You know how the whole world turned upside down in 2020, and people were suddenly home a lot, and suddenly everyone was into PROJECTS, like windowbox gardening [fun fact: stick a heel of romaine in a bowl of water and you get new lettuce], sewing masks, and making bread [oh god, the sourdough revolution!]? I'm no exception, and I bounced back and forth between jigsaw puzzles, learning to cook Mexican food, streaming all 4 seasons of The Crown, and doing children's art kits. And occasionally writing postcards!
But one side effect of the pandemic has been that my focus is even more erratic than ever and finishing anything is a challenge. I had great big grand ideas about restarting this blog (and maybe even finally starting my travel blog). Especially when one of those art kits ignited a new passion for collage that meant I spent a lot of this year's LetterMo creating individual postcards for folks.
I didn't do that. And as the year wore on, I became less and less capable of doing anything for longer than a hot minute. I even started this post last night and gave up because it was harrrrrd. But I have a little time right now and am trying to use it to rediscover joy or at least some semblance of good habits, so here we go.
Step 1: something I've been meaning to do for forever, basically: Change The Name. I created this blog on a fluke years ago and didn't understand naming. But "Wish You Were Here" is so ubiquitous that literally no one can find this blog unless they have a direct link. Even I thought I'd lost it until I found my Blogger dashboard! I also always wanted to have some sort of connection to my travel identity, Artful Stumble. Thus: let me introduce Artful Scribble. Still postcards, still correspondence, still random. Maybe a little more recent than digging into notes from the '80s. Or not!
Step 2: oh god, is there going to be a Step 2? I suppose this would be posting at least semi-regularly. The good news is that I've sent a bunch of postcards and even received a few. And there are lots of stories about our collective non-travel in the last 18 months to be told. Can I dig deep and find some stick-to-it-iveness? Hopefully yes....but I'm also learning to not be so hard on myself because we are all doing the best we can, even when our best is kinda fine-minus.
To get things rolling - I sent this postcard a few days ago:
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| Artist: Barbara Earl Thomas |
My cousin and his wife were in town and we met for lunch, and then headed over to the Seattle Art Museum for a Monet exhibit, which was fine - but I was more interested in the other exhibit by local Seattle artist Barbara Earl Thomas. Her cut-paper portraits are beautiful and compelling but I was blown away by the full room installation. I may have to go back, because I could sit in that room for hours and still find something new. Unfortunately, installations are less postcard-friendly, so I picked up a few of the other amazing images.
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| tiny detail of the unbelievable excellence that awaits you |
"The Geography of Innocence" runs through January 2, 2022.
See you.....soon?
