Why does it cost so much?

A lot of people want to own good art but they balk at the price.
What are you getting for your money?

Why do you buy art?
Is it for an investment, or to create the living space that we want, be it for the home or office.
When you are decorating your home, do you just want to fill a blank space or are you looking for something that tells people a bit about yourself, through your style and your interests?
Are you looking to create a certain atmosphere? Do you want the room to be inviting, to stimulate conversation, to relax yourself and others, to create a healing space within the chaos of life?

If you are looking to do any of the above except just filling a blank wall I would encourage you to look at real art, not mass produced wall fillers.

When I take an image I am trying to create an image that will bring the healing and peace of nature to those who invest in my art. I want to increase their quality of life as well as their wellness. I try to capture not just the image, but also the feeling of the place I am photographing.

People often have no idea what it cost me personally to take an image. I have fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis, so any activity I undertake costs me in pain and in the reduction of anything else I can do, but for me it also brings me healing and enables me to feel that I still have something to contribute to society.

Once I have taken the picture, the art work has only just begun. I process the image so that the feeling of the place comes through. I make sure that the image itself is of the highest quality and I create the final image with love and add healing to each image.
I am a Reiki master and as such I add distance healing to my images so that no matter where you are when you are viewing it, it will bring you the healing you need.

Strange I hear you say.

I believe that nature has a great healing ability on its own, but I realize that when we are out in nature it is the energy of the place that also helps with that healing, so with reiki I add this energy back to the image so it becomes a living work.
Something that will bring you a lifetime of health and pleasure.

As such I only have my images produced to the highest quality while at the same time keeping my prices as affordable as possible. Most businesses add a 100%+ markup on everything they sell. I add between 25% and 50%. I am able to offer such good prices because for me this is a gift I am able to give you. I use the money I earn to keep updating my skills and equipment and am supported financially by other means.

I hope this blog encourages you to look for art that will do more than decorate a room, but that will be an investment in you health and wellbeing as well.

This is an example of my "Healing Art- Waterfalls on Uluru" set in a lounge area

If you require a specialized size please email me & I can organize what you require and send you pricing for it.
My artwork can be viewed at the Busselton Art Gallery or at http://www.juliakharwood.redbubble.com/

Are you an angel who has lost his/her way

We are all devine beings walking this earth, but sometimes we forget where we came from or what our purpose is.

This is how I see myself sometimes, a devine being come to earth, cold in a snowstorm and yet there is a beautiful ray of light and love reaching down to me from above, letting me know I am never alone. 

Neither are you ever alone, if we will just stop for a moment and feel the love that is reaching down to us, we will be able to go on, knowing that somewhere, somehow there is a purpose and a reason for our being and it is our job to remember what that is.

May heavens light warm and guide you.

Overcoming pain with love, laughter, and help from above!

Do you suffer with chronic pain? Pain that drives you to despair at times, pain that others cannot understand? Have you tried all the medical options and been told. "Sorry we can't help, you'll just have to learn to live with it"? I do, I have severe osteoarthritis and fybromyalgia and am only 47. Yet despite the odds, I have learned to live with it and how to laugh again. Come on the journey with me and I will show you how. It's FREE, and available to each of you. It is not religion or theoretical platitudes, it is real life and what has worked for me.

"Overcoming pain with love, laughter, and help from above!"

When I say these things people look at me very strangely. How do you overcome pain with love?
I can only relate personal experience and from that experience I have come to learn that if we rage against our pain, which is so often the natural thing to do, then it just becomes worse and we become frustrated and angry.
If we can instead look at our pain, especially those of us with chronic pain, as our friend, as someone who is with us all the time. It is a constant companion, so instead, choose to send it love.

When the pain comes, it is trying to tell us that it's crying out to be loved. So send it love.
As you do that you will find that laughter returns to your life because you will see that in spite of the pain you are able to laugh at life knowing that it is your friend, it's not something that you can change, it's not something to get rid of, it's something to embrace. By that I don't mean making it more than it is, I don't mean hanging on to it, I mean letting it go, loving it for what it is, when it's there and when it's not being joyful and happy.
About now I can hear you say, "She's nuts, who would want to embrace pain?" But for a moment keep an open mind while I explain. I am not talking about clinging to pain or making pain a crutch or becoming a hypochondriac, I am talking about chronic pain that is with you all the time and that Doctors and medical science seem so ill equipped to deal with.

As I mentioned in the title, 'help from above', this is NOT religion, this is not ideology or theology, to me 'help from above' is the real help from the universe, from the creator of the universe. All around us in this world there are things that can help us, for me, that help has come from nature. Being out in nature, being able to photograph nature, and to be able to share it with others and to give something back of what has been given to me.
When I take my camera and I absorb myself in taking a photo out in nature, or even when I am sitting at the computer, working on my images, creating the artwork that I do, I become lost in what I am doing and I feel alive again. I feel that I have a purpose, I feel that the pain has given me something beautiful that I would never have found otherwise. At times when the pain becomes so much that I struggle to find the love to give it that it needs, I ask for help from above. I ask that the white light would pour love into that pain and that the pain would be able to step forward into the white light and I hand it over from me to God, or for others, to the universe, to release it and then rest in the arms of love. That to me is who God is, not religion, not theology but pure precious love.
I hope by sharing this with you that you too will be able to find it in yourself to love your pain, to learn to laugh again and when it becomes to much, to call on the love from above to help you get through.

