Blog Archives
Your Most Creative Year Yet – 2026
Why Art, Movies, and Mingling with the Marvelously Different Will Change Your Life (And Maybe Your Wardrobe)
Welcoming 2026: A Creative Call to Adventure
Greetings, fellow travelers in the grand gallery of life! As the curtains rise on 2026 it’s time to consider an idea that’s neither about kale nor exercise. Let’s make 2026 the year we all say “Yes!” to more art, more creativity, and maybe even a few movies or musical numbers in our homes.
Why Art Matters: Everyday Enrichment, Zero Calories
Let’s be honest: life can sometimes feel like a never-ending loop of emails, to-do lists, and the dismay that comes with discovering an old moldy dinner that ends up in the Insinkerator. Enter art! Whether it’s a splash of beautiful colors on a canvas, an amazing digital creation from the mind of an inventive computer geek, a simple doodle in a notebook, or that interpretive dance you do when nobody’s watching, art infuses our days with wonder, pleasure, and a dash of quirkiness. Creative experiences don’t just make our Instagram feeds appealing, they give life meaning, promote problem-solving, and make us feel more alive. Plus, unlike caffeine, art won’t keep you up at night (unless you’re a musician playing at a venue or you can’t turn your creative juices off – both of which have happened to me).
The Magic of Movies: Taking a Break from the Ordinary
Now, let’s talk about movies, the ultimate time machines, empathy engines, and providers of popcorn-related joy. Some of my favorites lately are movies that star the actor, Rutger Hauer – Blade Runner from 1982, The Hitcher, Ladyhawke, Surviving the Game. Watching a great film is like taking a mini vacation without the hassle of airport security. Movies invite us to inhabit other worlds, see through someone else’s eyes, and occasionally question why everyone in action scenes never seems to need the bathroom. More than entertainment, cinema is an art form that can spark inspiration, offer comfort, and encourage us to rethink our routines. The right film at the right moment can nudge us toward new dreams, or at the very least, inspire us to try slow-motion walks in dramatic lighting.
Lifestyles: Growing by Embracing the Wonderfully Weird
If you really want to supercharge your personal growth, try stepping beyond your comfort zone and engaging with people living lives wildly different from your own. Befriend a local avant-gard café or someone from your yoga class. Chat with the improv comedian at your local comedy club or finally accept your neighbor’s invitation to their “Experimental Cuisine Night” (just… keep an open mind about the beet lasagna). Surrounding ourselves with diverse perspectives and lifestyles not only expands our worldview but also helps us challenge our assumptions. It’s like updating the software of your soul – suddenly you’re running new programs and seeing life’s possibilities in high definition or perhaps an update.
Practical Tips: Adding More Art to Your 2026
- Visit a local museum or gallery: Bonus points if you bring a sketchbook or try describing everything in rhyming couplets afterward (poetry is harder than it looks)
- Host a movie night (theme hats encouraged): Pick films from different countries or genres and discuss them afterwards with friends (or your very patient dog).
- Try a new art form: Pottery, collage, interpretive shadow puppetry (is that a thing?), the world is your creative oyster.
- Say “yes” to invitations outside your comfort zone: Attend a poetry or writer’s group, join a dance class, or volunteer for a community mural project.
- Make time for daily creativity: Even five minutes of doodling, journaling, playing your guitar or keyboard, or humming tunes while you take a work break can do wonders for your mood and mind. Listen to background music while you paint or write.
Incorporate Creativity—Make Life Your Masterpiece
As 2026 unfolds, let’s make a pact to welcome more art, more movies, and more beautifully diverse experiences into our lives. Not just because it looks good on social media, but because creativity makes every day richer, more surprising, and more meaningful. We all have the capacity to be creators, explorers, and admirers of the eccentric and profound. So, dust off your imagination, take time off and watch a movie you’ve been meaning to see, grab a ticket to the next concert in town, and don’t be afraid to try beet lasagna. Here’s to a year of vivid colors, a bold outlook on life, and unforgettable stories – on the screen, on the canvas. Make your life extraordinary!
Solitaire
Click Here for Art by Solitaire
Never give up – Never surrender!
It’s a line spoken by actor, Tim Allen, from a movie – “Galaxy Quest.” It’s one of the funniest sci-fi spoofs ever made. It’s just one of those feel-good movies that you watch again and again, and it has a great message. It’s so easy to get lost amidst the responsibilities and difficulties of life. We struggle to find the time to write or create, and sometimes it can be all too confusing and disheartening to keep up the drive. Many of us are working day jobs and trying to fit in our writing or whatever our passion is, around everything else. What we need is creative clarity about what we’re creating and why we’re doing it in the first place. Go back to the ”well” so to speak, and dig deep for your source of inspiration. Do you have a great story that needs to be expressed, whether it’s as an author or in a painting? Someone out there needs to hear or see what you have to say and it will profoundly connect with them in a meaningful way, and that is important. It means continuing to be an artist even when there are setbacks, and a lack of validation. That clarity will help you to prioritize amidst your busy life, and your amazing creation will materialize and give the world something to think about besides its everyday routine. To be elevated above the mundane into a place that is intriguing, magical, whimsical or exquisite is what teaches us how to thrive and experience truly being alive!
Never give up – Never Surrender!
Solitaire
Check out my website for upcoming books and fun features.
Who is Oscar Zoroaster??
Well it’s eminent; “Tinker Smith & the Conspiracy of OZ” is finished…sort of. As usual when the author says it’s done, it’s not actually done. However, the editing and proofreading is going well and the principle parties tell me…SOON! I am also told by the artist who is doing the cover that it will be finished at roughly the same time as the editing. Go team go!! I haven’t actually seen the cover yet, although I have seen the artist’s first rendering of the lead character, Tinker Smith, and I thought it was awesome! The bank of proof readers all had the same question…Who the heck is Oscar Zoroaster?! I’m sure that some of you out there already know the answer to this. If you do, please just bare with me.
Oscar Zoroaster was a snake oil salesman from Omaha, Nebraska. Through a series of misadventures, that he claims was no fault of his own, somehow magically made his way to the land of “OZ”. After he had made his way to the Emerald City, he performed the single greatest con act of his career…as you’ve probably already guessed; he convinced them he was a wizard. Now the real question here is…is Oscar Zoroaster a good guy or a bad guy? In the movie “The Wizard of OZ,” you really kinda have to wonder about this guy. After a couple of failed attempts at getting Dorothy and her friends killed, he finally and begrudgingly gives all of them what they apparently already had. In the novel, “Tinker Smith & the Conspiracy of OZ,” I have painted Oscar Zoroaster as not only a bad person, but the ultimate, the oober-criminal. It seemed like the logical thing to do at the time. Now imagine Oscar as the world’s greatest geneticist with a real need to bring OZ to earth. Well there ya have it! As I mentioned in a previous blog, I once again designed all of the lead characters to mirror my family and friends. More on that later.
The first character I’m idealizing on, a genetically altered little boy fresh out of Oscar’s nightmares sets the stage for act one of this “OZ” odyssey. I’m hoping that other people out there in the hinter lands loved L. Frank Baum’s “OZ” books as much as I did. If nothing else, it’s one heck of a lot of fun! I have to go now; they’re expecting me in the Emerald City…an interview with the Scarecrow. You understand.
Solitaire Parke - Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books 
