Detail from my woodblock & watercolor: "What the World Needs Now is a Little Sweet Love" |
For a couple of years now my partner and I have been on a path to simplifying our lives. It started with becoming acutely aware of how our every day actions affect everything in the world, from the people to the environment (my artwork from 2009-2010 was pretty accurately reflecting this examination). From there, it blossomed into a personal desire to find a new, more sustainable and humane way of living. We set out to change everything - to get rid of debt, to get rid of stuff that distracted us, to get rid of space that we didn't use and to face truth....the whole truth. We're still working on it but we've making progress.
As a part of this process we've made some drastic changes in our lives.
For another, my partner and I quit our jobs, for many reasons, but mostly, so that we could travel the world by bicycle (and the occasional train or freighter) and become more involved global citizens. Our open-ended, self-supported bicycle tour around the world is a sort of pilgrimage for us to a simpler more intentional way of living. We're using the opportunity to learn how to live by our own power in a way that is light on the earth, open-hearted and vulnerable. Our travels are also a way for us to see the world in all its beauty and its suffering. More than just a "vacation" or "escape" we're creating our route around meeting people and organizations that inspire us and can teach us new skills or new ways of approaching global issues we face. We feel an urgent need to build our skills, to strip ourselves of everything that distracts us from dealing with real and critical problems we face as a global community and to return home to utilize everything we learn along the way in order to, hopefully, contribute to a more humane and sustainable future.
As you can imagine, my months have been full, first with designing and building our home, then with preparing for our journey around the world. Although my "fine art" has taken a backseat of lately, I find my creativity to be soaring.
Both my artistic and technical skills have been put to test over the last year and a half. Having to design a house is challenging in and of itself, but having to do so without any prior experience and for a small footprint of 180 square feet is even more challenging. Throw in having to learn how to use programs like SketchUp, how to draw up floor plans and how to physically build walls and a roof and you'll have a completely overwhelmed but highly stimulated "artist" on your hands.
From there we hopped on our bicycles, cycling from Vermont through New York, heading through to Illinois via train, then cycling through Missouri, Iowa to Nebraska and finally on to California (again via train to avoid the winter). After cycling down the coast of California and through Baja, Mexico, we're currently perched at the sourthern tip of Baja, awaiting a ferry to mainland Mexico, where we will continue to travel south till we hit the tip of South America. From there, we'll tackle Africa and beyond. Despite the obvious physical and mental preparation and shifts one has to make for this sort of journey, my creativity has been kept alive by daily interaction with my camera and writing. Web design and maintenance and photography have replaced designing and building which had replaced working with mixed media on papers.
And so my choices to simplify and the life it has led me to has continued to fulfill my truest passions, those things that keep me startlingly alive and passionate - my creative self.
That being said, I do have papers and media with me (yes, I did make room for them in my panniers!). And I intend to continue to create and share my work. Now that we've been on the road for eight months we're finally starting to feel like we're "normalizing" our daily activities so I imagine I'll start incorporating time for artwork in to our schedule soon. I'm missing it and have so many ideas (and have been having dreams lately too) of what I need to create next. Beyond that, I'm also feeling a strong calling to get more involved with political and social art movements. So, don't give up on me yet -- I have a feeling I'll be posting more artwork soon.
Till then, please join us on our current journey at www.2cycle2gether.com.