As I sit here to start this blog entry, the silhouette of my Grandpa's boots catches the corner of my eye. I borrowed these boots from him in 2006. I was 18, it was my first year of college and I was probably 1 of hundreds of college girls on my campus that year who dressed as a cowgirl for Halloween. The boots somehow never made their way back to him. I seldom returned to Toronto after moving to Ottawa for college and so the boots stayed with me. They made their home in my college dorm,were shuttled in a box when I moved into my first apartment and after my Grandpa died in 2009, they became my constant companion on all of my adventures. They came to France, England and Morocco with me in 2010. One year later, I was off to NYC,Jamaica, Hawaii, Texas and Louisiana with boots in tow.
Grand Canyon, Dec.2012
Washington, DC, Jan.2013
They moved with me to San Francisco in 2011 and even stood at the alter next to me on my wedding day in 2012. I somehow believed, and still do believe, by taking these boots on all of my travels, my Grandpa's spirit lives on. I always take pictures of them infront of famous landmarks and mail the photos to my Grandma back in Canada. Her fridge is covered with these photos, my own personal postcards.
The boots and I traveled over 10,000 miles between November 2012 and January 2013. Opportunities and adventure presented themselves to me and I thought "why not?". You only live once. I packed my bag and the boots,and we jetted off to NYC, Arizona, southern California, North Carolina, Georgia and Washington, DC. I met amazing artists, tracked down some famous art pieces (the Bird Girl Statue in Savannah) and roamed around for street art. Being on the road gave me new inspiration and motivation. More blog posts to share my adventures later. Merely generalizing my discoveries in each city won't do it justice.
Side note: Thanks to all of our new followers. 200 new followers on Facebook in 2 days? You sure know how to make a girl smile. Art Crasher is strengthening as an art community each day.
Keep art alive and well my friends,
-H
