Adventures in a Foreign Country

Experiencing a foreign country can do wonders for an artist's perspective and creativity. Taking yourself out of your comfort zone and daily routine can open up all sorts of possibilities to let your imagination flow. Recently, I decided to visit my cousin who lives in southern Alberta, Canada. We haven't see each other in quite a while and, basically, we just needed some time to catch up and have fun. We are, also, involved with some mutual creative projects and there comes a point with that sort of thing when sharing files over the Internet isn't enough and we need to sit down together for a face to face collaboration. She is designing the Athena's Needle website and we are co-authoring a series of children's books. In short, we are doing what we've always done and cheering each other on with our creative endeavors.

But I have found another dimension to this trip that I didn't think about or expect. I live in the sub-tropical semi jungle of Central Florida where there is not real Fall or dramatic change of seasons. Where Winter is a time when it gets cool enough for the azaleas and camellias to bloom. Where humidity sits on your skin like a heavy velvet glove and it rains every afternoon at 3. Coming to the arid prairie of southern Alberta and the brilliant Fall colors has taken me out of the world I normally live in. Every kind of small thing in the environment is just basically different. The shapes of trees, the sound of the bird song, and the feel of the air. It is lovely and mild here in the Fall. The dry air changes the quality of the light and sharpens all sorts of minute details. The water in the roadside ditches sparkles more vividly and the blue of the sky is a gradient of different hues. Although the winds are gentle, you can feel the colder weather sitting just beyond the doorstep. All this difference has allowed me to step aside from my daily expectations and see things with new eyes. Ideas, projects, designs and colors are crowding my mind. I bought a new sketch book just to keep up with it all. Its so refreshing to get this kind of clarity just by stepping back from the too-well-known and embrace these new stimulations. I feel renewed and energized. And taking it all home is nothing I have to pack in my luggage or declare at the border. It is the treasures of travel and family and friendship that is beyond price. Now I will weave it all into new designs and have those as souvenirs of not just a place, but a journey of inspiration.