Access the original back issues from July 2023 – July 2024
If you're just stepping into the enchanting world of Magical Musings, you absolutely MUST dive into the first year! It'll sprinkle some extra magic on my adventures as a watercolor nomad, not to mention months worth of creative encouragement for YOU!
6-23-24
It's been a plein air summer! 🦬🎨🖼
emergency color matching and composition book review...
...I'm so excited to have participated in the Yellowstone Forever Field Seminar program this summer here in the park! In fact, a few of you joined me, and it was a delight to meet you in person...
6-2-24
I didn't get lost, I promise! Let me share what I've been up to! 🤩📣
I have lots of info and new content to share!
...thanks for your patience while I've been away. Heading west this year for Yellowstone has been a completely different trek than last year. I'll catch you up on some things...
3-19-24
Spring is springing! 🐻 🌼 What's on your horizon?
Change is a'comin'!
...How did I forget to think about that? Instead of planning how many quarts of tomatoes I’ll can, I’m mapping out cross-country routes and stops to fit my teaching schedule...
1-30-24
It's time for blue horses, libraries, and ABC's! I'll see you inside! 📗🐴✍️
What is your artistic origin story?
...it's triggered early on–we're inspired by the things in our world around us, and we find ourselves wanting to copy or recreate that image too! In the beginning there's no real understanding or explanation for it. It just happens...
1-16-24
It's time for me to get back in the saddle! I'll see you inside!
Let's finally get this new year started! 🥳
....has 2024 wafted into the room like the scent of fresh cookies baking in the next room? Or was it more like crashing thunder waking you out of your senses at 2am? This new year has arrived for us more like the latter...
12-19-23
It's time for Christmas, and new watercolor offers you can't refuse! I'll see you inside!
The Christmas season is evolving into something new these days....🎄
...Jay and I did Christmas on our own as a couple for 5 or 6 years before our own children came along....we know how this works, right? Did we forget? I'm kinda thinking I have at least. What I think stands out most is that, just like the season we had before kids, we're in this new season....
11-28-23
It's time for a wedding, holidays, and salt water , I'll see you inside!
I'm getting a new daughter! This is amazing! 🥰🥰💫💍
I've had several conversations with more experienced moms over the last couple of years, and they assure me that the pains of seeing your sons grow up and move on into their own lives will dissipate, and be replaced with a different version of relationship later. I definitely look forward to that, because the last 3 years have been...
11-21-23
It's time for gratitude, reflection, & planning, I'll see you inside!
Happy Thanksgiving 🧡🦃🌽
I've decided that 'planning' is one of my favorite things to do...I think it's because planning feels a lot like 'designing'. It really is a way of creating a future version of what life can look like, and I've enjoyed it as long as I can remember.....
11-06-23
It's time for new plans, old places, and my birthday, I'll see you inside!
Collecting moments IS our new milestone 🧡🚌💫
What else has been great about being back east? I'm glad you asked.....Food.....there I said it. We missed food 😂
That's not to say we weren't eating, but eating on the road isn't an illustrious affair....
10-31-23
It's time for briars, sketchbooks, and new perspectives, I'll see you inside!
Travel is an investment in YOURSELF 🧡🚌💫...the vast and matted tangles of undergrowth in the woods and along the roadside. Visual texture everywhere! That texture has been a source of inspiration for my work from the beginning, and I did miss that out west to a degree. But the enthralling network of briars and brambles of home gave way to vast open skies, towering mountains...
10-24-23
It's time for the magic of rocks, water, and trees, I'll see you inside!
Zion and Glacier did NOT disappoint! 🤩...The wilds of the west with her big skies, vast plains, snow covered peaks, and strong broad rivers carving patterns through the landscape are just as inspiring and gorgeous in their own way, yet never diminishing for a moment my little magical wooded shires of Georgia...
10-10-23
Late is better than never, I'll still see you inside!
| A very non-official blog post from the road!! 🚌 |
...we packed the bus for moving as quickly as we've ever done in the year we've lived in it....we cranked the bus, and nervously left in the dark....it wasn't a super easy spot to get to in the daytime....we left bleary eyed, but high on adrenaline, and made our way back south to Flagstaff for the rest of the night....just feeling grateful that no one had harmed us.
