Purple Dancer

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I love the purple dancer…
Dancing in the space of time.
She can surely know the answer…
Standing in the steps of mine.

Mick Fleetwood / John McVie / Danny Kirwan

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I’m throwing out more hodgepodge here. First, I’m going to tell you about the path that I followed to get to tonight’s image…

I was texting with my friend Gil awhile back, catching up on what we’re both doing now… at the onset of our ‘retirement’ years… and he asked me if I was going to write a book.

“I’d like to,” I replied. “Like fiction you mean?”

“Whatever is on your writer heart.” He said.

“Yeah. I guess that’s my problem. I’m not sure what is [on my heart].”

Thank goodness for texting, as that’s the only way I was able to share this conversation with you… verbatim. It went a little differently in my head – which just goes to show you how unreliable our memories can be!

Anyway, that’s been on my mind for quite awhile. What is on my heart? Is it sad when you can’t think of anything? Is it an age thing? A being single thing? A sign that I have no feelings anymore?

So… not to change the subject (as hopefully this will lead me back to my last thought)… but lately I’ve been watching a little Sci-fi. Not REAL sci-fi, but the mild stuff – the stuff that could “almost” be real – if life were a little different.

I say this because I’ve always hated the ‘unrealistic’ stuff. I think I’m getting to a point in my life where I see and understand the need for this ‘unrealistic’ fiction. Dreams, Fantasies, Discoveries… that’s what keeps the world moving.

Without new and unrealistic ideas, we would never see progress. And… isn’t it funny that unrealistic TV shows, movies, or books of the twentieth century (which feels like yesterday) are uncomfortably close to what is now our reality?? Yikes! (I think we need to get back to happy endings!)

Anyway, the point here is that I’m enjoying these mild sci-fi movies and it’s giving me ideas about the future of my writing. I’d like to do some practice this year, on the blog. Mild sci-fi… with a touch of whatever is on my heart. I’d start with one page stories (no continuing sagas), and just see how it goes.

So, the question of what is on my heart inspired me to work on an image, and my idea WAS to use a heart (or hearts) in the piece, but I went off track and got distracted by some colors that I saw.

This is another revamp of an older illustration – one that was first created in December of 2020. It was like my first or second time at trying out Illustrator instead of Photoshop, so that means I’ve been experimenting with illustrations for three years now. Wow, time flies!

It was cool to do because I could see where my techniques were a little sloppy, and I had things I’ve learned since then, so I was able to fix a few mistakes. Due to my lack of patience (still working on that!), however, I quit before I could perfect it, but it’s good enough for 2024. Maybe I’ll revisit it in another 4 years.

Anyway, I feel as though I’ve gone on long enough. I wish I’d started writing earlier because I have more to say, but it’s late and I’m pooped.

One more thing though…

I got a kick out of trying to find a title for the image. I tried to stay away from the obvious “Purple Rain,” or “Purple Haze,” (I feel like I’m always using song titles for my blog titles), and I stumbled on an old Fleetwood Mac song called “Purple Dancer.”

It’s old… like I was ten when it came out… and I had never heard it before, but it was too good to pass up for my illustration tonight.

That’s about all for now. Thanks for taking a peek at my hodgepodge…

I hope you enjoyed something here!