An Unplugged Day

My friend Jeannie invited me to her home on a hill above the village the other day, to come and share with her a part of her 'unplugged' day.  This is a day in which she unplugs form the rest of the world... no phones, no TV, no internet... just the peace and serenity of her home with all the wonderful windows looking across the valley to the mountains, quite distant to the west and our familiar mountains closer and to the north.

When I arrive, she offers a nice cup of herbal tea.  It is a very windy, but sunny day. A lovely, cool autumn day, just perfect, as October should be.  We have a plan for our time together today and Jeannie is all ready for me.  She has set up all we will need as we will be painting together today, creating our impressions of the day in pretty watercolors.  Watercolor is a new medium for me as I usually paint with oils.  I've new techniques to learn!  And Jeannie turns out to be a good and patient teacher.

Since this is to be a relaxing time, we will try not to take ourselves too seriously as we work.  In fact we are calling it 'play' today!  I have a bent toward fuss and twiddle sometimes when I paint and she recognizes this and reminds me to just loosen up and PLAY.  So I learn to let the little accidental strokes become 'happy occurrences' and let them become a part of this creation. WOW, are we having fun now!

Creating always brings me peace and joy.  How God must have felt as He rested on the seventh day of creation!  Then surveying His world he pronounced it 'Good". Thoughts along this line sure make my creations seem pretty small!

I learn that sometimes our painting needs to 'rest' and dry a bit before we continue. ( How like people, we need to stop and rest and clear out our minds sometimes too before continuing on.) SO Jeannie has a second sheet of watercolor paper all ready to go. We start a second 'masterpiece'.  We choose to spend our in-between time beginning this new creation rather than taking a pause with a fresh cup of tea.  You can see I'm really getting into this!  So we laugh and learn, 'wash' and paint and daub and splatter.  Before we know it, it is time to finish up and for me to go back down the hill to the village and create supper.

What a grand unplugged day we've had!  This should become a habit, don't you think?

Fantasy Flowers