Challenges and Choices

When I moved here in 2012, I was lucky to hop right in with the Artists at Gulf Place - it was a great experience to learn about and connect with the character of living in this unique area of Northwest Florida. I knew that even though I'd be living in Destin, 30a would be a very important place for me and my art. I love connecting with people, and so that was what I did. I learned a lot about selling and the art of building relationships. 

Many of those relationships are still in force and have grown beyond belief. Its amazing to see how a place and how much change creative people can go through in just a handful of years. 

I would definitely not be where I am if I did not have that experience of being in that place at that time.  I'm grateful for the things that led me there, the knowledge / experiences that I come with, and that a big part of my persona is the love of meeting new people and adventure of building relationships. There are a multitude of ways that you can accept things that come forward in your life, but presenting yourself with being open to a variety of experiences on the journey will provide you with choices for choosing the right path. I'm grateful for the opportunities i've had and choices i've made throughout my life that have led me to where I am. Like most things in life, you have to learn what you don't like to figure out exactly what you do like... (or kiss a lot of frogs... as they say?!!! ) These days it feels like "what is the next great challenge will I accept?!", but truthfully I guess that is who I've always been. 

The beginning of 2019, I had the honor of working with Anne Hunter - with a show in her Seaside Gallery and at Amavida in Rosemary Beach. Anne and I have enjoyed furthering our unique relationship.We have many shared values and we love learning from each other. I can't wait to see what comes next for us.

I have also been working on starting up my CREATIVE MO podcast, as well as my continued work with Artworx @ Beachworx! Although the podcast is starting up at a slower pace than expected, we did record the first episode with Anne Hunter as my first guest. Stay tuned for more info on the launch! 

At the end of 2018, I pushed myself with the challenge of creating ART WITH PURPOSE, raising $4000 for Hurricane Michael relief through an online art auction and repurposed art sale. The show with Anne and launching the podcast were my big plans for the beginning of 2019, but as mentioned, I'm always up for accepting the next challenge that life presents me with. So in addition to all the things, one more big thing popped up to set me off my course a little bit. I was honored to be one of the artists chosen to create a sculpture for the Underwater Museum of Art in its 2nd year. See my next post for more about that! 

I've been writing this post for a while and just saving as a draft over and over, as I sometimes tend to do, so I guess it really became more of a mid year check in. Last weekend was Artsquest, and oh yeah I'm also on the board of the Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation, and continually painting a growing amount of my Abstract Bridal Portraits... so I'm staying busy to say the least.

See ya soon XO maxine