A better question is what don’t they have in common!

Math immediately came to mind, but that’s not true. Artists do use math, just not in the same way scientists use math.

Both scientists and artists use the scientific method of experimentation regularly.

Every time we begin a painting, a sculpture, a story, a dance, or a piece of music, we are experimenting.

We continually change our variables: color, tone, volume, temperature, meter, structure, etc. and we eagerly watch while creating to see what more we need to add, subtract, or change.

Artists are the constant variable in the equation of art.

Curiosity is a driver, a motivator of both science and art … What will happen if … How does X affect Y? (Math!)

I took my first art class in college (Art for Non-art Majors, while in the Nursing program) as a Pass/Fail course.

I had NO, I mean ZERO confidence in my abilities.

The real problem with the idea of pass/fail is that I no longer believe in failure.

The common, oft-repeated phrase is that Thomas Edison failed 10,000 times before discovering the tungsten light bulb.

Thomas Edison didn’t see it that way. He knew that he had discovered 10,000 things that didn’t work before discovering the thing that did work.

Imagination is not an option; it can’t be turned off. We all have one and we all use it daily.

Imagination is a tool we can use to help us or to hinder us.

We decide how we’re using our imagination with every option we weigh and with every decision we make.

Are you looking at your painting/sculpture/music/dance/life through the lens of possibilities or through the lens of pass/fail? You decide, every time!

Since we have the ability to learn from everything, failure isn’t really an option either.

There were myriad small changes made to this painting during the month that I painted it. Subtle yet important changes. My intention for this painting was to paint the energy of the ever-expanding universe.

“Death is one of many ways to lose your life.”  ~Alvah Simon

Losing yourself in the life of another is a way to “lose your life”.

Complacency is another, much more insidious way to “lose your life”!

It’s no coincidence that the quote above by Alvah Simon popped into my head during Thanksgiving Dinner. I hadn’t thought of it for 16 years and suddenly, there it was, clear as the day I first heard it in an NPR interview with Simon.

Simon wrote the book, “North to the Night” about his sailing trip to the Arctic Circle!

In 2000, his quote was my clarion call to move to Hawai`i to begin my life as a full-time professional artist.

Today it’s my call to keep moving and to take my career to the "next level".

My adventure begins anew!

I’ve always been independent. Mom says my independence began at the tender age of two.

Independence is often a good thing. Interdependence might just be better. It’s time for me to find out.

It’s time for me to create a team and to delegate some of the tasks I’ve been tackling on my own these last 16 years.

This is scary territory for me.

As a one-woman show, I’ve been responsible to and for ME. Soon I will be responsible to and for MORE.

I will be working with an outside team of experts in the fields of art and business to help me craft my new “Art of Aloha TEAM”. (Details to follow at a later date.)

I’m excited, nervous, thrilled, curious, hopeful, and scared — just the perfect place to be to move forward in bold brush strokes.

I hope you’ll join me on this new exciting journey, and invite your friends along too!

Together we can take new steps, test new creative waters, stretch a few boundaries, and bring a bit more life force energy into our lives.

If not now, when?

Let’s make 2017 the year we all shatter
our self-imposed “glass ceilings”!

We are not being called to DO More.

We are being called to BE MORE of Ourselves and to DO DIFFERENTLY.

The world is shifting in a myriad of ways.

This is the time of darkness in the Northern Hemisphere (and increasing Lightness in the Southern).

Those of us in the tropics experience the shift as well; it’s just more subtle. If you were to visit me today you might not notice the seasonal change, but those of us living here definitely do!

This time of year is traditionally used to let our lands lie fallow, giving them a chance to rest.

It’s also a time to let our minds mull over the past year; it’s a time of introspection.

At the beginning of 2016, I declared it the “second-coming” of Sweet Sixteen.
It was a chance for us to revisit our younger selves and to make any course correction we wanted to make.

What will 2017 bring? What do we want to see, to feel, to experience in 2017?

It’s up to us — it’s always up to each one of us!

Resist the distractions of the world around you.

Focus on what YOU WANT!

We have the opportunity to shine our lights brightly, to bring our desires into focus.

We must keep our eyes trained on the “prize” that we seek.

Don’t worry; we can’t get this “wrong”.

Opportunities abound each day.

“Do-Overs” are a natural part of the creative process.