Vision - Day 22

Today has been an extremely long, hot day - Lancaster, PA reached over 100 degrees today plus humidity, ouch! I put in 3 sweat filled hours at the Lancaster Farmacy this morning and YES I did jump in the creek ;-) See pictures below. I then quickly went home, showered and changed and did my rounds to pick up first my niece, Amelia, then my mom to take us to the Fulton Opera House for the annual Youtheatre production.   This year the subject matter was 'immigration' the play was called "For We Were Strangers In The Land". As a naturalized American citizen who immigrated with  my family from Peru in 1978 the story touched me in a profound way - at times almost bringing me to tears in rememerance of the emotional and financal hardship my family suffered in el Callo, Peru.  I have a sense of loyalty and honor for my homeland of Peru but I love being an American citizen with all the freedoms this land offers. It is not a perfect land but opportunities are abudnant. When you think you have it bad in the USA just go visit a third world country and you'll be kissing the soil of this nation mighty quickly. The youth did a great job with all the proceeds going to a local nonprofit that supports refugee immigrants in the Lancaster County area. One of my students from four years back was part of the ensemble - great to see him use his acting skills for such a good cause. Then dinner with family and finally crashing at home in my AC bedroom. I think I might of gotten a little heat stroke (yikes) the sun was brutal!

Me sweating up a storm on the farm this morning it was only in the 90s not yet 105.

The creek near the farm - its a favorite spot as you can tell by the rock staircase for easy entry.

After some quality time with my cat, Diego, on the couch just relaxing and resting I picked up my mini art journal and began to do a little "pulled art" on a page that had previously been painted with watercolors and stamped. In my state of relaxation I began to draw a soothing closed eye. I added some circles for a zen feel and tried to image what calming visions might be at the source of this image. What calms me down outside of doing art is music. I love all genres but my favorite is folk music. You might ask 'but do you really see music' I say yes because when I hear the music the instruments fill my mind's eye with images of banjos, mandolins, acoustic guitars, steel guitars, pianos, harmonics and so on ... The images of the musicans playing their instruments with such vigor and delight fill my heart with joy as it resembles the joy I feel when I am creating art with my instruments in hand (a pencil, paint brush, or my fingers). It's strange but the movement of the musicians similar to that of a working artist calms my soul and without effort my whole body relaxes and smiles inwardly in gratitude to be alive. My favorite band, these days, is Carolina Chocolate Drops - . I can't wait until September when I get to see them in concert for the second time this year. Live music is a blessing.



"vision" graphite and watercolors in mini art journal


I call this image "vision" and welcome you to add your story of what brings you to a state of calmness and gratitude and as always feel free to leave a comment to share your thoughts.

Enjoy,
Sandra

To see what the other artists are up to in the 30 Days challenge click here.