For the past few days I’ve been wrangling my newest work into a ‘book.’ It’s over 25 painted 12x 18” pages, the final product of the SPARK workshop I did in November. I’ve pushed out so much art and moved through new ideas and methods... it’s dizzying! I’m wrapping up today having tried & failed…
Have you ever noticed when you swim in a lake on your back- you could be paddling among the clouds? The mirror of water borrows blue & white from the sky, and floating, suspended, I feel the water as soft as air against my skin. Clouds float with me, or cross my path, throwing a…
This weeks painting adventure is along the Stonycreek River in Somerset County, PA. I’m working on letting go of my dependence on realism. It’s continuing to be a challenge. Stony Creek River #1: stage 1 Off to a good start- painting the energy and heat of the rocks and the river that scattered them. Late…
1. June Lake No.1 This past weekend I went in search of a natural swimming hole & came upon the Quemahoning reservoir. Such stunning landscape! After a deeply satisfying ( and chilly!) swim, I set out to paint in a new direction. I’ve heard variations on this suggestion from several sources. Basically: “Let go of…
A female hummer just came by, hungry. She looked carefully at the flowers on my skirt, then examined my pink flamingo, then the fading red sign on the door. Disappointed off she buzzed. I'm thinking about how I crave foods- not for migration power, but for so many other needs. Case in point the morning,…
One of my writers group sent out a prompt this morning: "Winter's coldest day..." My bay is frozen flat, and white with snow. In my youth I would have strapped on my skates... The scrape of metal on ice changes as I move. there's the soft shish of gliding on perfect smoothness, and the scrape…
A friend called to day, sharing coffee and gratitude though many states apart. She shared a thought experiment: what if everything, what if I were completely perfect right now, in this moment? What if the fear, disappointment, worry, grief were all lifted from our shoulders, without effort, right now. If it crosses our mind, it…
Blurred by ice-then-snow-now, grass and tree and house and bay are rendered in the softest greys. Meteoric, a crow as black as space lands on a tailwind. Then another; black feathers plump and shudder off the snow. They strut like they own the place. Which today, they do. Neighbors' grand homestead, built out over decades…
In the early 1960s I was in grade school, and my mother let me stay home to watch NASA's Mercury and Gemini spacecraft launches on TV. We'd follow the whole exciting run-up and count-down, and cheer for blast-off, willing the fiery ship up, up and away into space. This gave me my life-long love of space travel…
I've been posting here less often for a very good reason: after five years of under-employment, I landed a job. Dream Job I've gone to work for a company called Earth Resources Technology, a prime contractor for NOAA. The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration is under the Department of Commerce. That's because the agency's sections, oceans and…
