My 9 year old grandson did a wonderful drawing today. I am going to frame it tomorrow. I set up a still life for him to draw and he amazed me. His drawing is charming, colorful and whimsical looking. He has such an uninhibited way of drawing.

I worked a little bit on my painting while he was drawing, and then we went swimming at the natatorium.

I just can't wait to start a new painting. I have many ideas floating around in my head.

I am grateful.

I am grateful that I have two wonderful grandsons who come from Oklahoma to stay with me a week each in the summer. They are very different from each other, and I enjoy them each differently. Last week I did many things with the oldest (14), one of which was painting, and he did a wonderful acrylic on canvas flower design. This week I will have fun with the other grandson (9), and I hope he will do some drawings. He did some last year that were charming.

I am raring to go to work on my newest painting which I started two weeks ago, but also happy to get to be a grandmother. I don't get to do that with my other two grandchildren who live in Florida. I'm glad I have the opportunity to get to know the boys and them to know me. That is easier to do when you have them one on one at your own house instead of just visiting them at their home when their parents are around. As every grandparent knows, the grandkids behave much differently when it is just them and me.

So, looking forward to passing some creativity time with my grandson tomorrow.

Poems Can Save You

He Painted Her

Her pale blue gaze washes over me
But I cannot fully see her,
I cannot see all of her,
I cannot see into her.
What is it that she will not reveal to him?
What does she know about me?
I crave her, too. Almost more than him.
Only to know her soul is all.
I could look at her forever
and still not know
why she is so compelling.
She is plain, or subtle. She is ambiguous.
Yet, he did not stay with her, nor did I.
Another, more solid, more colorful
drew him away.
He painted her, too.

Linda Brooks Alred
2009

My Journey Back to Art

I finally did go back to college, after my husband was killed, and I eventually got my BFA (took me 10 years from start to finish with a lot of time outs.) I remarried (after 5 years) and by the time I got my degree I was working full time again. Sooooo......I didn't do much art. But I did manage to have a solo show in a small gallery in Florida the year before my divorce. Then,....had to go back to work full time, still no time for art. I did write poetry during that time though. I always managed to find a creative outlet of some kind. For 3 years I was assistant director of a high-end art gallery near Bal Harbor, FL. That was the job I loved best, but the salary was too low to live on after my divorce.

Now I am retired, and my creative juices are flowing again. It is a wonderful feeling.

I am really into abstracts now. This is the first time I've ever been inspired to develop a body of abstract work, with a clear idea in mind for a series. I love color. I love to make it pop. I love patterns, and am inspired by the complex patterns in nature that seem random but are actually organized chaos. I am so enjoying the freedom in the process with these paintings. I just let it flow, and see what develops. It is very different than when I was doing painterly realism and being so precise. With the abstracts I can just start and see where it goes.

Why Blog?

I was sitting in Borders Bookstore, in the coffee shop, browsing through art magazines. This is someting I have rarely done, but was visiting my hometown with some spare time, when I decided to look at a magazine about blogging, specifically about art and creativity blogging. I looked up and saw a picture on the wall featuring a red umbrella. For some reason that was like a message telling me I needed to start a blog for myself. Just because I liked the image of the red umbrella? Well, why not. It was red. I love color. I use red whenever I can in my paintings. It was inspiring. But, probably what really made me want to do it was reading the blogs in that magazine. The bloggers talked about being in touch with other creative people, how sharing your ideas and thoughts and creations with others can lead to great creative inspirations, and online friendships.

Frankly, I need a kick in the butt sometimes. I thought this might give me that push to put on paper or canvas the creative ideas I get from time to time and then let go without doing anything. I have been feeling such a strong creative urge, something I had not felt for a long time, for whatever reason, like just too much stuff to deal with. But, recently I found myself involved in a group for local artists and supporters of the visual arts, and being exposed to the art of others, which is probably why my creative juices began to stir.

I love to paint. I was headed toward the path of pursuing some kind of creative career my first year of college, then I got a summer job, liked the money and didn't go back. When I met the love of my life, I decided to get married and raise kids, and found I just couldn't do that and art, too. I wonder how other people do it. I just didn't have time. I didn't have the space in my house. I didn't have the energy after working all day and taking care of two kids in the evening. I would fall into bed late at night and drag myself out the next morning just to get dressed, drag the kids to day care, go to work and do it all over again.

Then my husband was killed, and I was the breadwinner, sole parent support, for my kids. I tried a few times to get back into art, and struggled with it. Then I decided to enroll in art school at the university, and I had a couple of years of wonderful creativity, with other creative people, that fed my soul. But, too soon, had to go back to full time work. Three years later I remarried, and found myself back in the rut of no time, no place, no energy.

Now, many years later, single, retired and financially unstable, I have gravitated back to where I was headed as a young woman. Trying to feed my soul with art, among other things. Other things, like good old friends, my Unitarian Universalist church friends, and my new art group friends. I am going to try harder this time to do what I love and hope for the best.