Celebrating this 365th day in 2021 with some of my favorite creations in this collage! Original Acrylic Paintings and Digital Art Creations by MARS, completed in Sedona, Arizona and New York. In early 2021 while living in Sedona, I was inspired to paint three canvases, entitled: New Dawn/Inauguration, Blossom Heart, and Hope Springs Eternal/Jacaranda Tree. I also completed a project in New York entitled Rock Art Abstracts, and did a few other digital creations. Not included in this collage are a few fun watercolor paintings attempted in an en plein air autumn workshop.
Now I am looking forward to 2022 to see the next 365 days of inspiration that arises in my heart & soul! See you later 2021…..it has been challenging for so many, let’s hope 2022 will be a year filled with abundance, prosperity and pandemic free.
Mother Nature has begun to put on a spectacular show of her true Autumn colors here on Long Island the past few weeks. This visit to Mill Pond was breathtaking and rejuvenating for my soul. It has been many years since I have experienced Autumn on the East Coast in New York State. I grew up in Buffalo and fondly remember scrumptious autumn colors there, but it has been almost 5 decades since I lived there. My GPS encouraged me to move to the West Coast in 1977 after a massive blizzard. I lived in Southern California for almost 3 decades, never looking back except for annual family visits to Buffalo, and on Long Island. I also lived in Portland, Oregon for almost 8 years and enjoyed beautiful autumn colors especially at the gorgeous Japanese Gardens.
Now it has been five months since I have made New York my temporary home, ever since having to leave my home in Sedona, AZ this past May. It has been quite the adaptation to say the least! Next week is daylight savings time, not something I’ve been used to for almost 8 years living in Arizona! Hopefully my new full spectrum lamp will help add a daylight effect for the dark days of winter coming! I have no idea where my next adventure will take me, I await the Universe to reveal all the details! In the meantime, I am grateful to experience this glorious nature here on Long Island.
“Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all.” Helen Keller
I have been inspired to photograph and digitally paint these lovely rock specimens compliments of Mother Nature! I discovered a sweet neighborhood park that has various sized rocks along the river bank, and began photographing them for their interesting and unique markings. I am used to the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona, and these are nothing like them, these are New York grey rocks! I have found several that are heart-shaped or with heart markings that of course excited me, being Mars The “HEART Lady”!
I am enjoying the first week of this beautiful autumn season in New York, and continue to explore and become inspired by my new area. The trees are getting ready to show off their true colors of the season, but for now I paint these sweet rocks! I am grateful for this healing gift of inspiration from Mother Nature! Click on the images to purchase prints on Fine Art America.
Today is the last day of August 2021, it doesn’t seem possible that summer is coming to an end already, and autumn will begin in 22 days! This has been a summer I will never forget, living on Long Island since mid-May, having to adapt to the hot, humid, and almost hurricane weather! It has been very challenging for me after living on the West Coast for 45 years and being accustomed to a very different climate. Somehow I have survived, and even at times thrived! In the past few weeks I have discovered a lovely nature area where I have been able to capture some amazing sunset photos. The best part about it has been seeing Heart Clouds in the sky each time I have gone there, reminding me that I am still the HEART Lady, just not of Sedona anymore! I am MARS “The HEART Lady” of NY! Heart clouds are still following me wherever I go! It brings such joy to my Heart-Soul, a word I have adopted as my own.
My Heart and Soul are one, so I have joined the words together to form a union, since for me they surely belong together. My Heart-Soul experiences many different emotions, sometimes joyful and sometimes sorrowful. This past summer has been filled with both emotions, but mostly sorrow, and feeling wounded to the core. But, I hang on dearly to the moments when I feel joyful and happy, knowing that I have the capacity to feel both, and hopefully will feel the later more often than not. For most people it takes a long time to adapt to major life changes, moving to a new city, adjusting to a new environment, and being out of your comfort zone, are all very difficult. Most of the time, these past 3 1/2 months since moving from AZ to NY, I have been in survival mode. I have been so very homesick most of the time, grieving the loss of my home, and feeling down deep in my heart-soul that I want to go home, but it’s not possible. I have good days and bad days, but at the three month mark I noticed I may have turned a corner, and now I feel much more accustomed to my new life and environment.
Taking it one step at a time, I have been getting familiar with the area, networking, meeting new people, getting my library card, and happily discovering neighborhood parks to enjoy moments in nature. I found a lovely bench, a tree that I will adopt for all the seasons to photograph, and a perfect spot to take amazing sunset photos. And best of all, the Heart clouds have found me! This evenings sunset photo with the giant heart cloud in the sky, was surely a moment of serendipity that delighted my heart-soul. I believe the Universe is always at work designing our lives with a touch of serendipity, it’s always there, you just have to look for it.
MARS ZEN Creations & ZEN Daily Words & MARS Mindful Moments 