The more things change, and they should...

I don’t recall the year, but I remember the dress with joy. It was black and white with a circle skirt made for twirling in empty school hallways. I believe the bow was bright red.

I’ve always had a lot of hair. I think this was taken in the mid-70s.

This would have been taken in the early 1980s.

This is more recent, although in real life, I’m seldom out of my sweats or groomed because I’m always in the studio. But that is changing too.

Blossoms and Buds is the last acrylic painting I’ll be doing for a while. I’ve been aching to revisit watercolors. They take up less room and make less of a mess.

I didn’t secure the new studio space I’d hoped for, but I’m still packing up my home studio, except for the ceramic materials and my watercolors. Our house in Montevideo, MN, is up for sale. We plan to move back to Brainerd, MN. I’ll search for studio space when we get there.

The secret to joy is allowing yourself to feel uncomplicated enthusiasm. Life always presents challenges - some are downright horrible. Yet inside of you, in your essence, your spirit, you have access to all unentangled experiences. You do. What do I mean by entangled? Every time you connect an emotion to a thought, you are captured by the thought and can be manipulated with complications. Give yourself 5 minutes a day to unentangle however you can. When I’m a little girl in a black and white checkered dress with a circle skirt to twirl, I can’t be more joyful.