The darker months of the year are some of my favorite and are very influential upon how I live. For me, Fall encompasses the harvest and decay and Winter encompasses decay through unto death. This is also a good time for root growth and I plant my garden accordingly.
Inspiration for October
I came across this quote from Oscar Wilde and it’s been stuck in my mind.
Yes, I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.
Inspiration for September
I want to share the work of two sculptors whose work I greatly admire, Beth Cavener and David Altmejd. Each artist manages to instill such power and emotion in their work and with such impeccable skill. Very inspirational!
First Image: Beth Cavener
Second Image: David Altmejd
Inspiration for August
I find August to be the most stressful month of the year. This is due in a large part to living in the Southeastern US where the heat and humidity of the hottest month can make being outdoors quite uncomfortable. Drought has also become a common occurrence. As an avid gardener, this means I have to be outside a lot - watering plants and keeping clean water available for wildlife, in addition to the usual maintenance chores… all while trying not to get eaten alive by mosquitoes. Keeping up with it while sweating buckets, with days and days of no relief is draining! The stress is also felt by the plants and wildlife, who can both be seen wilting under the sun. For me, inspiration found outside of the studio gets pretty thin in August and therefore, whatever is happening inside the studio must be enough to feed itself. Currently I have 2 large paintings underway in which I am challenging myself to abandon my reference photographs (as often as possible) and rely more on my own imagination and memory. I look forward to sharing the results with you when the paintings are completed. Until then, here is a detail shot, snapped with my phone on the fly. Work In Progress.
Inspiration for July
I planted a pipevine on our fence no less than ten years ago and for the first time this summer I have pipevine swallowtail caterpillars happily munching away, already they are beginning to cocoon.
What transforms you into the next version of yourself? What gets your attention and how does it serve your transformation?
“One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds.”
— Aldo Leopold
“A lawsuit brought by young people against the Hawaii Department of Transportation has been settled with the government of Hawaii agreeing to take numerous steps to speed up the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Graded by its impact on global emissions, it’s a small step, but it is a step in the right direction, which is a great leap from the direction that their elders were headed.”
— James Hansen
Inspiration for May/June
Such a busy, busy time of year. Spring cleaning our home, keeping up with the explosion of plants and garden needs, plus the usual day to day chores of life can make finding time for painting a challenge. It's time for a vacation! Time to remind myself to stop, take the time to just look and listen. Listen to the birds, the wind, the sound of lawnmowers. Look at the colors and shapes mixing together in the tree canopy. And of course, notice the light - how it shifts and changes. Light codes bring messages of illumination, breathe and let go.
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Inspiration for April:
I’m really looking forward to the eclipse coming up on April 8th! While we won’t be able to witness totality here in Charlotte, we’ve got our glasses ready and will catch what we can. Fingers crossed for clear skies. I hope you enjoy the video below from the 2017 eclipse.
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Inspiration for March
Icarus by Don McKay
Icarus
isn’t sorry. We do not find him
doing penance, writing out the golden mean for all
eternity, or touring its high schools to tell student bodies
not to do what he done
done. Over and over he rehearses flight
and fall, tuning his moves, entering
with fresh rush into the mingling of the air with spirit. This is his
practice
and his prayer: to be translated into air, as air
with each breath enters lungs,
then blood. He feels resistance gather in his stiff
strange wings, angles his arms to shuck the sweet lift
from the drag, runs the full length
of a nameless corridor, his feet striking the paving stones
less and less heavily, then
they’re bicycling above the ground,
a few shallow beats and he’s up,
he’s out of the story and into the song.
At the melting point of wax which now he knows
the way Doug Harvey knows the blue line,
he will back-beat to create a pause, hover for maybe fifty
hummingbird heartbeats and then
lose it, tumbling into freefall, shedding feathers
like a lover shedding clothes. He may glide in the long arc of a Tundra
Swan or pull up sharp to Kingfisher into the sea which bears his name.
Then,
giving it the full Ophelia, drown.
On the shore
the farmer ploughs his field, the dull ship
sails away, the poets moralise about our
insignificance. But Icarus is thinking tremolo and
backflip, is thinking
next time with a half-twist
and a tuck and isn’t
sorry.
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Inspiration for February:
The German figurative painters are really making beautiful work these days. Very inspiring! This Daniel Richter painting is a knockout.
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WELCOME 2024!
Inspiration for January:
