The Blue-Green Crayon on Vacation

Indira, from the Transformation Collection: Side Weave Mesh chain bracelet with a clasp of Eastern repousse and kum boo by Victoria Lansford; photo by Pat Vasquez-Cunningham — Indira, from the Transformation Collection: Side Weave Mesh chain bracelet with a clasp of Eastern repousse and kum boo; photo by Pat Vasquez-Cunningham

When six year old me opened my new box of crayons, I reverently pulled out the one called ‘blue-green’ in awe. I found it to be the perfect color. As I reverently replaced it in its slot, I sighed at the rest of the colors and wondered what they were doing in the box. What I most wanted was an entire Crayola Box of 36 to contain 36 of the blue-green ones.

The adult me came to love the lush green of the urban forest, the deep, earthy oxide colors of ocher and carnelian, and the mulled wine purple of my website’s branding. One look at the stones I set and the pigments I paint with will tell you, however, that blue-green is still my happy place.

It was the promise of such color that finally lured me back onto an airplane for the first time in 3 years, 3 months, and 8 days. In celebration of our fifteenth wedding anniversary, my husband and I went on the second vacation of our entire relationship. – All the many other trips had a workshop or conference attached for at least one of us, including our honeymoon which ended with my teaching a 5-day Eastern Repoussé workshop. Yes, income is necessary; tax deductions are good, but burnout is real.

My Idea of a Work Trip - a little miniature illumination in progress on our balcony — My Idea of a Work Trip – a little miniature illumination in progress on our balcony

The brief I gave him was a plane ride of 2 hours or less and blue-green water. What he found was an organic spa resort in Key West. Breakfast was on our balcony each morning, and the days were spent reading, painting when I felt like it, venturing to bookstores, and drinking in that view.

Venturing outside the resort was…interesting…with a high risk of over exposure from both the sun and a problematic fabric to flesh ratio on the part of many redneck tourists who paraded their bums on the street with no water in site, while I was trying to eat lunch, but this was blissfully offset by the ability to lie in bed and stare out at palm trees and the aqua shimmer of the Gulf of Mexico.

With Beatrix at Aqua Key West — With the fabulous Beatrix at Aqua

With a nod to an ancient art form and a double middle-finger salute to Florida’s Governor DeSanitizer, we caught the drag show at Aqua, which I can’t recommend highly enough! The sequin to flesh ratio was perfect, and the fantastic performers were absolutely brilliant.

Vacations…I highly recommend them!