10-03-23
It's time for red rocks, me NOT melting, and the joys of running away, I'll see you inside!
| Red dirt isn't just for Georgia! 🧡 |
...It was astonishing to be surrounded by the familiar red color palette of central Georgia...only this time it wasn't the clay soil underfoot, but the remnants of iron sandstone layers reaching high into the air against turquoise desert skies. Just pure magic! ⭐️✨🌟💫
09-26-23
We survived a twister, and lived to tell the tale! I'll see you inside!, I'll see you inside!
“Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.” - Dorothy |
...It felt nothing short of total and utter calamity, as we huddled in the floor under our table. Nothing but a tumultuous black rage was outside and around us. These are the types of moments where you're somehow able to hide within yourself, time disappears, there are no priorities or ambitions...
09-19-23
It's time for bull rides, old movies, & awesome Dads, I'll see you inside!
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...In reality, life does have this weird way of ensuring that we're young, fit, willing, and available for all sorts of opportunities, yet rarely do we simultaneously possess the necessary wisdom to recognize or act upon them...
09-12-23
It's time for new adventures, horizons, and workshops, I'll see you inside!
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We'd given up a physical house, we'd given up all our possessions over a period of 2 years, and the last big sacrifice was Jay turning in his notice and walking away from 23 years as a commercial print professional. Everything was in motion. We were going to really start over. 💪🤩🙌🏼
09-05-23
It's time to step back in time to see our beginnings, I'll see you inside...
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We realized that now was our time to allow our wildest, most radical ideas to surface, to sprout and be nurtured and cultivated! Heck, if the world was gonna go crazy, we'd be right there for the ride! 🤪💪🌊
08-29-23
It's time for loss, love, and learning to be our best, I'll see you inside...
| Love conquers all 🥰... |
..The old magic that we get to witness after the loss of those close to us seems to take place in those invisible metaphysical spaces –the Heavenly places beyond the physical dust of stars, yet also close, and still active within the fleshy, 'knowing' parts of our heart...
08-22-23
It's time for late nights, ramen 🍜, and, NOT getting arrested, I'll see you inside!
| oops....we broke the law, the cops came ...🚓 |
After the driving, and the fumbling for jackets and lights, checking the area, fiddling with keys and door locks.....it was time to get quiet and emotionally prepare for crossing an imagined threshold into something magical.....
08-15-23
It's time for wildlife, self-care, and moldy leftovers, I'll see you inside! 🦌
| When's the last time you cleaned your fridge? |
...in the end, all our plans are subject to change, and somehow I'd forget this–yet feel the same frustration ..... (read issue)
08-08-23
It's time for weather, treasure hunts, and tomatoes, I'll see you inside! 🍅
| it's a hard truth, garden produce is afraid of heights! |
...valuable, and resembles nothing else in this entire universe. Only you can can discover what’s on the other side of your risk. Don’t leave this world without finding your own treasure! 🥰🎨🤩🙌🏼🏆🎁 Do the work! 💙
08-01-23
It's time for wild places, painting woes, and warehouses, I'll see you inside! 😩🎨
| Learning a new language can be hard! |
...since arriving west about 3 months ago. But, honestly, I've moved on and started giving myself grace to develop a new visual vocabulary to even depict the new things I'm seeing...
07-25-23
It's time for Packages, Pack Mules, and Time Machines, I'll see you inside! 📦🐴⏳
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...It's an opportunity to slow the pace, step back in time, and gratefully appreciate the original magic of having goods delivered into the wilderness....
07-18-23
It's time for some new magic concerning bison, buses, and birds, I'll see you inside! 🦬💫🪶🚌
| Bison...unicorns in disguise? 🤔 and other magical transformations...🦄 |
...and not the fancy-romancy-mushy ones that involved Prince Charming...but rather the ones where siblings tricked a witch into baking herself in her own oven. How deliciously perfect!
07-11-23 (first issue)
Welcome to my new email blog, Magical Musings, I'll see you inside! 💫
| We never saw this coming! 🎁 |
The idea of seizing opportunities was one of the core reasons we chose this lifestyle at this point in our lives. Something pretty magical happened as a result of our ultimate flexibility…..We are now living in Yellowstone...