This little dragonfly type insect (I’m not sure if dragonfly is the correct term for these– but they’re similar to the larger dragonflies) is hanging out on my deck.. and probably til it sleeps it’s final sleep. It’s wings are all tangled with some sort of web and it can’t fly. I tried to help untangle it to no avail.. but I couldn’t pass up the photo op with my magnifying lens. The circle in the second photo is the head of a nail, to give you a better idea of the actual size.
“With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things.” -William Wordsworth
I’m inspired to spread the word about some local joints that I patronized today here in Lawrence, KS. It’s important to support local business, especially when you are one yourself. It all comes around…: LOVE GARDEN SOUNDS: Mmmm-records. I needed to get out of my own element today (my house & my head — it’s a work from home thing. Too much time in the same place can yield freaky results) and decided to go through the records at Love Garden. Unfortunately I like to look at them one by one so I had to cut myself off after a certain amount of time, but I came home with some great new music to listen to. Usually do.. STATIC SALON: I have long thick hair and I’ve NEVER been able to find somebody to cut it to how I want it or where it lays well.. I used to cut it myself after a few bad salon experiences, but I decided that I should take some pride in it a couple years ago, and today, for the first time ever, I had a great haircut on my long hair. Taylor (ask for her) knew just what to do. I still have all my hair plus the length but I feel like I shed about 20 pounds and a lot of excess energy. 715 RESTAURANT: The ambiance, the crowd, the food selection: I felt like I was back in NYC while eating dinner here. This can be either taken as a good thing or a bad thing (I always appreciated the good restaurants in NYC so I’ll say good). I had the apple-pecan salad and the last open dinner table. It’s good to know that such a place can thrive in a ‘small’ (compared to NYC) town like Lawrence.
Last night, I saw a hummingbird in my backyard for the first time. I posted a PBS documentary called Hummingbirds: Magic in the Air back in June. Seriously amazing — check it out HERE if you haven’t seen it yet.
I just updated my “Originals For Sale“ page with current prices. (Scroll down past the images to see a corresponding list of titles and information). Most of the works that don’t indicate being in a gallery or part of an exhibit are at Bella Luz in Wichita until the end of the month. If you have any questions, contact me through the form or email me.
I sat on my deck this morning eating oranges and looking through one of my old sketchbooks that I started while I lived in NYC and finished after I moved back to Kansas. The first half of it is filled with notes about what I needed to do to start getting my artwork out there to potentially be able to do it full-time, plus lots of life-affirming statements and notes about where I wanted to be (at some unknown point in time), advice to myself, etc. The second half is filled with rough sketches, jotted down ideas for new works, and notes about how to keep my work progressing to where it really felt right.
I’ve gotten lots of emails and even had a couple meetings over the past year or two with folks asking for a word or two about how to get their own art off the ground.. I never feel like I have a very good answer that makes sense, but my response is usually something along the lines of ‘be brutally honest with yourself, be patient, work hard, learn to trust that things will be as they’re supposed to be, and when something feels right, don’t let go of it’. All these things are easier said than done, but I try to follow them as closely as possible. And I keep following them. And everything just keeps unfolding in amazing ways.
I’ll be sitting down with my current sketchbook tomorrow, because it’s been awhile, to see what unravels. Til next time. -Jack Handy
