Kind of fun to look back at my very first blog post from the dead of winter in 2007… my artist’s philosophy. It was quite a while back that I made this declaration:

I am an artist.

I always said I would be one when I grew up.

Painting at Machu Picchu in 2006

Thinking of the stages through which we pass enroute to becoming/being an artist… Climbing that long, inward ladder of introspection, as we hone skills and accumulate tools with which we create.

Art is communication, whatever mode or style or medium we choose. Representational, or the varying degrees of abstraction; performance, song, dance, sculpture… Opaque transparent or translucent; exuberant or somber. It’s all about the message.

Having spent many, many years teaching art to children, I was always amazed by how the individual personality of each child shouted out off the paper, often far more coherently than they could express themselves verbally.

Blogging… about as verbal an activity as one could indulge in. An artist’s blog: another form of communication. New to me, as I sit here with 30 years of journals on the shelf next to me.
Public “journaling”… here I go…

As we enter the long dark of Vermont winter, I peruse imagery to add to the blog,  I am remembering the warmth and spirituality of Machu Picchu where I spent 10 days last summer, leading a group of artists through the Sacred Valley of the Inca. It will be wonderful to be there again next spring and summer.

I’ve been back to Machu Picchu several times since then, sharing the beauty and mystery with other groups from Castleton College.

Maybe I’ll go again with an artists group next year.