On The Road Again – Art 101 Week 7.5

Art (& play!) on the road… travels to visit family in TN last week and FL now (see pictures below).  As good ole Willie Nelson plays through my head, I’ve finally found enough time to write about the last week and a half of art 101 (remembering my original commitment to play creatively everyday).

I spent half of last week in Tennessee helping my brother’s family again with my adorable 18 month old nieces while my sister-in-law is on strict bed rest. Though I didn’t take any art supplies, we definitely played creatively everyday! 🙂 The girls loved having their hands and feet outlined to see on paper… many times!

My 8 year old niece, Hailey, enjoyed drawing pictures together in the journal that we share (giving it back and forth). She especially liked drawing girls together as I shared with her what I had learned in week 1 of Tamara LaPorte’s free art, heart, and healing class. We worked quickly while the toddlers were napping and she kept thinking hers should be more like mine, but I genuinely loved hers just as it was.  We had to use her crayons for coloring and shading.  We didn’t get to finish due to a waking babe, but I loved spending the time with her and chatting about her life and concerns about her new teacher and upcoming school year. Since I have 2 boys, these 3 nieces are my girls. 🙂

After returning home, I decided to try water color pencils for the first time while enjoying the cool mountain air on the porch. I really liked how easy it was to get outside with the pencils. I didn’t finally add water until several days later on the balcony of our hotel room in Florida and she’s not finished yet. I’m not sure why her hair wanted to be so different, but it reminds me of the James Taylor song, “Fire & Rain”.

July 18th was my husband’s birthday so my creative art 101 play for the day was playing rock band with him and the boys and singing my heart out with them.  I also requested that people share their favorite songs with us and enjoyed seeing the replies!  You can still add your favorite song(s) on the Loving Road facebook page in the “Top 40” post comments or the Loving Rd Top 40 blog post comments.

Thanks to a very long road trip and the fact that I get car sick if I look at paper, I’ve made 4 more hope hats. I LOVE the texture of the soft, cozy yarn and the positive energy and love that fills my heart and soul as I focus on well wishes for the eventual wearers, such as joy, love, respect, generosity, gratitude, freedom, laughter, friendship, longevity, health (emotionally, financially, physically, socially, spiritually), communion, encouragement, inspiration, playfulness, beauty, creativity, fulfillment, enough, peace, confidence, harmony, humor, fun, discovery, wisdom, enlightenment, ETC!

Inspired by the ocean and a visit to Florida & the Keys to visit my dad, I’ve been working on an island/water girl this week.

I used a tie-dyed newspaper scrap as the background and left some of the “found” words to be part of the finished piece. First, the words, “sea of faithful”, jumped out at me (we were in a hotel right on the beach and ocean the first night and day).  After playing in the waves, we hid from the sun for a while in the room and I painted the water and waves. Then, I added a small sail boat.

After getting to the Keys (islands) the next day, I decided to sketch and paint an island girl (with the few paints I brought and borrowing many of my kids’ markers!). The girl in the boat was also partially inspired by my friend and fellow art 101 participant, Iris of Iris Impressions, who did a darling girl in a sail boat earlier as part of art 101.  As it progressed, the sailboat got bigger and more words , such as “strong” and “personal journal” (which I turned into “personal journey”), chose to stay as I painted over the rest. The handwritten words were inspired by recent conversations with both my husband and my dad as well as the personal growth and choices I’ve been experiencing this year. The bird was inspired by a little bird that landed on the shoulder of my friend, Jenn, when we were teenagers out in the boat with my parents in the Keys (where I went to high school). The song, “I’m Free”, kept playing in my head as I painted and became the bird’s song. 🙂 I thought of my friend, Millie, often while adding finishing touches to this one because she is also from the keys (though we just met a few years ago in the mountains!) and it was her birthday while I was painting/coloring the girl.  Later that night, several songs played through my head and the lyrics “Go Your Own Way” emerged as the message for the upper left corner.  This is a favorite family song and one that my cousin, Jess, and I always sing when we’re together.  Those 4 words seem to capture the message, ideas, symbolism, and inspiration in this piece beautifully.  Later, when I went to find the link to Iris’s post with her girl in the sailboat, I saw that hers has a similar message, “find your way”.  I’m glad to have the support and encouragement of kindred spirits on this journey!

The evening after creating the island girl, we went for a sunset boat ride with my boys and my Dad. So many memories here!  It is sometimes hard to be in the Keys while missing my mom so deeply and thinking she should be here.  Yet, we do our best to celebrate life and love and mystery and beauty. I just realized that one of the first pieces of art I made after my mom’s death had the words “free spirit” emerge as part of it. Now, 3-4 years later, I am in her home making this free spirited island girl and wondering about life and the heavens and truth and freedom and how to live fully and what happens at the sunset of our lives. I hope and imagine that it’s even more beautiful than the lovely sunsets we are blessed with here and now.