re-emerging

It has been nearly two-and-a-half years since I last wrote an entry in my "art journal," aka this blog. The reason for the hiatus eludes me; I have been living, painting, traveling, playing cello the entire time. I just haven't been writing. I have aged; I have improved as an artist; I have grown (I'd like to think) kinder and more generous thanks to my Buddhist studies. But I have not felt the urge, or the need, to journal.

Now the impulse is back, and I think I know why. After seventeen happy and rich years here in Torrey and Capitol Reef, high on the Colorado Plateau, Jerome and I have decided to move to Tucson, to a lower elevation and warmer climate, and to the beautiful Sonoran desert. We purchased a house (still to be built) last week.

So I am coming into a time of significant change in my life, and such times are when I typically feel a need to record things verbally. To reflect. To keep track of the repercussions.

On a practical level, it will be a job to pack up my studio and move it to the new house, where I will have studio space of equal, if no larger, size. What better opportunity to clean and clear out?

Of more interest to me is a broader topic, and it is my main reason for beginning to write here again: What will be the effects of the new environment on my artwork? The red sandstone cliffs outside my window will be replaced by the blue/tan Rincon mountains, equally beautiful but of entirely different form and color. Rather than walk canyons, I will walk arroyos. Where will I walk with my paints and canvasses? I feel revitalized.

The image above is one of my most recent oil & cold wax paintings: 17.11.16, 20"x24".