Almost a year ago I began preparing…though I didn’t know it at the time.
I had never painted a bird before coming to France. The first one came so easily. And then another. And another. I painted 40. Sold 40. It kept me connected. I was still a part of something. Fluttering, so small, barely more than air in this gigantic French sky, I was not lost. Not alone. My path, this seemingly random flight, was exactly what I needed.
It came as quiet and unannounced as my first bird, this rebuilding of my website nearly a year ago. A new look, a new palette. We hadn’t really planned it, my publisher and I. I was working on a couple of pieces, just a flutter, I suppose, and soon we were redoing the whole site. Building a cohesive palette. Creativity amid the calm. Our motivation, we agreed, was that if you entered, you would want to live there, nestled in. Comforted. Inspired. Loved.
Oh, how I would come to need it. I DO need it. Daily. This palette. And when I think of it, the best part of it all is that these tools of care were busy at work before I even knew I needed them. I breathe in that wow. And rest a minute, nestled on this offered branch, giving thanks for the magic of it all.

