Plein Air Festival again today!

Yesterday was so much fun. I set up my "area" across from the Buford Variety Theatre as I had planned. I take two small tables. One table is my "sacred space" area and the other is my work area where I put all my paints and brushes. On my sacred space table, I put a vase of flowers, some Chakra stones, a couple of books that I love, my business cards and I would have put a little candy dish but all I had was M&M's leftover from Easter and those would have melted in the heat yesterday so no candy! I put a pretty cover on the table and lace on top of the cover. I also burn a candle in a small stained glass candle holder my sister gave me and I burn incense, at least first thing in the morning. I do a "clearing" and a "blessing" of the space where I will be working. It's a little ritual and I do it when I'm painting plein air at home, too. I do it to bring up the good energy and get it "roiling around" so it will translate to my canvas. Anyhow, I have earth/fire/air/water at my sacred space so I'm good to go! (The water is not in a fountain as I would have at home but it IS in my bucket for my used brushes so I have all four elements represented.) I thank God/Goddess/All there is for the opportunity to be standing where I am standing at this moment in time doing exactly what I am doing. It's a gift to me and I express my gratitude. This is my ritual and it works for me!

I put my new plein air easel in the center of the two tables and at 9:45am yesterday I put my first stroke of yellow paint to the canvas. It was a hot day yesterday reaching up into the 80's. The first part of the day I painted directly across from the theatre and the painting that came was mostly yellows and greens. I was getting great energy from the theatre because yesterday was it's opening day. The trees behind the theatre were a vibrant green and the sun was brilliant as it moved across the sky and I think that's what brought out the yellow and the green for me. I was painting "in the open" with no shade from the sun. The owner of the theater came over around 11:00am and very kindly brought cold water for me and another artist who was painting just down from me. She also offered the use of her "facilities" should I need it and I thought how kind she was and lifted her up for a brief moment in my mind and thanked God for kind people. I also said a little prayer for success for her new Variety Theater. I am thrilled to death to have it in Buford.

Shortly thereafter, I moved under the tree that was about 15 feet away and the afternoon passed more comfortably for me. I stopped and enjoyed the lunch I'd brought (a ham sandwich with cheese and baby romaine lettuce and some black seedless grapes) and watched the traffic on Main Street for a while before I started my next painting. I thought I would try to do a landscape but that's not my talent and I was getting frustrated. So, I chose some Peruvian music on my IPOD, cranked up the volume and that painting turned into a huge party. I was dancing around as I was stroking on the paint and I'm sure I looked like a party of one (and someone who HAS to be eccentric) but I didn't care what I looked like because I was having an absolute blast. I brought out the reds and the purples and the blues and just let myself get into the colors and I reached in to my memory bag and pulled out those memories of Macchu Picchu and the train from Cusco and all the colors of Peru that I so loved.

Painting, for me, is a total mind/body/spirit experience. I have such fun and I don't agonize over my paintings as some do. When I find myself getting frustrated or feeling like something' is not coming out right, I hear a gentle voice in my mind telling me to "trust the process." So, I do. I just trust the process and keep painting and when it's done, I just KNOW it and I step away. I think it's my guardian angels voice that I hear and she keeps me in line when I most need it. Oh, jeez, if my kids read this they'll call the doctor and say that "Now Mom's hearing voices..." What next! Actually, I think we ALL hear voices but we don't ALL listen but that's a topic for another day. I do have an inner child, a higher self AND a guardian angel and they are all an important part of me. But...like I said...that's a blog for another day.

My precious grandson had to go to the hospital yesterday and he was transferred to Scottish Rites last night. He had an asthma attack and even after treatments and oxygen was still having a hard time so that's why they transferred him to Scottish Rites Children's Hospital. They are wonderful there and this is the second time he's had to be hospitalized for this problem. I, too, have breathing problems (COPD) so I understand the panic he must feel and it breaks my heart for him because he is only 12. He should be out there running with the best of them. There is a bad lung gene in my family and that's a fact. My grandfather on my paternal side died of TB. My grandfather on my maternal side died of complications of empysemia and my Dad died of lung cancer. None of them a good way to end this life. The good news is that there are now medications available that are helpful that were not available when my father and grandfathers were ill. Oh well, enough of that. I brought it up because my other grandchildren will be coming to stay with me today so they'll have to hang out in "historic downtown Buford" while Mimi paints and they can find a way to amuse themselves. Just got a thought that I need to bring more water in a bigger lunch box so they'll have some, too as it's supposed to get up in the mid to high 80's again today. I think I'm going to bring Wiz with me, too and let him stay under the tree. I'll take his bed with me so he can be comfortable although he'd probably enjoy just laying in the grass. It will be a fun day, I am sure and I'm going to be a party of one again today...no, that's not true...I'll have Wiz and the grandkids so it will be a party of four!

