Kaia Thomas - A path with ART

Every morning while watering the sunflowers, I find myself getting captured by the backlit glow of the petals. I finally had enough brains to bring my watercolor sketch stuff with me this morning and gave an attempt at capturing it. I also tried to capture this lighting with the camera to save for reference and although the pictures are nice, they don't quite capture that glow... "en plein air" it is!!

Here is a watercolor sketch I did over morning coffee at the High Desert Market in Bisbee, Arizona.  I got the opportunity to unplug for a few days, and I really love Bisbee for that. I took a lot of reference photos while I was there for future paintings. It was quite the inspiring trip! Here are a few shots I took during our stay... The Jonquil Motel where we stayed... Luke playing guitar in the park... Main Street in Bisbee... Good times!

I took a walk in the desert yesterday. I was overcome with the urge to be in nature and do some sketching, so off I went, through the jungle that used to be the desert...what? Well, with all the rains from this winter/spring, the desert has come alive and is exploding with vegetation - some plants coming up I have never seen in the 18 years I have lived here. Anyway, after a short walk, I found the spot...I set up my shade and blanket and quickly began to draw. I was discouraged in a matter of minutes...this has been the pattern lately with my art, I have the enthusiasm but not the ability. I put the sketchbook down and began to ponder this. Over and over again, I have been running into this experience of forgetting to remember a few key elements of this artistic journey, such as, being in the moment, drawing or painting without the thought "will this sell?", not striving for results. At that moment it popped in my head "Expecting results leads to soulless art"....

As I was on the way home from my job this afternoon, I had an interesting experience that I thought might be worth sharing...As I looked to the south I became mesmerized by the beauty of the mountains; the way the light and shadows were playing together and the inviting warm colors of the end of a Fall, desert day. I had that welling up of inspiration to try and capture the moment.   I was tired though, it had been a long work day and I found myself saying "just go home; now is not a good time".  It was then when I suddenly saw how I continuely spoil those magical moments when I could stop and paint or sketch, by feeling that I'm not up for it or that I can do it in the future, convincing myself that I have other more important things to do. I hit the brakes and pulled over. I keep my art bag in the car with me at all times and I pulled out the sketchbook, watercolor travel kit and tripod stool to sit on. 20 minutes later I was driving down the road energized and happy, w...