Driving South Journal

5:30 pm: 140 words for my intended Twitter entry telling the story of a drive from Kansas City, Missouri to Eureka Springs, Arkansas--can't do it. There are too many words in my head. Noon: 71 S from Kansas City's 85th Street, a comfortable drive along white/gray pavement. Subaru and I drove between huge trucks for about for about 20 miles out of town when traffic abruptly dwindled to slight. Some road construction but mostly I drove on a clean smooth highway with flat green fields through west central toward southern Missouri and into northern Arkansas. The car easily rolled along the Ozark Hills reaching valleys up ahead toward Bella Vista (which is really south ahead). Colors were fantastic. Burnt orange grasses--orange with yellow with red presenting lovely ribbons around hill and valley. Between green grasses and gray road rock, a hill was vertically cut making room for new stretches of highway 71 S. Rather than protest this cutting of the land (my usual behavior) I fell into an uncensored appreciation for the marvelous coral stripes, gray stripes and the blinding white crumbly stone--a sight so beautiful my heart could not hold back a cry of awe while all words walked out of my head. As I quite literally drove through the golf courses of Bella Vista the sky seemed to be stroked into a color of light blue giving a temperature of 71 degrees with a gentle breeze. Woods in Arkansas are evergreen with dogwoods, red buds and white buds peeking out from under the skirts of deep green cedars. Kansas City's NPR traveled with me for about 11/2 hours into the drive after which I found a classical station from the University of Pittsburgh (KS)--nice selections kept me traveling forward (south) to Rogers where I switched to iPod and Autumn Leaves, a New Age ensemble and a perfect sound for the up and down, zig and zag through the hills surrounding  Eureka Springs where all roads are up, unless they are down. So tired to be here at last my dinner consisted of dark cherry iced tea and warm coconut pudding leaving me deeply grateful for Cindy, the chef at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow.

Never Dreamed this Moment

This is a photo of the markers I use to do my art. I wrote some words on top to express how it felt to be so happy sitting under a pyramid shaped skylight in the sitting room of my Dairy Hollow get-a-way (the Writers' Colony in Eureka Springs). I published a poster, had it framed and it hangs on my living room wall on Walnut Street in Kansas City. It remains the joy of my art. I am a lucky woman.

Tulip Time

Yesterday, I picked up two new posters--nicely framed. I believe that one of them, Tulip Time, is the best piece I have ever done. During a long April walk in Eureka Springs, I took a picture of a tulip patch. Then, I put the tulip patch photo on my computer and into Photoshop. There are many options that will intensify or dim or change the look, feel and color of the selected image. Tulip Time was maxed out and I immediately smiled. I loved the effect of super glorious color on the naturally simple tulip--oh, the gentle manic process of art. I added text from the morning's journal--over and under and all around the image--including the morning birdsong I tried to replicate with musical notation--can you see it? in purple? little musical notes? The finished (17.5" x 9.5") piece was printed on canvas which adds, I think, a bit of legitimacy to this particular ART project.

Note:Written during my stay at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow where all I did was write and make art--and eat the tasty dinners prepared by marvelous Cindy. It is a wonderfully supportive atmosphere in which to explore and produce art of any kind. I highly recommend it.