On the road again.

The trip from Washington to Calufornia in the fall is food for the pallet of an artist. . It doesn't matter how often I make the trip, I never get bored, even in the " boring parts,", as my friends love to say, for each time I see new shapes, colors and textures.  My traveling companion chuckles as the adrenaline rush of a new shape, or cloud formation, or color, makes me squeal like a little kid. If you keep your eyes open, and survey your surroundings, you will see all manner of new things. Even if you hate road trips, you can make this an adventure, instead of boring hours cooped up in a car. Some of you will roll your eyes at this statement, but I believe it to be true, like I believe there is art in all of us. 

Rocks can sprout out of hills that had been invisible before the sun moved just a fraction of an inch in the sky.  . Suddenly they shine with light and create landscapes that seem unworldly.  Shadows on hills move the eye over depths of color in purples and blues and suddenly fade into a black crater of mystery. As an artist you can only hope to replicate these colors in the studio and capture the emotion, but, alas, it is not always easy.


I find travel to be one of our greatest gifts.  I just read an article that said that the milliniums really don't care much about gathering stuff, but more about gathering experiences.  I am lucky to have a partner that feels the same.  He would much rather take a trip, eat a fabulous meal, or maybe acquire a beautiful piece of art, then have a home flooded with "things".  There is much wisdom in that philosophy.  I don't care if I'm on a boat,plane,train or car, I am always fascinated by the shadows,colors, textures, sounds, smells, taste that surround me.  I fall deep into an abyss of wonder. and loose myself in the culture and drama that surrounds me. Perhaps I am influenced by the fact that I gave up art and travel for years, and my heart and mind are trying to make up for all that lost time.

This trip the sun shone so brightly on the snow peaked mountains that they glistened and felt within reach. As the wheels roll down the highway, my mind explodes with possibilities.  I see myself in the studio creating the scenes that have floated past me; color, texture, shadow and light work together in perfect harmony to create a kaleidoscope of design possibilities.

Small town's, sometimes with only three buildings creep up on you unexpectedly and provide the perfect little church sitting in a field, or a barn that looks like the whisper of a breeze could knock it down. .  I have so many shots of silos, animals,old gas stations and people,(usually kids) and building after building after building.  What are the stories?

Next I will share some of my trip from Singapore to Dubai.  Speaking of smells, taste, textures, color and people, oh my the people....

Fall Brings Changes

Fall Brings Changes

Many people begin the new year with new and fresh thoughts. It is an obvious new beginning. You wipe away the old as the year fades into oblivion and you promise yourself a great new future, as if you are cradling a new baby and see infinite possibilities.  It makes perfect sense to project life and new beginnings in this manner and time of year.

My changes always seem to take place in the fall. The leaves on tress begin to dance with color and I hear them beckoning me out into the world.  Paint me; take a walk, snuggle with a book, or just gaze out the window and think of the winter sliding into your life.  I love the first frost of winter and how the sun can peak out and create a glaze on the earth as if it has been sprinkled with fairy dust. Life has led me in a different direction these days,  and so I rarely build a snow man or toss a snowball, or slide around on icy sidewalks.  In winter you will see me walking among  Palm Trees as I gaze at stars on a sidewalk. Palm Springs and its myriad of happy hours, golfing and plein air painting has now become my winter playground.  Nonetheless my changes are just as relevant as my snowy winters skating on snow in the Northwest.   My snowing nights and visions of snow on the butte have turned into sunsets over the San Jacinto Mountains that literally take your breath away.  Just when you think you have seen the most magnificent sunset in the world, you are gifted with yet another the very next night.  How could you not be inspired?  Each winter in each place is a gift, and as an artist they stir that creative bubble lurking just below the service.

What I have learned is that life is never stagnant.  I have a friend that likes to say, "if you want to make God laugh, make a plan!"  How often do I hear the lament , "if only"; if only we had taken that dream trip; if only I had said I loved you more ; if only I had been kind; if only we had not let life slip through our fingers?   If you have read my different blogs over the years, then you have journeyed with me on this rigorous path of laments, grief, sadness, joy, adventure and new beginnings, always, always new beginnings. Art has sustained me through it all. It has enveloped me in its arms and given me strength

and great joy. I am so thankful to look at life through this lens. 

Recently I found a new path and so I begin fall with great hope and expectations.  As I weave my way around critical aspects of daily life, I will be ingesting a heavy dose of discipline to be more creative: paint and write and learn to have fun again.  Oh, I know, if you follow my social media, it all looks like fun, but that is only the character that appears on those pages.  Inside is a ghost that is looking at life stream by at a steady pace and needs to slam on the brakes and smell that proverbial rose. 

I will try to keep myself honest and , if you know me, help me on this new path.  Call me out. Ask me if I have painted are written a word lately. Sometimes we need a captain to guide us through the fog. 

As I said no to many things,, I am saying yes to me. 

Hope along on the ride.  I need all the help I can get.

With time comes Growth

With Time Comes Growth
Lost in Thought

I recently received a notice from Google about my blog...oh my, my blog!  It has been almost three years since I spent anytime writing for growth.  I wrote articles about art and decorating, but nothing personal has crossed from brain to fingers to paper.  It was only recently that I realized that I have been growing, not necessarily up, but nonetheless, growing.  We think that we are "all grown up",but I seriously believe that we are always on a path of growth.  

In three years I have allowed myself the ability to accept and forgive.  I allowed myself the time to experience new beginnings and many, many endings. Unfortunately, with growth and age, comes the loss of so many family and friends.  Also, sadly, not all those friends were old, or ill, or decrepit or sick. Some went with love and peace, some with pain, some suddenly and some with great anger. 

Our souls decry the need for nourishment. It is with hope that I feel we need to stuff that fire each day with things that can feed that soul.  Often this means moving forward in a field that enriches us with each day, but might be a bit frightening to the self that likes the status level of the known and comfortable.  I find myself taking that cozy little ride to the overstuffed chair and a good book much more often then not.  I crave the desire to jump over the ottoman and reach for the sky, but that takes so much more energy then I am feeling right now.....a common refrain.

My fraternal grandfather never retired, or should I say, retired many times, only to start another business.  I was 17 when I saw him riding around on a tracker, having retired from his last business and starting a nursery out of boredom.  My grandmother said that she thought he would just pass onto heaven, fedora on head, and take that tracker right with him.  She came real close to that prediction. He had a heart attack one sunny afternoon, riding his beloved tracker, but, alas, he left the tracker behind.

He never once said that he didn't have the talent, energy or fortitude to try something new.  In fact, if he had never experienced something, all the more reason to give it a try. My grandmother stayed right by his side in every adventure, and, although we thought she would pass shortly after he, she lived to be well into her 90's and had twenty years of more adventure then granddad.  

My path lately has been the rocky road of volunteering.  As I built my career, raised a son, ran two businesses, gave dinner parties for my career climbing husband, I didn't have time to give of myself freely....ha ha, did I just say that?  Of course, I meant, outside those responsibilities.  After the death of my husband, I jumped head first into volunteering .Although  I am still a bit involved in projects of others,  but have learned to grow from those jobs and explore territory that I never deemed possible. I am not learning  to find spare time for myself. 

I built a little studio a few years ago, and only spend about six months a year in that location, but love the ability to leave a project out for scrutiny and change.My studio is named "Maison de Della", after a store I once owned, for I love to say...."I'll be out there soon Della and we will create works of art."

Enough for now, but next we will talk about Della.