This new environment has birthed in me a new way of seeing and being.

My journal has become a repository of my new life in the desert. A living record of my days - notes and directions and phone numbers and sketches and colors and experiments and days of fun with new friends.

But not only that. Being here has relaxed me. Allowed me the time to get away from expectation, from the need to do something now or create something or make make make! I've spent my days exploring me, going farther, deeper, and have discovered a new wellspring of creativity and joy.

For the first time, I'm doing series studies. My journal pages are filled with color experiments, shapes that change as I become more comfortable, my strokes more or less controlled, my palette changing here and there. I am in love with my journaling again, in a way I have never experienced before.

The feathers series is almost complete. I can feel it coming to a close. Each reminds me of an emotion or a scene, and I marvel at how much I can feel from such simple pieces of art. I am learning what colors I like with each other and those I don't. Learning how to use color in a way that pleases me.

I am finally ready to see what others around me see - that I am an artist and have something to offer. When I speak, there are people there ready to listen.

Watch the progression, from beginning to now: