Four years ago, I began to photograph sidewalk cracks. The patterns caught my attention.

I noticed them.

Six months ago, sidewalk cracks became an obsession. Every day I noticed new patterns. It was as though the sidewalks were speaking to me.

I envisioned painting a series of “Sidewalk Moments” abstract paintings.

My practical persona chimed in, eager to paint something that could reach more people, so I waited.

Recently, I noticed heliconia in yards where I hadn’t seen them before.

Eager to paint the flowers, I decided to incorporate the sidewalks with them, thinking they’d be a neutral background allowing the showy colors to shine.

A puzzled friend asked,

”Why sidewalks?
What are you trying to say?”

I thought I was simply painting patterns until it dawned on me while talking with Mari at the Art Kiosk at the Hilton —

I’m painting stress fractures!

That’s when I realized that the cracks in the sidewalks are showing me the ways in which the fabric of life has been stressed —

for - so - very - long.

It’s true of the world as a whole,
and of each of us individually.

Stress comes from the inside and the outside; from “underneath,” through underground movements in the earth, in our thoughts, the stories we tell ourselves — and from the movements “above ground,” in our outer world.

When we grow and stretch internally, we rub up against the outside world and feel stress.

We've been under compounded, compressed stress for 14 months; we're becoming inured to it.

Not a good thing.

Self-care is crucial. Even more than self-care, we must become aware of the stories we’re telling ourselves and one another.

Are your stories helpful or hurtful?

How do you feel when you tell them?

If you’re feeling a thrill of adrenaline, you might be tapping into collective fears.

True fear is an important feeling.

Heliconia Sidewalk is currently with the photographer/printer. Soon to be found in the Abstract and Fresh Paint Florals Portfolios

It’s good to know the source of your fear.

Fears generated by stories vs. things currently present in life can be detrimental to our physical and mental well-being.

Drawing is often, though not always, the foundation of a painting.

If you want your painting to closely resemble your subject, you’ll sketch or draw it before you apply paint to paper.

Sketching refers to a loose, unfinished drawing meant to give you an idea of the placement and general shapes involved.

Drawing refers to a closer representation of your subject, with or without details.

The act of drawing sensitizes your hand/eye coordination and hones your ability to see what’s really before you.

Drawing is a way to develop “Sherlock Holmesian” superpowers of observation and discovery.

Whenever you learn anything, receptivity is a prerequisite.

Open to expanding your sense of self and your abilities.

When drawing or painting, slowing down and moving your awareness from head to heart is a great place to start.

As technology continues to speed up access to our world, we’ve been speeding up right along with it.

Consciously slowing your awareness when drawing and painting is a gift to yourself, and to those around you.

Grounding yourself with a few deep, cleansing breaths before you start your creative endeavor is a calming way to begin.

One of my college drawing instructors once said,

“You each have 100,000 bad drawings inside of you, the sooner you get them out onto paper, the sooner you’ll get to the good ones.”

It takes time to sharpen your drawing or painting skills.

It’s time well spent!

While doing so, you’ll be practicing a form of open-eyed, mindful meditation.

Drawing and painting are my favorite ways to meditate — actually, along with walking, they’re the only ways I meditate!

I bought my first cat for 99¢ at Maxwell Street Days when I was six.

 My family knew I wanted a cat. I’d been told that when “so-and-so’s” cat had kittens, I’d get one. I waited — f-o-r-e-v-e-r.

When I saw “Butterball” at the street fair, I  knew she was mine. 

It takes time for cats to have kittens and more time for kittens to be weaned. Time means nothing to a six-year-old.  

Time is Elastic.

Sometimes it “races,” other times, it “drags on.”   

The way you spend your time determines its elasticity. Maybe you experienced both dragging and speeding time this year. 

Life is still shifting, and there’s a lot to consider.

My first “Balancing Act” was painted in 2014 (clearly, this is an on-going quest.)

 While we coped with life under social lockdown, changes took place within and around us.

 As I begin to face the outside world again, I’m not sure I’m ready.

