As adults, most of us are used to knowing what’s happening and what we can expect to happen next. Now we’re not so sure.

Now we’re not feeling so nimble and quick. Now we’re a bit more hesitant and if we’re honest, frightened.

“Journey” began with this image on a piece of paper left over from the under-painting of “Hitch Up to Your Own Special Star”

Now we’re in the “Uncomfort Zone” at a time when we expected to feel comfortable.

Maybe it’s time to “Get Curious!”

Stage one: paint is painted on 300# wet watercolor paper. Then we wait to see what happens.

Comfort and complacency shut curiosity down.

Curiosity offers new and different answers, complacency isn’t looking for new or different anything!

When we feel complacent, there’s no room for innovation, revolution, transition, or transformation.

When we’re complacent, we desire “same old/same old” to stay safe.

Now we’re finding out what happens when “same old/same old” isn’t “safe.”

The Journey begins with painting what “I know to paint.” I rely on the painting to show me.

Our cataclysmic shift began seemingly overnight. We’re still adjusting. Nothing has settled, and it could be some time before it does.

We’re being changed. We’re learning to adapt.

The degree of adaptation we’re enduring as adults is HUGE compared to the kinds of mini-adaptations we’ve been making throughout our lives.

The last time we had to adapt to anything remotely close to this level of change was when we were learning to walk, talk, or write.

Back then, we had help and the patience of elders guiding us along the way.

We have friends now and scary as it sounds, many of us are the elders.

I was expecting a volcano when suddenly a dragon appeared!

As elders, it’s time to tap into our inner wisdom so we can share it with those seeking comfort or wisdom.

We don’t have to be right all the time — or for everyone. What we think, say, and do does matter.

It’s time to open to the reality that although each of us is an individual, we share a common humanity, a common need for love and acceptance.

Everything that has happened to date, has done so one moment at a time.

We still take one breath at a time. We’re simply people doing the best that we can as we navigate this
strange new world.

Be kind. Be gentle, Be open, Be curious.
Be the love that you are, through and through.

We’re in a new phase of evolution right now. It’s time to trust our Inner Infinite Wise Selves. We all have one.

Journey: Looking Back, Moving Forward

Get in touch with your Inner Infinite Wise Self — and ask questions.

When I take a walk, I take photos of the things that capture my attention. I’m amazed at all of the new things I see on the very same walk I take several times a week.

These photos are clues to what’s going on inside of me, just below the surface of my consciousness awareness.

This week, as I slogged through my days, I asked myself what I wanted to do — not what I had to do, but what I wanted to do.

It’s a true luxury to be able to ask these things.

While it’s not a luxury to be without the income I had when visitors were here buying my art, time is a true luxury.

As a result, I’ve been painting, writing, and reading more. The paintings have a new and different quality to them.

Thoughts of old creative ideas have bubbled up to the surface again, bringing joy with them.

I’ve begun to work on a Coloring Story Book that’s been languishing in the clouds for six years!

I’m glad I had as much of it done before I stopped. Now, with fresh eyes and renewed enthusiasm, I’m ready to play with it again.

Two other coloring or storybook ideas have jumped back into my life with an eagerness I wasn’t expecting.

The weird thing is that these ideas jump in whenever there’s a lull in my attention. Heck, they jump in whenever they want to. It’s up to me to take note before they jump back out of my awareness!

These are difficult times for all of us to varying degrees and for a variety of reasons.

The lean years, the tough times can either wear us down or build our resilience.

That doesn’t mean it’s easy. You can begin with simply noticing what’s around you, what’s capturing your attention, and where your curiosity takes you.

This is the time to “Hitch Up to Your Own Special Star”.

We might have, in the past, tried to “Hitch Up” to someone else’s star, and while that might have been the right thing to do then (emphasis on the word might), it’s clear now that listening to our own inner wisdom is a much better idea.

We each have a guiding star within. Follow that star, Your Star.

Most paintings have a background, a foreground, and often, though not always, a middle ground. The middle ground helps us traverse through the painting, stitching the foreground and background together with a smooth transition.

When we begin to paint, we’re often so captivated by the foreground, the subject matter of our painting, that we neglect the background.

The foreground is where the focal point “lives.” That’s where we often spend the majority of our time sketching and painting.

Sometimes we’re so excited to start painting that we forget to include the background in our planning. While a background isn’t absolutely necessary, especially in illustrations, it does help complete a painting.

Here you see the drawing created first, with the under painting showing through.

The background supports the foreground. It’s the backdrop upon with the focal point appears. It can provide clues as to where the subject of the painting lives or, in the case of a subject with eyes and a face, how it feels, its emotional makeup.

We want our paintings to feel complete and whole unto themselves. Our options for reaching our goal are many. Each painting is different, so each painting could have dozens of different backgrounds. Choices must be made.

Notice the Background fade as the flower comes into focus. The colors beneath the flower mix with the red petals to create various shades of red.

“By Torch Light” began with a sketch of the flower. I then chose to create a very light wash as an underpainting on top of the sketch.

Once the wash dried, I focused all my attention on the flower itself until it was painted to my satisfaction.

Buds once drawn on the paper were erased by this point, the background is still quite light.

With the flower finished, the background called out for more attention. First I got the paper wet, being careful to not get the flower wet, and then added more intense colors to the background.

This was scary! I wasn’t sure how well it would work.

The background is being brought up to speed with the intensity of the foreground flower.

The Ginger pleased me and there was the possibility that I’d mess it up.

Unless I did something to bring the foreground together with the background, it was destined to be “just a piece of paper” with paint on it — not a finished painting.

With yet another wash of color to the background and more “love” on the stem, the Background and Foreground of “By Torch Light” are now of equal intensity.

June 2, 2020 is my 20th Birthday — as an artist!

20 years ago, on June second, I moved to Hawaii to housesit for my friend Sarah — and, more importantly, to become the artist I’d always wanted to be.

Long story, short, I’d wanted to draw, paint, and sculpt — to be an ARTIST, all my life, but …

a very wet beginning for a new painting

I was afraid.

I was afraid I wasn’t good enough. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to make a living making art. I was afraid no one would want my paintings. I was afraid I wouldn’t have anything to say with my art. I was afraid whatever I said wouldn’t matter.

I have moments, hours, sometimes even days of feeling like I have something to contribute. And I have moments, hours, and days of feeling that I don’t.

I believe this is all part of being human. Though our reasons may vary, we all have days of great joy and days of great despair.

Writing and painting allow me to sort out my feelings and find a purpose for my life. We all want to feel that our life has meaning.

We’re all weary of these COVID times. There are lots of reasons to feel tired, worn out, exhausted, you name it. AND this is a marathon, not a sprint.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never even been tempted to sign up to run a marathon!

The painting continues to emerge

Yet here we are, living in a marathon.

One way to make this easier on ourselves is to Stop Complaining.

Rather than commiserating and compounding our pain through sharing, we can look for and find things to be grateful for.

We can retain our power rather than giving it away to the complaint we’re about to make.

Complaining can be a way to sneak out of our responsibility to take care of ourselves.

Instead of complaining, look for ways to feel better about what is — or for ways to make what is better.

This space between the cone and the sphere is essential for the degree of movement needed

No! It’s not an easy fix.

Yes! It takes work to shift our habits of thought.

AND we can do this!

As it sinks into our brains that the world is fundamentally changing, that the sands are shifting beneath our feet, it’s up to each of us to learn new ways to balance ourselves out.

There is no going back, there’s no back to go back to!