To Blog or Not to Blog...Oh Why Not!

It seems that everyone is blogging these days. Politicians, musicians, artists, stay-at-home moms - we're all jumping into this mass communications fray to connect and contribute our ideas and experiences.

This will be a light-hearted blog that may take a few twists and turns, but I'll start off by describing my current artistic pursuits, processes and muses. If that gets redundant and boring we'll go from there, OK?

I've always been artistic (thanks, Mom!) but I didn't seriously connect with art until I was in my 30's and a therapist encouraged me to take watercolor classes. The brushes and the paints seemed to flow with such magic and I was encouraged to continue to study painting. I felt so alive to discover that was one of the people I so envied- an artist!

I didn't stop at painting. I had to try everything; jewelry-making, textile painting; batik; furniture painting, collage, pastels, needlework. But it's difficult to make a living as an artist and 8-10 year spurts of "real jobs" with demanding hours took me off track. (Those jobs also allowed me to learn other skills such as writing).

I made the difficult decision to leave Savannah Magazine in June 2008, and after a few months of rest and healing and working with very dear, wonderful friends I was finally ready to look inward, and to find out what was next for me.

As always, I was guided by the Good Lord above who gently prodded me to pick up my camera and do something I'd dreamed of doing for years - and now I had the time. In the spring of this year, 2009, I began making early morning trips down to Savannah's historic district. Walking away from the crowded, beaten path I went to those "sweet spots" that I had often passed, and I began to capture images of the town that I love.

Now, mind you, I'm learning, but this is so reminescent of the time many years ago when I picked up that paint brush and let the colors flow onto the paper. Except this is more fun and I feel a little more confident somehow in my old age. Thank you, God, for letting me feel this excitement and joy again!

Next up: how I stumbled upon the photo-encaustic process!