Yesterday is a Step to Tomorrow - A to Z Blogging Challenge

"Vision of Yesterday" ©Mary Montague Sikes

"Yesterday is a Step to Tomorrow" are my words for today in the A to Z Blogging Challenge. What a profound statement. Everything we do is somehow built upon our past, like it or not. Memories of the yesterdays in our lives remind us, teach us, guide us--the list goes on.

Today's painting, "Vision of Yesterday", is a little blurred, like our memories often are. This loosely-done encaustic painting on board is a waterlily floating on the surface of a pond, quietly living on the gentle water. It reminds me of a large acrylic painting on canvas I created years ago that I sold to a collector on the West Coast. I wonder where that piece of art now resides. That art from long ago yesterdays was a step that inspired this newer painting.

What do you see in this creation? What does it mean to you?

The Demise of H2--How Sad and Disappointing

"Rising Gold, A Mysterious Image" ©Mary Montague Sikes

What a huge disappointment to discover that H2 (one of my favorite all-time TV channels) has been replaced on Direct TV by a strange channel called Vice. UFOs, Roswell, space travel, ancient aliens have always intrigued me. Over the years, I've read books, articles, and other materials on the subjects. I liked the idea of hidden information being kept in a dingy location called Hangar 1. Where was (is) it located? Who knew about it?

Some of the H2 episodes involved Mayan ruins and how those mysterious structures and cities perhaps were built by "Ancient Aliens". Fascinating stuff to ponder.

Many of the programs focused on the Southwest and mysterious places like the one in my photograph. Such a wild array of book ideas came to me as my imagination flourished while watching episodes about places hidden away in mountains and deserts. I looked forward to each new adventure. Now I no longer have that exciting default channel to visit when baseball games are over.

Are any of you familiar with the H2 programs that are now gone from Direct TV? Is there a way to bring back the H2 channel? The Vice channel is a shocking and disappointing change.

"So Many Hearts Dancing in the Air" - A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal

My original plan for this year's A to Z Blog Challenge was to create a travel blog each day. I love to travel and then to write about some segment of the trip. I even added a TR to my Notes Along the Way entry. But then, I thought about how much fun it was in 2013 to create my Animals A to Z and to have a new painting every day. I loved what happened with those spontaneous little paintings that eventually developed into their own art show. Then, last year, I created a painting exhibition for Farrah Ferand, the heroine of my novel, Evening of the Dragonfly. Because I sometimes made a painting in two parts, I finished with only 19 paintings from the 2015 Challenge. They turned into a show as well and became a part of a book signing for more than one occasion.

How could I resist another painting challenge? I couldn't.

This year's theme is "So Many Hearts Dancing in the Air". I have chosen a large 24" x 48" canvas and have already made a grid on it. Each day, I plan to create a new little heart image, about 8" x 5", as part of a painting that will eventually feature 26 hearts dancing on the surface.

Blank Canvas with Grid for A to Z Challenge

I'm excited and already have titles for each of the alphabet heart sections. Prior to April 1, I plan to paint the edges of this gallery-wrapped canvas that is 1 1/2" deep. I might also add some paint to part of the background. This will be an acrylic painting with occasional mixed media to provide surface texture.

It should be fun. I'm looking forward to seeing how this new painting develops. I hope I can figure out a way to get rid of the TR so no one will visit my blog expecting travel instead of painting.

Thanks to all of the bloggers who have worked hard to make the A to Z Challenge such a popular blogging event.

One Decision Changes Everything - Is It Serendipity?

"Wings and Clouds" ©Mary Montague Sikes

As I watched the Super Bowl on Sunday, amazed as almost certain victory shifted to defeat in the blink of an eye, I thought about how one simple event can loom gigantic in the course of a lifetime. At the time, it might not appear so life-changing as it later turns out to be. I'm not talking about tragedies, but just something as mundane as turning down a job offer and accepting something else instead.

I remember a time years ago when I taught third grade in the place of a public school teacher who was on a leave of absence for a year. Since the teacher was returning the next year, the superintendent offered me a position as the high school French teacher. I wonder what would have happened had I accepted that job. Instead, I took a job offer at a private school that was just getting started. The job was available on the condition that I add art to my professional teaching license. That meant I had to earn 12 hours in art classes during summer school to go along with the art credits I already had. It also meant the college had to agree for me to take more hours than they normally permitted in the summer sessions.

That decision sent me on an unplanned path. (Ironically, I also taught French in both the high school and elementary school along with art that first year.) Spending my summer in the art department at the College of William and Mary was life-changing. Later, the school where I taught even allowed me to leave early several days a week so that I could continue taking studio art in both sculpture and painting. I loved every moment of that special opportunity.

Now I look back at that decision as a turning point. It was certainly life-changing. Suppose the teacher on leave had decided not to return. Would my life still have shifted in the direction of art? Probably not.

Can you see an event or decision as a major turning point in your life? Is that serendipity--"phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought"? Or is it something else?

Imagine a Time Without Good Restaurants and Clean Hotels

"St. Louis Union Station Hotel" ©Mary Montague Sikes

Suppose you could travel back in time to 1869 and have your automobile instead of a covered wagon to journey cross country from St. Louis, then Independence, Missouri and on to Denver, Colorado. Even without the problems associated with the small wooden wagon, pulled probably by oxen, the trip would still be difficult by today's standards. After all, the road was rugged. There were no real bridges to cross rivers and streams. There were no motels or hotels and few places to find food of any kind.

I thought about my heroine Meg from A Rainbow for Christmas and wondered if her journey would have been difficult even in a car. Of course, there would be no gasoline, so that imaginary trip would have been impossible. Still, it would be fun today to follow along one of those wagon trails and imagine what the journey was like in 1869.

When the rails were laid for train tracks, things changed in a big way. It's wonderful and exciting to visit amazing old hotels today and realize they came along with the emerging railroad system. The El Tovar on the edge of the Grand Canyon, the Hotel Del Coronado across from San Diego, California, the Brown Palace in Denver, Colorado. These elaborate hotels and many more grew from the needs of railroad passengers, and they helped change our way of travel. They were constructed around the turn of the 20th Century, not that many years later than Meg's journey.

One of my favorite hotels is the one built around the old St. Louis Union Station. The railroad station dates back to the late 1800s. Trains fascinate me still, but I'm very glad people no longer travel by covered wagon.

Radio Broadcast
On December 9 at 8:05, I will be the radio guest of Neal Steele, XTRA 99.1 and will discuss A Rainbow for Christmas. A podcast of the live show will be available at the Chesapeake Bay Writers web site .