A blank piece of paper is in front of me. I feel frozen, I don’t know where to start… in life and in art. I sit back and try to remember the dozens of workshops I have taken, the art DVDs I have watched, the hundreds of paintings I have done and I take a deep breath and start at the very beginning. It is, indeed, a very good place to start.
There are big changes happening for us. We have a new life in Santa Fe and the last 8 months have been so busy, so full of change, and packed with so many decisions that I am worn out in every way.
Beginning a painting and beginning a new life have a lot of similarities: Inspiration/Life Dream. Sketching/Architect and Contractor meetings. Composition/Laying the foundation. Blocking in the darks/The budget. Popping in the color and highlights/décor and design. Framing it to be enjoyed for all/our first holiday at the new place…
For us it was testing out how to compose our new life in Santa Fe. We have had a second home here for years but making the decision to leave our home of 26 years in the Denver area, selling the memories of a home we loved was daunting. We tried out life in Santa Fe in quick little visits, testing out the possibilities and letting are “what if” thinking run wild. We spent a week here and a week there, even the entire month of August and the occasional holiday in Santa Fe but we always went home.
Finally we made the decision. We visualized the life we wanted here in New Mexico and found a property that would help us design that vision. We made an offer on a 8.5 acre horse property that needs a lot of updating to make it ours and the sellers accepted our offer. We signed the papers. We closed on a house we had only been in for 45 minutes.
Once we were back in the house the first time after becoming legal owners, my husband and I looked at each other and said “What have we done”? Visions of the movie “The Money Pit” started flashing through our minds… but we had taken the plunge and the new place was ours, aluminum wiring and all.
As we begin now, after months of laying our foundation, our new life is beginning to take shape. We have blocked in all the darks (the money pit potential) and now we are beginning to see the highlights pop out. New friends, new business ventures and new life as first time horse owners. We are having new adventures, finding new places to explore, and enjoying the abundance of interesting activities in “The City Different”, our new home.
It will be a year before we can actually move in. I have named the art part of the property Bluebird Studios LLC (selection of the name will be a story in a future blog), but for now the new picture is taking shape and there will be many tweaks along the path but we have done our work of composing our new life and so far we are liking what we see.
