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.