Arriving vs.Running Away

1974 profile in Grand Jct. Co. Newspaper

In 1981, I learned a big life lesson about setting the best intention when I chose to move from Colorado to California.

Here I am in 1974, newly arrived in Grand Junction, CO.  I joined the art community there and started to have shows and make friends. A good beginning in a quiet, slow moving town.

But in the eight years there, I had a lot of conflict. My marriage disintegrated, I lost my beloved job as a drawing instructor at Mesa State College, and I grew weary and uninspired. Each year my feeling of suffocation grew stronger. I could not breathe in that dry air. I knew I was in the wrong place. Colorado does not have a lot of water and I crave that.

Although I was making art in a sweet studio all my own, and was grateful for the space,  I was stuck on the idea that I would never be able to have another studio as nice as that one, I felt extra trapped. But there were significant signs pointing me westward. An "ah ha" moment came when a question came to me -  what if you could find an even better studio somewhere else? This idea freed me to take action and follow my dream to live in California.

Most all the negativity around leaving diminished because I had a calling to move TO someplace. It took time to shift this,  but once I did, I had my guiding intention. Down deep, I knew I was going to find my true home.  And I did it. I have been living and producing art in my San Francisco live/work studio for over 35 years where I still feel that I am in the right place at the right time.