Archives for June 2009

We spent Sunday afternoon in Bergamo, what a pretty town. The “most beautiful city in the world” according to one of my colleagues who is from there. It is only about 30 minutes away from where we live with a long, long history. Enjoy the pics here!

I’ve been exploring my creativity lately, and this morning I was pondering and wondering and thinking about things as I painted. Yes, I started a painting last weekend and have been working on it in the mornings.

I was pondering…

…when I forgot how much fun it was to play with colors. Seriously, how could we go through every day life without playing around? Who decided that being a grown up means that you have to leave behind this kind of fun? This kind of freedom? All that work for the stuff that fills our space, but not the things that fuel our soul.

…when I gained so much fear about being creative. What, are the paints going to jump out and bite me? So what if the color doesn’t match exactly what I was thinking. So what if that image doesn’t come out like I planned in my head. It’s coming out better! What is there to be afraid of in our creative endeavors? Somewhere along the way I became afraid of trying, afraid of failure. But when I think about it, what’s the worst that can happen? I can’t even think of a “worst” that should prevent me from trying.

…why I want to share what I create. It seems to me, that creativity is not to be kept in a closet, hoarded, kept secret. When you create something, it’s to share with others. Like little kids – “Mom, look at what I made!” – what we create is meant to be shared. You never know how it will influence your life, someone else, what it was meant for, unless you put it out there. We create for a reason, we just aren’t going to know that that is right in the moment…

My recent lessons: Don’t be afraid. Have some fun. Play. Create. Share. Feel free to join me on this creative journey, there’s room for EVERYONE here!

This week has been a good week! I’ve just been too busy to blog, too busy to sort through pictures from Bellagio, too busy doing other things with my time. Like…
…getting all of the pictures from the last two months onto our desktop computer and backed up.
…getting the computer set up in the first place!
…reading Eclipse again. (I found a paperback English version in a bookstore! I knew there was a reason I kept going into bookstores even though I can’t read Italian.)
…starting a painting.
…buying some new music – Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack.
…going to Brandon’s class presentation on climate and weather (see Patrick’s blog).
…and some setting up of the house, although Patrick has done most of that!

So, you see, no time for the blog! Here’s a pic of our shared laptop desk at home. I work here in the evenings and Patrick uses it when I’m not working. The magnet board has art cards of paintings I love at the museums we’ve visited. Hey, this is starting to feel like home!

Here are the pics of our last two days in Venice…

Day 3 Pics
Day 4 Pics

We will definitely go back there, I loved it!