A Happy Farewell for Now

Life is for learning and changing. Seeing opportunities, reading the wind, searching one's own soul for the rightness of a thing. This is the process for growing in wisdom, discretion, renewed hope. I've been doing this for some time now (the recent use of my painting, and the acknowledgement that my images are used as screen savers without compensation or any shame by some, has been the nudge I needed), and am now ready for a change.

Blogging has been incredibly instructive to me, but meeting so many kind souls in the last four years has been more than affirming. It has been a deep pleasure. It has saved my art life in so many ways.

May I offer the same love and admiration to those who honorably work through their own processes.

I'll be around to visit and comment at your blogs. This is not the end, but the beginning of a new path.

And, of course, I'm wishing each of my online buddies every success!

Smiling at the trailhead...

Tucson Artist Melinda: Website, Power Circles, Rant

Power Circles (oil on cradled panel © Melinda Esparza)

I've been fortunate to have my website updated recently, and I'd love for you all to have a look. I hope you'll like the front page: Artist Melinda Esparza. Thanks,  Mr. Arty Fice, for making the slide show of the three images. I hope to have more moving through in the future.  I like the whole page much better! Makes me smile...

I painted this painting today in a fit of pique. Some of you will 'get' how I feel, others may not. What is it about people who copy the work of others' and why me, three times? Oh, I know, I'm being complimented, but it doesn't feel good, I can tell you that without any hint of feeling flattered. This painting, Ah-Ree-Zoe-Nah Ski, was pretty much lifted and copied by this person. I don't know if she just doesn't know any better or not. I do know that it would only take a moment to think about it--and to include an attribution. 

Years ago when I was at the University of Arizona, we were required to copy a painting of any artist no longer living (Verboten to copy a living artist!), just so we could learn some technique. I completely agree with this and don't even mind if a person paints something from online to learn. However, that painting should never be passed off as one's own, nor should it be for sale.

That's my rant. Mr. Arty Fice sent me this from someecards and it made my day, especially after he corrected the punctuation! (Yeah, I'm in that kind of mood)

Hope you're all having a great week. I'm hoping to see rain and a bit of snow on Mt. Lemmon later this week. I think that influenced the painting...

Back to smiling.

Tucson Artist Melinda: Out of the Darkness

Abiquiu Ancestor (30" x 30," oil on canvas © Melinda Esparza)

There are some things we cannot rush. We must wait, and, sometimes, walk several paths until we find the best road. I felt that last year when I stood on Forest Road 151, north of Abiquiu, NM. And, I felt that a couple of weekends ago when we drove up to Phoenix to adopt our new dog, Zorro.

El Zorro and Diego November 2012

Going deeper: I just read James Shepard's recent article in the Williams College Magazine, and think you might find it as eloquent and deeply reassuring as I did.

"Imagine you come across a little girl in a sandbox, and you ask her what she's building. If she says she doesn't know, you don't answer, "Well, then, get out of the sandbox." If she says she's building a castle, you don't answer, "Oh, there's an original idea. Nobody ever built a castle before. Think your castle's going to be any different than anybody else's?

If that little girl has poise, she might respond, "I don't know. I haven't built it yet."

Isn't this what many artists hear (especially women artists)? Isn't this something we say to ourselves in many different ways, including in secret? May you add poise to the conversation!

I encourage you to go read the rest of his article, and check out the link to his name.

This painting and I have wrestled for a few months (no deep cuts, just a small scratch or two for me), and I might have finished it today, and won.

Where are you on your path? A good dog or two can help you walk it...