar Wilde
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved. ~ Helen Keller
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. ~Marcel Proust
You can only see things clearly with your heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye. ~ Saint-Exupry
Everyone sees the big things. But these smaller things are so beautiful and people might not notice them if I didn't
emphasize them. ~ Georgia O'Keeffe
The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: a human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. To him, a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death. Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create - so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut off from him. He must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency he is not really alive unless he is creating. ~Pearl S. Buck
They will not get it into their heads that these paintings were created in all seriousness and in suffering, that they are the products of sleepless nights, that they have cost me blood and weakened my nerves. ~ Edvard Munch
The ideal artist is he who knows everything, feels everything, experiences everything, and retains his experience in a spirit of wonder and feeds upon it with creative lust. ~ George Bellows
To be an artist, one must . . . never shirk from the truth as he understands it, never withdraw from life. ~ Diego Rivera
I never decided at all to be an artist; being an artist seems to have happened to me ~Anne Truitt
We all name ourselves. We call ourselves artists. Nobody asks us. Nobody says you are or you aren't. ~ Ad Reinhardt
The artists must be sacrificed to their art. Like the bees, they must put their lives into the sting they give. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
The artist is the confidant of nature. Flowers carry on dialogues with him through the graceful bending of their stems and the harmoniously tinted nuances of their blossoms. Every flower has a cordial word which nature directs towards him. ~ Auguste Rodin
When the artist is alive in any person . . . he becomes an inventive, searching, daring, self-expressing creature. He becomes interesting to other people. He disturbs, upsets, enlightens, and he opens ways for better understanding. ~ Robert Henri
I want paint to work as flesh... my portraits to be of the people, not like them. Not having a look of the sitter, being them ... As far as I am concerned the paint is the person. I want it to work for me just as flesh does. ~ Lucian Freud
The position of the artist is humble. He is essentially a channel. ~ Piet Mondrian
The artist is the person who makes life more interesting or beautiful, more understandable or mysterious, or probably, in the best sense, more wonderful. ~ George Bellows
Happy are the painters, for they shall not be lonely. Light and colour, peace and hope, will keep them company to the end of the day ~ Winston Churchill.
I paint forms as I think them, not as I see them. ~ Picasso
The painter makes real to others his innermost feelings about all that he cares for. A secret becomes known to everyone who views the picture through the intensity with which it is felt ~Lucien Freud
Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his nature into his pictures. ~ Henry Ward Beecher
Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life ~ Picasso
Creation is the artist's true function. But it would be a mistake to ascribe creative power to an inborn talent. Creation begins with vision. The artist has to look at everything as though seeing it for the first time ~Henri Matisse
The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web ~ Picasso
Painting is a blind man's profession. He paints not what he sees, but what he feels, what he tells himself about what he has seen ~ Picasso
The only merit I have is to have painted directly from nature with the aim of conveying my impressions in front of the most fugitive effects ~ Claude Monet
Painting from nature is not copying the object, it is realizing one's sensations. ~ Paul Cezanne
He who despises painting has no love for the philosophy in nature ~ Leonardo da Vinci
Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth ~ Pablo Picasso
Our truest life is when we are in our dreams awake. ~ Henry David Thoreau
Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. ~ George Bernard Shaw
Love is doing small things with great love. ~ Mother Teresa
Minds are like parachutes - they only function when open. ~ Thomas Dewar
Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes
Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars. ~ Kahlil Gibran
The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen...
~ Elizabeth Kubler Ross
To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom ~ Anais Nin
When you look at yourself from a universal standpoint, something inside always reminds or informs you that there are bigger and better things to worry about. ~ Albert Einstein
If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things ~ Rene Descartes
Anything that comes easy, comes wrong. ~ Josephine Tessier
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. ~ Dr. Seuss (via Elena)
If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking.
Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk. ~ Raymond Inmon
I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in. ~ George Washington Carver
God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars. ~ Martin Luther
Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. ~Kahlil Gibran
Nature is the art of God. ~ Thomas Browne
What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but, scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable. ~Joseph Addison
I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars. ~ Walt Whitman
To see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wildflower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour.~ William Blake
Joy is not in things; it is in us. ~ Richard Wagner
Joy is a net of love that captures souls.
