Looking Forward...

"Peace I give to you..."

I love change.  I think that's one of the reasons I enjoy painting.  It allows me to enter other places, moments, experiences, or emotions without leaving my easel.  It allows change whenever I want it without the ramifications that literal changes bring.  But there are times that call for a drastic and profound adjustment of some element in life.  I think I'm at one of those cross-roads and I've stepped out, making a major change in my lifestyle, a change that will affect my artwork.


I first began the near daily practice of watercolor painting when I was working full-time as a school teacher.  I looked forward to several hours an evening spent painting at a little table in our family room.  I could talk with my husband, watch TV, or listen to music,  while creating little worlds of whimsical characters, animals, gardens, and home life.  


That was before children began filling that life with much of the magic I was painting from imagination.  They became new material, fresh subject matter for the painting hours I would desperately try to cling to.  As a stay-at-home mom, I learned to paint between the distractions and demands of daily living.  I continued to paint as my children grew...


My life has been Artist-Between-Mom-and-Other-Roles for over twenty five years.  More recently I have had the luxury of undisturbed painting hours in an actual studio and I've grown in technical skill as a result.  I love what I do, but there is something missing in my life.  So I have taken a job as a secretary for the small ten-grade school my youngest son attends.  I'm anxious for challenge and an opportunity to serve.  I look forward to an actual, predictable paycheck.  And I know that my days will be filled with new inspiration: the magic of children.


I like the Squeeze-it-in approach to painting.  I think I did some of my best work, art from a heart response, when I had less formal time to do it.  I want a life that is full of giving, teaching and sharing so that I will produce paintings that have the same essence.


There will be fewer paintings completed and I may hang on to more of them for my own enjoyment, but I hope you will join me in looking forward.  Let's find out what Life will have to illustrate next...