A Solar-Powered Painting?

I can't say I'm the best environmentalist I can be, but I want to get better and I have high respect for people who are making great efforts in that regard for our planet. One thing I always tell my daughters is, "Don't ever feel that what you do doesn't matter, you are very important and what you do makes a difference!"

Here in Laguna Beach, there is an amazing group of people making a difference called Transition Laguna Beach. If you haven't been to one of their meetings or potlucks, do! The people who are involved with Transition Laguna Beach are natural, friendly, down to earth and, best of all, hopeful about making Laguna a "sustainable" community.

This is the definition that Wikipedia has for Sustainability:

"Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of responsibility, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of stewardship, the responsible management of resource use."

In other words, we can't afford to "use up" resources that can't be replaced.

I wanted to do something meaningful with my oldest daughter, Jennifer, a few months back and I got the idea of going to one of the Transition potluck meetings. Jennifer has always been "my environmentalist". She is also the office manager for Solar City. We didn't know anyone in the group, but we took a chance and plopped ourselves in there.

How fun and inspiring it is to see what these people are doing! They have many categories that a person can pick to be involved with, be that growing organic food, encouraging new ways of transportation, facilitating solar power and much more!

I went to another meeting in order to introduce one of my friends to the Transition Community. This time I just happened to sit next to Taciana Aguiar who is one of the organizers of Transition. I mentioned to her that I was a local artist and her eyes lit up as she said:

"We've been thinking about finding an artist who will create some artwork for us that we can use to advertise more about what we do! We want someone to create something like a little beach house with solar panels on it and a roof rain collecting system... you know, with a surfboard and a garden and all that".

Well, she couldn't have asked a better person about that kind of artwork! That's what I do! I love creating fun, colorful paintings of beach cottages and flowers and the ocean! Taciana introduced me to Chris Prelitz and also Billy Fried, who are both major contributors to Transition Laguna. Between the four of us, we came up with the major elements that they wanted in the artwork. It was a back and forth process that we did mostly over the internet.

I'm really honored to be the artist they chose for this endeavor! It thrills me to no end to be able to combine my passion for art with my desire to contribute to helping our planet at this crucial time, and just in time for Earth Day! The artwork will be on display at Laguna's Celebration April 21, down at the bottom of Park Avenue. Come on down and see what Transition Laguna Beach is up to! Better yet, join them! You'll never find a nicer group of friends with a better cause. Don't stay at home and worry about "the world", come out and be a part of the change that's happening! It will give you hope and I guarantee that you will sleep better at night if you do!

If you'd like to see more of my artwork, come the across from the Surf And Sand Hotel. Lucille will be glad to show you more of what I do!