Anyway as you might expect, this type of on-the-go existence can be pretty exhausting. Conversely, it is also pretty amazing. I have the privilege of experiencing much of the world's wonders while I'm still relatively young and healthy. I'm lucky. However, as a result of this polemic state, my mind constantly sways from one end of the spectrum to another with regard to the subject of home, family, friends, as well as my creative mindset and workspace. I love being on the road. I love experiencing places foreign to me, locales that have become fairly familiar to me as a result of my travels and spending time with the friends acquired afar. I also love being at home, spending time with loved ones while easily slipping back into my LaLaLand lifestyle. I am a born and bred Angeleno after all. At any rate, when I'm on the road, eventually I really miss home. When I'm at home, eventually I begin to get the travel itch. Josh Homme calls this state "the bittersweet curse" and I couldn't agree with him more. I definitely suffer from it.
So, sitting here in my hometown, thinking about dinners with friends, plans for the weekend and a host of creative endeavors I am currently involved in, I still cannot help but think about my next trip. I'm trying to lessen the work-related travel for the summer as the mid-west and the east coast are generally steeped in a level of summer humidity I'd rather not subject myself to. However, this doesn't preclude me from hitting the road with my guy, doing a bit of camping and exploring closer to home. The love of my life, Steve, also suffers from a bit of wanderlust, so rarely do we end up at home weekends in a row. Nope, we're out and about searching for amazing locations from which to draw artistic inspiration.
Steve is an amazing photographer. Me? Well, many of you are all too familiar with my creations. Together we make a pretty good pair, hell-bent on exploration and discovery. Needless to say, our vehicle tends to be loaded down with his and hers camera equipment. Unlike Steve, who makes art with his camera, I use mine to record a visual record which informs my fiber-based creative exploits. Nature has become massively interesting to me over the years and I take lots and lots of pics lest I forget anything extraordinary I've seen on the road...
All of these lovelies where taken with the camera on my trusty iPhone (my favorite camera, read Regina is lazy). Beginning at the top row - all four of pics were taken at Yellowstone National Park, WY (my most recent for-fun-only jaunt), second row from the top (left to right) - moon over Big Sur, CA, Death Valley National Park, CA, last two pics were taken in Mojave National Preserve, CA, second row from the bottom (left to right) - Mojave National Preserve, CA, Natural Bridges National Monument, UT, Monument Valley, UT, Death Valley National Park, CA, bottom row (left to right) - Yosemite National Park, CA, Crater Lake National Park, OR, Joshua Tree National Park, CA and Pinnacles National Monument, CA.
Okay yes, my schedule is a bit schizophrenic, I have a tendency to walk around in a zombie-like state when ferrying myself from meeting to meeting about the cube farm and I generally have no idea what freakin' time zone I happen to be in, but despite this the discoveries Steve and I have made together have been so worth these drawbacks. I never arrive home from a trip without a billion ideas dancing about my gray matter, directly inspired by the landscapes, textures, colors, flora and fauna that I've experienced while traveling. I almost always run my spinning wheel into the ground after one of these journeys, trying to recreate some texture or suite of colors that I've observed along the way. It's just awesome.
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