Summer is Over

Well, it's been awhile since i last showed up here. So what's new with you? Kidding! 2020 as I say is a dumpster fire of a year. But somehow in between I made some art and wrote a few books and created a lot of illustrations. Like always I find inspiration in nature.

 

This little foxy and her babies doing drive by visit.  The deer and their babies are regularly looking for apples. And I have been bringing my dolls out into the flower beds.

 

We just have to keep doing, keep exploring, keep being yourself. Listen to yourself more often and if you feel overwhelmed, turn off the tv and social media.  Enjoy every day. 

New Bits

Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. I've had an awful upper respiratory infection and have been knocked out for a week. I've actually had it for over a month but it knocked me on my butt this week. I've got my antibiotics so I am hopeful it takes care of everything. So I've been doing a bit of painting and reworking old figures when I am able.

 I think I have finished these two.  A person sent me a message and referred to the "lavender bird girl" so I am calling this one Lavender Raven.

 And keeping with the bird theme this is Chicken Man even though it's a girl. Do any of you remember Chicken Man? The adventures of the white winged warrior- The most fantastic crime-fighter the world has ever known! Or am I the only weirdo out there?  I can remember hearing it on the radio when I was very little. It's a bird, it's a plane... no it's Chicken Man! He's everywhere! He's everywhere! Bock bock bock bock!!! (Please, excuse me. I blame it on the NyQuil).

Being the explorer that I am I just had to Google it and of course I found it on YouTube. So won't you join me in my cough syrup antibiotic madness? It's really so silly but it brings back really fond childhood memories. Had almost forgotten about it. Enjoy both chicken men.

The Body is Home

My bones are in Florida but my brain is back up in northern New York. However, I return to Florida renewed and inspired. The reward after a morning run was 2 large coconut coffees and the best seat in the village park.  When I was a kid I remember

our class would go to the park to sketch or explore. When I am there now I rediscover my long lost 10 year old self. She's still in there. She emerged while I was tip toeing along the riverbank when I spotted a mink playing along the waters edge. Also while I watched black squirrels running spirals along the trunk of a tree. There is no charge for observing the beauty around you. It's free.

The color of the sunset, the village dock, familiar signs and banners, white fluffy clouds and how the blue sky pops against it. All this makes me happy and it's free.

Now I ask you: what makes you happy? And (more important) are you doing what makes you happy? Are you doing something to bring yourself closer to your happy place? We make decisions every day. To go to work or not. To smile at the clerk selling us that cup of coffee, letting that car into traffic instead of beeping your horn and shouting. And it goes on and on. You can be just as sad in a big mansion as you can in a $2 hotel room. Or while in the village park with coffee balancing on your knee.

Look for beauty in every day events. They are all around us. Are you unhappy? Then ask yourself what is the opposite of your sadness or feelings of self doubt? And how will that change things?

Is it city or country? Alone or with someone? Me, I've decided that I am going to do my best to buy a small summer get away in my hometown. Damn it. I will make it happen. I will have a studio in that house, trailer, etc. This summer I realized that I liked the person I was while I am on the St. Lawrence River. That person was truly inspired by small things. For about 2 months prior to going home I felt stuck. No ideas. I asked myself should I keep making art? Perhaps you have you done the same?

I was just so tired. Life can get you bogged down and I just wanted to say, please don't let it. Find that thing or that happy place in you. People who don't support your efforts for happiness should be tuned out. Look after yourselves. And thanks for listening.