It’s been months since I’ve felt I could write about
events in my life and how they relate to my journey as an artist. The challenges of ending a relationship,
changing countries, changing states, re-examining goals, the illness and
ultimate loss of my Dad, the need to find a new market for my work here in the USA,
proved finally too much for this artist.
Floating, anchorless, I have spent months on the road, dealing with
duties and travelling to ‘reboot’ my inner body. Artists can sometimes use their art to help
get their emotional bodies through times of great stress, but for me, it has
been a time of deep meditation, reconnecting with beloved ones left behind in
Scotland and France, finding myself re-inspired by landscapes dear to me – even
if I couldn’t paint them yet; and ultimately, finding the final ability to lift
myself up out of the hole, and heal from the inside out through training a very
special dog (Normally this part of my healing has been helped by my horse and companion of 26 years, Dancer, currently
enjoying an extended holiday in Brittany, France). Within a few weeks of working and running
with this dog, I was able to go sit in my new studio, sketch, and begin
finally, to paint (for the first time since mid-January!). Now that I’m working again, I can use the
work to further heal my heart.
I’m
now in Taos, New Mexico – working in a studio provided for the winter by
friends at Ft. Burgwin, the research center and SMU satellite campus that my
Father founded the year I was born. It’s
snowing…the first big snow of the year they say, and I’m beginning to think
ahead. I’m still floating, but it’s a
meditative floating….that will produce work.
The first piece out of this new, temporary studio is the final painting
for the commission that I began last year (fingers crossed!).
Cliff Dwellers Canoeing on the Brazos, 24 x 18 in., oil on canvas, sold
