I have been feeling a pull to write a blog post for a few weeks now. What about? I honestly don’t know. But I will begin writing and see where this one takes me. 

Summer time in Crested Butte is lively and sometimes overstimulating. The demand of energy and the whimsical draw to be in nature can be very conflicting. I finally have a day of spaciousness. I have almost no responsibility to fulfill today. The only thing I expect of myself is to indulge in a studio day! Which to anyone sounds just like a day in my apartment, spent doing whatever feels good. 

For the past three weeks I was teaching a watercolor workshop at The Trailhead Children’s Museum. I am an educator at the Trailhead for a variety of programs. This particular workshop was one of my own making. As a part of the Trailhead’s “Community Creators” program, this was their first skill based class for rising middle schoolers. It was such a pleasure to build my curriculum and share a couple hours every Friday with these young artists! It was truly an experiment to see if my teaching styles and passions are more in alignment with an older age-range of students. That idea was also coupled with a smaller timeline of working in the classroom. This workshop felt more meaningful as I could connect with the students on a deeper creative level. Some programs I have facilitated in the past have felt like elevated daycare. You can’t make people care…especially 4th graders. I still dream of opening a creative retreat- it would be on a beautiful plot of land in the mountains, with cozy cabins, yoga, delicious meals (that you can learn to make), painting classes, and maybe a hike with foraging opportunities. I have quite the group of friends who offer great knowledge, skills, and can teach alongside me. I think a passion for teaching is alive inside me. I need to find the right balance, find how to utilize it in just the right way. 

On a different note:

I recently turned 36 and somewhat recently became single. I was dumped four months ago to the day. My ex partner said he “wasn’t confident in our future.” All of the events prior to the breakup make me speculate that he scared himself into self sabotaging our relationship. I think that he was seeing that our relationship could work and he’d never made it this far before. What do you do with that? For the first time in my adult life I am fully confident in how I showed up for someone else, while also staying true to myself. I could tend to his needs and also my own…flawlessly. Not to say that I was perfect in that relationship but I can say I was authentic and very much in love. He did not have a clue what to do with me- so he let me go. Four months later I am still heart broken…but! I have taken my life by the horns and I am riding full force into my dreamy ambitions. Four months later I am sleeping soundly in my own apartment, I have a piece of art in an alumni exhibition at UNC starting this month, airfare to England, an industrial piercing that may take 6 more months to heal, and delightful friends. Being single has made me appreciate the freedom I have to do anything I want, dress how I want, and spend my money how I please. Funny how grief can make your goals and desires shine with clarity. My seven part series is complete, and I now turn my attention towards merging art and dance. I turn my eyes towards the sun and the moon. (Stay tuned).