Skip to content

melissa f. kaelin

Art & Writing

  • Home
  • Adventures
    • Art
      • Photography
      • Painting
      • Shop Art
    • Aurora Chasing
      • Aurora Chasing Blog
      • Beyond the Aurora
      • Northern Lights Guides
        • Find a Viewing Location
        • Aurora Chasing Hacks
      • Aurora Projects
        • Features
        • Shape of the Sky: A Book Featuring Your Work
          • Submissions Page
        • Creating the Michigan Aurora Chasers
    • Space
    • Travel
  • Writing
    • Resources
    • Books
      • The 45th Parallel Series
      • Hope in the Hoarfrost
      • The Social Gap Experiment
    • Poetry
    • Creative Nonfiction
    • Short Stories
      • BlackJack
      • “Look Up”
      • Relic in a Bottle
      • The Prisoner
      • The Only Violet Stone
      • Flash Fiction
      • Other Stories
    • Aurora Novel
      • Aurora Novel Excerpt
    • Milky Way Novel
      • Milky Way Novel Excerpt
  • Publications
  • News & Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Inspiring Workshops
    • Press
  • About
    • Quick Links
    • Contact the Author
    • The Story of an Aurora Chaser
    • Connect with me!
  • Blog
  • Donations, Tips & More

Tag: canvas

Study of Northern Lights

Study of Northern Lights Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 12

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 304 other subscribers
The thunderstorms tho! Now, I navigate by my creative compass. The Shape of the Sky is my boldest idea yet! Deadline August 15th, or cover artist entries by August 31, 2026. You know what to do! TinyURL.com/ShapeOfTheSky It seems as though everywhere I look this summer, I see a tiger lily. Tiger lilies have such an alluring scent! It’s the scent of my childhood and summers on the farm. It’s the scent of growing up without material things, and going outside to play. It’s the aroma of imagination, and the games we would make up on the big front porch, as we looked out at the crabapple trees. We were sailors on a massive ship, navigating the waves of an endless ocean. Back to the farmhouse. No matter where I go in life, I’ll always treasure this place to come home to. My own family home is gone, my parents gone, two of my siblings gone, the walk down memory lane now overgrown with wildflowers, or converted maybe into something new entirely. I haven’t been to my hometown in over 10 years probably, but I’ve been back to the farm. With the Sun dog, Elio! Where antique books line the wooden shelves inside, fences reminisce about the livestock that once lived here, and even the rock garden seems to tell a story. The enormous barn and the old yellow house, both lost and erased in time. Our grandparents’ farm is still here, though, for now. It’s the home I keep coming back to. It’s the glue that holds everything together. It’s the invisible line from childhood to being grown. Grandma’s hands. I took a detour from life this week to ensure my 97-year-old grandmother’s health and well-being back on her farm in her Ohio. In recent years, my life has become so grand and so chic, but this was a reminder of simpler times. Of simple things. Of simple tasks. Of simple love. The way Grandma scrubbed that pan that we didn’t even use, keenly aware of its stains and imperfections, the way she got the pan to shine… This is the strength our family is made of. It was moving. And humbling, somehow. Celebrating one year living under Dark Sky!

On Facebook

On Facebook

Subscribe on Substack

Subscribe for email updates! Choose from chasing techniques, opportunities and expressive creative writing, with free and paid options.

Website Powered by WordPress.com.
  • Subscribe Subscribed
    • melissa f. kaelin
    • Join 304 other subscribers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • melissa f. kaelin
    • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
Loading Comments...