Funny how you can see yourself in the reflection of others. My daughter, Emily, and her boyfriend, Ryan, flew in on Saturday (from Seattle) to celebrate her BIG birthday, she was 21 on April 4th! We had a lovely weekend visiting many of the sites that make San Francisco the tourist destination that it is. Ryan had never been here before so we had a list a mile long of places to go and things to do. Didn’t get all crossed off on the list but at least we made some headway.
This morning we were headed out on our excursions for the day driving down 3rd Ave (prior to me getting them back to the airport for their flight home in the late afternoon) when I made the comment that moving to San Francisco really did allow me to “release my Inner Artist!”. I felt compelled to comment because Randy Figures, a friend I met when volunteering for ART94124, had come by to work with me on selecting which watercolors pieces I’d hang in the “Watercolors in Bloom” show that he was curating for the Back To The Picture Art Gallery in May. We walked around the apartment as I showed him various pieces both hanging on the walls and on storage shelves. It was easy to pick out the 6 pieces as they are comprised of 2 different groupings of 3…the Power Line Images and Florals. Driving down the street, I’m thinking about how glad I am to be showcasing my artwork in a Gallery show! I thought about my involvement in ART94124 and all the good things that flowed from that connection. It was in meeting our neighbors Chris and Sarah on the very first day of moving in to the neighborhood that allowed for all these things to unfold and my art to become much more central to my life than ever. Meeting Sarah allowed me to get involved in ART94124 which in turn allowed me see myself as an artist! I tentatively began to refer to myself as “an Artist”. Not only that, Sarah would become instrumental to the success of Words and Watercolors as my Graphic Designer. I’ve done a lot of art in the past 2 years and ever so grateful to have begun to explore more deeply this big part of me. I looked at Em, after my recognition of my inner artist coming out, and stated that I’m so far removed from the labels of “Corporate Sales Queen” and “Single Mom”. I so overly identified with both of those tags that it took lots of time, distance and grief to remove them from my psyche and replace with “Artist, Entrepreneur, and Who knows what else!”. I’m grateful for all the NEW things I’ve allowed into my life as a result of all these (painful) changes. Change is good but not always easy.
Here’s a few of the many pics from our busy, long weekend!