Look for something that is special for you, be it sitting out in nature, be it looking at artwork or doing some yourself. Be it appreciating what others do for us. We each have our own passion. It may be sitting in a garden or sitting on the beach, it may be spending time with family. Whatever it is for you, find that thing and recognize it for what it is. If you struggle with this, then again, ask for help from above, that's how I discovered my photography, I opened myself up to suggestion and said, "Please help me, let me find something that will take me through this journey" and I found my photography.

I encourage you to do the same. Pain can be debilitating, it can be heart breaking, it can be soul destroying, if we allow it to be, but we can turn it around and we can love it, we can know that it is part of us that is hurting, that needs love far more than any other part, so give it that love, listen to the pain, rest when you need to, don't struggle against it, flow with the river instead of fighting against it. and let yourself be free, finally free to be all that you can be.

Peace Postcard

I received an email today that included a peace postcard that I would like to share with you. It was from Teri Williams of Theblissnetwork.com
1. Strive for peace from the inside out - breathe and meditate
2. Smile at everyone you see, including animals
3. Listen to music for the pure joy of it
4. Give to another each day, no matter how big or small
5. Do what you can each day to create peace for yourself and others.

A Beautiful Prayer

I asked God to take away my pain and bad luck.
God said, "No, it is not for me to take away, but for you to give it up."

I asked God to make my handicapped child whole,
God said, "No, his spirit is whole, his body is only temporary."

I asked God to grant me patience,
God said, "No, patience is a by product of tribulations, it isn't granted, it is learned."

I asked God to give me happiness,
God said, "No, I give you blessings, happiness is up to you."

I asked God to spare me pain and depression,
God said, "No,suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to me."

I asked God to make my spirit grow,
God said, "No, you must grow on your own, but I will prune you to make you fruitful."

I asked God for money and all things that I might enjoy in life,
God said, "No, I will give you life, so that you may enjoy all things."

I asked God to help me LOVE others, as much as he loves me,
God Said...."Ahhhhhh, finally you have the idea."

Today is yours, don't throw it away.
 May God bless you

To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.

~unknown~

I leave these words with you that they may bring you hope and encouragement.

Christmas gifts for all ages

Christmas is nearly here and people are finishing their Christmas shp. Ususaly it's the hard to buy for that are left till last. I was listening to a programme on the radio the other day and they had a young man, 25, on and he was saying that as he lived in a unit, he didn't have room for lots of stuff and it was difficult to know what to do with things people gave him. I was interested to hear this as it was also a comment I had heard from a lot of people in the older demographic who had downsized, so what do you get them????
Some ideas that came out of the discussion were

• Art - it could be hung on the wall and was something good to remember people by.
• Experiences - Something that they could do that they might not otherwise think of or have the funds for.
• Dining out vouchers - giving them time they could spend with their loved one.

One thing that a couple had received was a weekend away, nice gift, but out of the price range of a lot of people. He said it was great to get in touch with nature and have some time to de-stress, which is fantastic if you can manage the time off. But what do you do for those you know can't get time off or can't leave the kids, how can you give them a gift that will help them?

One answer is "Healing Art". Art that goes on the wall, so doesn't take up floor space and that gives them the healing gift of nature without them having to even leave home.

Studies have shown that spending time looking at images of nature helps you to de-stress and gives you a greater sense of community, so you are then more likely to make time for your family and friends whereas otherwise it may not have been a priority.

So if you are interested in experiences I would recommend Red Balloon or if you would like Healing Art then check out Red Bubble.

My site on Red Bubble is http://juliakharwood.redbubble.com so you can check out my healing art, but there are also lots of other great artists on there too. They also sell gift vouchers.

Remember at the end of it all if you are feeling stressed and worn out, give yourself a gift by allowing yourself some time out in nature, even if its sitting outside with a cuppa or if your stuck in the office, have a look at some nature images on your computer and allow nature to work her magic!!!

What's your word?

I am currently reading "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert and I found a particular passage got me thinking. In it her Italian friend says we each have a word that describes who we are in our life at the moment.
Let me start with an excerpt from the book.
"Don't you know that the secret to understanding a city and its people is to learn - what is the word of the street." If you could read people's thoughts as they were passing you on the streets of any given place, you would discover that most of them are thinking the same thought. Whatever the majority thought might be - that is the word of the city. And if your personal word doesn't match that of the city, then you really don't belong there.
It went on to say Rome's word is "Sex", The Vatican's word is "Power", New York's "achieve", Los Angeles is "Succeed"
So what is your word?