I’m undertaking a 1000-day reinvention project, blogging here daily to track my progress. In Sunday Planning, I plan for the week ahead.
Next week is a big art week for me. I want to submit three paintings to Heritage Fine Art Guild’s This is Colorado show, but haven’t decided which ones yet. And on Thursday I’m helping with the installation for the WCACO Littleton Plein Air Festival show. And I volunteered to produce a show guide for the plein air exhibit, so I need to get that together by the show opening on August 5th.
I have a variety of work I could submit to the This is Colorado show. The show is open to all artists in Colorado working in 2D painting, drawing, and mixed media—the subject need not be Colorado-themed. The juror is artist Christian Dore, a contemporary artist who often paints abstract animals.
I have three paintings completed for Things Men Gave Me. They are abstract works with some representational elements. I as well have completed an abstracted poppy painting recently. I have considered submitting old paintings such as Snowbound or Eternity of Memory, shown below.
Eternity of Memory was already in a show, but it is one of my favorite works, and it represents my artistic sensibilities well. It uses many layers of paint and artist crayon to create texture; the color combination is unusual but, to my eye, harmonious; the theme of circles appeals to me.
I did an AI Tarot reading yesterday about where I’m going with my Things Men Gave Me project as well as with my art in general. The guidance was:
- For Things Men Gave Me: Lead with beauty and emotional truth. Let the project be a vessel for your romantic and artistic soul. (Card: Knight of Cups)
- For my art in general: Follow your soul’s longing in art. Don’t be afraid to walk away from what no longer feeds your deeper creative self. (Card: Eight of Cups)
I wasn’t totally on board with turning my back on anything in my art practice, so I drew a second clarifier card, Seven of Swords, which expresses pretty much the same thing as Eight of Cups. The message now was: Trust your instincts. Don’t stay somewhere just because it’s comfortable or familiar. And don’t let others’ values sneak in and steal your clarity.
Tarot readings don’t tell you what to do or tell you the future. What they instead do is allow you to release your superficial thoughts andget in touch with what’s deeper, what might be buried under layers of conventional thinking. If a reading doesn’t fit, it doesn’t resonate with you, it doesn’t stay with you. But sometimes a reading will instead tap into your intuition and your subconscious. It can help you think differently about something important in your life.
That’s what this one is doing. I don’t really want to turn my back on Snowbound, Eternity of Memory, or my recent poppies painting. But I do think that going all in on the TMGM paintings is what my soul really wants and needs to do.
So I’m going to do that. I’m going to submit the three TMGM paintings to the This is Colorado show, and see what happens. I imagine just one will get selected. I hope at least one gets selected! It would be a serious bummer if none did.
The TMGM paintings are pretty good, I think. They represent my artistic approach well: abstract paintings with representational elements, using many layers of paint to create texture and color interest, done in a painterly loose style. And, of course, they are part of my main conceptual art project right now.
This week is a big week in another way too: my middle child is coming in town for her 25th birthday, which is tomorrow. Tonight we’re having my mom, my dad, and my dad’s partner over to celebrate with her. She and I are making a home-cooked meal: grilled bone-in chicken with chimichurri sauce, chili melon salad, grilled baby gold potatoes, a crudité platter, and peanut butter pie for dessert.
She’s staying here for most of the week, and on Friday she and I are going to the Cirque du Soleil show Echo with my other daughter.
I’m excited to have time with her. I feel blessed that I’m close with my adult children and that I get to see them regularly, even though two live far away.
What I won’t have much time for this week is spending time with Ray. I think that’s ok. Figuring out how to balance our together time with the other things (and relationships) in our lives is important. As parents of adult kids, we both feel strongly about being present for those kids.
I’ve dated people in the past who didn’t have kids. I found that difficult, maybe impossible to make work. Something changes when you have kids. It’s cliché, but you feel driven to put them first. Maybe not every parent feels that way but it seems more common than not. I don’t think it’s simply a cultural demand. Maybe it’s more of an evolutionary advantage to have that instinct to ensure everything goes right for your kids. People who have that drive are more likely to see their genes continue.
ChatGPT suggested that while we’re apart, Ray and I should track two things and share each evening when we check in with each other:
- ☕ One thing that filled your cup today (joy, beauty, gratitude)
- 💧 One drop of something you’re releasing (a worry, a frustration, an old story)
(Cute emojis, huh?)
I’m going to do that right here right now to end this post:
- ☕ Ray literally filled my cup for me this morning. I spent the night at his house for the first time. Neither of us slept very well, partly because of the giant margaritas that were my idea at dinner last night. Also we are just not used to sleeping with someone else, especially in a queen-sized bed. Ray woke me up at 5 am with a fresh cup of coffee lightened with hazelnut creamer. He knew I’d want to get home early to feed my cats, bring my grocery delivery in, and get started on everything I need to do for tonight’s birthday dinner. That was so perceptive and sensitive and caring of him!
- 💧I’m going to release my worries about which paintings to submit to This is Colorado. It’s decided! I’m submitting my three TMGM paintings.
Wishing everyone a wonderful week.