Pat Bean's blog

Saturday Art

Garden Melody by Pat Bean and Jean Gowen. This is is the first time I have ever shared the creation of a painting with another person.

            “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain a child once we grow up.” – Pablo Picasso

I’ve cut down on my blogging to Mondays and Thursdays because I have started my memoir. It’s about how a high school dropout becomes an award-winning journalist who wrote stories about three presidents, and celebrities like Maya Angelou, my all-time favorite interview. What I accomplished seems more significant to me at 80, then it did when I was doing it.

Back then I felt like an inept fraud who was simply fooling everybody.

Before I dedicated my life to writing and journalism, there was a part of me that also wanted to be an artist. I gave that dream up for the more important one. But over the years, I occasionally took an art class, and these days, along with writing, I piddle at painting, mixed-media but mostly watercolor.

I find that just as I want the words I write to be read, I want my art to be seen. Perhaps, in addition to my Monday and Thursday blogs, I’ll share my art for the week on Saturdays. No promises because I don’t want to put pressure on myself. I’m not an artist; I’m a writer – and that comes with all the pressure I can handle.

Today’s painting is one that started out as one thing, which didn’t work out, and so became another. My friend, Jean, doodled on the paper a bit, with my permission, when it was in its beginning stages.

It then sat on the table I use for my art for about three weeks. I finally decided it had to be finished so I could start another. I call it Garden Melody, and I actually quite like it.

Check Out: James Gurney’s art blog at http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/

Pat Bean is a retired journalist who lives in Tucson. She is a wondering-wanderer, avid reader, Lonely Planet Community Pathfinder, Story Circle Network board member, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon, enthusiastic birder, and is always searching for life’s silver lining.