This dragonfly painting (darner), is from a photo taken in my garden in Florida. The plant it rests on is commonly called horse tail, which is indeed a favorite perch of dragonflies. I took a much needed hiatus this summer and in that time frame made a trip to visit friends and family in Florida. One of my favorite resting places was the faded green bench on the back porch of my best friends home. It faces a view of a lovely garden. To the right of my view lies a trellis covered with twining jasmine- the perch of the dragonfly.

I sat there often watching the dragonfly dance. Off he would circle while doing rounds through the well groomed and loved garden. Back he would come and rest. For whatever reason, it was made clear that my job was to sit and watch. Any time I got up to take pictures he would disappear, maybe he didn’t recognize my face. My friends however had no trouble getting many great close ups of him. This allowed me to do start this painting. Per my own artistic tastes, and the good tastes of KC, I swapped out the trellis for horse tail.

So here I am thinking about perspective, times of work and rest, and how balance feeds the appetite for a creative life. I am calling it the Dragonfly Dance, which I will name this collection I am working on. I love all the ascribed meanings and attributes of dragonflies: dream keeper, stripper of illusion, remover of obstacles in vision and so on.

I have spent the last few months de-cluttering my workspace in every possible way. Largely to take out obstacles for what is usually my most productive time of year. I need a regular “active rest” period. A consistently used time to serve the purpose of reflecting, learning, and circling through the garden of the goals I have set.

Not only am I starting to connect to the local artist community and groups; but I am still a newbie in this town, still acclimating, and still feeling on the outskirts a little. I always feel a little awkward showing up somewhere unannounced and alone, but it was well worth making another step forward. So off I went to the Black Swamp Arts Festival’s monthly meeting, and was warmly welcomed as the public, in general, is highly encouraged to get in and participate.

They are a very friendly group which does a lot of very hard and thoughtful work. All in order to put on a huge and safe event that the public gets for FREE! An event that gives artist of many genres a venue to reach customers, other artists, and inspire the next generation of artists. It is amazing what they do to make this a quality and enriching event for every age.

Clearly a diverse group of people both by background and by talents. Looks like the festival this year is going to be even better than before. Volunteering is a great way to get into the arts community and build relationships. What I love is all the phenomenal live music they bring in at night. It’s free, and I can build a fire in my backyard and enjoy!

Even more exciting is the building up of an Arts Council to network artist and more. There is nothing about my choice to move down here that has backfired. Next week my daughter goes into daycare and I will really be able to focus on my studio time. I am also excited for her getting to be around so many more children her age and having an absolute blast.

One of my next goals with these ventures is to start a creativity cluster for artist to work together for growth and to jointly resource for figure models and such. Now off I go to follow up on the promises I made to get the Black Swamp Arts Festival some information on grants from the Ford Foundation for the development of art communities.