Art Of Tracy Verdugo Blog

Hello lovelies! Tomorrow will be the grand finale of my thirty day blog lovin' party and I have no idea what I'm going to write about. Today, however, it's a gorgeous day here in the Bay, I've spent more time away from the computer than at it and I'm going to keep it sweet and simple ♥ with 5 things that make me FEELGOOD! 1. the amazing birds we have here in Australia. You kind of start to take them for granted sometimes but they truly are incredibly beautiful...check out the handsome kookaburra above that joined me for a cup of tea on the back deck recently :)  2. The fact that we can walk across the road and over one more block to dig our toes into the white sand, dip our bodies into the turquoise waters and explore the wonderful rockpools of Jervis Bay.  3. even though Santana is officially living away from home she comes back most weekends, is doing great at uni AND continues to be  an amazing photographer..... 4. I am continui...

  Hello lovely friends and family! Thank you sooooooo much for hanging in there with me during my thirty days of blog lovin'! Only two days to go and I feel like I'm finally finding my rhythm.  I guess I've always been a late bloomer! One of the things that I've been struggling with this month (big time) is the feeling of not being a capable enough (insert spectacular, extraordinary, breathtaking) writer with an impending deadline looming for the first 3 chapters of my book I just realised I'm holding my breath while I'm writing about it. That's how uptight I've been! So today two things happened.....   one was that I came across the following quote that just hit me "Bam!!" as if Anais Nin wrote it just for me and sent in a time travel capsule for me to see,  right when I needed it.  Then I posted it on Facebook and lots of other people resonated with it too.... and I realised once more how alike...

Hello sweet friends! Yesterday I talked a little about how music is a big part of our lives and although we aren't playing too much these days with all of the other excitement we have going on, the power and capacity of music to make miracles is always something that is deeply moving to me.  With only three days left of my daily blogging commitment I leave you today with three videos that are a testament to the healing power of song, the capacity for communion between humans and other species with music as the love link and the sheer joy that a song memory can bring! Next time you're feeling not so on top of the world, find a song that lifts you and play it loud! If it makes you wanna dance all the better!  My favourite "feelgood song" is  "Praise you" by Fatboy Slim and it never fails to change my mood in the best way! ok I'm adding that video in at the bottom too and I want you all to dance the dorkiest dance you can while listen...

Just a quick one tonight as I am heading upstairs pronto for a well deserved bubble bath, one of my favourite things in the world! I hope you all enjoyed me sharing my wibbly wobbly career path with you....I tried to find some pics to illustrate and just found this gem. Marco and I, 16 years ago at the opening of our second store "Heart of the Sky" surrounded by our wares......... of course after I finished telling you all about my diverse range of jobs and careers I remembered so many things I had missed out.......the biggest of which has been my foray into singing! Together Marco and I and a bunch of friends have produced four CD's over the years and played numerous gigs..... You can find us as The Long Goodbyes on Itunes and download songs from our latest CD 1+1=11 although I have never really gotten over performance anxiety...  We have had many awesome times on stage together..... I leave you tonight with this super cute video ...

8 hours straight sitting at the computer,  working away at my book  and then doing my GST (blech!! my least favourite job but has to be done)...... so my eyes feel like they're about to fall out of my head and my butt is as flat as a pancake  from sitting on this uncomfortable chair.... and my back aches a bit.... but you know what? who cares?   lucky me to be writing a book with my dream publishers lucky me to have an income which means I have to do some bookwork lucky me to have a computer and a  chair to sit on lucky me to have a warm bed to lay in tonight to rejuvenate and a warm man next to me to snuggle lucky me to have eyes that can see and hands that can type and a blanket on my lap to keep me warm  and a cup of Chai tea and a mobile phone so the girls, Marco and my mum can text me during the day. lucky me that friends have invited us to dinner tonight lucky me that I am alive and healthy and loved i ...

Happy Sunday everyone!  Just back from a lovely walk along the beach with mi amor and ready to continue where I left off on Fridays blog telling you all about my (ahem) diverse and colourful career path that has led me perfectly to this moment..... So if you remember...... we left off with me as Ranger Tracy with a slightly offensive fruit bat named Stinky hanging from my arm..... (see here if you missed it) Just as my career with National Parks amped up, and it seemed I was about to be offered a regular stint on TV, Marco and I made the huge decision to sell our property and take off overseas for a couple of years before settling down to have children... Always the entrepeneur, and with my creative spark beginning to rear its head, I had begun to dabble in creating dried flower arrangements using native Australian flora. A few large orders had seen me sprawled out on our loungeroom floor with baskets, florists foam, dried flowers and seed pods spread from one...

