Hello, friends! Fall has arrived. I’m delighted to bring a blog to you once again from our lovely home here in Fort Bragg. The air is crisp — even more than normal here by the sea — and the leaves are falling. Time for pumpkins and family gatherings.

One thing I love about my artistic journey has been the way it has opened my eyes to the wonder around me. This month I’m sharing this painting of my neighbor’s house. Every morning I see this house and then suddenly I see a painting.

The common becomes magnified. I suddenly see wonder around me. This scene I’ve seen a million times comes into focus in a new and exciting way that moves my soul to my easel.

Welcome to my neck of the woods. This month I want to share with you my charming neighborhood. Many times I’ve shared with you the joys of the sea or of Mendocino or of far-flung beauty.

This month I want to share with you the beauty that surrounds me. How would you absorb the beauty that surrounds you into a painting? The exciting thing is that once you embrace that idea, that beauty is everywhere, in even the smallest detail, you realize that your eyes have been opened to the exquisite wonder of it all.

How would you paint this simple street?

Can your creative mind visualize our town center as a painting?

Is there any inspiration in this simple corner of my neighborhood?

Now, this corner in my neighborhood is stirring the senses. What do you think? Can you imagine a composition from this?

Now, this church that I can just glimpse from my front garden has inspired me many times. It has appeared in several scenes over the years here. I especially love it as the backdrop for the farmers market we enjoy each week.

I feel really lucky to live in a place that stirs my soul and awakens my creativity on such a regular basis. Life has taught me gratitude. I’ve had to learn to really zoom into the simple things at times to find solace and comfort and delight, but I’ve discovered this has been a gift to me in the end.

Now I require less for delight, now I am very infrequently bored, now I have more gratitude in life, now life has more meaning.

I love my neighborhood. It doesn’t hurt either when such delightful people as my niece and family suddenly decide to move just a couple of blocks away. What a new layer of joy they have brought. They make me smile on the inside as well as the outside.

Thanks for joining me this month. I hope you’ve enjoyed the tour of my neighborhood. I also hope that you will be inspired creatively but also to opening your eyes to the joy and beauty that surrounds you everywhere, maybe even in your own neighborhood. XX