Pondering

        All the things in the world will not make a man happy if he knows neither friendship nor love.

                                        William Barclay

        I drew this picture a long time ago when I was working on a series of charcoal drawings of women with a dash of red.  Here we are at the end of another year ~ usually a time when people ponder the past and plan for the future.  But this is a unique time.  Very few of us have ever lived through a pandemic and I doubt any of us ever thought we would.  And while we can pick and choose what we want to remember we have all realized this past year that we can't pick or choose what is to come next.  In some ways 2020 has been a good year.  We've had time to catch up on things, time to connect with old friends, time to draw closer to family.  But in other ways 2020 has been a very difficult year.  Many of us have lost friends or family members.  Many people have lost their jobs.  Many others have struggled trying to juggle parenting with working.  This particular drawing, however, struck me as illustrating a problem not talked about that much ~ loneliness.  When my father died I tried to console my mother by reminding her how many children and grandchildren she still had to be with her.  Through her tears she replied that I didn't understand, claiming that we all had each other but her brothers and sisters, her friends, and now her husband were all gone.  I will never forget the depth of loneliness she felt and shared with me that day.  And so, when I think I cannot endure this quarantining business another minute, I ponder the past and am grateful for the family I had.   I think of the present and the family I still have.  And, throwing caution to the wind, I plan for the future and all the things I am going to do when I can once again be with the friends I know and love.  Ain't no pandemic gonna keep me down ~ oh no!  Oh no!  

            

                    Distance not only gives nostalgia, but perspective and maybe objectivity. 

                                                  Robert Morgan

             When in the company of a giraffe I have often thought of it as being rather aloof ~ probably an attitude it adopted as a result of being lonely.  After coming across Robert Morgan's quote I now see the towering giraffe in a whole new light.  How fortunate he is!  Way up there he has the solitude and the time to evaluate what is happening around him.  He can embrace his emotional response, rightly conclude that he is seeing things from only one viewpoint, an enviably unique one, and only then chose whether to remain merely an observer or to become part of the action.  It seems to me a good idea to slow down and take a page out of the giraffe's book.  I'm definitely going to keep this one peeking out of the bamboo where I can see it.    

            Recreate your life, always, always.  Remove the stones, plant rose bushes, and make sweets. Begin again.

                                   Cora Coralina

                                    Well, I have always tried to look for the silver lining no matter how dark the cloud.  And this pandemic we are all living through has certainly presented itself as a pretty dark cloud.  One silver lining it provides, however, is time to catch up on those things that we all say to ourselves "once I get a little time I'm going to ......"  Well, after cleaning out all my closets, reorganizing the kitchen, researching my family tree, touching base with old friends, and closing in on the finishing chapters of a book I have been writing for years, there seemed to be no excuse not to pick up my art supplies again.  The drawing above I made when quarantining had just begun and didn't yet seem like such a horrible idea.  My husband had just moved into a new office and I thought some birds could brighten his tan walls.  So the plan for now after straightening out the studio is to circle back once again and start fresh.  Taking Cora's advice, I am going to remove dried out paints and stiff brushes, enjoy a shopping spree at Hobby Lobby, and create.  It's great to be back and great to be starting over!  

      

   
       Would that life were like the shadow cast by a wall or a tree, but it is like the shadow of a bird in flight.
                                                    The Talmud


      When I put "The Big Red Pot" that I am not currently speaking to back in the closet I was confronted with a stack of paintings that I had previously not been speaking to.  This little one above called the loudest so out it came.  When I set it down on the easel I inadvertently set it sideways and decided that looking at it the wrong way had been the problem all along.  After about an hour or so of touch-up it was finished.  Life lesson learned ~ go away, take a deep breath, come back and look at the problem from a different angle, things just may look a lot better.

          We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.

                                                                           Charles Kingsley

          The above quote is so true.  This little painting above just came together so well and I was very happy while doing it.  It seems the more I plan a painting the more frustrated I become which is why I have been so long away from this blog.  The large painting that has been sitting on my easel for months is now sitting in the back of a small closet in my studio.   And there it will remain for awhile. We are not speaking right now.  It's best I have come to believe to let the subject matter pick the painter sometimes rather than the other way around.  I found a small black and white photo of the arrangement above, fell in love with it right away, and let the colors develop during the process.  Over time we became close friends.  This one can come out of the studio and stay in the house.

All That's Left

     Remember that happiness is a way of travel ~ not a destination.
                                                
                                                            Roy M. Goodman
 
     Well, I am finally getting around to some of my new year's resolutions.  This poor painting has been sitting in the corner waiting some final touch-ups.  I broke out my smallest brushes and came in and did some work in the shadows.  It's always a pleasant surprise to go back and work on something that just needs an hour or so to get it finished.  There are way too many of these projects sitting around my studio ~ was so tempted to start something new this morning but now am happy to have spent the time on this one.  One down ~ ??? to go!

The Blue Pot

 Removing the faults in a stage-coach may produce a prefect stage-coach, but it is unlikely to produce the first motor car.
                                                                         Edward de Bono

            Well, as promised here is a painting in the beginning stages.  Its a small painting ~ 8 X 10 ~ so I was able to get a lot done in just two sittings.  First I did the background and the table and today I worked on the pot.  Not quite sure where I will go from here ~ that's a no-no as supposedly it is much better to have a plan for the entire composition before setting out.  While I did have something in mind I didn't realize that the size of the canvas was going to play such a big part in the final overall look.  Because it is so small I don't want to add a lot of clutter.  The background and the pot are busy enough.  Actually, though, I'm not really sorry I am tackling this piece by piece ~ trying to be more personally creative in my work for a change.  Now I've got some homework to do.