Eileen Nishi

The first time I ever heard about Squam Art Workshops was on Amanda Soule’s “Soule Mama” blog - which I tend to think was serendipitous, since I’m not a frequent visitor there.  I remember reading her blog post and thinking “oh – wouldn’t it be nice?”  And then I sighed, and put it out of my mind.  That was in June of 2009.

The other part of my journey to Squam actually started in 2003 when I met a lovely artist who was showing her paintings in the office where I worked.  I fell in love with one of her pieces, and because it was just slightly out of my price range – I asked if I could pay for it over time while it graced the wall near my desk.  She agreed – and so over the next few months while she was off saving the world (no really – she was!), I sent her a card every so often with my check + a little note.  And that is how I got to know Flora Bowley.

January of 2010 brought a newsletter from Flora announcing that she was going to be teaching at the Fall session of SAW and that was apparently the moment I was waiting for, as I promptly signed up for “Art Camp in New Hampshire”.  Afterwards I thought for sure that I’d had a moment of temporary insanity – had I really signed up for an art retreat at a turn-of-the-century camp on a remote lake all the way across the country where I wasn’t going to know a soul?  Really?  Yes, I had.  And there was no turning back . . . I was on my way!

I did end up making a connection on the SAW message board with a fellow Squammie Merrilee Kennedy who lives near me in Washington State, and we arranged to fly to New Hampshire together and share a rental car.  We actually only met in person a couple of weeks before we left (thought it would be a good idea to meet each other before we sat on a plane together for seven hours) – and thankfully we had instant friend chemistry!  However, we were not assigned to the same cabin and weren’t in any of the same classes – so it was still a little like going in blind.

All that said, I don’t remember being nervous.  I had a lovely roommate who had also come on her own, and sharing a cabin & bathroom with total strangers wasn’t a problem . . . it was all part of the adventure!

In those amazing four days I cooked, photographed, painted, and found myself cracked wide open as I acknowledged the creative path that was being laid before me.  This is what I wrote upon my return:

“SAW was a life-changing experience for me.  How exactly my life will change isn’t clear to me yet – what I know is that there is a lump in my throat telling me that I am supposed to do something much bigger and more creative with my life . . . a voice that is calling me to a higher purpose, which will have something to do with Art.”

It felt as if a veil had been lifted and allowed me to see briefly the possibilities of what a life doing what I loved would look like – and then it came down again . . . but not all the way!  I believe that glimpse is what has motivated me to stretch myself in ways that I never thought possible over the last year.  And with this stretch I’ve seen a clear change in my attitude.  Where I used to think “Oh – I could never do that . . .”, I now say “Why Not?!”

Since I attended Squam in 2010 I’ve taken three e-courses - photography, blogging and painting, traveled to England to learn bookbinding at the Do What You Love for Life retreat, studied mixed-media & collage at Pratt Art here in Seattle, and headed back to the magical shores of Squam Lake this Fall to keep the creative mojo going. (& to swim in the icy-cold water!)

All of which leads me to believe that it was not in fact a moment of temporary insanity that led me to sign up for Squam Art Workshops almost two years ago – but one of complete clarity.  As cliché as it sounds, I really am creating my own reality – and with each day I get more excited about my life and where I’m headed

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