Moving towards retirement without a pension, but with a plan...

Since Michael Chesley Johnson and I will only get minimal social security and have no other "pensions", I have been working a plan to have some type of income coming in for our "remaining years" which in both our cases due to family genetics is likely to be well into our 90's.

I have been working the plan which is to move to a CHEAP fully paid for house in a beautiful place(done) and sell all other real estate investments with long term owner financing.  I am happy to say that we have one house sale to go and one piece of land remaining and I am working diligently on finding the right buyer for those as well!  This will take the pressure off Michael to make a full-time living as an artist and allow us to do some budget travel!  We hope a used truck camper is in our future...

In the meantime, Michael teaches weekly and I maintain houses and deal with the minutiae of daily life among the self-employed!  Michael is still writing articles and doing a lot of painting, but his focus lately has been more to challenge himself rather than to make a painting to sell and I love the results.  I even commissioned him to paint something which had personal meaning and he did a great job!

We have closed both galleries to concentrate more on online sales and reduce the time just hanging out in case someone came by to be more productive.  We are open by appointment wherever we are at the moment.   Follow Michael's blog to know where we are...  Plein Air Painterman's Blog.

Fog and Green

Since May it seems that we have had lots of fog and rain and also lots of green growth!

Fog and Boat


Once we get a few miles under our feet in recreational travel, we will get a new herding rescue dog probably in Fall 2018 when we are back in New Mexico.  We miss Saba every day.

Fog and Rhodora Blooms on Campobello Island

The daffodils and tulips and forsythia have passed and now we have copious apple blossoms, horse chestnut candles, and rhodora blooming.  Next up will be lilacs and finally lupines in mid June to complete our Spring bloom here on the Island.  The Eagle Hill Bog is abounding in beautiful blooms right now just calling for photographs made into kaleidoscopes.

Rhodora Colors

Bird in Spruce

Cotton Grass Splendor

Spruce in Fog

Moss and Sticks

Life will be very busy for a few more months with gardening as a diversion.  

We hope to slow down when we get settled in a new location this Fall.  The new location is near an old location for us which we are excited about returning to after 15 plus years.  Hint is the state's name has Mexico in it, but it is one of the 50!  We left a different area of the state around 11 years ago and although we cannot afford to be near the "city different" which is an art capital of the US as well as a governmental capital, we will be in a beautiful area with lots of native americans living nearby.  I expect to be grocery shopping in a native american pueblo as that will be the closest grocery store by many miles.  Multiculturalism at its finest is found in this state and tolerance is part of the culture.

Show at Sedona Arts Center

To end our season here in Sedona, we are part of a show which we are hanging on March 22nd, 2017.  It will run through April 4th in the Special Exhibition Gallery at the Sedona Arts Center.  This is the Gallery in the original Apple Barn Building below Main Street where the Pottery Workshop, Larger Classroom and Arts Center Administrative Offices are located.  Open Daily 10-5.  We will be there for 4 shifts and the other artist will also be manning the Gallery for 3-4 shifts during the period.  It is called the Spring Celebration of the Renegade Artists at the Sedona Arts Center.  I am sharing a wall with Michael Chesley Johnson and I picked out the 9 pieces I will showing today.  Prices $100-200 so an affordable gift for yourself or others.  These are metal prints or framed prints on paper.

My largest one is called "Monumental Valley", 24" by 24" with 9 kaleidoscopes on a hand painted board.   It is based on a recent trip with the Sedona Camera Club to Monument Valley on the Arizona/Utah state line.

Come and Visit Us at the Show

To celebrate the first official day of Spring tomorrow, here are some recent photos taken of my lilac bush in Arizona.  I get a kick out of the fact that 2 months from now, the lilacs will be blooming in Downeast Maine and the Canadian Maritimes so we get to enjoy two Springs!

We are heading to Zion National Park in mid April to lead a painting retreat and then will begin the trek east to Lubec, Maine and Campobello Island, New Brunswick.

The Winter Floods in the Verde Valley, Arizona

People think of Arizona as the desert and it is usually sunny, but when it rains, it can really rain and in the Verde Valley that means flooding.  We have had quite a few days of rain so the creeks and rivers have risen.  This morning I took a picture of ducks in a tree above Oak Creek who are probably confused as to why the placid creek has become a torrent of muddy water and fast moving logs and other debris!

In our community we have two creeks, Oak and Spring Creeks which went way beyond their banks in the past few days.  Our hiking trails are flooded and even walking bridges have been relocated by the powerful rushing rivers!  It is a good reminder of how powerful water can be.

