Art Of Tracy Verdugo Blog

Oh dear!! Really?? It's been three days since I was here? What to do?? Well I guess I'll just have to share a little of what I've been up to and give you all three days of gratitude in one  and briefly cos' it's 6.40pm and I'm on dinner! My homemade veggie burgers if you'd like the recipe! And besides if I don't get out to that glass of vino soon Luna may just beat me to it!  So yesterday mi amor and I sprawled out on the lounge room floor and brainstormed ALL of the possibilities for 2018 and believe me there were a LOT!!  Beautiful people all over invite me to come teach in their lovely spaces and towns and I wish I could say yes to everyone but the bottom line is I'm learning (especially this year) that sometimes I have to say no. I know that many of you have my back and I get so many messages making sure that I'm not overdoing things and that I'm practicing self care.  So here I am checking in with you...

Dear amazing friends and family, A very small post today , not because I have not much to be grateful for but because, since I started this challenge i've been finding myself more and more steeped in gratitude in every small unfolding moment. That's how it works you see. It's a universal law. Whatever you focus on expands So today I am grateful that yesterday I took a day off from blogging AND enjoyed a gorgeous Sunday with mi amor.  And today I am grateful for our home, a true labour of love over the past 20 years and the masterpiece of the man I love. Let me tell you a very short story Once upon a time there was a man and his wife and their two very cute daughters who wanted to find a home to call their own. They didn't have much money so they scrimped and saved and found an old house near the beach that had good bones and a lot of potential. For ten years they did little bits and pieces when they could afford to, a splash of paint...

Today Facebook reminded me that it has been exactly five years since I took the giant leap towards quitting my day job as a teachers aide in Special Ed and transitioning from a small town after school art class teacher to teaching my workshops and retreats all over this gorgeous world! I am over the moon grateful for this and still pinch myself regularly to make sure that its real! On this weekend five years ago I taught my very first Paint Mojo workshop!!! A small group of us gathered in a local barn to paint, explore and share stories. It was low key, I was super nervous and not really sure of myself but I gave the best that I had at the time. Since then I have taught over 100 in person workshops around this beautiful planet, the best part of which has been meeting, communing and creating with so many gorgeous, amazing and inspiring souls!! My heart is so full when I think about each and every one of you and how far we have come together and how much amazi...

Hey there lovebugs. Listen closely. Wanna know a secret? Creativity is a gift and I am so grateful for it. But it's not a gift just for a select few. It's our birthright, every SINGLE one of us and we are finding our way back home to it every time we choose to bring something new to the world. When we dare to try new things envision new outcomes let go of old patterns and belief systems This week has been pure delight with lots of hours in my studio, and elephants and owls flying and stampeding in and out as fast as I can paint them.  I've felt in flow in every way and for that I am truly thankful. At the end of a studio session on Wednesday evening I picked up one last piece of watercolor paper and made some different marks. The paper was not completely blank as Bella had decided, the day before, to put her little paw into some wet teal paint on my palette and go for a meander across my table....

“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” ~Francis of Assisi  Today I am grateful for light in all of it's incarnations. The light of a new day. The light that illuminates what is already beautiful to new heights of gorgeousness the light that stops us in our tracks and shows us things to make us smile The light that gives us strength when the darkness looms larger  The light that makes us catch our breath and see the world with new eyes and the light which makes us recognise that not only is it all around us but emanates from within us too if we allow ourselves to see it. Own your light stand in your light emanate that light to everyone you meet  so that they can own and share their own each one of us passing the torch of an unextinguishable flame of love. Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure....

Good morning sunshines!!! I hope your world is looking shiny today and if it's not I hope this short post might help to shift your perspective just a little.... (or a lot!) You see I've been feeling a little flat lately, not depressed but definitely flat.   It kind of feels like I spent a lot of last year on auto pilot.  The initial diagnosis while on my U.S tour, the stress of finishing my workshops with uncertainty about what I was facing, the return home and subsequent round of appointments, tests, treatment.  Getting through what I needed to do to get well, giving myself time to pause, rest and reflect.  But somewhere in there I started to feel unhappy and anxious about losing the momentum I had worked so hard to build up over the past 5 years.  I began to doubt myself, to dwell on thoughts that didn't serve me, staying up later than I should, spending more time on social media than I needed to, drinking the extra glass of w...

“Hello, sun in my face. Hello you who made the morning and spread it over the fields...Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness.”  ―  Mary Oliver   Hello, hello my beautiful creative friends and seekers!!  I've missed you!  Have you missed me? It seems like eons since I used to check in regularly here and I've been feeling the call to recommit to this space, to our shared experience, to our community of curious wonderment. Most of you know that last year was a big one for me,  and that this year I am taking things a little easier,  spending time taking more care of myself,  so that I can continue to do the work I value so much in the world,  taking care of the creative souls of those whose paths intertwine with mine. For those of you who may have missed my 2016 adventures it was definitely a doozy and I am soooooo grateful to be back on the path to wellness.  Here's...