About a month ago I was all ready to throw myself a pity party. Why? It seemed like every family I knew (in reality it was three actual families and one other family I don’t know but follow on Instagram) were preparing for exciting international travel over the summer. Italy. France. Italy and France! I know its not super awesome to admit feelings of jealousy, but that’s exactly what I felt. The only travel on our summer schedule was a pig show in Iowa, which my daughters and I opted out of. Livestock shows are fine, but the Almalfi coast they are not.
So, in this summer of my life I am not traveling. I am staying home with my family and my garden and all the animals. This is fine and good, and usually I am so satisfied with my life. Its all very layered, as these things are, but feelings of discontentment caught up to me. I love the animals, but the livestock shows are not quite my jam, and I was dreading a summer full of them. (Confession: I am a 4-H dropout. I think I completed one or two years of pig showing at the county fair before my dad and I came to the conclusion that it was more than OK for me not to do it.) Isn’t it ironic then, that livestock shows are exactly my husband’s and son’s jam, and my girls are pretty happy to join in too. My people could make and jar up this jam they like it so much. God is so funny sometimes!
Why am I sharing all this? Well, I think it pairs nicely with my art. I recently completed a series of farm abstracts inspired by the rural landscape for The One Hundred Day Project. Typically after I wrap up this project I flounder for a bit (or months) without a focus. I’m a person and and artist who needs structure or I do nothing. Knowing this, as I was working on that series I was thinking about what I should focus on next. I pulled out some old postcards that I had collected and painted on a few of them as I worked on the abstracts. I loved working on them! So, before I even had my “I’m not traveling” pity party I knew I wanted to do something with these postcards.
I have a lot to figure out as I go, but I’m really excited about them. Postcards from home. That seems just as ironic as the 4-H dropout surrounded by show animals in her adult life. I hope to write more about the process and my thoughts behind it as I go too. Art really is such a wonderful thing. Just thinking about this new collection of work has made my mind open up and be thankful again for the beautiful life right in front of me. Pig shows and all.