Answers under my nose

All I had to do was pay attention and look.  I've been sweating over what I will do next in this new series about where ocean and sand join together. I'm heading off to do some independent study soon and really want to make something new. Where, oh where, was my inspiration? Did I lose it in one of my road trips lately? Arggh!!

Somewhere between Saturday's trip to the Sacred Threads exhibit and guiding a group through watercolor fun, that old light bulb went off. I remembered some paintings I did about nine years ago - a series called The Rivers of Prayer. One painting in particular was called Low Tide. I was never 100% pleased with it, but I knew I had done a lot of sketching and research. Aha, time to pull out that painting and that sketchbook. And inspiration bloomed BIG TIME.

As I hung the painting, I looked at it with new eyes and actually like it now. The sketchbook was full of notes and drawings of things that live in the zone where water and earth meet. Woo Hoo!! Excitement that I know where I want to go with this series.

First, time to make some background fabrics. Some ice dyes that are now soaking in Synthrapol.

And time to paint some fabric. After being in the watercolor arena on Sunday, I knew how to paint it and what things to use -- some of the many brushes from my painting days. Here's the first layer.

It feels so good to have all these things come together. It's as
if the artist in me has woken up from a long nap.
Moral of this story:  Artist's Dates are so important to fill the well. So is play. And I did both this past weekend.

How are you filling your well? How are you having fun right now in your life?

Thanks for visiting. Karen

1,000 miles

in eight days and still driving. Busy days - time at the beach with my son and his family - driving them home after their car broke down - road trip to go fetch the repaired car - glad I was able to help.

Today was another road trip to see the Sacred Threads exhibit in Herndon, VA. This is truly a wonderful exhibit. My Rootedness is hanging in lovely light (see below for the image). Many of the artists were there for the reception - I enjoyed talking with a number of them and hearing more about their quilts. I took lots of photos, but hesitate to publish them here without permission. Sacred Threads has a CD that can be purchased of the entire show with comments and many audio clips from the artists. I've emailed them to find the spot on their web page to order the CD and will publish that here. It is the next best thing to being there. It's an honor to be part of the exhibit.

Vikki Pignatelli was there autographing her new book, Nurture Your Creative Spirit. With all this driving lately, I need a restful evening and now I have a new book to read.

Tomorrow I will be leading a watercolor workshop at the St. Agnes Cancer Institute where we use watercolors as prayer. This is always uplifting for me - to be able to touch some folks and offer some fun.

Off to my reading. Thanks for stopping by. Karen