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Jan 21

The Compost Pile is an Oral Tradition

January 21, 2017

The Compost Pile is an Oral Tradition

I can tell you stories I’ve made up by reading pages from your compost pile

of the meals you have eaten

and not eaten

why the lemons have been squeezed but the cabbage and the cauliflower were untouched until your hands carried them here to decay

I wanted to catalog the vegetables and fruits just to impress you, to show you that I had indeed accounted for them all

but instead

I smelled the new earth and the old

then pricked my finger on a rose thorn.

Jan 2

A Year in Review

I used to keep an end of the year list of things I had accomplished, experienced, made, done… you get the idea. I stopped doing this a few years ago.. but am returning to the practice.

So 2020 ..you brought a year of challenges. A pandemic, an election, a divided country.. a new way of living we are still coming to terms with and learning how to move through.

But here are the gifts and challenges and adventures you brought. In no particular order.

Finished a crocheted afghan

Completed every Sunday NYT crossword (and a few others) with David

Went to Damariscotta Maine

Held the 3rd annual holiday art pop up

Visited David’s mom and sister

Went to Vermont

Walked across a frozen lake

Learned to backcountry ski and found my new outdoor sport

Painted and sold a lot of paintings.. I should count

Held a few paint and sips

Made some pottery

Hiked.. not as much as I should have.. but all were lovely

Swam as many times as I could in the rivers and lakes near me

Kayaked Christine Lake

Saw a comet

Taught yoga

Worked through a pandemic

Was quarantined

Watched a lot of movies/series on Netflix and Prime..

Learned to make porchetta

Finished the bathroom in my home

Knitted a few hats

Made a calendar with my art

Made bags with my art

Sewed curtains

Hosted an Airbnb, then rented it out when covid hit

Repaired the entire bedroom ceiling in the Airbnb after a raccoon gave birth in the attic

Lost my cat, found my cat

Planted a garden..flowers and veggies

Cleaned all the trash off the terraces in my backyard..so much trash

Saw a bear.. twice

Designed a tattoo

Got a tattoo

Prayed..a lot

Spent a wonderful amount of time with Daivd

Read two books..maybe three.. I need to read more

Called my parents nearly everyday since the pandemic

Gathered more house plants

Went to a bonfire more than once

Fat tire biked..on the snow

Watched otters on Durand Lake

Bushwhacked

Went to the top of Pine mountain finally

Lost a friend

Cried a lot

Voted in a presidential election..Biden won!

There were a lot of gifts and happy moments in 2020.. a lot of hard too.

May 2021 be gentler..❤️

Nov 22

1 Comment

A Pandemic, and Election, a year I couldn’t have imagined

I wish I had started a journal when the covid 19 pandemic started. In March of this year we began a quarantine…the details of which I can scarcely remember. We wore masks and gloves.. we hoarded toilet paper, and food, and tried to stay home. Some said it was hoax..others said it was inevitable. We forgot that we are insignificant in the eyes of viruses.

Eight months later we are still wearing masks. The restaurant I work at closed, reinvented itself to outdoor dining, started providing take out, and closed again as cold weather set in. We have a newly elected president, waiting for January to make it official. We have an insane, inept, and narcissistic man holding desperately onto an office he has lost. It’s a weird and scary time.

In the meantime, my own life has pushed forward in unrelated ways. My son is not well. I am at a loss in how to help him. It has been hard..exceptionally hard. The hardest thing I have ever had to go through. Life has been hard for so many people. Life is not fair. I know this so much. Bad things happen to very good people. Bad people get rewarded for bad behavior. I do not understand any of this..I don’t even accept it.. it just is how it is.

I continue to paint. I paint what makes me happy. Bright colors…animals..nature. These things bring me comfort. I need comfort. The world needs comfort.

Below is She feels the winds of change

May there be change. May there be healing.

