I have been reflecting lately that although it's great to win awards and sell paintings, it's greater still just to have the joyous ability to see and feel art in everyday life. As I write this my husband and I are in Boston awaiting the birth of my daughter’s first baby and anticipating my other daughter’s graduation from MIT. Last week we were in Columbus, OH for my son’s graduation from Columbus State and his fiance’s graduation from The Ohio State School of Veterinary Medicine. Proud moments for them and us to be sure. I am acutely aware that I, too, have graduated to a new level of awareness as an artist. The beauty of green, lush, flowering land and the stunning effect of lofty architecture have thrilled and filled my senses to a degree I have not before experienced. My fingers itch to use my iPad to draw and paint. My brushes, watercolors and oils, paper and canvas tease me continually. It is a great frustration to me that I don’t have, and perhaps never will have, the skill to render life as it fully presents itself. No matter. I love the process and I love even more, the enlightenment!