Fulfilling the Dream - Blogging A to Z Challenge

"Dream Fulfilled" ©Mary Montague Sikes

All of us have dreams, and I believe it's impossible to fulfill all of them. "Fulfilling the Dream" is my phrase for today's A to Z Blogging Challenge. Even when we have dreams we find impossible to fulfill, we can still travel to them in our imaginations. That's where books and art are created. That's where we discover wonder and excitement that can bring joy to our lives.

The title of today's painting is "Dream Fulfilled". Once again, the surface is Yupo and the paints are Robert Doak intense watercolors. I have enhanced details using Derwent Inktense colored pencils.

If you study the image, you will discover an inner space with bars resembling tree trunks inside it. They might represent dreams already fulfilled or in the process. Tangled webs and forest leaves surround this secret place. We must journey through the perils of both light and clutter when we travel through time in our minute period on planet Earth. There is much to see in this painting that is barely visible in the photograph of it.

What about you? Do you have many dreams to fulfill?

Nothing Is Certain Except Change

Change is certain. Sadly, nothing remains the same.

Petersburg Regional Art Center - my studio

Yesterday, I was surprised, no shocked, to learn that Petersburg Regional Art Center will close soon for renovations. The renovations are a good thing. Closing it was a change I had not expected.

Ten years ago, my husband and I moved my paintings and all the things that go with displaying them from Shockoe Bottom Art Center in Richmond to the Petersburg site in the old Butterworth's Furniture Store building. SBAC, like the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, was based on the concept of working artist studios. Ironically, the artists had helped bring the Shockoe Bottom area back to life, but that didn't matter. The old tobacco warehouse was being transformed into condos and they moved the artists out.

We spent many hours painting and decorating to create an attractive studio space in the old furniture store. In July 2003 the Center had a grand opening. Since then, each month PRAC has celebrated Friday for the Arts in Petersburg with a juried show featuring nice cash prizes that attracted artists from many localities. Unfortunately, Rusty Davis and his mother, Deanna Thomas, the founders of SBAC and then PRAC, have both suffered debilitating health issues and are no longer involved with the Center.

According to the e-mail I received, the renovations to PRAC will include 45 apartments and approximately 75 artist studios. The work is expected to take about 10 months, and they hope to reopen in June 2014.

Over the 10 years, I have expanded my area in the building to include two studio spaces there. Many of my oversize 4' x 6' paintings are hanging in the hallways. Now I'm wondering where to take these pieces of art--a decision I'll need to make soon.

Change is certain. We don't always like it.