Still here,  waking up at 2:00 in the morning thinking of cool ideas for blog posts and then heading down to the studio to paint or off to my life to breathe in.
 I miss though,- focusing . Posting on this blog allows me  to focus.

So some ideas of which I have been thinking about and may explore in some fashion later.  Have to do with the color PURPLE.

February and early March in Guatemala seem a time of exploring the color - PURPLE., I plan to do so later. 

Mean while I have put together a new edition of my website and would love to have your response to this endeavor. Please go look at it here http://cbuschmannart.com/. Don't only let me know what you think of it but please look at the work.
Most recently I have finished work about  Italy and you can see some of it in "Italian Views". These pastels are based on my response to Umbria. I am participating  in an exhibit "Italian Reflections in Umbria", next month, with my fellow artists who I accompanied to Italy. More about that later.
Now of course much more will be written of new beginnings. It is spring after all. Just to prove that is so in my family we are expecting the birth of our first grandson. Then just a wee bit later we will celebrate another family event - the wedding of our first daughter.
So I am full of happiness and have much to think about and much to write but as with all of us a full day. What could be better.
So I have turned once again to a wonderful thought voiced by the American Indians.

"We are all creators.
We Breathe.
To speak is to form breath and make manifest sound  into the world.
As I write I create myself again and again.
Re-Create. And Breathe.
And I see that I am not one voice, but many:
 all colors,
all sounds, all fears, all loves.

Joh Harjo,
Tribe, Creek

Re-entry- I'm Back!!

Actually I  have been back for almost a month. We returned from our now annual Guatemalan adventure around the 11th of March. We volunteer with the Cascade Medical Team in the Highlands of  Guatemala, and have done so for the past 6 years. Here is the link in case you want to know more http://www.cascademedicalteam.org/. This is a remarkably intense and rewarding experience. When my husband and I first thought we would participate we assumed we would only be involved one year. Here we are 6 years later. 

I have fallen in love with Guatemala and look forward each year to the time  getting to know the culture  better. 

These are the patients of the Cascade Medical Team waiting to be Triaged in 2 days before the official opening date.

These are members of the kitchen crew. You can see the beautiful high spirits that pervade.

I have found what I  have always loved, working physically hard, thinking hard, re-evaluating hard and being surprised! I love it!