Sunday ☕ : The Art of Saying Yes

The morning mist rises like ghostly fingers from the mirror-smooth lake, each tendril catching the amber light of dawn. A loon’s haunting call pierces the silence — that primal, otherworldly sound that makes your spine tingle and your soul remember something ancient. The water whispers secrets against weathered dock posts, a rhythm as old as time itself. Here in the Adirondacks, the silence is so profound you can hear your own heartbeat, the gentle ringing in your ears becoming a meditation bell.

Sacred Silence

My father had a saying that rings truer with each passing year: There was nowhere else on earth where he could find himself completely unwound within an hour of arrival. That’s the magic of these mountains — 6 million acres of wilderness protected by the New York State Constitution, so vast that Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon could nestle inside with room to spare. My daughter and I arrived a week ago, seeking exactly what Dad knew he’d find here: the gift of stillness before the storm of adventure.

Father’s Wisdom

Life has a way of testing our own rules. I’ve spent decades protecting my summers here like a dragon guards gold, turning down business trips and opportunities that would steal these precious weeks. Only twice have I broken this sacred covenant — once for an art expedition to Russia that opened my eyes to new worlds, another for a private collection viewing that, in retrospect, taught me the difference between urgent and important.

Rules Worth Breaking

But next Sunday — Father’s Day, no less — I’ll shatter my own standards spectacularly. Two of my triplets and a documentary crew will join me on a journey that makes those previous exceptions look like trips to the corner store. The visa in my passport feels heavy with possibility: China awaits.

Leap of Faith

This isn’t my first dance with this particular dream. COVID locked us down a week before our original departure, the unused visa a monument to plans the universe had other ideas about. But perhaps timing is everything. Perhaps we needed to wait for this moment, when the invitation expanded to include speaking at five universities about the plein air movement, participating in three major art events, and sharing how artists can transform passion into livelihood.

Divine Timing

The itinerary reads like an artist’s fever dream: national media interviews, factory tours, cultural exchanges with artists whose languages differ but whose visual vocabulary speaks the same truths. They’ve rearranged entire events to accommodate my visit — a humbling reminder that sometimes the world conspires to help us when we’re ready to receive.

Universal Language

I find myself remembering other moments of exquisite discomfort — four men crammed into a tiny car traversing muddy Russian winters to visit hidden studios, or the surreal moment when the Hermitage mounted an exhibition in my honor. These pinch-me moments happen, I’ve realized, not through careful planning but through one simple practice: saying yes before fear can say no.

Comfortable Discomfort

There’s a special alchemy that occurs when we leap before looking too closely at the landing. It’s not recklessness — it’s trust in the process of becoming. Every time I’ve talked myself out of an opportunity, I’ve regretted it. Every time I’ve impulsively embraced the unknown, magic has followed.

Trust the Process

What strikes me most is how these adventures multiply when shared. This trip becomes a graduation gift of sorts for my children — not just a journey across the globe, but a masterclass in embracing the uncomfortable, in saying yes to life’s invitations even when they arrive dressed as challenges.

Gifts That Matter

I’ll attempt to share this journey through social media, though technology and time zones may have other plans. But perhaps that’s fitting — some experiences demand to be lived fully before they’re shared, absorbed completely before they’re processed into words and images.

Present-Tense Living

My near-death experience years ago carved a promise into my bones: Find a way to touch the exotic, the foreign, the uncomfortable every single year, regardless of circumstances. Even when drowning in busy-ness (which is always), even when finances protest (which they do), even when logic suggests staying home (which it usually does).

Promises Kept

This commitment has led to behind-the-scenes museum tours, meetings with artists I never thought I’d meet, visiting the homes and family members of deceased artistic legends, painting expeditions following in the brushstrokes of masters, and friendships forged in the universal language of art.

Home Adventures

The loon calls again as I close these thoughts, its voice a bridge between the ancient quiet of these mountains and the bustling future of Chinese cities. Both have something to teach us about presence, about beauty, about the courage to create. The only difference is the language in which they whisper their secrets.

Full Circle

Life is too short for someday. Too precious for maybe. Too magnificent for “what if.” When opportunity knocks — answer the door. Say yes. Pack light, but bring your whole heart.

Say Yes

The sunrise has burned through the mist now, revealing the far shore in all its green glory. Time to boat across the lake, to begin another day of this beautiful, uncertain, magnificent life. China may be next week’s adventure, but today’s adventure starts with breakfast and friends and paint-stained conversations.

Begin Today

Until next Sunday (technology and time zones willing),

P.S. - Next Saturday, June 14, I’m hosting something entirely new — a full day with the master artists who paint backgrounds for films like Lord of the Rings, Avatar, and Marvel movies. They’ll teach painting principles through digital tools, but the lessons apply to all mediums. Just $47 for a day that could transform your artistic vision. Details at digitalpaintinglive.com.

P.P.S. Just this week, we unexpectedly secured three more spots for our Swiss Alps painting adventure this fall — following the footsteps of Sargent, Bierstadt, and Klimt through villages that time forgot.We’ll paint the Alps, Lake Como, and Venice, following the paths of the masters. If your heart is calling you to join us, visit paintswitzerland.com this week.

P.P.P.S. As I write this, artists are gathering for our Publisher’s Invitational here in the Adirondacks. Soon I’ll navigate the lake to join them for breakfast, another reminder that the best adventures often begin at home, in the company of kindred spirits who understand that making art is really about making meaning.

Though it’s too late to join us for this week, my next retreat, Fall Color Week in Door County, Wisconsin, still has a few spots available, though they tend to sell out once everyone sees the social media postings from the Adirondacks. There’s something magical about painting autumn’s fireworks with fellow artists. Join us at fallcolorweek.com.

Remember, I cannot predict whether or not I’ll be able to have something for you next Sunday. If not, we’ll pull a “best of” until I can get to you. I appreciate your patience and your prayers.

Who Is This Guy Eric Rhoads?

Eric Rhoads is the founder and publisher of PleinAir Magazine and Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine (both on newsstands nationally), author and host of six Art Marketing instruction videos, writes a blog on Art Marketing, and is the author of the Amazon bestseller Make More Money Selling Your Art. Additionally, he produces the weekly e-newsletters American Watercolor, Fine Art Today, Inside Art, PaintTube ArtNotes, Pastel Today, Plein Air Today, and Realism Today. Eric hosts the in-person Plein Air Convention & Expo, the Fine Art Trip for art collectors, and painting retreats including Paint Adirondacks, Fall Color Week, and the Winter Art Escape, as well as online virtual events Acrylic Live, Pastel Live, PleinAir Live, Realism Live, and Watercolor Live. He is also the producer of the PleinAir Salon Online Art Competition and art instructional courses through PaintTube.tv. Each weekday Eric hosts Art School Live, a YouTube show featuring free demos from a variety of artists, and he is host of the PleinAir Podcast and Art Marketing Minute Podcast. Eric is a plein air, landscape, and portrait painter with works at Castle Gallery. He is heavily involved in the radio industry as founder of Radio Ink Magazine as well as Radio + Television Business Report, the Radio Forecast Conference, and the Hispanic Radio Conference. He is the author of the bestselling book Blast from the Past: A Pictorial History of Radio’s First 75 Years. Eric lives in Austin, Texas, with his bride, Laurie, and they are the parents of triplets. Learn more at EricRhoads.com, or see Everything We Do.