When I was a child, my favorite paintings and drawings were done at Halloween. I loved, especially, doing Halloween night scenes with haunted houses, picket fences, black cats, jack-o-lanterns and, of course, witches flying across the moon. Guess what? As a professional artist and art instructor at Ree Art Studio Halloween motifs are still some of my favorite work. There is just something inherently “moody” about Halloween subjects. Best of all, I can just let go and have fun as an artist and I can encourage my students to be inventive as well. Be a kid. Be crazy. Create something spooky and ghoulish. Hey! We should be doing that anyway as artists.

This morning I watched the carpet layer from Giant Carpet One work on our stairs. He slammed his knees, one leg and then the other, over and over against the knee kicker to make sure the carpet was tightly stretched. My whole body was aching just watching him work. I could feel the reverberations from head to toe. But Carlos was singing. When I asked him about his work, this is what he said. “I love it. I love doing this. Seeing the finished job makes me proud.” All right then. The message to me is clear. When work is creative and well done, it is something of which to be proud. 

Life has its ebbs and flows. I know it’s true, but the periods of “ebb” are, shall we say, not so much fun. Read book after book, take the seminars, listen to the tapes. Be positive. Be grateful. Attract beauty and good into your life. I believe it all. Still, the “ebbs” come and sometimes, it’s hard to reach the “flow.” The truth is, nothing lasts forever. Not the good. Not the bad. The key is to just hang in there and wait for the magic ebb and flow of life to manifest itself. In my experience? Now that is kind of fun.