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?

Xanadu Holds My Lantern - A to Z Blogging Challenge

"Chasing Dreams" ©Mary Montague Sikes

"Xanadu Holds My Lantern" is my phrase for today's A to Z Blogging Challenge. For a while, I have been painting about my search for Xanadu, that special place where goodness and beauty reign. Somewhere in space, such a place exists. That is my dream. We need that destination to counteract the evil that sometimes seems to prevail everywhere around us.

So much can be found in this painting which is Robert Doak watercolors on Yupo. The light is there, but broken. Colors bleed and shift.

Please tell me what you see. Is there hope for Xanadu found?

Visions Follow All of Us - A to Z Blogging Challenge

"Visions From Afar" ©Mary Montague Sikes

"Visions Follow All of Us" are the words I received for today in the A to Z Blogging Challenge. Some of us are more open to visions than others. However, visions are a part of our lives. So many things come to us in the visions of our minds.

"Visions From Afar" is the title of today's painting. I look at it at the top of my blog and think it could almost be a Georgia O'Keeffe painting. It isn't. In fact, it is an oil encaustic in which much can be seen. That's because visions do follow us throughout our lives. This vision looks very much like a giant flower, open wide, perhaps in midst of mountain peaks.

Look hard at this painting. What do you find hiding there inside the colors?