Way down in Arkansas

Hello Dear Readers,

Sorry for the delay in my blog posting, but with traveling and unpacking and getting settled I am a little late in getting here. I am back in Arkansas after being in Edinburgh, Scotland for four months. We spent all day Thursday traveling. The flights were seemingly easy even with delays and airport stress. We were trying to get back in town for the opening of fellow artist and dear friend Jennifer Libby Fay's exhibition Rubicon at the Art Center of the Ozarks, but sadly we missed it. However, we met up with Jennifer and viewed the exhibition on Friday and it is a beautiful body of work. It was so good to see how Jennifer's work keeps evolving and how she continues pushing her medium. It was also impressive to see all the new work she has managed to create in her new studio in Kansas City. If you are in Northwest Arkansas don't miss Jennifer's exhibition that will be up through May.

As many of you know Stewart Bremner and I will be having our own exhibition, A place called home, at the Art Center of the Ozarks in July. We will be creating all new combined work for our exhibition. We are both looking forward to painting together again. It has been a year since we created the nine paintings that became the Question of Chemistry series that recently were shown as part of our exhibition at Northwest Arkansas Community College this past March and April.

However, before we get to painting and promoting our exhibition in July, we are excited to announce that we will be participating in the Block Street Block Party on May 20th. We will have a booth and selling many small affordable works of original art. We hope that those local to Northwest Arkansas will stop by our booth and say hello. We love being apart of the block street celebration.

We might also be cooking up something exciting for June, but you will have to stay tuned for that as things develop. We have lots of irons in the fire and are both excited to create our work and share it with the community.

As I type this, it is bright and sunny, the trees are fully leafed out and rich green. This is probably not a shock to most in the United States, but I was just wearing a woolly jumper (thick warm sweater) three days ago in Scotland. It was very much winter again when we left to travel here and to be surrounded by such an abundance of sun and greenery is almost overwhelming. The differences of the two cities could not be more obvious in this moment. It has been great seeing my friends that I have missed and soon I hope to see my family. I wasn't sure how I would feel when I returned. I was sad to leave Edinburgh. I loved the cooler weather for the most part, the architecture, the cultural offerings, the small cobbled streets and just that old world charm that is so different from the United States. However, I like the open relaxed feeling here and the slow, heavy air that is its own entity. I like feeling that you can create your own opportunities. I am sure I can create my own opportunities in Edinburgh too, but I just have more experience doing it here and that feels good.

I am so thankful for the last four months and all the people who enjoyed the journey with me and made it possible. If you bought a painting from me in November- May you helped fund my trip and helped to pay my bills in Arkansas and Edinburgh. If you donated to my travel fund, you made it possible that there could be food in my house and that the lights were on when I returned. You helped me have a better trip by releasing some of the monetary stress. You put me in better shoes than the ones I owned so I could walk for hundreds of miles across Scotland and England and explore the cities, galleries, and museums.

Thank you to dear friend and fellow artist William Mayes Flanagan for checking on my house and taking care of things for me while I was gone. Thanks to the lovely, Jennifer Libby Fay for buying a painting so I could get my passport, for loaning me luggage, and for talking me through it all. There are so many people behind me, helping me, supporting me and I am grateful and I love you all.

Tomorrow a plan will be made and the house will get sorted and we will begin getting ready for our upcoming shows and exhibitions and we will drink in all that is Fayetteville and the surrounding area when we are not working. We can't wait to share it all with you.

It's good to be back.

Love,

Megan