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.

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!

Whenever we begin something new, there’s a learning curve. Sometimes it’s steep, sometimes it’s just a bump in the road.

Learning to paint is no different — except some of us have horror stories of harried teachers being brutal regarding our youthful creations.

So, we try harder. We focus, we clench.
We hold the brush as if our life depended on it.

Back when we were little, our parents encouraged us to color inside the lines.

It took time, but we successfully filled in lots of coloring books.

What if you’re taking a class, you’re learning to paint, and you have to draw the images to be painted?

YIKES!

It’s okay to be nervous. It’s okay to wish you could go back to coloring inside the lines.

Resist this urge! 

Beginning watercolor students often start by painting next to the outside lines of their shapes.

They paint the outside of things before filling the inside.

This gives them a sense of security that the painted shapes will be clear, crisp, & recognizable.

Their shapes will be “just right” (cue Goldilocks & the Three Bears).

Did you know that watercolor paint begins to be absorbed into the paper as soon as the brush makes contact?

It’s true.

While you’re busy painting the outside edges, the inside has begun to dry.

By the time you paint the inside, it doesn’t match the outside.

Instead, start to paint inside your shape.

When you begin to paint from inside the shape to the outside edges, the inside stays fluid and matches the outside.

By keeping your brush in contact with the paper for as long as possible, you achieve a smooth application of paint.

Smooth paint helps us feel the gentle, serene flow of the painting.

Sometimes, when you start to paint the inside and work your way to the outside, the edges get a little sloppy.

That’s okay.

The more often you paint from the inside out, the faster you’ll understand that the inside doesn’t need finessing.

Paint your inside with the confident speed of anticipation & joy.

By quickly painting the inside, you’ll have more time to give to the outside.

The outside edges respond well when we slow down to give them the attention they deserve.

We’re not so very different from our paintings.

When we care for our inside, our outside — the bits that interact with the world — can relax.

Our Inside provides a solid foundation for our outside.