Summer Musings of a Distracted Artist

It is official. I am considered an Artist. Though several wonderful mentors have told me so repeatedly I have barely had time to get used to the whole idea and now it seems like it's official since I participated in my first Gallery showing last week. Even more solid proof is
that my artwork will be on public display in one place, an actual Gallery, until August 7th, 2023.

Are you artistic? If you have no interest in this subject, just skip down to "Time to Lighten Up" and read about my summer sale.

If so, is your mind full of ideas that engulf it, spin it into distracting visions on a daily basis, and make it nearly impossible for you to narrow down the best idea with which to engage?

Are artists supposed to prioritize projects to...

Prelude to Summer in Tucson

Hello to Friends far and wide,

Vacay - next week Nathan and I will leave Tucson for the first time since we moved here two years ago to visit an old haunt of ours -- The Vermillion Cliffs in Northern Arizona. Marble Canyon is a place there that we have been yearning to explore instead of just driving through it. My heart can feel that energy already. It still lives "up there". It's hard to explain what it feels like for a vortex to plant itself within your psyche. I'm bringing my GoPro (and maybe a few beads...) Stay tuned!

Blooms - Right now the roadside and the desert scrub is flowering in all shades of yellow on all kinds of plants which will take the rest of my life to learn the names of. Very soon, cactus flowers are going to follow suit and burst into flame with yellow, white, and red flowers. I am particularly drawn to the...

Writing it Down

Author’s Note: Life has forever changed from the Pandemic of 2019. My perspective on it continues to morph as I hear about friends sickened by it, friends vaccinated because of it, and those who choose not to participate. For at least the next 3 to 5 years, I think I’ll be reflecting on life after Covid-19 and the challenges and opportunities it has brought us. Some of us will be calling it the “new normal” for a very long time. Personally, I see no point in looking back at pre-pandemic living, just to ache for its return. It's time to move on...

There will never be a better time to start recording your thoughts and experiences than right now. It is never too late. There are many forms it can take. Write letters, write short stories, write a novel, author a blog. Depending on the amount of time you have on your hands, you... 

Moving into the Now Moment

Much has been written about the Now Moment so I'm not going to explain it here. I just want to say that I think I've been inducted into this special space in the past few weeks. I haven't had much to write about from a philosophical angle and I am not into writing a travel log or sharing all the daily details of life so I've been remiss in posting to my blog. I really haven't had much to say. Then it hit me this morning that I've been busy "being" instead of "doing". Yes, I've been active during many of the "being" moments but the joy in those moments has been constant and timeless.  To me timelessness resides in a Now Moment. There is no past and no future, just now.  This my life now. My goal is to keep it that way.

So for those not on Facebook, you've missed a number of posts that I will present here pictorially... while I was "being". We have continued to hike and, more recently, bike!  And I've made some phenomenal necklaces which you can see on my website.  I am working on connecting with retailers downtown to sell it all. I have to make room for more!  This one is my current favorite.

I'm learning to control my bike before I risk live and limb on local bike trails which exist all over St. George. Right now I ride the local neighborhood streets and do figure eights in the parking lot where we live. This is a biking town! It is energizing and youth-ifying...  (a made up word). 

Sunday morning's walk took us to the Crosby Family Confluence Park where the Santa Clara runs into the Virgin River. Some bike trails are shared with pedestrians (like us) but the bikes get priority. This helped us decide to go get some bikes.

The skies, clouds, and sunsets here are phenomenal...  Until next time, savor your Now Moments!

The Wall

No, not the wall you're thinking of. This wall, my wall, is in our living room that we are about to leave. It has been blank for over 3 years waiting for me to frame pictures and create a wonderful menagerie of artwork and crafty pieces to make some sort of artistic statement. I did all the mat board cutting and framing that I wanted to do. I just never hung them on the wall.

This week, as Nathan is closing up the yard he is finally getting to all the art projects he planned to do outside with leftover latex paint rescued from local recycling. Although his artistic technique has not changed, the colors schemes are totally different than others that have adorned our home over the years. I love them more than all the others he's done before!  Are they more precious now because we are leaving, he is losing his workspace, and I am giving up living space that I have nurtured for over 25 years?

The new pieces aren't even dry yet. Now I am left wishing that he had tackled them sooner so I could have put them up on the wall. But maybe I would not have, since I never got around to putting anything else up there. I guess there will always be some things that get put off until it's too late to do them. The message for me is that not everything in our lives will get completed, and as long as we are alive there is always something else to do! What does this say to you? If you can clarify the irony in all of this, please do.   

Now that I have fallen in love with them, I have spent half the day hoping we can find room for them in the car. That will not happen. Even if we could find room, there are layers of latex paint that are struggling to dry because "gobbing it on" is part of Nathan's technique. I've decided that I'll have to settle for remembering them in photos. Oh, and, of course, Nathan has assured me that he can always make more of them in the future. "But they won't look like these, honey!" And he likely won't get to them until the next time we are preparing to move on.  Sigh... 

My very favorite is the bottom one!