Blue Hibiscus

Beautiful blue sky day here in the Midwest, in mid-August, in the week coming up on back-to-school blues. Melancholy and excitement mix at this time of year.

I feel it, though I am not going back to school!

I might feel blue about the end of outdoor lap swimming in the early morning, but I am floating on a feeling of well-being instead, a gratitude very deep indeed. I hope it will ripple out to you.

Today I celebrate Maria Oliva Tyra and her Blue Hibiscus.

You can visit her website here, or buy a print at the new Escape Into Life store, here, as I did, to support both the artist and the online magazine that hopes to draw attention to numerous visual and literary artists!

And here is her Escape Into Life artist feature!

This surreal blend of flower, gears, and dangling needle--which exposes the "mechanism" of art--reminds me of the actual swamp-rose mallow I saw growing by the lake in Michigan in late July, yes, a kind of hibiscus. Summer ends, memory lingers, art goes on.