Monday, November 28, 2016

A quick post holiday post

I hope ya'll had a great Thanksgiving weekend. Just a quick post with a nest update. It's been a busy couple of weeks with the holidays coming up plus I've been sick- no fun! But I'm on the mend now and ready to get back to painting and all the other stuff that goes along with it.



This is a little nest that was on top of my daughter's front porch light fixture. It's a swallow's nest. Before seeing this I had no idea some birds made their nests partially with mud. You can see the photo below. I usually prefer to have a nest in hand to paint from rather than working from photos but as you can see this one was well occupied and later there were 5 beautiful swallows.



The painting below is still a work in progress and another one I'm doing from a photo even though I have the actual nest in the studio. I found it in the hedge in my yard but before I removed it from the hedge I took pictures from different angles in case I wanted to do something that included a few surrounding leaves. Tomorrow I'm spending the day at the easel and I'll post again when it's done.


In the meantime......

After all that holiday food


Sunday, November 13, 2016

Listen to Pablo and make some art


I walk at Tuscawilla Park most mornings of the week- well try to anyway- when the weather and this old body lets me. My city just added this new section to the park and it's absolutely lovely. It's been a good place for me this week.

This week has been hard for many reasons. One of them of course being the election. I'm amazed at how draining and difficult it's been for so many people. It's not just the voting result but the awful happenings all over the country. I'm so saddened by the unrest, the fear and the violence. I want to cry every time I see a swastika painted on a building or the "n" word written on people's property, every story I see where a child is taunted and bullied because of the color of his skin. It's the kids. They are the ones I worry about most. How are they to understand what's happening. Children shouldn't have to worry about whether or not their family will be torn apart or if they're safe in their own home and country.

A lot of people are expressing their upset. That's a good thing as long as it's civil. What's not a good thing is people being told that they're whining or just too negative because they're talking about what's happening in the world. It doesn't help to minimize, dismiss or mock what people are going through right now. That's just cruel. What happened to compassion? Where did human decency go? It's serious stuff and should be talked about. Things don't get fixed if they're never discussed. I fear for my grandchildren's future. I fear for my gay family and friends. I fear losing my health insurance at a time when I need it the most. These things are just the tip of the iceberg. There's so much more and we have legitimate worries.

This is going to take time.

It's ok to express hurt and anger - peacefully. Protest but do it peacefully. I don't care if you sit through the anthem or march in the streets but do it peacefully. No matter who you voted for, just be kind to each other because in the end we all want the same thing - good health, prosperity and people to love. I don't always do it well either but it's something to strive for.

Thank goodness for art. I know I need it now more than ever. Our souls have a lot of searching to do and we have a lot of grime to wash off.


One of the things I love about the new art park are the quotes engraved and scattered along the walkway. I've been taking a photo every time I'm at the park and I thought this one is particularly appropriate right now.


The other thing I love about the park are these faces. They're all over the place and they're hysterical. This stone wall winds it's way around the park and these rock faces are scattered throughout, every one of them different and goofy. Kudos to the mason who built it. They give me a smile and we need lots of those right now.

So listen to Pablo, it's time to make more art.