the googly eyes got my attention. not that the orange and red paint didn’t. rocks on this trail are not naturally occurring in orange and red. but those googly eyes … those made us laugh.

we went to craft stores over the weekend. the main gist of our purchases there were blank cards. we want to sit at the dining room table surrounded by rubber stamps and colored pencils and watercolor paints and brushes and stickers, music playing, hot cups of tea or glasses of wine, and make greeting cards. tiny expressions of we-are-thinking-of-you, but handmade like others over the years only in a more intentional way. our dear friend lora makes all her cards and they are a joy to receive. there’s something about knowing someone sat down and made the thing you are holding – just for you. i laughed putting the puffy-googly-eyed crazy monster sticker on the front of a tiny gift card the other day. i have no idea if the receiver will laugh, but i did.

maybe we should all be surrounded by googly eyes. maybe we would laugh more, lighten up, shed some of what we carry: the heavy worries, mild annoyances, frustrations, betrayals, slights. maybe googly eyes would remind us of a more childlike approach to things, an innocent embrace of moments and fun. maybe googly eyes would help.

we’ll have to pick some up today … after all, we can steal-like-an-artist just like anyone else. we’ll grab the to-infinity-creativity of the orange-red-rock-painter and use googly eyes in our designs, springboarding off trail-magic and into greeting cards. we’ll send them off with wishes for laughter and a lightness of spirit. we’ll put aside any serious measure of art or artistry or artistic – instead, we will send heart.

and somehow, in the sending of heart – with stamped images and watercolored sketches and colored pencil shadings and stickers and glitter and ribbon and googly eyes – we will have sent art* anyway.

*art (noun): the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.

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read DAVID’S thoughts this TWO ARTISTS TUESDAY