Monday, July 20, 2015

Summer Paths & Art



"Guard within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how
to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how
to acquire without meanness; know how to replace in your heart,
by the happiness of those you love, the happiness
that may be wanting to yourself." ~ George Sand


Late July brings blankets of heavy humidity and heat to the small town of Saluda: here in the mountains of Western North Carolina. There's a magical shimmer to winding roads, a veil of dense green, the cathedral of trees and vines. This is life: a sense of primal. Ancient seas once covered these mountains, now a soft blue sea of sky unfolds to the horizon, where far seas kiss the earth's feet. While I don't love the extremities of summer, I do love the landscape, the feel, the remembering of childhood spent outside on long, lazy days. Lately, I've had to move most of my larger painting projects inside. Some remain outside, such as a bee hive (no bees in it yet!) and small things, but large paintings are now worked on inside unless the temperature drops under 80. More interesting for you might be how I've been working on them at night...even at 10:30 which usually is Netflix movie or good book time before bed. I turn the year-round Christmas light strands on in the vintage kitchen, kick-up WNCW tunes on the stereo, and paint in almost darkness at the old wood kitchen easel. My eyes don't mind the dim yet colorful glowing lights: wonderful surprises happen when I let go of having to have 'enough' light, or wait for the 'right' time to work. There is never going to be the perfect condition. There is no telling what passerby may think...the glow of Christmas lights peeking from old house windows. An artist lives here.


Esto Perpetua: Silver Light, Bonnie Joy Bardos (available at Patricia Carlisle Fine Art, 554 Canyon Road, Santa Fe NM)

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