I’ve recently begun a new journal and something about it feels like a new era, too. In fact, a lot of what’s going on in my life currently feels like a new beginning. Only time will tell.

It feels like a new era because when I got to the end of my last journal, I knew I had a lot of unwoven tapestries in me that I didn’t want to lose sight of. So I went through the pages one by one and photographed, then clipped out individual sketches, potential design ideas and saved them to this new journal. It’s energizing, seeing all these clips and potential. 

But… I know the only way to make them happen is to make more time to weave. I am slowly cutting back on commitments (like, as I’ve mentioned to some, in-person teaching) and allowing myself to retreat inward.

I have always been protective of my time. I limit my trips into town.  When I do go into town, I couple all my errands together (library, recycling, massage, or doctor appointment…even meet-ups with friends).

I could have been a hermit in another life. 

There’s a quote by Georgia O’Keefe that resonated with me over 40 years ago when I first read it- and still does today.

“One works because I suppose it is the most interesting thing one knows to do. The days one works are the best days. On the other days one is hurrying through the other things one imagines one has to do to keep ones life going. You get the garden planted. You get the roof fixed. You take the dog to the vet. You spend a day with a friend. You learn to make a new kind of bread. You hunt up photographs for someone who thinks he needs them. You certainly have to do the shopping. You may even enjoy doing such things. You think they have to be done. You even think you have to have some visitors or take a trip to keep from getting queer living alone with just two chows. But always you are hurrying through these things with a certain amount of aggravation so that you can get at the paintings again because that is the high spot - in a way it is what you do all the other things for….The painting is like a thread that runs through all the reasons for all the other things that make one’s life.”

- From “Portrait of an Artist; A Biography of Georgia O’Keefe” by Laurie Lisle (pg 315 of my edition, “Clouds” chapter).

With only a few substitutions, this could be me. 😊

Is it you?