New Bellydance Tarot Moon and My New Life...
Today I have for you my newest Tarot Card: the Bellydance Tarot Moon. See and read about it on the
Tarot Majors Page of my website.
It will be going up for auction on eBay tomorrow (Saturday, April 28), and will end Saturday, May 5. Sorry to have taken so long to get this one out to you! I am really feeling the effects of the end stage of my chemo treatments: daily fatigue that I sometimes can't shake for more than an hour or so (Seriously: there have been days when I've slept 23 hours! I get up, feed Kali-Cat, and fall back into bed!). But the glorious end is in sight: May 23 is my last treatment, and then I can begin to recover! Now I can tell you about my exciting news. I have enrolled at a technical school to take courses and become certified in Veterinary Technology! This is something I have wanted to do all my life: the only other thing I ever wanted to do besides make art. And I never in the past could decide between them. When I was a kid I told everybody I was going to be an animal nurse or doctor someday, but when it came to choosing an educational path I thought myself too sensitive and squeamish for the animal work and chose an art education instead. Now - don't get me wrong, I don't regret my art education, or the years I've spent striving in the arts, at all. I will always define myself as an artist (along with animal lover, environmentalist and mystic), and I will always make art. I can't not make art: it's in my blood. But I have recently experienced a true rebirth, this coming-thru and out of cancer (I am now officially in remission), and I find that I must re-evaluate my life in terms of that. My entire life changed; my old life was left behind, and that is significant. Not many people get a chance for a whole second life. I look back and admit I struggled much in the arts; and much of that was not pleasing - it did not realize the dreams I had for my art. There is much art to this day that lies in my mind that I have not done despite years of intent, because I churned away on the treadmill of the politics and directives of the art market. Of all that I have done over the years, it's just the few dream-inspired pieces I've managed to carve out the time to make, such as my beloved "Little Opal" (the image above my 'Catalog' link on my website), and lately my Cat Tarot artwork, that have been artworks I've truly felt passionate about doing. I realize I can change that. If I do not succumb to the struggles of the art marketplace I can simply do, for the joy of doing, the pieces I want to do, while pursuing a right livelihood of helping our fellow creatures: a livelihood I have always longed for but lacked the courage to take up. It is time to take up that path now, to explore the fork in the road not taken in the past life.
You may always look for new art from me on my website. As I've said on numerous occasions previously, I fully intend to complete the Cat Tarot. Once the chemo is over I can move back up to the speed of one card a week again. And I will finally do those dream-inspired pieces I've wanted to do, and put them up here, with their stories, for your consideration. I begin my Vet Tech training, a nine-month intensive course, on July 23. My ultimate goal is to work not only with companion animals but with wildlife, and I hope to one day fulfill the vision I had after my surgery, when the Pelicans came to me and told me I would live, and I told them I would help them live in return - I intend to return to California and work with shorebirds, these wonderful beings of the air who are everyday under assault from oil spills, careless fishermen, and other hazards of 21st century life on the margin between land and sea.
I hope the above doesn't disappoint too many of you too much! I am a dreamer and I am following my greatest dream now. I don't expect it to be easy: I do expect it to be rewarding. And my art is freed because of it. ... As always, my unending gratitude goes out to those of you who have been so generous in your well-wishes!
Tarot Majors Page of my website.
It will be going up for auction on eBay tomorrow (Saturday, April 28), and will end Saturday, May 5. Sorry to have taken so long to get this one out to you! I am really feeling the effects of the end stage of my chemo treatments: daily fatigue that I sometimes can't shake for more than an hour or so (Seriously: there have been days when I've slept 23 hours! I get up, feed Kali-Cat, and fall back into bed!). But the glorious end is in sight: May 23 is my last treatment, and then I can begin to recover! Now I can tell you about my exciting news. I have enrolled at a technical school to take courses and become certified in Veterinary Technology! This is something I have wanted to do all my life: the only other thing I ever wanted to do besides make art. And I never in the past could decide between them. When I was a kid I told everybody I was going to be an animal nurse or doctor someday, but when it came to choosing an educational path I thought myself too sensitive and squeamish for the animal work and chose an art education instead. Now - don't get me wrong, I don't regret my art education, or the years I've spent striving in the arts, at all. I will always define myself as an artist (along with animal lover, environmentalist and mystic), and I will always make art. I can't not make art: it's in my blood. But I have recently experienced a true rebirth, this coming-thru and out of cancer (I am now officially in remission), and I find that I must re-evaluate my life in terms of that. My entire life changed; my old life was left behind, and that is significant. Not many people get a chance for a whole second life. I look back and admit I struggled much in the arts; and much of that was not pleasing - it did not realize the dreams I had for my art. There is much art to this day that lies in my mind that I have not done despite years of intent, because I churned away on the treadmill of the politics and directives of the art market. Of all that I have done over the years, it's just the few dream-inspired pieces I've managed to carve out the time to make, such as my beloved "Little Opal" (the image above my 'Catalog' link on my website), and lately my Cat Tarot artwork, that have been artworks I've truly felt passionate about doing. I realize I can change that. If I do not succumb to the struggles of the art marketplace I can simply do, for the joy of doing, the pieces I want to do, while pursuing a right livelihood of helping our fellow creatures: a livelihood I have always longed for but lacked the courage to take up. It is time to take up that path now, to explore the fork in the road not taken in the past life.
You may always look for new art from me on my website. As I've said on numerous occasions previously, I fully intend to complete the Cat Tarot. Once the chemo is over I can move back up to the speed of one card a week again. And I will finally do those dream-inspired pieces I've wanted to do, and put them up here, with their stories, for your consideration. I begin my Vet Tech training, a nine-month intensive course, on July 23. My ultimate goal is to work not only with companion animals but with wildlife, and I hope to one day fulfill the vision I had after my surgery, when the Pelicans came to me and told me I would live, and I told them I would help them live in return - I intend to return to California and work with shorebirds, these wonderful beings of the air who are everyday under assault from oil spills, careless fishermen, and other hazards of 21st century life on the margin between land and sea.
I hope the above doesn't disappoint too many of you too much! I am a dreamer and I am following my greatest dream now. I don't expect it to be easy: I do expect it to be rewarding. And my art is freed because of it. ... As always, my unending gratitude goes out to those of you who have been so generous in your well-wishes!