Meandering

I've been playing around looking for fun iPad apps and found this one, Meander. It burns through your battery and doesn't allow you to save images, but it is greatly entertaining for a while. I took these pics with my phone camera.

Meander seems like a fitting description for the state I've been in lately. I flit from one thing to another, with few plans and even fewer completed plans. And so, this post will do much the same. It is a wonderful state, really. I had doubted I'd be here on the shore this long, but it seems I have no where to rush off to, so I'm here through the spring.

The beach sand continues to astound me. I keep thinking I've seen just about every pattern a pile of sand molecules could possibly arrange, but I now think it's just the beginning. Thinking about it, I realize all patterns are made from one tiny spec at a time, and can be repeated or shifted infinitely. I love that I can be wandering around with my mind meandering and come across something that takes my breath away, and it is made from sand.

Of course not all days have spectacular sand patterns. The days after really high tides, where the water has smoothed everything out, makes for an expanse of blank canvas interrupted only by tracks...

... some more pristine than others. With the hundreds of sand photos I have, I will certainly compile a collection, but it is a question as to what form this will take. A book? An e-book? Hm.

The boardwalk is still closed for the season, as are all the rides (above), but by mid April they are supposed to start up again. I have to experience the wildness just once. Luckily I have some made some new friends in town that I think I can convince to show me the nightlife.

Meanwhile, in my oasis at the beach, I have let go of the notion of creating a cohesive body of work, all gently building upon the one before it, and instead I've embraced my inner wild creative beast! I'm letting her express herself, and following the whims and follies that arrive.

This color went from being my wild underpainting to my wild painting... a celebration of the spring that has not yet sprung here, except for in my mind.

Celebration seems like a difficult emotion to call up lately, with all the craziness going on. I have wondered how I can paint when there is so much to get caught up in. But I know that this is my contribution, my way of bringing balance back into my life and the lives of others. I know this when old friends look me up and shower me with accolades. Creating something that can bring joy into someone's day, to lighten their load even for a moment, is so essential.

Healing. That is where I started, and that is where I still stand. For me, for every thing.

Some things, everything really, is out of our control. All we can do is to choose our response. I heard this bit of wisdom lately, "When you are asked a question, the first answer that comes into your mind in your intuition, the second is your mind getting in the way. Listen to the first, because it comes from the heart and is always correct. Truth is simple. Lies get complicated." (Ian Xel Lungold)

Onward with ...Intuition!