50/365- Goodbye For Now...

Fairy Duster Plant

Sometimes we all need a change. I know for me this has been an entire season of change. My oldest children have struck out on their own and my youngest have returned to public school after 2 years. Nothing feels quite right in the house and I have been struggling to find my place. So, in the interest of my health, both mental and physical, I am taking a break from blogging to revamp my life, my business, and my website.

I am going to take some time to take long naps, read some good books, catch up on Masterpiece Theater, practice photography, and do some local traveling. I am in the process of applying to be a substitute teacher again. I am volunteering in the schools. I may take a few trips to visit family. I am going to go for long walks and a few bike rides. I will take time each day to enjoy my favorite season. I am not sure when I will be back to blogging, but I always return.

I will still be posting on Instagram, Facebook, and possibly Twitter, so if you'd like to stay in touch, please do. I am continuing with my project 365 over on these venues, so please connect if you enjoy that sort of thing.

In the meantime, I will say goodbye for now. Have a wonderful Autumn and I will see you all soon.

xo

39/365- Sun Setting Over Arizona Inn

Digital Art featuring the Arizona Inn in Tucson

“Ô, Sunlight! The most precious gold to be found on Earth.” ― Roman Payn

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 Happy Sunday, y'all. I am heading down to Johns Hopkins Sibley Hospital in Washington D.C. today to hear Dr. Neil Spector speak about his experience with being a Lyme patient and the treatments he has been researching. It should be an informative presentation and I am very much looking forward to it.

Have a great day!

xo

38/365- Arizona Bicycle

Arizona Bicycle by Tracey Grumbach

“A man on foot, on horseback or on a bicycle will see more, feel more, enjoy more in one mile than the motorized tourists can in a hundred miles.”

― Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire 

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 Just a reminder that today I am working my shift at Arts By the Bay Gallery in Havre de Grace from 11:00 AM until 2:30 PM. Please stop in and say hello! I will be hanging Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse today to replace a framed piece that sold last week. Also, if you are interested in picking up the current edition of Harford's Heart Magazine which features my art, we have those for FREE at Arts By the Bay and I would be happy to give you one and discuss either the interview or the art that is featured. I'd be happy to see you!

Happy Saturday!

36/365- Mother Mary

Digital Art by Tracey Grumbach

"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen."
 -Traditional Catholic Prayer
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On one of our outings in Tucson, Brian and I had the privilege of visiting Mission San Xavier del Bac. It is an amazing Catholic mission that dates back in history to the 1600's and the current building dates back to the 1700's. The mission is still in operation today, serving the community that surrounds it. I will have more information and pictures about the mission building at a later date, but the reason I mention it is because next to the mission is a hill of ancient volcanic rock where, carved out of the hill, there is a shrine to Mary, Mother of God. This is the focus of today's digital art.

Before we explored the mission building, Brian and I took a walk around Grotto Hill, the volcanic outcropping to the east of the San Xavier del Bac Mission. The hill is topped with a white cross and on the north side of the hill, we discovered this replica of the Grotto of Lourdes. The shrine to the Virgin Mary was constructed in 1908 and was oversaw by Bishop Granjon.  It is a quiet and peaceful place where one is inspired to reflect. In the near distance, the beautiful desert mountains surround the hill and the amazing white mission church structure gleams in the desert sun. No wonder it is called the White Dove of the Desert.

I was honored and awed to be able to visit such a beautiful and sacred site full of history. I look forward to posting more digital art from this place soon.

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Be sure to check out the Upcoming Events page as I have added some dates where I will be showing art at the Susquehanna Symphony Orchestra in December, March, and May. It is such a fun night filled with music and art so I highly recommend y'all to mark it on your calendars and come on out to Bel Air High School.

Also, I will be working at Arts By the Bay this Saturday from 11:00AM- 2:30PM. Come on out and visit me so we can chat about art or Lyme. I will also be bringing in Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse to hang in replacement of Long Shadows of Empirical Knowledge, which has sold. If you are interested in this framed piece, please stop in early Saturday to purchase it!

34/365- In the Shadow of the Sun King

"From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring 

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 I'm so excited to announce that my art is featured on the cover of the October/November issue of Harford's Heart magazine. In addition, there is a short interview and additional art work inside! I am so honored to have been selected and to have the owner, Fran Johnson, chat with me about my work. If you are out and about in Harford County, please look for it and pick one up, it's free! And it is a fabulous magazine.

As always, thank you so much to everyone who continuously supports what I do! A special thank you to Fran Johnson and Sandy Kapinos for their support in making my art the face of their magazine for these two months!

xo

32/365-Papago Buttes

Papago Buttes landform as seen from The Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona

"Too much good fortune can make you smug and unaware. Happiness should be like an oasis, the greener for the desert that surrounds it." - Rachel Field


"Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the caravan of thinking." - Khalil Gibran

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I couldn't decide on which quote to pair this creation with today, so I picked both. As I am sitting here at my Arizona Inn patio table typing this, my last full day here in Arizona, my heart is happy. I am so blessed to have had this vacation and these experiences this week. These are days I will never forget and will continue to live in my heart forever. Such beauty I've seen. It is so restorative to the soul.

I was sitting at breakfast this morning thinking about how writers will often travel to get themselves inspired to write. At least in the movies, they always seem to be holed up in a hotel room or a rented room somewhere charming, typing away at the typewriter. The older I get, the more I understand that concept. To remove yourself from your normal surroundings and get out to explore new cultures, new places, new ecosystems it just ignites the soul and one's creativity. There is so much I have wanted to write and create while I am here.  If only I could spend a week of each month traveling! My only regret this week was not taking my notebook with me as I traveled around to jot notes and ideas.

While I am not quite ready to return home, traveling also has the effect of making one appreciate going home. There is something to be said about being in your own environment, your own routines. And yet there is this burning fire of wanderlust that simmers just beneath the surface of my heart. It seems unquenchable. I come from a line of wanderers on my mother's side, so maybe it is genetic.  So, I will continue to collect my travel reward points so I can wander. I can't wait until the next trip, wherever and whenever that may be. This country, this world of ours, has so much to offer. I want to drink it all in and experience all of it.

For more information about the Papago Buttes or the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona, please visit the hyperlinks above.

xo

31/365- The Desert Moon

Mobile Art by Tracey Grumbach

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things. ― Bob Moorehead, Words Aptly Spoken

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A realization I had one evening this week-

The desert makes even the moon seem small.

We are so little on this earth of ours.  Even more reason to live big.

xo

30/365- Cactus Country

Cactus Country by Tracey Grumbach

“He'd always had a quickening of the heart when he crossed into Arizona and beheld the cactus country. This was as the desert should be, this was the desert of the picture books, with the land unrolled to the farthest distant horizon hills, with saguaro standing sentinel in their strange chessboard pattern, towering supinely above the fans of ocotillo and brushy mesquite.” ― Dorothy B. Hughes, The Expendable Man