Month: July 2016

A Flash of Color 

  

Everyday on my walk to the subway I take a snapshot of a flower. It could be from my garden or that of a neighbor or a flowering weed by the wall of the Auto Body Shop on the corner. Sometimes there are other photo inspirations, trees, clouds, street lamps, but mostly I stick with flowers.  I then fiddle with different filters and whatnot during my ride into work. They end up as a Good Morning Facebook post.  This has become sort of a hobby of mine and can be addictive.  I have missed the train a few times as an image stops me in my tracks and I try to capture the best shot. I have also started posting to Instagram and #floweroftheday was all it took to see I am not alone in this addiction. 

Recently I was on vacation in Provincetown MA.  I was biking down Commercial Street in the East End when a reddish orange flash of color almost made me brake hard enough that I would have been sent flying over the handlebars. I quick glance to my right and I see a little dinghy or skiff bobbing in the water just off shore. Radiant in the setting sun.  Now I’m on vacation and probably unconsciously trying to fight my photo addiction who knows.  Plus, and more importantly, we had tix to a Drag Talent Show and you really want to sit up front for these things. Trust me.  So I make a mental note of the place and bike on. 

Now there are tons of galleries in Ptown. It is always fun to look and sometimes you come across a find within your budget. I began to see this little red dinghy in different variations all over town.  I was taken by the fact that so many artists were inspired to create their version of this little reddish orange boat. Were they, like me, momentarily struck by a flash of inspiration out of the corner of their eye? Did they see it from a restaurant window, a walk on the beach at sunset or possibly maybe a friends apartment?  A Lucky friend who actually lives on the beach in Ptown.

  

Possibly the little red boat as seen from the top of The Pilgrim Monument

  

I did not take any shots of the paintings and pics I saw in galleries but a Google search came up with this.

 

Grey Water by Gilles Thibault


This is one I bought. It is a transfer to a tile. I collect tile art for some reason. 

TJ Walton

  

The above came a few different versions. One of course in reddish orange. My bathroom is black, white and purple. Tiles are great art work for bathrooms and this is perfect!  I appear to watch Way too much HGTV. Cause that fun fact came tumbling out like an expert opinion. Don’t be afraid to go for bold throw pillows for that pop of color. Yes dark colors can make a room actually feel bigger, till about a year from now when I will tell you the exact opposite. (Cut to Benjamin Moore commercial.)

It all got me thinking that from a walk to work to sightseeing on a vacation there are many instances when inspiration urges us to create. Or at least capture the moment. Certainly there are subjects that inspire masses of people. They majestically stand there and seem to say go ahead snap or paint your picture just like the millions before you. The Grand Canyon, The Eiffle Tower, any sunrise and any sunset. Some are masterpieces others end up in photo albums or more likely Facebook or Instagram or Pintrest……All are reflections of a moments inspiration. 

Other times inspiration can come in a flash of color from the corner of your eye and stop you in your tracks. I suppose like the little reddish orange dinghy.  This somehow makes it seem more intimate more personal. It drives you to create quite possibly because it is asking you a very simple question. 

What did YOU see?
 

Including cover shot here are a few of my own versions of the Little Red Dinghy. this one is Blurry Color.I was inspired by my tile.

  

Retro

  

PinPoint

Sand Ripples

  
The last time I was in Provincetown for a summer vacation was 20 years ago. I was 1 month sober.  My next two trips were Ireland and Russia.  I figured why not get all the drinking capitals out of the way right up front.  In a few days I will be going back to P-Town again 20 years and one week sober later. I do not see a return trip to Ireland or Russia anytime soon!

I have had some glorious vacations in the past 20 years, one being my honeymoon. What strikes me now pondering a return to The Cape, is how many vacations I probably, no DID, ruin for others. My husband in particular. Romantic walks on the beach? Nope, too far from the booze. Romantic stargazing from an incredible roof deck? Nope too drunk to focus.  Romantic romp, well you get the picture.  

