September 11, 2010 proved to be quite the day! I signed up to do a little street art for the “What If…Festival.” The theme centered around using science and art and imagination towards the invention of things to come. New ways of being green and whatnot. A very forward thinking and creative atmosphere! The chalk art didn’t necessarily need to reflect that though.
It was such an invigorating experience for me all around from the getting up with the sun (which I never do) to the parting gift of soreness in muscles I never knew existed. All completely worth it, as far as I am concerned.
Getting to the downtown Colorado Springs area at practically dawn was like stepping into a blank sheet of paper. I always like this about mornings when I get the chance to be up that early. The day is new and clean. The colors of the sky and the dewy air even look and feel refreshed. No noise pollution yet, no rumblings of the rest of the population to mess with the thoughts in my head. Just some good ol fashioned me time. The summer sun wasn’t quite out yet either so the shade was of perfect temperature!
I had chosen to copy “Flaming June” by Lord Frederic Leighton for my chalk art. I was drawn by the oranges and sea setting and the subject looked so peaceful. The delusions of grandeur I have for some projects have varying success for me and I definitely had my doubts as to whether or not I could even achieve this goal. But, I decided to make it about the journey and I’m glad that I did. Besides, street art is much like building a sand castle anyway.
I have never experienced putting myself into a festival scene like this and it did wonders for my insecurities with people. Cold conversation freaks me out sometimes but, I ended up enjoying every minute! Tons of people would walk by and converse with all of us drawing there on the street. I got to talk to so many people from all walks of life, young and old, and it was so satisfying! Asking people what they saw when they looked at my drawing tickled me. I loved all the different answers from mountains to fire. It became unimportant to me that people would see without a doubt what I was actually drawing and more about what they saw.
There was the added bonus of the familiar faces that would stop by and visit for a spell. I loved the surreal picture of chatting with friends in a place unfamiliar to our normal routines. Add to all this military jets darting past us from above our heads periodically all afternoon and you’ve got quite a day well spent.
In the end, I was very much satisfied with the end result of my drawing. When I got home; severely sun burnt (I can’t believe I had the sunscreen with me but didn’t reach for it once) and sore like I climbed a mountain, or crawled up one is more like it; I got stung by a bee for the first time! That sucker hurt! Now every time I see a bee, while I am running away from it or swatting it from my presence, it serves as an instant reminder of a day that was actually pretty great! Can’t wait until this summer/fall to do it all over again! If anybody is in the Colorado Springs area in August or September, you should definitely stop by and see the festival. I didn’t get to walk around but, I heard it was so much fun!
OK, it looks like I am going to go off of an account of 2010 memories here. This song, “Only the Young” by Brandon Flowers was significant, to me, as a valiant solo effort on Mr. Flowers’ part and a turning point for me personally. Every once in a while, an album will surprisingly speak to me. What I found in “Flamingo” was purely accidental. The emotional depths of my mind fixated and attached to it. I felt like I was experiencing love for the first time and I couldn’t escape.
What I got out of it, basically, was that we are going to experience loss: either by someone close to us or by a decision we’ve made that starts a chain reaction. This can sometimes result in finding ourselves alone and defeated by time which we cannot get back.
This also ended up being the first concert I had ever attended by myself. The emotional ride I took myself on as a result was shocking to me. It’s not a big deal now, of course, since I lived. But, at the time, I had never felt so alone especially when I got to the venue. Watching people with their friends and significant others made me feel embarrassed and uncomfortable. I felt like a loser. But I tell you this, as soon as the first song started, I became aware of the enlightened experience I was about to uphold. It really had nothing to do with who I was seeing but about the realization that this moment was going to be mine and mine alone. The lights, the energy of the crowd, the fog, the music was all mine to create into a colorful and imaginary world that can’t be fully explained. It was beautiful. That’s all :)
I am going to ease myself into this tumblr world as I still have no clue what I’m doing. We shall start off with a picture of my sister who came to visit me all the way from California along with my Dad. This pretty much captures the essence of her and at the same time, my family as a zany whole. Her visit, although a short one, was an action-packed one. One of my favorite periods of time for 2010, I must say.
About me
Hello there! I'm Nikki. Artist, reader, coffee drinker and rabid music lover. I live in Colorado Springs with my husband and three, yes three, cats! (Yes, I'm well aware that if I find myself widowed, I am in danger of becoming the neighborhood crazy cat lady.) Anyway, this is my story. A spontaneous account of being alive in modern America.
