Winter white glistens each morning now--although autumn's leaves were slow to fall this year; clinging to branches in crimson, scarlet, tangerine, russet. As ever, my paint colors reflect life all around; nature the eternal muse. The outer world shouts, roils, thumps at my door: yet day after day, I return to the paints, colors, images upon the canvas and find all the answers there. As ever, that's what artists do: in order to make sense (if anything can) of the world in their own way. I teach myself life (and Instagram) bit by bit. Below, a painting detail of a piece I've been working on, from the Lone Boat series I started years ago. This one has many layers, and the more I've worked on it, the more the depths and mysteries within delight something within my being. This is the first round.
Update: here's the finished painting.
Almost too late to walk in the woods, but I did,
anyway. And stepping aside for a moment
from the shadowy path to enter
darker shadow, a favorite circle of fir trees,
received a gift from the dusk:
a small owl, not affrighted, merely
moving deliberately
to a branch a few feet
further from me, looked
full at me—a long regard,
steady, acknowledging, unbiased.
~ Denise Levertov, "Creature to Creature"
Finally, I just have to stick a photo of me and River dog here. He turns 5 this Christmas: I adopted him from Shar-Pei rescue when he was 6 months old and had to have an eye removed. When we drove home from Raleigh, he put that sweet little snout on my arm and it was love. The best studio assistant, he paints with me outside in warm months, inside during the cold. Usually, he's snoring or basking in the sun while I do the work. That's my boy! Dogs don't worry like we humans do. Maybe a bit of worry over what'll be in the dinner bowl, but around here there's always something in my sweet boy's bowl. Always. As this year winds down, I stand back to count my blessings. Paint, dog, roof, old truck. Good friends. Thank you for reading this blog, and may you always find some pearl within.
