Aging Well?

Research cited in Psychology Today suggests that how long you live is partly determined by how you think about aging. An interesting longitudinal study tracked adults for 23 years, measuring mortality and asking about their perceptions of aging. Turns out that people who had positive perceptions of aging lived longer than those who didn’t. This […]

City Planning and Psych

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I was a junior in college who talked my way into a graduate seminar in environmental psychology. In my 20 year old brain, this was a great way to unite two loves, art and psych. More than my previous attempts – as an art major, then in […]

Holiday Hunger

People often complain about overeating during the holiday season, but a couple of recent articles shed some light. According to Psychology Today there are four types of hunger, at least two of which feed into this phenomenon. The Economist expands that notion with an article about the new field of nutritional psychiatry. It seems physical […]

Off Season Adventures

We tend to travel at off times. It’s not just to avoid crowds, though that’s a plus. It’s also because we enjoy being home most of the year, hating to miss spring blooms, summer sailing, autumn leaves, or snow-covered scenes. So our trips tend to be November and March, the only ugly times here, and […]

Nimby, Notes and Bananas

Most of us have heard the term Nimby – not in my back yard. And most of us would like to believe we are more open-minded and welcoming than it suggests, even though we often live in towns with restrictive zoning rules. What struck me as ironic is the realization that many of us seek […]

According to Einstein

Albert Einstein once said “logic will get you from A to Z, imagination will get you everywhere.” This is a sentiment with which I wholeheartedly agree. Though he applied it to science, it applies equally well to art-making. (As it did to my consulting, for that matter, but that’s not today’s focus.) While mastering basic […]

Inspired Again!

We finally took a vacation again, after nearly 2 1/2 years! As regular readers know, my painting inspiration usually comes from sunsets, water and travel. The latter has been in very short supply lately. As readers also know, we had bouts of COVID last month, fortunately mild since we are triple vaxxed. This means that, […]

Birds in my Hair?

Like many of you, I’ve found the pandemic has clipped my wings. We used to travel internationally twice a year, gathering experiences, memories and inspiration for my paintings. We also enjoyed lots of cultural opportunities in Hartford – theater, art shows and concerts – when we weren’t relaxing at our shoreline home, where we’d sail, […]

Cue-Based Planning?

And what, you might ask, is cue-based planning? And why should I care? Well, it’s apparently a better way to make your dreams come true. Based on the Wall Street Journal’s summary of research by Wharton professor Katy Milkman, cue-based planning simply boils down to “if x, then y.” As an example, don’t just say […]

Gorgeous Groton

My exhibit at the local library includes limited edition prints and a group of my travel photos, works I hadn’t exhibited in quite a while. I enjoyed seeing Mexico, Bali and Miami’s Art Deco district again – vicarious traveling during a pandemic. The show was well-received and I was asked to extend it, which I […]