Here’s my latest “homework” for Louise Gale’s Creative Color Challenge.
Our challenge was to paint in shades of turquoise (this pic is a little darker than the actual piece).
We were allowed to use white, black and metallics. You can’t tell very well in this pic, but some of those bubbles in the sea are glittery gold, soothing silver and whimsical white.
It reminds me of my happy place – the spot I automatically go
when I close my eyes, breathe deep and need to get away from it all.
I’ve had the same happy place since I was a kid.
When I tell people this, they usually furrow their brow and change the subject,
as if meditation or imagination are contagious diseases.
Anywho…when I need to escape real life,
I close my eyes and imagine I am by the ocean
(and, being in Minnesota, I am actually about as far as one can get from that big blue sea).
In my mind and heart, I have a home there
that’s built into a cliff and balanced on stilts in the front.
I can hear the waves crashing onto the shore
as I sink into my comfy spot on the couch.
It is a charming but aging white beach house
less than a yard from the edge of the ocean.
Everything there heals me:
the quiet of being alone,
the loud crashing of the waves,
the big picture window that overlooks the water,
the magical garden in the backyard,
the happy I feel when I’m there.
It may sound like magical make-believe to some,
but visiting my happy place gives me a chance
to find me in the big, beautiful blue.
