My totem animal is the Salamander

I just had a cicada totally chase me and try to land on me... I forgot about my sprained ankle for a second while I tried to dodge him... He was quick and really wanted me... He landed on the top of my shoe... yikes! He must have been a late-bloomer, because most of the cicadas are dead and gone.

Today was the last day of class. I'm sad! I really really loved this class. I finished my bog-scape and I'm %95 done with the details. I'm going to miss all of the characters in my class... and like a reality show like the Real World, or Surreal Life, everyone came together hugging and promising to keep in touch. 

One of the women in my class told me that Salamander is my totem animal... because 3 crawled on me at the bog... and then we were looking at the landscape reflection from a light pinhole, and all I saw at first was the eye of a salamander (which was actually just the dinning hall). I was also asked what drugs I was on because I saw that... 

I googled it... maybe my totem animal IS a salamander: 

"The appearance of a Salamander totem heralds transformation,

but offers assistance with this change from somewhere outside of ourselves,

either through an unexpected person or unique resource.

This assistance is temporary and will stay only as long as needed.

Harmony with the environment is very important to people with a Salamander totem.

It is key to a successful transformation - 

answers and solutions will be found in the environment around us."

Like I said, I'm now officially a nature freak. 

I feel much more confident as an artist too. One woman in my class loved my paintings, she works in a gallery and buys and sells art, and said I should paint for a living. Working on it. 

I'm staying on campus tonight... tomorrow, I may go to Blowing Rock to meet up with G&T for fireworks... or I may go have some down time at Beech... or I'll meet up with Cas in Asheville... Who knows... Trying to stay present and in the now...

Oh, except that there is a winter residency that I'm going to apply for for printing and letterpress... That would be a GREAT residency for me... Especially because I like to use patterns so much... 

I'll be in touch.