Have you heard of biophilia?
Last year I was reading a book, called The Well Gardened Mind, about how being in nature, and gardening specifically, is beneficial to us both physically and mentally. Not just that we are then focusing on something outside of ourselves, but things like there are microbes released in the dirt that create happy chemicals in our brain - and yes, I know there are better words for that, but this is just me talking to you, you know?
It's the Little Things
I believe it’s important to pay attention to the little things in nature. Life can feel overwhelming, like all the weeds in my garden that want to take over.
I never seem to have the time to get all the weeds out, it would take hours. But I’ve learned that if I just spend a few minutes when I can, a few times a week, that those little bits of time add up
Maui in Less Than Twenty Photos
My husband and I just celebrated forty years of marriage by going to Maui, my very first trip to Hawaii. It was amazing and I took over seven hundred photos and videos. And that is way too many images to share, just ask a couple of my family members.
I picked two or three of my favorite photos from each of the eight days of our trip to include in my art journal pages (which I'll be sharing later) but for now I'll share just those few here.
The Evolution of an Artwork
Once upon the time there was a large forty-two inch square panel that a woodworking friend created for me. Wood panels are my favorite substrate as they can support anything that I can stick onto them with acrylic matte gel medium. (Have I told you that I buy matte gel medium by the gallon? It's true.)
I prepped this particular wood panel and painted on it live at church, as I do at times.
Rhythms of Grace
Rhythms of Grace is a depiction of the life cycle of the pipevine swallowtail butterfly. Every spring I watch as the adult butterflies seem to come from nowhere, fluttering around the trails I walk on. They mate and lay eggs on a plant called pipevine.