It’s been too long since I have shared the progress of my journey.  I am still here.  I am still traveling.  My studio has become my space.  There is certainly more to do.  There will always be more to do.  More building, more painting, more replacing the old to make it mine.  But it is coming along nicely and it’s becoming a photographic studio.            Portrait of Lori from Blaze Studio

More importantly, it has an energy.  A feel.  It is becoming a creative incubator, not just for me and my creative vision, but for others too.

And that is a really good thing.

A house that is filled with furniture isn’t necessarily a home.  It takes family.  It takes love and laughter and tears.  It takes life to make a house a home.

That’s the same as a studio.  I can fill it with lights and stands and backdrops, but that doesn’t make it a creative space.  There needs to be work.  It needs energy.  It needs life.

I have found that here, and have been bringing life to the studio.  I have had a couple of photographers come in and practice and create.  I have musicians coming in and sharing their art, both with friends at a ‘music night’ and alone writing, playing and creating. There is a really good feel to this place.

Paul Jensen at Blaze Studio

Of course, the energy doesn’t start and end at the threshold of the studio door.  True art happens.  Everywhere.  And at anytime.  Many time it sneaks up and surprises you.  Like tonight.

I am sitting here in my RV, (my house), with my puppy, Walter the Wonder Dog, (more on Walter later), and my friend Russ.

Russ is an amazing young artist.  He is a country music musician that make a simple box with strings sing with amazing depth and emotion and writes lyrics that feel like he has been in the background watching your life and reporting on your emotions. He is an  amazing writer.   Russ Dugert at Blaze Studio

Russ was talking about the need to write but it just wasn’t happening.  So we talked.  About life, about art and the creative endeavor.  Then, as happens with the creative endeavor, he grabbed his guitar and started strumming and humming and throwing out words.  It was an amazing thing to watch and hear.  A phrase would come out and it was my life.  Hum some more and another verse.  More of my life.

As an artist, I am always thinking, envisioning images, seeing light in my mind.  But all that happens inside my head and in my heart.  To be able to witness, first hand, art created, as an observer, from the outside, the birth of a song is quite an awe inspiring thing.

So I sit here, listening to Russ, experiencing art happen in real time.  In an RV.  With Walter the Wonder Dog sleeping.

My journey continues with many twists and turns and many surprises.  It seems that “the journey reveals itself along the way.”  ( I would love to take credit for the line, but it was just sung to me.  See, I told you he was amazing!)

I have a studio.  I build and fix and change and make it mine.  I fill it with light, with work, with creative energy and it is great.

But here I sit, in an RV in the middle of the night and art is happening.