New Painting in Progress

I don’t often show my paintings until they are done, but I thought you’d like to know what I’m working on since there’s been a long break between projects. This one is called “Walking in Rain Puddle” and is inspired by a warm rainy day when our road lightly flooded and my oldest daughter (a little girl at the time), enjoyed walking in the puddle. The time lapse video of the session is posted above this paragraph (you might need to click on the blog post if you are reading this in your email and don’t see a video link). Check back to see more progress on this painting. I’m expecting to spend 2-4 more sessions before calling it finished. I’ll likely be busy over the next couple of days, but surely by the end of next week this painting will be done.

I hope everyone is doing well. This summer has been a blur for me, as we continue to adjust to our unexpected move (needing to move at least a year before we planned), and my husband started his new job this past week. We also found a church home and my daughter and I have joined the choir. That’s been a wonderful experience! I look forward to singing with them regularly, and especially during the Christmas program that we’re already working on.

These life changes (the move, looking for a new church, my husband starting over after losing his job several years ago) are things I’ve blogged about in the past and I thought I should give you an update. We are settling in and my anger about life not going as planned is mellowing. Usually I roll with the punches easier than this. We’ve moved so many times and I have the process down to a science. The depth of my reaction to change took me by surprise, so it’s with great relief that I feel more myself again. I even had a normal kind of day, as if I’ve lived here for years. And since we intend this to be our forever home, one day I will have lived here for many years. It seems our hearts know a glimpse of the future and recognize home when we find it.

It was good to feel ordinary today, not chaotic. I worked on some landscaping and gardening projects, as well as starting the new painting session, making a casserole for the kids, and managing household/family stuff. I was practicing choir songs while painting, cooking while talking to the kids, and so on. I’m sure you have days like this too- the good kind of busy when we feel productive and happy with how life feels. When we have a day like this, just an ordinary day that is going well, let’s grab hold of it. We all know that the other kind of day could be tomorrow, or may have been how we’ve spent many yesterdays- the kind of day that is too slow, too fast, too stressful, or too painful. When an average day comes along, it’s a good day!

May you enjoy this last bit of August as summer slips away. I hope to be there for you more, sharing my paintings. I know that some of you feel encouraged by my art and I’m sorry for being so absent this summer. I plan to make up for lost time as I can. Stay strong and enjoy the change of seasons. May God bless and keep you, may His face shine upon you and give you peace.