Oct 29

My Octopus Teacher

I watch the movie the other night on Netflix and fell in love with the beautiful octopus on screen. When we can travel again, I want to visit the kelp forest in South Africa and meet my own octopus teacher

Sep 11

A wellspring of landscapes

The Land is burning is Oregon, Washington, and California. I am worried about my friends..several have evacuated. The skies are red and smoke filled; Portland has the worst air quality in the world right now.

And I am in Gorham… so far away, painting. Not oblivious to what is happening in the world. Just trying to find comfort in ways I can. The world is suffering this year. We must dig deep. I must dig deep and find the wellspring within myself.

There is so much to face and deal with right now. But there is also beauty and kindness and love to be found. I will focus on what can be ahead..what I can create..what I can offer that contributes in better ways, healing ways, loving ways.

Aug 28

Build the New

Every day is an exercise in building the new ❤️

Aug 23

After the Rain Falls

Covid is getting to me. Admittedly, I haven’t been as effected by the pandemic as others.. I don’t have school aged kids, I was able to get unemployment when my work place closed, I’m a natural homebody and introvert, I had time to finish projects..it hasn’t been awful.

I am at work again and tourist season is in bloom and it’s harder now. More effort, more stress, more worry, more irritation. I am ready to not wear a mask 7-8 hours a day. I am ready to travel and see people and hug. But I can’t.

So this painting.. is hope. That this will end and there will be brighter days…

Aug 10

All my Relations

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We’re in the midst of a global pandemic.

Did I fail to mention this? We, the United States are also facing increased civil unrest. That phrase, “civil unrest” is insufficient.. and awkward. So much is going on.. none of which I have said about in this blog which has lain fallow for a year. How does one catch up on all that happened..who am I to comment on any of it. I paint happy things, not always as a distraction, but as way seeing the light, the positive, the hope that there are better days to come.. sometimes I do paint to forget it all.

global pandemic.covid 19. Black Lives Matter. Th names of so many black men and women killed by police..so many I fear naming a few , leaving out so many..it’s too many..it’s heartbreaking.. 2020 is heartbreaking is on so many levels. My own personal life filled with heart break and trauma, too much to explain or come to terms with..so I push forward instead.

Here is what I am learning..here is what I am working on.

Nature is a powerful teacher

My words create my reality.. use my words wisely, kindly

I alone am responsible for my response

Everyday is sacred

There is room and need for ritual every day.

Love..when all else fails.. love..

My presence and my actions effect the world around me

We are all connected

Bring joy into my life.. seek it.. do what I love

This is a bit of a ramble, I know. I remain committed to engaging with the world in loving and kind ways, my art, this blog, included.

blessings and peace to everyone ❤️

 

 

 

 

 

Aug 7

Art in Troubled Times

It’s August of 2020

I haven’t updated in over a year. But I have been painting.  Art, my own and others, has sustained me and continues to sustain me.

So much hard life has been happening.. personally, within my family, worldwide. Really hard stuff. Life can be brutal at times and while I tend to be an optimistic person  I’ve come to learn and accept that good doesn’t beget good and bad doesn’t beget bad. Awful things happen to good people and awful people get rewarded all the time. Life isn’t fair.. if it were fair it would be called fair.. it’s not.. it’s called life.

There have been beautiful and bright spots in all the pain. Love and friendship, nature and animal companions. I live in a beautiful corner of the world, isolated from much of the worldly chaos. I planted a garden and finished some really needed house projects. And I’ve continued to paint and create. I have many blessings and my daily work is to focus on those blessing.

blessings and love to anyone who reads this..

below are some recent  works ❤️

 

Apr 25

Wee Art

I can’t believe it’s nearly May. This year has passed so quickly. Time seems to be moving at a rate I have never experienced before.

This past year I have been challenged to find time to paint. A “day job” change altered my  routine and left me with little energy or time to paint. Exactly one year later from starting that job..I am leaving it..returning to a position which opens up my days to be creative and balanced.

The above three paintings are small pieces, 4″x 6″..little studies to get me back to the easel.

 

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