Tuning into where the magic happens…

As this is my first blog I thought I should start by chucking a few words around and see where they land. It’s that time of year as we ease our way into 2021 that we think about our intentions for the year ahead, set goals, and start to make a plan to reach for our dreams . I love doing this . It’s always a chance to reset and ask yourself that question … What do you want to cultivate in the year ahead ? Is there one word that encapsulates what you are reaching for ? I’ve done this for a couple of years now… last year’s word was Courage which quite soon turned into Surrender as the global pandemic set in. So when the prompt came up from the online art group that I belong to I had a few contenders swirling around my head… Expansion , Energy, Freedom ? All very pertinent to me but they didn’t quite capture what I was looking for.

It was a feeling I was after… those moments where the magic happens, that space when time stands still and you can’t quite believe how wonderful life can be … everything is in perfect alignment, that feeling of pure connection and joy when you are living in the flow, that you wish would last for ever but of course never does . That word is GOLDEN.

It’s a feeling I want to reach for in my art, in my life and with my horse. To look for where the magic happens, open myself up to golden moments and opportunities. But really is there such a thing as magic?

Eventually I sat down and did what I had been wanting to do since my old chestnut mare died last month . Draw Evy.

I needed to go into my heart and not my head. This meant pulling up the photos that we did together a couple of days before she passed, putting on the music that transports me back there, burying my face in a piece of her tail that I have hanging up in my studio and breathing in her smell and Bang! I am in …a direct line line from my heart to hers. I stuck together some wallpaper lining to make a huge 1m square, grabbed some charcoal, and off we went. The rest was easy … the charcoal flew in my hand. I could feel her viscerally as she appeared in front of me on the paper. It was incredibly emotional and utterly GOLDEN.

I didn’t know how I would be able to keep her close to me after she’d gone, but I’m now more hopeful that she will be present with me when I paint…. that I can join the dots between the physical and non-physical planes that exist between us.

She’s not far way now… hanging up in my studio watching me paint. So back to the plan …show up, keep working, and stay open to the possibility that the magic will appear and all will be Golden.

So my question to you is this … What word is going to inspire you to make the most of the year ahead of you? I’d love to know.