Well, its been awhile and I think its time to update. Spring arrived late as ‘sprinter’ and we now seem to have fast forwarded to summer weather in May. I’m thrilled to be out in my yard planting flowers; making my place of grounding and solitude even more beautiful to look at! So much joy in prepping the earth every year for beautiful and good things to grow. This year I didn’t ‘kill’ the dandelions popping up in the grass; the bee population is waning and these can be some of the first flowers to pollinate in the spring; I need those bees to pollinate all the beautiful things I planted! Birds are chirping and I’ve seen the two Cardinal pairs back in the yard, hopefully nesting somewhere. The lake is breathtaking and one of the reasons we live where we do! Our kayaks have been out already and we are close to getting the dock and boats in for the complete summer experience.
I finally purchased my first ‘real’ TREK bicycle and have been enjoying perusing the neighborhoods via pedal power! It hasn’t been an easy thing to get active and keep active since my back situation several years ago, but I am making progress. Golf season also started, but I haven’t yet. Some may know that I purchased my first set of clubs last year when my 16 yr old started Chi Hi girl’s golf. She has been chomping at the bit to get to the course and encouraging me to do the same. I will admit I can swing a club but have little control yet as to where the ball ends up! I have a feeling the driving range and I will become good friends this year. Only one place to go from the bottom, lol.
I am still enjoying the break that I took from the salon environment. It has allowed me time to re purpose my dreams from my youth and I’ve been able to set some short and long term goals regarding the outcome I desperately desire. So far I’m staying close to ‘on task’ and periodically get distracted for small periods of time from my painting, studying, sketching and research. My planner is helping me, so long as I update it regularly and NOT forget to enter important appointments and dates in it. (sorry if you were on the back end of that, SQUIRREL!) Those who are close to me know what my current goals are and how close I am to achieving them. I’d like to thank them all for being my cheerleaders in this grand adventure of life. I would also like to thank my family for putting up with me being a total art geek about subject matter and my girls for allowing me to do their portraits. (A totally scary adventure, but I was thrilled with the outcome, Faith’s isn’t quite finished yet. Turns out not using my skills for years did NOT mean that I lost my ability to read and discern images! I just need to keep practicing the physical skill of drawing and painting. SHWEW!!!)
I am hoping Chippewa Falls has room for one more passionate and quirky artist. I’m looking forward to attending some of the local events to mingle with other artists and artisans as the confluence in EC gets closer to completion and summer festivals pop up everywhere. I came as close to submitting artwork in the Heyde Center for the Arts Spring Art Show as printing off the forms; I chickened out last minute and decided next year there is no question about doing it, it will be done. There will be a gallery show in my future, I just keep telling myself baby steps. Sounds like there will be a similar gallery venue as Artisan Forge of EC located right here in Chippewa Falls near the river. That is encouraging to all of us creative folk. I feel as if we are physically together, exposure is magnified!!
Determination is as beautiful as it is scary and has been a staple lately in my daily affirmations. I have my down times when I revert back to that old self who doubted her abilities; as a perfectionist and a recovering pessimist (we like to refer to it as realism) I struggle daily to move past walls that were devised to cope with negativity, disappointment, pain and hurt. We are human and struggles are the stuff victories are made of. SOOOooo, onward I go; marching into my middle years pursuing dreams and building a new and improved me. I’m not holding anything back. If you don’t try, you won’t know. No apologies for becoming who I was created to be, and I sure hope my girls learn to do the same.
Poursuivre la joie de la vie!!!