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World Lupus Day increases awareness of lupus and helps gather support for the more than 5 million people affected by this condition worldwide. Lupus is a serious, life-altering autoimmune disease that can affect any organ of the body. Lupus is a disease which remains under-recognized and under-appreciated. 

An autoimmune disease is one in which the immune system is unable to recognize the difference between healthy cells in the body and the foreign cells it fights to remove. A healthy immune system produces antibodies which attack and destroy foreign and invasive cells like viruses, bacteria and germs.

However, in people with lupus, the immune system creates auto antibodies which destroys healthy tissue. The consequence of this can be widespread, causing damage, inflammation and pain throughout the body. Lupus is a potentially fatal disease. Most organs and other parts of the body can be affected, including the brain, heart, lungs, kidneys and skin.

The butterfly is often chosen to represent the disease of Lupus as a symbol or logo.
“The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.” ~Rabindranath Tagore 

I created this repeat pattern design inspired from a fused glass tile that I previously made.

To see some more wonderful butterfly designs created for this purpose please visit:
NICE and FANCY a surface pattern design blog by Dawn Clarkson. 
Over there you will encounter a fabulous swarm of butterfly designs that have been submitted from all over the word to celebrate this World Lupus Day 2013!

“Happiness is a butterfly,
which when pursued,
is always just beyond your grasp, but which,
if you will sit down quietly, it may alight upon you.”
~Nathaniel Hawthorne

Last night I shut the lights off at 8:30 pm and joined the global event of “Earth Hour” that was taking place. Thousands of people all over the world were turning their lights off for one hour, and I too was participating once again in this event. But little did I know that I was going to discover something very wondrous this time.

I decided to sketch for one hour under the lights of a few candles and savor how it felt to create under these circumstances of limited light. It was a simple set-up, nothing extravagant.

The set up was 4 candles, because I found that one candle wasn’t enough, then to proceed simply, since I really couldn’t see very well. I got my long, landscape style sketchbook and planned on using just pen and pencil, since real appreciation of color was difficult due to the dim light. I also set up a vase of dried out daffodils from last year, they seemed like made from paper, fragile and delicate.

It was a beautiful feeling, “creating under candlelight”, truly relaxing. The perception of shapes were dictated by shadows and translucencies, very dreamy indeed. I had to peer intensely so to focus and see a shape more clearly, my whole perception really changed dramatically, it was an awesome reality! Even the camera acted very differently with the touch of metallic gold paint that I decided to use in the end, it really captured it’s glow.

I have decided now to give myself this opportunity again,
…since it ended up being a magical, almost an unearthly Artist Date!

A candle loses nothing by lightning another candle. ~James Keller

Visit: http://www.slideshare.net/sandeepchhaya/candles-light-and-inspiration

Earth Hour…
…is a worldwide event organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and held towards the end of March annually, encouraging households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights for one hour to raise awareness about the need to take action on climate change.
The event, conceived by WWF and Leo Burnett, first took place in 2007, when 2.2 million residents of Sydney participated by turning off all non-essential lights. Following Sydney’s lead, many other cities around the world adopted the event in 2008.

“People from all walks of life, from all nations around the world, are the lifeblood of the Earth Hour interconnected global community. They have proven time and time again that if you believe in something strongly enough,
you can achieve amazing things!

Earth Hour 2013 is being tonight on March 23, 2013 from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. during participants’ local time.

I will be participating.

ARE YOU?

A Vision for Asking and Giving 

As the new paradigm opens up before us, we see a world where people realize that everyone needs help on occasion, and that asking for it is one of the best ways for us to receive the things we want and need in our lives. Not only do we ask for help from our fellow travelers, but we also have learned that it is wise for us to ask Great Oneness / God / The Holy Spirit / for help and direction when we feel lost or confused or unsettled.

Now, all shame and guilt is gone as we freely ask for the support we need. All resistance to our receiving has disappeared – and another by-product of our asking has come to the surface: the people who help us are presented with opportunities that they need to further their own growth processes. Indeed, there are many in our world who benefit greatly from being asked for help, because it allows them to practice giving and enjoy all the rewards that their giving brings to them.

Such is the way of the new world. The Love which is born out of the cycle of asking and giving is known to all, accepted by all, and practiced by all. As a result, our selfishness and turned to selflessness, and our feeling of being alone has turned to a feeling of being at One.
 

VISIT:  http://www.visionalignmentproject.com/totalalignments.html