Thanksgiving…the perfect time to share all the gratitude we feel for the love and support from patrons and friends throughout the year.
Here are a few new little paintings to help celebrate the season of light and love…
these are currently on exhibition at Gallery 1261 in Denver for their Small Works Show.
For those of you who are scattered far and wide across this planet here’s a link for you to see all the fine paintings included…Gallery 1261. And I know a few of you who are within visiting distance of those Rocky Mountains and hope you will stop in and say hey for us.
Happy and Merry from the studio…
Sunflower Summer – 12 x 9
This was the year of Winter Sowing.
A new and ancient method of seed starting.
New for me
ancient for the planet.
In late December,
on the solstice if you want to celebarte the suns’ journey,
recycled milk jugs and deeper potting pots
with good drainage holes
are filled with about 4? of seed starting soil.
Then a packet of seeds is scattered over the top,
carefully marked for much later identification…
or not so carefully in my case…
and sprinkled with water
and covered with a plastic lid
or in my case a ziplock back with ventilation holes.
(Pro tip: A soldering iron saved time, and strain on my hands, in the making of all those holes.)
And then the fun part…
put those jugs outside and walk away.
Mother Nature does the rest.
The beauty and the wonder
of my new studio
is that it was plunked right smack in the middle of my garden.
So, of course,
Maggie and I inspected all those pots each day on our walks.
I was a bit skeptical
but not Maggie.
Joyous trust is her superpower.
We had, per usual,
exceeded our enthusiasm
and of the initial 100 pots sown in the winter
there was about an 85% success rate.
And among those
the sunflowers were
simply the best.
Encircling the tomato plants
lining the Ruth Stout Garden
they made this
one to remember
the Sunflower Summer.
Rocky Mountain High – 9 x 12
This one
came to me in a dream
and taught
me a new
knot.
And then I got
to trip down memory lane
and listen to John Denver again.
I was right back
in my Aunt Bonnie’s little MG
with the top down
and a burlap earthshoe bag
full of 8 track tapes
at my feet in the passenger seat.
Wind in our hair
singing at the top of our lungs
it was the closest
I have ever come
to a
Rocky Mountain High.
Trustfall (Study) – 9 x 12
A Study
An idea
beginning
to take some sort
of shape.
The lump in the throat.
A challenge thrown down
by the Muses
which I gently picked up
three months ago now.
This very tiny painting
was the first to emerge
…three months ago…
from the gossamer threads
of a nebulous swirl
which they
The Muses
were tossing
one to the other
like a beachball
made of feathers
in front of me.
And then
in the middle of last night
or rather the wee hours of the morning
they woke me up
and threw
a scattershot
of volley balls
straight at me.
I snuck out of bed
grabbed a flashlight
and headed over to the studio
to quickly capture some sketches.
That page
as it turns out
is a wild mess.
But
after a cup of tea
and an hour of log editing
and the 7.07am
sunrise announcement
from the Cardinal
I went back down to the library
and the next page
in the sketchbook
now reveals
a fully formed
series of paintings…
Trustfall.
I know
not to even be
the least bit surprised
that today is
Thanksgiving Day.
Stay tuned.
