Oct 5 - Packing for the Georgia Workshops

It's with a bit of trepidation that I pack my art supplies and workshop materials for shipping across the country again. If you remember, a year ago in May, my boxes with original art, and all workshop materials were stolen from my neighbor's gate where they were mis-sent (blog June 2 last year).  Packing brings back the angst of those weeks while I felt the loss of so much of who I am as an artist. But we move forward, and so it is.

Returning to Georgia will have me painting images like the one to the right--"Springtime Mom" lost in the boxes, yet still inside my head and hands because I have lived it. So we lose things, yet their memories and the joy of them stays with us.

When I last wrote, I was dealing with many losses, some not so joyful. The loss through suicide of Isaac, the gallery owner in Idyllwild. I saw him the morning he took his life, and said I was painting one for him up at Humber Park. While my brushes were on the canvas, he was putting a gun to his head. I was one of the last people to see him alive, and it bothers me still that I was so obtuse to not see his pain. His lasting gift to me is that life is precious, and that the string of it we are given at birth is not that long, so we need to be kinder and more gentle to those we love, and more sensitive to what's in their lives. The photo shows Isaac with his adopted rescue Gracie, and my artist friend Ron Wood.

So I'm packing up and shipping boxes today, and will fly with great JOY to the farm in Georgia, meeting new and returning Color Boot Camp artists for those two glorious weeks. Yes, Sparky is going too! And if you're interested in creating memories of your own, there is still a spot for you there. Let's share this great gift of life!

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