Artfully Meandering: Resident Adventures - Florida Edition

Lately I've been delighting in resurrecting the idea of being a Resident Adventurer. After I had lived in Hong Kong for a year, I was in a state of "in-between"...I wasn't a native, I wasn't a tourist...I was a Resident Adventurer. I've been continuing to move and am now living in my 10th state. I've been trying to bring the idea of becoming an adventurer in my own back yard. 

It looks like I'll be sticking around Florida for a while. It took me a good year to settle in a feel like home. There are elements that made me feel at home immediately because it mixes elements of two places that I have very fond memories of - Texas and Hong Kong. Florida has the flatness (even flatter) of Texas and the weather of Hong Kong. Who knew Florida could be my version of a TexKong? (It's really hard to make up a compound phrase out of Texas and Hong Kong. Texarkana or Texhoma are a wee bit easier.)

These beaches make it easy to adventure. I mean, seriously? How cool is this? It's October!

And my favorite part - my little buddy that adventures with me. This little mischief-maker who likes to take herself on her own adventures if she can escape the fence in the yard (scared me half to death two weeks ago... grandpa fixed the fence so she can't do that anymore), will walk for 2 hours around the beach with me. After the first wave scared her a wee bit, she'll walk in the shallows with no issue whatsoever. 

I thought I wore her out.

But after a 5 minute Trix-nap, she was fine. Too bad for me.

Where are you Resident Adventures?

Artfully Meandering: Pivoting

Ain't that the way it goes,
Always stumbling into something,
Life's an open road,
You gotta take it,
If you just let go,
Lose your way to find that one thing
You've been missing
You almost missed it all

- "The Way it Goes," Gloriana

Songs that Speak to Me

There is something about the lyrics in Gloriana's 2009 song that really speak to me about my life's journey and my creative exploration. Sometimes getting lost leads to the best breakthroughs!

Texture & Patina - Where I Started

When I started the Texture & Patina collection, I took my cue from the colors in the photographs I took. Then I modified the colors a bit to capture more of what I really wanted. The core design that really struck my fancy was the textured plaid. 

I then added fruit designs with Zentangle inspired doodling in them. My mom thought the fruit made it country-ish. I think I agree.

I'm really torn between the above plaid and the Zentangle inspired background below.

Pivoting

And then I moved to Florida and wanted beach inspired decor. I started with the plaid that I loved so much and just fell in love with the coloring. So, I kept going and created a total of 8 color ways to expand the Texture & Patina Beach Bright collection. There are 12 designs in 8 colors coming over the next three months.

Your turn:

Have you ever "pivoted" creatively? Were you happy with the results? Or disappointed?