Are you ready?

How do you want to move forward in your life and career?
(Notice, life before career!)

What do you want it to look like? How do you want to feel?

What did you realize this past year that you didn’t know before?

Life is in constant flux. We’re constantly recalibrating and balancing.

Even when we’re standing still, balance keeps the ever-moving molecules of our body working in unison. Fortunately, our body keeps track of that.

It’s up to us to consciously balance the rest of life.

We now have the opportunity to consciously balance ourselves, our interactions with others, and our planet.

I’m not interested in moving in crazy circles just because I can. I’m looking for a better way to live, not a crazier one.

Let’s focus on what it is that we do want to create and move toward that.

Let’s notice results and base next actions upon desired results.

Copy. Paste. Repeat.

A few years ago, exhausted from living my dream of being an artist, a good friend reminded me why I’m on this journey.

I wondered if I’d made a mistake by moving so far from home to make my dream come true. Had I given up the wrong things — my home, a relationship, close friends, and family ties — all to live 5,000 miles away to be an artist?

She said she didn’t think so. That for as long as she’d known me, over 30 years, all I’d ever talked about was being an artist.  

I’d forgotten that!

At that moment, she refocused me on my return trip to Hawaii.

Seeding the Stars is an Analogy for Creating Dreams

Living in Hawaii has been wonderful in many ways, and difficult in others. No matter what decisions we make in life, something has to “go” in order to give life to something else. After all, the root of the word decide means “to cut off.”

The world isn’t a big fan of dreamers. If it were, more dreams would come true!

The world isn’t a fan of change either — and change almost always accompanies dreams.

The collective unconscious is like the great Mississippi, the Amazon, or the Nile — dividing consciousness instead of continents. As it sweeps with us through life, our dreams can be tossed and turned in watery emotions and jumbled thoughts.

Dreams are real.

Their purpose is to shift us forward in our quest for expansion and growth.

We are a part of nature, not separate from it. All of nature is constantly expanding, seeking more growth, bringing more change. Try stopping growth in one area and it burgeons forth in another.

While dreams might feel singular to the person having them, they’re actually held by scores of individuals at once.  Thus, when you think of a fresh idea, you’re surprised to hear it echoed in the words of another halfway around the world.

Our dreams are as connected as we are.

If a dream were a virus, it would infect each of us differently as it searched for a place to take hold, for a source to feed it to fruition.

For some of us, this dream would alter life as we’d strive to make it come true. For others, it might be a mild niggling thought of interest that never quite takes root. Still, others would think of it as a strange dream they had one night, and others forget it altogether.

A dream can become woven so deeply into the fabric of your life that it becomes an invisible piece of who you are. A symbiotic relationship is formed between host and dream.

When that happens, the responsible thing to do is to follow your dream. Allow it to lead you to unimagined places of location and thought.

You will be changed in ways you couldn’t have foretold. But then that happens throughout life whether or not you follow your dream.

Life is risky.

Another word for risk is Adventure. It’s a shift of perspective. 

To follow one’s dream is to buck the current of consciousness in which you were raised.

You might go against “the flow” until you realize you can simply step outside that flow.

With one sideways step at a time, you’ll inch your way to the nearest guidepost. From there, your next step will be revealed.

 Eventually, you’ll find your own personal stream. After a while it becomes your river, your own flow to be followed, leading you to the next leg of your next adventure. 

By following your impulse to jog left when the current of those around you jogs right, you’ll likely be following your soul’s dream for you. 

Following dreams isn’t always easy or rewarding. No matter how long it takes to reach your dream, following it can be the very best use of your time.  

Dreams are harbingers of changes to come. If you’re out ahead of the pack, your dreams might be of the utmost importance to you and to those around you — perhaps even to those who have yet to hear of you. 

You might take some “wrong” turns until you adjust to this “new” way of living and intuit your own next right action.  

Keep going. Nurture your dream, mature; and change along with it on your journey through life. 

Your dream might not seem like much at times, but it might just mean the world to others.

Take your opportunity, follow YOUR dream!