~ Mother Teresa
The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do. ~ Walter Bagehot
...the only people that interest me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars... ~ Jack Kerouac
I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. ~ Christopher Reeve
It isn't where you come from; it's where you are going that counts. ~ Ella Fitzgerald
Life can only be understood backwards; it must be lived forwards. ~ Soren Kierkegaard
We are shaped and fashioned by what we love. ~ Goethe
A smile is a curve that sets things straight.
~ Author unknown
Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears ~ Edgar Allan Poe
Dance like no one is watching,
Sing like no one is listening,
Love like you’ve never been hurt
and
Live like it’s heaven on earth
~ Mark Twain
Among Others: Marc Almond, Fiona Apple, Bauhaus, The Beatles, Jeff Buckley, Bjork, David Bowie, The Church, The Creatures, The Cult, The Cure, Depeche Mode, The Doors, Echo and The Bunnymen, Peter Gabriel, PJ Harvey, Interpol, Jimi Hendrix, Joy Division, The Killers, Lenny Kravitz, Love and Rockets, Marilyn Manson, Massive Attack, Ministry, The Misfits, Morcheeba, Morrissey, Peter Murphy, New Order, Nick Cave, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Sinead O' Connor, John Parish, Pink Floyd, Portishead, The Primitives, Psychedelic Furs, Radiohead, The Ramones, Rasputina, R.E.M., Shadow Thieves, The Shins, Siouxsie, Smashing Pumpkins, The Smiths, Sneaker Pimps, Sonic Youth, Soul Coughing, Sparklehorse, Tones on Tail, Tricky, Tom Waits, Neil Young.
Movies
Hitchcock, well-made thrillers, cheesy horror movies for a laugh, art films, film noir, slapstick comedies, documentaries, and thought-provoking dramas.
Books
Classic Lit, poetry, well-written mysteries/sci-fi, and crafted horror. Right now I'm reading the biographically-tinged Van Gogh's letters, a Clive Barker book, Hemmingway's short stories, and a paperback of Robert Frost's Poems given to me by my mother.
Heroes
My grandparents. They came to this country with nothing, as immigrants looking for a better life; and did well for themselves through hard work and tenacity. I couldn't be prouder.
Melissa ~ mfallonart.com As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy Posted 16 hours ago view more
About me:
Tidbits: Nothing stands between me and the work I do at night/weekends in my art studio, meticulously dedicating the attention each art-piece deserves. Supposedly I'm an INFJ personality-type on the Meyer's-Briggs test. I see myself as caring and good-natured - though arguably complex when you scratch beneath the surface: I know what it is to face adversity and still be standing. The natural world is, in some ways, my religion & where I see/feel 'God'. As an artist, I am very primarily self-taught; and I have been drawing since I could hold a crayon. I dig individualism and out-the-box modes of thought. I believe in honesty over phoniness. People who know me say I'm down-to-earth, practical, and easy to talk to. If you're a serious person with something to say, don't hesitate to mail me: I'm humble and approachable :)
Which Vincent Van Gogh painting are You?
You are the Banks of the Seine with Pont de Clichy in the Spring.You are bursting at the seams with life, energy, and a positive outlook. Just be careful not to overdue it or you'll become overwhelmed. Take this quiz!
Who I'd like to meet: Visual artists, creative souls, writers, thinkers, art lovers :)...
Please Note:
The number of artist-friends I have may make it seem otherwise, but I'm not here to win grand prize in a popularity contest with as many "adds" as possible. I'm here to make new friends and exchange ideas. We're all busy and life gets hectic, but if you're going to add me, let's actually converse once in a while - or else what's the point? :P
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. I give you my heart felt Gratitude for the GIFT of your friendship.
Chagall's pure and unconditional love for his first wife, Bella Rosenfeld (who died suddenly in 1944) haunts his earlier and part of his later art. I love his extraordinary use of colour and the loss of gravity that prevails in his work. ♥ Nana
Thanks so much for the wise words Liss :) And your beautiful photos and art - the dandelion is just exquisite! I am a mushroom; on whom the dew of heaven drops now and then.. (John Ford) x
Thank you Melissa! I love seeing your trees near your home. These are some from an enchanting area not far from my home as well. I stumbled on them while photographing an old windmill.....and went behind the structure and this entire woods of lined-up-trees was secretly there.......waiting for my discovery!!