The following series were created from photos taken this morning.  Happy Holidays to All!  There is a surprising amount of color in nature for such a dreary rainy day.  Red or pinkish soils, brown water, green grasses, and many other colors shine through the kaleidoscopes!

ducks on a tree

The turtle made of debris

Above the flood waters

the poor bridge

floodwaters and winter's lack of foliage

Last Days of Summer at the 45th Parallel

Here at the 45th parallel, summer ends pretty early.  The day lilies and sunflowers have pretty much ended their summer bloom, and we are being treated to a good mushroom season.  It is now a season of changing leaves, heavy morning dew, extravagant spider webs, fog and fading vegetation and one of my favorite seasons.

smiling birdhouses

family in fog

johnny jump ups one of the first and last flowers of the season

spectacular mushroom "flower"

mushroom and lichen.  Mushrooms have an amazing diversity of color and shape

my red and yellow sunflowers against our red barn.  I try to grow these every year, but these year only a few germinated, but the ones that did provided spectacular blooms.

a new variety of echevaria with pretty flowers captured here  

My smokebush!

smokebush and sunflower

spider web

spider web...great design!

When the spectacle of Fall is nearly over, we begin our trek south and west to Arizona stopping briefly in Wilmington, NC so Michael can teach a workshop, in Georgia so Michael can celebrate a decade birthday with his family, then briefly to NM and then on to AZ where Michael begins the Sedona Plein Air Festival less than 24 hours after we arrive.  It will be a very busy October!

Changes

My theme lately is changes.  The flowers blooming change weekly within the framework that our lives are always changing.  Our 16 year old dog is beginning to age, with reduced vision, hearing and some loss of mobility, but she stays cheerful and willing to try to do anything we suggest.  We do not plan to replace her, nor could we if we wished, so we are trying to spend significant time with her this summer.

We have 2 historic houses up for sale, one in Lubec Lubec Home for Sale and one on Campobello Island Campobello Island home for sale, and hope to be moving into my parent's barn by the end of the summer. (Both have sold) If all goes well, we will have seasonal studios in the barn and no retail studios next year so we can just work on our projects.  As Michael moves toward retirement without a pension or any serious savings, we will be downsizing our lives to the bare bones and he will be reducing his teaching schedule after the next 2 years.  The first step is the move to the barn which belongs to my parents, then we may at some point go to living in a vehicle like a small rv which would still allow us to do some travelling which is a major interest of mine and something I hope to do in the future!

Tomorrow, July 16, 2016 and next Saturday July 23, 2016 we will be participating in a studio tour in Lubec, Maine.  Come see us:  http://www.artsipelago.net/studio-tour/

Mint and Barn

Monkshood and Lawn

Fringed Pink Poppies and More Traditional Red Poppies

Seaglass in the Garden

Yellow Yarrow in Full Bloom

Time Again to Migrate to Campobello Island, NB CANADA!

People seem to be fascinated by our migratory way of life.  We live on the Bay of Fundy 6 months of the year on Campoobello Island, NB near Lubec, Maine and 6 months in the desert/riparian Verde Valley Cornville, Arizona area near the Red Rocks of Sedona.  Michael paints and teaches in both places and without moving with the seasons to teach we would not make a living as artists so it is both necessary and enjoyable which is an uncommon combination.  This week we are packing up to begin the migration East and North.  We both hate hot weather so it is not coming too soon this year as we have had amazingly warm temperatures since early January.  In fact, we barely used the heat in our home all winter.  Of course it helps that we like it 58 degrees inside!  The thing I find hardest to leave is the landscape and my gardens.  So I took a few picturew this week to remind me that this is one of the best Springs of my gardening life.  We had jonny jump ups blooming all winter, only a little frost damage on my agaves, and my giant alium bulbs and my iris's are blooming or getting ready to bloom.  Also cholla cactuses and other cactuses are getting ready to bloom as well.  We have had wildflowers nearly all winter...  We stayed one week longer and with the early Spring and the extra days I am seeing lots more vegetation blooming than usual.  Enjoy the images below:

subtle agave

barrel  cactus replicated

jonny jump ups and cactus combo

orchid in my kitchen

daisy fleabane and my fence

green in Arizona or soon to be blooming irises

a red rose, the roses have been prolific this year

Giant alium and bee, I do my part to have flowers for the bees

Teddy Bear Cholla

Spring Wildflowers in Sedona

I just returned from a 5 day photographic expedition to Moab, Utah, my first vacation in years when I had no responsibilities!  Took lots of pictures of rocks, trees, amazing geological features like arches and spires, rock climbers, petroglyphs and even a pretty waterfall.  I have 1,300 plus photos to sort through, and obviously a few kaleidoscopes will be made!

In the meantime I took a hike in Sedona while Michael was trying out a new easel and I spotted lots of wildflowers blooming in Sedona.  Verbena, black footed daisies, indian paintbrush, basin bladderpod, london rocket and others.  The best source of information about the plants, trees and flowers of the Verde Valley is this web site:  http://www.naturesongs.com/vvplants/, I believe.  I know what these flowering plants are, do you!