Fun and Smiles

I was away for a few weeks.

My husband and I took the auto train from DC to Florida….whatta great experience!

The train ride was awesome! A little on the expensive side, but…I’d do it again in a heartbeat!

We traveled to Florida with a cousin of ours: here’s Ruthie in the train-room across the hall from ours.

But, before we ever got to the train, we had to travel through the mountains in a snow-squall. This is a photo from the front seat that morning.

It was trying but, my honey is a good driver!

And then we spent some time with lots of family and friends in Florida and then up along the coast on the way home.

This right here was the MAIN reason for the visit:

…but we have LOTS of wonderful friends and family there, and had an absolutely terrific time chatting, reminiscing & eating!

…and we even painted with he kids.

Ruthie flew home a week before we left, so on the drive home, we camped by the beach one night. It was so beautiful.

It was a peaceful night’s sleep and a quiet time on the beach.

And we even had a little time to think.

I know that I need to do that more often.

Have you ever just found yourself on auto-pilot…and doing stuff without thinking about it too much.

Well, I guess I had to come to grips with why I do what I do.

With that said: I sometimes think its a good idea to go back to square one…just to review. I found my Artist Statement among other things, and I thought that I’d like to share it:

If you’d like to enlarge this to read it easier, just click on the image.

I know that as a visual artist who draws & paints I need to do more human figure study and plein air landscapes to keep-it-real, and to hone my drawing & painting skills.

But, I forget sometimes what I really LOVE about doing artwork. And I think that it is summed up in my statement here.

After all: I am retired. I don’t have to pound-the-pavement with my portfolio like I had to do back-in-the-day.

…and YES, we all need to hone our skills, and I certainly need to make a time to do this

But, I also need to make time to do what makes me smile.

I know that we live in some pretty shaky times, but we can still smile. And we can still spend at least some time doing what we’re passionate about. And maybe even along the way, help someone else smile!

So, stop by and see how I’m coming along…and expect more fun things to do here at The Draw Page………….and if at all possible: smile!

-Rose