Beautiful full moon tonight sweet friends!  Image credit: Santana Verdugo Hanging low as it came in over the Bay and I'm not feeling too crazy from it... more like a sense of deep gratitude for all that is...  Image credit: Dave Kemp I'm making pies tonight in my very nifty pie maker in which I place rounds of pastry, top them with whatever toppings take my fancy, put a lid on it and  hey presto!! pies in 5 minutes!! cooking up some vegies and gravy and adding in the leftover shredded Mexican chicken I cooked in the slow cooker a couple of days ago for tacos.... So......  just a quick post tonight and I know some of you are waiting with bated breath to hear my next instalment of my very crooked career path...can I ask you to wait just a little longer..lets see what tomorrow brings! I'm diligently working towards my first book deadline~chapters 1-3 ( I still have to pinch myself that I actually have a "book deal...

Wow!  I cant believe I've managed to keep up a daily post  for 22 days!   Thank you so much for hanging in there with me through thick and thin xx  Today I was working on my book and thinking about how every experience we go through enriches our story and leads us to exactly where we are meant to be. I am 47 years young and have dabbled in sooooo many jobs and careers on my way to where I am right now, and I'm feeling like its a pretty good place to be.... So in celebration of us creative types who like to dabble in this and that who try out things which sometimes don't work... but always learn from our experiences  and always bounce back with new, innovative ideas I'd like to dedicate this post to you all a little(might be quite long!) recap of my (ahem) career path over the past 30 some years (probably over several posts!) Let me know if you can relate :) 1981~ my mum enrols me (after I beg her incessantly) in a mod...

Beautiful friends ♥ Thank you so much for being with me so far along this ride of everyday blogging. Thank you for being with me in the ordinary moments the sad ones the tired and grumpy ones and the grateful, wondrous ones.... for being so wonderful I have a gift for all of you today. It started as a gift for myself a reminder that there is no need to compare myself to others a reminder that my voice is unique and valuable I mean geez that's what I've been writing about these past few months in the first chapters of my book. Funny isn't it... how the universe does that... how when I begin to reach out to tell others what I feel in my heart it throws it all right back at me to see where I sit with it all.... really, truly... so here is my gift to us all Lets not forget it and shine our light so bright Here is the link below for your own free downloadable Tracy Verdugo print to hang in your creative space as an ever...

  It's been a huge couple of weeks and yesterday I had a moment of feeling totally, physically and mentally spent. done, zip, ready to curl up in a ball  and sleep for two days.....or maybe a week.... the unexpected death of our beautiful Gingy boy two weeks ago, right before I left for New Zealand, left me no time to really sit with my sadness,  after a fun, whirlwind teaching trip to NZ I arrived back home to greet and host my new dear friend Judy Wise, and in amongst all that let's just throw in regular life and commitments to be there for Marco and the girls AND a deadline for my upcoming book fast approaching. All of this ( as wonderful as it is and believe me I am not complaining) has left me in need of some space and time to be still..... Yesterday I even curled up on my bed one hour before my kids art class started,  set the timer for 30 minutes and was out like a light.......my power nap got me t...

    So happy with my Cold Wax paintings from  a wonderful workshop with Judy Wise last weekend.... Oh what a weekend and how fun to be the student for a change!!     The beautiful and talented Judy Wise gently guided us    on a voyage of discovery....    into the awesome world of Cold Wax....  These are some of my finished works from two days of fabulous play... I LOVE this technique!! and cannot wait to play more.... thank you so much for coming all the way to Australia to share Judy! xoxo

 so much beauty here in our area but it always comes home  when you show someone else where you live...  Judy and I hung out with the parrots today at beautiful Green Patch  and then walked through the trees at the BOODEREE Botanical Gardens.....  where Judy learned about scribbly gums and turpentine gums and paperbarks...  we found a wealth of inspiration in the landscape...  hieroglyphs in nature..... recorded with wonder... what a wonderful day :)

Just a very quick pic tonight as I am ready to head upstairs to my squishy pillow and firm bed, What a wonderful weekend we all had soaking up Judy's quiet, lovely, centred sharing......much time to reflect on our own process but equal allowance for watching Judy work and learn by example. The afternoon took an interesting turn when, after everyone had left, Judys supersonic, brand new, button press, ignition rental car started behaving in strange ways, refusing to start and making weird clicking noises from the boot! WE called roadside assistance and upon hearing of a two hour wait, felt our only option was to head down the street to show Judy the Aussie culture of the local bowling club and enjoy a beverage! The NRMA turned up before we had barely taken a sip so we left our drinks to head back to the car where the sweetest young guy ( Judy said he looked like George Harrison) got her started (the car that is) AND told us to go back and finish our drinks while he waited and...

  Oh what a paradise we live in and sometime it takes sharing it with a visiting friend to appreciate it anew.......the beauty of the Basin on a still afternoon...  the myriad secret spots of natural treasure...   the finding of kangaroos in someones front yard...   much to Judy's delight!   a quick visit to the whitest sand beach in the world.....   and a conversation about the difference of light in Australia...   with these skies.... to fill our senses with wonder all on the same night....        and then today...  a whole new day of discovery in Judys wonderful class.....  playing with what I know but in a whole new arena of tools and processes!  oh my! I think I'm in LOVE!  with oils and cold wax....  and a beautiful, introspective, curious, soulful teacher named Judy Wise.... until tomorrow lots of love Tracy ...