A long time coming

Well I've done pretty badly on the blogging front for 2012. On the other hand, I've had a pretty exciting year so far. I am still putting projects in motion to simplify life.

This summer, I had the priveledge to travel to Italy with my daughter Solange. We visited the town where my grandfather was born. We both fell deeply in love with the Montferrato hills. Why this is a relatively unknown part of the Piedmonte in north-western Italy, I'll never know. Gorgeous, gorgeous scenery (see pics above). We then travelled east to La Spezia, Porte Venere, and our final destination, Tuscany. Italy has fabulous and diverse countryside.

New Beginnngs

Isn't it great? Every year, renewal, changes and choices. A Re-invention of ourselves.
As an artist, I find a new challenge to further develop my human experience, every year. One year, it was-What, is faith? An artist must possess faith, otherwise, how could we pursue onward? We have to know, our time will come. To that end, this year, my challenge is simplicity. These are not new concepts. But the relevant ones just keep popping up at the right time. So this year, every time an oppurtunity flies in front of me, I'll be asking whether this works in simplifying my life or not? All decisions, leading to unburdening myself from unimportant responsibilities, in order to set myself free artistically.
I call it Permission Pie, Dues Paid.

Talking about what is important this year, for me, will be getting time to paint, and making the most of our upcoming trip to Tuscany, Italy. The lush greens in this pic of watermill plein air painters at Monte dei Bianchi square give me hope for what's ahead in August 2012!