Fourteen degrees below zero this morning. I have climbed frozen waterfalls in double digits below zero and actually had fun doing it but today I can hardly muster the gumption to open the door and let my dog out (let alone accompany her for a walk in the woods). I’m alternating cups of tea with little bowls of oatmeal, fighting flu symptoms and feeling sluggish after a restless night. I need motivation. Wish I could pull motivation like a bright eyed bouncy bunny out of a magicians hat. Instead I feel like the novice blundering magician with a stuffed up nose digging around the deep darkness only to come up with a mismatched sock, a fuzzed out old toothbrush, and a stale marshmallow.

Blah!

I have a serious case of Monday morning tail-tucking inertia. Wait!! I found something!!! A sweet little spark to share on this cold toe slow mojo day: One of my newest Patrons sent a “thank-you-for-inspiring-me” note. What a wonderful warm fuzzy feeling. Love, love, LOVE it when a spark flies from my world into someone else’s and ignites a fire. He said I could share bits from his note with you:

“Hello Amber,
You inspired me to pick up my oil paints and paint my first oil painting since High School. My first cat Moxie died a few years back at 19. I'd been looking for a picture of her I took that I thought would make a nice painting. I had grabbed my old portfolio so I could decorate my digs in Billings. What do you know, the photo I'd been looking for all these years fell out. So then I brought out my old paints and easel and bought a canvas. There it sat blank all summer while I worked on other painting (the "compound").
Anyway, when I received your lovely print of the cat that looks just like my 2nd cat, I framed it, put it up on the shelf in the kitchen and decided "now was the time" to give it a shot. Well except for struggling with some ancient very stuck lids on my oil tubes I managed to sketch it out and paint the whole thing (18x24) in one night. So here I am THANKING YOU Amber for a little inspiration.”

Gee. Golly. Gosh. Always tickles me to hear about someone brushing the dust off their hiking boots and hitting the trail after bumping into a story from my life…or getting out the chisels which lay ignored in the closet…or wrestling the old stuck lids off oil tubes and gathering the gumption to paint.

Thank-you for sharing your painting with me Howard. Your kind note goosed my gumption. Ta Da!! Stay tuned for the rabbit ‘cuz I’m feeling the magic now…