Tonight, there is an awards reception at 7:00pm so I will take them with me to that also. I went to the "Meet and Greet" last night at 5:00pm at the Pizza-pub at Tannery Row and sat with some of the other artists and the people who organized the event and it was a delightful time. We shared our experiences of the day and the more seasoned painters shared tips for us newbies. I had a moment of feeling totally "out of my league" because some of these artists are absolutely amazing artists and can capture on canvas exactly what the eye can see. I don't paint like that because I paint what the soul can see so I had to give myself a little pep talk because I was feeling dwarfed by the star power in the room. My work is Divinely inspired and I just have to remember and be grateful for whatever comes. In my next life, I am going to go to art school as soon as I graduate from high school and then I am going to create life-changing paintings! Oh, if I knew then what I know now! :-) I did take Art Appreciation (when I was going to Okaloosa Walton Junior College in Niceville, Florida) and Elements of Design (when I wag going to San Diego City College) and I would have taken more art classes, I think, but...I had babies instead and my life took a totally different direction. Like Walt Whitman, I came to the place where "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both." I wouldn't change a thing (well, maybe one or two) but the road has come full circle and I painting now and still enjoying my "babies" and "grandbabies" so I guess I have had an opportunity to travel both roads...one as a young person and another as a not-as-young person. I guess if you live long enough...ah, well...I divurge and that's a subject for another blog!

I did want to give a little plug for the pizza/pub at the Tannery Row. They had a "classic rock" band that started at 7:30pm (actually, I think they were supposed to start at 7:30pm but they started a little later last night) called "Livin Proof" and it was a rocking band. I stayed after everyone else (from the Plein Air event) left because I wanted to listen to some music and I'm glad I did because they were fun. When they first came in, they were looking a bit spooky (like the gang from Deliverance) but they cleaned up real nice for the "show" and put on nice clothes and combed their hair (LOL) and then they just looked like an aging rock-n-roll band with thicker middles and some wrinkles but they were still rocking it and I was loving it! (There was that one guy in overalls though that looked like he'd just fed the pigs or plowed the back 40 before he came to help the band.) The nice thing about the band was that they were "classic" rock so I knew all the songs because I'm a "classic" myself (or a dinosaur...I haven't decided which...no, I'll go with the "classic." I'm aging like fine wine (or so I tell myself...not a damned thing I enjoy about aging except that I no longer care what anyone else thinks of me...I just do my thing...can you say that about yourself...and is it a good thing, or not? Hmmmm, don't know, don't care! LOL again!). Anyhow, if you live in this area, the Pizza/pub at Tannery Row was a hopping place to be on a Friday night and the food was excellent, too! Y'all come now!

From my window I can see that the dawn is breaking as I write and that means I can go out and walk the yard and see what happened overnight! I'm waiting on those English and Russian Iris and Lilies to pop open and it will be glorious I have no doubt! I know one of them is going to be a peach color and I think it's one of the ones I transplanted last year from my sister's garden. It's big though and has three buds on it that are huge so it's going to be real show-stopper! I noticed my English Irises that I planted under the Dogwood tree are blooming. They are a very interesting color and I bought them from Breck's and I've not been disappointed. They have browns and yellows and speckles of orange which make them unique. I also have some of the common (oh, I hate that word because they are all "UNcommonly" beautiful) blue and white Iris on the NW side of my house and in front there is a row of the bright yellow about to pop open. My big lily/iris/peony island is in front of my house to the left and it's going to be a sight to see in about a week! I'll see if I can get out there and take some pictures.

So, off to walk the yard and then to beautiful downtown Historic Buford to paint Plein Air again! I'm hoping there are more people in town today and I'm taking a few of my other paintings with me to put out so people can see what I do! Fun! Fun! Fun! I'm also expecting some friends to stop by (and, of course, my grandkids and Wiz to keep me company). I've charged up my IPOD and I'm ready to "get down" on canvas! God is good.

Have yourself a wonderful day!

Namaste!