LilySky Art: In a Puff of Pink Smoke and Sparkles

Figuring out that may thoughts are scrambled, and to keep myself from rambling aimlessly, I'm giving this post sub-titles.

The Music

In order to make a good road concoction, you must first arrange some good old fashion mix tapes. Suggested sounds should include some nice sing-alongs such as Little Dragon, Discovery, Bonobo, Grimes, SBTRKT, LCD SoundSystem, Robot Koch, some Purity Ring, and a dash of Radiohead. For more upbeat I've-been-on-the-road-eight-hours sounds include Art Department, Extrawelt, LongWalkShortDock, Dark Arps, Gaiser, and some bass heavy Moderat. Thirdly, nab up some of your favorite producer's mixes. They may only be one track but these will be the ice cubes to your drink, they are always good and solid.

The Painting

You may or may not know my work, if you do you'll think this is something you've seen before. You are both right and wrong. If you would like to view the first image, you can see it here. The first painting (4'x4' acrylic on canvas) was inspired from my visit just after an engagement party in Aspen. I made this painting (40"x40" acrylic on canvas) as a wedding present those two friends who just now got married. I only found it suiting that I paint them an original based on their favorite colors, yellow and orange.

The Trip

Having a warped sense of time and space makes life all the better Because in the end, isn't it all just relative? The theory: Go to Aspen for a wedding, so might as well visit dad and do a big road trip with a friend. The Itinerary: Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Arches National Park, Aspen, Denver, Aspen, Zion, Chino Valley, and back to Vegas- in nine days.

The only way for me to sum it up is I can barely comprehend all the things I've seen, said, thought, and done.

Places to sleep included cars, nice hotels, homes, dirty hotels, and possibly a nap by the pool (and eventually a broken plane in a thunderstorm). I have been in monsoons so trecherous there were muddy rivers wiping the mountain across the road, and valleys so hot my nail polish melted off. More then two thousand miles have been put on our rental by stretching vast distances and elevations through every weather pattern you could imagine. I've hiked the Grand Canyon, Arches, and to Angles Landing in Zion all in extrodinarily fashionable boots that got me either glares, stares, or smiles from passer-bys. And the whole thing was shared with amazing family, friends, and strangers who taught me you can meet amazing people where ever you go.

The Realization

People are funny. Or what I should really say is, humans are funny. But most of all, deep down they are all loving caring and wonderful people. It may not always seem like it, but somewhere in all the choas there are just a bunch of weirdos that just want to be happy.

I often remind myself it is not about me, and I do everything possible just to help others. On this trip it was all paid back especially when I least expected it.

In a Puff, of Pink Smoke and Sparkles

Pink Smoke and Sparkles is a code name, and this trip it seems to be truer then ever. Before the trip even started I had really weird out-of-body feelings while wide awake that I couldn't seem to control, for me that is unusual. Before I knew it I was landing down in a plane over Vegas to see this.

Las Vegas Forest Fires: July 9th, 2013

If you don't watch the news, then you wouldn't know- Forest Fires everywhere over the U.S. Including the place I went to school in California- which it is the friends I made there who I am visiting on this trip. Symbolic. No?

Idyllwild Forest Fires: July 2013

Once at the wedding, many people from the past came out of the wood works. Each one said the same thing, "Wow! Is that you? I didn't even recognize you!" That happens all the time. Everywhere. One will learn that special glint in peoples eyes of when realization hits.

Now the second most said comment is a perfect capsulation of my exsistence. I appear into peoples lives, make myself present, and then poof! Gone just as quickly as I came. At that point I litterally dissapear.

I've done this time and time again. There is no pattern of how long it will be, where, or what will happen. But when I do reappear, it is as if no time has passed. That is the third most said thing people tell me.

Communication is the biggest misunderstanding between people. Whether it is because you speak different languages or simply interpret what people say wrong. There is also the fact that we don't always say what we mean, or what's really on our mind. I am guilty of this, as well as everybody else. It has broken up friendships, relationships, families, and even creates tension between strangers. Some like to play that as a game, but for the majority it is the complete opposite of what we are trying to accomplish.

Emotions are the truest connection people have, because those you don't control, they just are what they are. Sometimes they are good or bad, but always true. It's learning to know what those feeling are so that you can then evaluate the situation and hopefully come to terms with it before letting go. The one thing I've noticed most through continuous observation is that people get stuck on the emotion, and forget the last three steps. Learn to evauate yourself, and the postition of the people involved. Contemplate it from both sides until you reach understanding and compassion. When this happens, allow yourself to forgive. That is how you let go.

What I want to say, is that although I appear and disappear in a puff of pink smoke and sparkles, every single person I encounter I love more then words could ever express. I may not call, or keep in touch, but it doesn't mean I don't think about you. And even when I am around, I may not not have a lot to say, but it doesn't mean I don't cherish that moment, it just means I am comfortable enough around you not to feel like I need to fill it with words. I'm not just saying this to the people I know, this goes for every person out there and the people they know. Somewhere out there you feel this way, and someone feels that way about you. All of life is a snake eating its own tale.