The Start

Finished! This is called The Start. It is a 36x48 oil on linen.

It's chilly in the house this morning, mainly because I slept late and have the heat turned down...as always. So the fires are late getting going. Also, the little electric heaters have turned out to be anything but efficient..so they got turned off. It is zero this morning. The light is fantastic with clear skies. It promises to be warmer today and even warmer the next two days. For Vermont, this coming and going of temperatures feels like whiplash. The branches are covered in snow and ice, making the landscape look as if it has been sprayed with white icing. My neighbor's red truck just passed by and then another neighbor's pick up too, and it was evident their morning was getting this icing off of their vehicles. My coffee maker has just finished its final friendly gurgle and I will break here to go get some.

The skies have lightened with their usual rosy glow. The snows were bluish and skies above the glow, pale lime greens into cerulean. Now the colors have settled into frosty umbers with streaks of white branches and snowy pastures reflecting the skies, but even lighter than the skies. How can this be possible? It is January 9th, 2020? That's another shocking fact about today! How could it be 2020 already? It seems just the other day I was 50 or 45. I can't say my 30's feel all that close anymore, but surely my middle age didn't pass me by that unnoticed? But it surely did. I don't notice my age so much except when reminded. But the facts are the facts lol! As a woman, holding on to youth is important, because too often it determines one's ability to be safe and valued. I haven't had any "work" done, but it is sometimes tempting, if I didn't have so many other places to put my money lol! It could be said it is vanity, but again, it more about continuing to feel valued and not discounted. I truly don't obsess over it, but most of us just want to feel ok about ourselves and be presentable! I don't blame a woman for trying. Men get away with aging much more easily than women although they have their issues too. Agism is a big thing, especially in these times, when oldsters are still having to work their badoodies off to get by. Otherwise, who cares? My mother used to recite a poem, that applies here I think, as far as aging goes or for that matter anyone in their presentation to the world. "I know my face, it ain't no star, but I'm behind it, so I don't mind it! Tis the fellow in front, that gets the jar!"

Today I will return to the studio. The place is emptier now after yesterday, with four more paintings out into the world in hopes of finding homes. Nothing spurs me on more than this, to not have enough work around I've completed, that satisfies me. It's time to start new canvases and that means new adventures into new ideas. There is nothing like it in the world.

Vigilant and Valkyrie

A new marine I started yesterday .. it is 36x48 oil on linen of the Vigilant out in front and the Valkyrie in the distance. It is “The Start” of a race in 1893.

Two new canvases were stretched yesterday evening. Thank you Todd. They await new ideas....The top of my desk that squawks at me when I pass it by is cleared..thank you Diane. She keeps me in order and keeps my costs down with her many years of experience running her husband's business. My first cup of coffee is dispatched. The fires are up and going for about an hour. So I'm ready to face the new day. There is a thin layer of snow from yesterday so that the upper pasture is not totally bare from the heavy rains a day or so ago. We are expecting more snow soon. We need a good heavy snow. In some cases, access to the mountains for repairing sap lines need deep snow. My paths through the woods still have some very low stumps, so for good snow shoeing and cross country skiing, a good deep snow is best. The weather has acted like spring instead of deep winter. It is in the 20's this morning, and that's not terribly cold. The house and studio are easier to heat because of it. Tabitha meowed at me from the floor just now, requesting permission to be in my lap as I type. She is across my arms now, and I can feel her purr box vibrating. A town dump truck has just passed by with its headlights still bright in the early morning dimness.

Art is often the appreciation of the ordinary. I will sometimes avoid the spectacular when choosing what to paint or even what to write about. I like to paint things that have movement or the possibility of showing movement. I like the painting to be doing something or going somewhere, even if it is just the suggestion of a place to go visually. Telling a story is nice too, but not requisite. Large patterns that have power attrack me too. Light always plays a big role in what I end up painting. Sometimes the lack of contrast is the reason for painting something and sometimes lots of contrast is the big attraction. Color modulations that play against one another of cool to warm, or to show the modeling of an object, captures my fascination. And sometimes, just the subject itself merits a go, such as Ruby or the team of horses. The racing yachts seems to be grabbing me at the moment. I love the light, movement and power of the sailing ships in their harmony with the water and skies. I've gone cold on the interiors for the moment. I am hoping to seat my granddaughters in them soon, and then they will be part of the story of a room..a reason for the story to be told so to speak. As I get on in my life, long gone are the times, when I was satisfied to copy something accurately with some beauty. It is not art to merely copy. Motive has become the most important element. Why would anyone care about a vase of flowers were it not for the beauty discovered there? It is the artist who can suss it out so that the viewer discovers anew why the thing is painted at all! Aha! As we view the colors in the light and shadows of snow in sunshine or the dreary darkness of a cold winter morning. We become aware of the stalwart upward thrusts of maples reaching above their neighbors to the leaden sky with its bare branches full of longing for the skies. How they strive and strain toward what ever light is available! The stories of the common things surround us endlessly is my point. This awareness makes us artists and poets. And the expression of this awareness enriches us and all who notice it. It's why people throng to art museums and libraries. It is the love and celebration of what is. It's a portal to science too. There are few things that inspire like an elegant scientific theory well proven. And that in turn becomes the foundation for loving beauty. We know beauty when we see it, hear it and understand it. Beauty is truth, and truth is beauty..the poet says.