So 20 years ago there I was in P-Town in the height of the season.  A place that can make a person feel “less than” even on their best days, feeling like I had a finger stuck in an electrical outlet, my mind going 90 different directions all at once. To be honest  I don’t actually remember much of that vacation. It is blur, not a hold one hand over your right eye to focus blurry, thank goodness. More like an emotional and informational overload of sorts.   

What I do remember clear and vivid as day is sand ripples. We were walking at low tide out towards the lighthouse that stands on the very tip of P-Town.  I remember looking down and be taken in by the sand ripples. You know the kind made by the tide going in and out rather than by the wind. There I was standing in a sea of sand ripples. All I had to do was walk left or right, forward or back. I was not there to kill time till the next drink. How many experiences had I already missed because they were just place holders till the next drink?  I don’t think I had ever fully been in a moment UNTIL that exact moment. I looked down at my feet and the little whirls of incoming tide filling in among the sand ripples.  We walked to the lighthouse and sat on the beach looking out on life from the very tip of Cape Cod. I don’t remember how we got back. I do remember it was the first and best  vacation day of my life. 

Processing Loss at the Richard Rodger’s Theater

imageI just heard the cast of If/Then live on WERS.  The National Tour is in town for another week. I saw the original cast on Broadway a few years back. I was in NYC on business and had never gone to a Broadway show alone before and by God I was gonna see Idina Menzel on Broadway. It was just after the whole Adele Nazeem mishap and she was screaming Frozen all over the place so she was hot. Anyway I had loved her since Rent and was gonna see her on Broadway. I went straight to the Richard Rodger’s box office and was told there were only obstructed view left. This meant for the first 15 minutes I would only see a ceiling sconce and Idina’s well heeled feet.  I don’t  care I’m seeing Idina Menzel on Broadway…by myself….I am going to enjoy this.

The story is about Elizabeth who has to make a simple choice at the beginning of the show. Once she makes it we then follow Liz on one journey distinguished by a blue lighting effect and Beth distinguished by red. You know when the worlds collide because the lighting effect is purple.  Follow?  Those that watch Doctor Who, like Sci-Fi and have swallowed the slingshot around the sun plot line way too many times will. I do and have so I was thrilled.

Now you know Idina is going to have a big number, perhaps two. One of them comes in the middle of the second act as she pleads with her soldier/ doctor husband not to go on a third tour of duty (This is in Blue I think). He goes. It does not end well. BALLAD TIME! At this time a woman sitting about three seats to my left begins to sob and whisper “Oh No” over and over.  Idina begins to sing and we all hear a big “Oh NO” and the woman next to me on the left says excuse me we have to leave. “Now, are you kidding” I say, gesturing towards the stage.  The has to be the daughter or close work mate, probably daughter says “She just lost her husband.”

Now Idina is mid show stopper I look at the stage, the sobbing woman, her daughter/possibly work friend and God help me I did NOT say what was on the tip of my tongue. Which was “Well you should have stayed at Home!”  I’d like to say what happened next was a total recall memory of when my own Mother passed from cancer almost 30 years ago.

It was a horribly agonizing time in my life. I cried EVERYWHERE. TV shows, oh God the Waltons, everytime during the Waltons. Plays friends where in. Movies. Other people’s relatives funerals or wakes, some people I did not even know. I had close work friends too. I was a mess, a complete embarrassment to those with me MESS.  It took a long long time to get over that loss. To this day I am convinced I have locked some of that hurt deep down in the basement of my psyche, behind a big wooden door with iron clasp hinge thingies.  I was a big over emotional public display of grief and I did not care one bit who knew or witnessed it. Well maybe in hindsight…..but still.  It was the process that got me through and through I got.

I’d like to say all that went though my head during Idina Menzel’s big eleven o’clock number but No. What I said as I stood up was ” I’m sorry for your loss” as I pushed her to the right so I could watch Idina Menzel of Broadway damn it!  Not proud.

Go see If/Then on tour. I highly recommend it. It did not do very well but ran a year and is on tour so.. I however will always remember that time I went alone to see Idina Menzel in a Broadway show and more importantly as it turns out, to also see the woman who was reduced to tears and grief because Live Theater and Her Own Life intersected at the Richard Rodger’s Theater.