An expedition into new territory

Jamie Ridler's Wishcasting Wednesday prompts us with the word 'explore'. What do I wish to explore? Well, this could be a long post... how long have you got?

Oh the joy of exploring a new place - especially when you arrive at a holiday destination. It doesn't matter how tired I might be from the journey, I just want to get out there...

I remember a short break in Nice with my husband as he was then. I'd booked us a ridiculously early flight out and had been so excited the night before that I don't recall actually sleeping. We arrived on fresh July morning greeted by the scents of baking croissants and hot coffee. What happened next is perhaps indicative of why he is now my ex-husband. While he slept behind blackout curtains I explored, ventured, tasted, tested, climbed, watched, drank, smelt and revelled! Best bit of the holiday for me - always that first explore! How can you possibly want to sleep when so many treasures await discovery outside? So, naturally it goes without saying that I wish to explore more places - from Italian cities to Maharajah palaces, Grand Canyons and wild mountainscapes and tropical paradises. Yup, they're all on the list...

Of course, I could just stop this post there, but where's the fun in that when the world and life offers up so much to us? How could I not but put passion to paper and dream of running amok amongst my creative potential. What alleys and vistas lie in wait for me there I wonder? What exactly is my potential anyway? Have I found it all yet? I don't believe I have, so frankly it's about time I got on and did don't you think?

There is a lot of me waiting to be discovered and unlocked. I fear I may not like all that I find (since it was me that hid it away so successfully and I no doubt had good reason for doing so) but since when was life ever easy? If there's one thing I've learnt over the years, it's that you really must face your problems head on. Locking them away under the floorboards doesn't help because sooner or later you'll need to open up that little 'treasure' chest and deal with its contents.

Finally, I'm rather looking forward to exploring the winter wonderland that greeted me this morning. A couple of inches of soft powder snow and more falling as I write!

I have been experiencing a great deal of coincidence this week (perhaps I should explore why this is so!). The latest is this (unfinished) piece (above) I've been working on just yesterday. I was trying to capture, would you believe, something of that wonderful feeling of holiday magic. It is by no means finished, but the background is trying to represent a sky blue shutter with the sun blistering back the layers of paint, I'm not sure where the picture is from but it looks like a Mediterranean resort, fragments of maps speak of journeys past and future. If I have time I'll try and finish today and repost it.

Postscript: finished version now on show and available for purchase in my Etsy shop!