Still Here (Original Work)

'Still Here'

16" X 20" X 1.5"

(Oil Pastels, Acrylic, Watercolor) 

Work Details here

Sail Away (Original Doodle Art)

Sail Away

Doodle art in progress

9" X 12"

More Doodles 

Tiny Inspirations (Original Work)

Dreamscape

9 1/4" X 5 1/2"

(Gouache, Watercolor Paper)

Sisters

8 1/2" X 11"

(Gouache, Watercolor Paper)

Inhale

5 1/2" X 4"

(Gouache, Watercolor Paper)

Riding the Bubble

5" X 2 1/2"

(Gouache, Watercolor Paper)

Be Present

A drop of water slides down the inside of my palm and as it traces it's delicate way along the inside of my wrist -I slap at it as I would a mosquito.

I am fidgeting; I am that kid -unthinkingly, unknowingly, popping their gum... over and over and over...

Be Present.

I chant this to myself whenever I am getting ready.  Like at launch at Strawberry reservoir last week. I had built a 'wall' with my wing, lines in my hands and I considered the ground under my feet, the rock behind my left foot and the sky clear behind me...

I came back to my wing and looked at my wall.  Mentally I pulled it up, watching for my check, tossing quick glances to assess my lines while turning, hands dancing -and then I came back; back to my wing, back to right now, to the moment and then I launched.

Returning to this right now-  I am working on a painting that means something.

All of my work means something, of course.  Some of them are expression of laughter, joy, wonder; while looking at a couple I hope you are a teeny bit tipsy like I was too....  Some are a memory, others are wishes and then there are the ones embodying my questions -

This one is a tribute-

-No, that is the wrong word.

This one is Remembrance.

That may be the word.  Let me roll it around in my head for a minute.

A few nights ago, I had a dream.

I was sitting on the front lawn with Dee.  We were scheming; our bright eyes and crooked grins lit with excitement as we planned out the 'Year-We-Both-Would-Be-Eighteen'.  In this dream, at a pause between Dee and I; I reached over and squeezed my Grandmother's hand.  She was standing slightly behind me and had leaned over to show me a bear.

As I started to ask her about her latest creation, Grandpa, gruffly, interrupted our conversation to tell me I looked all right.  Light flickered in my eyes and I looked away from them to register that I was seeing Rinny's Dan, leaning against a tree, smiling at me.  Bemused I waved and then my old lady, my beloved Sal, came over and settled half way onto my lap (not an easy feat; my Sally weighed in at 90 pounds in her hey days).

This piece is them and that they are still with me.  I don't know what happens after Reader.  I haven't any misconceptions about a God in a cloud or Angels at Golden Gates.  I just feel they are still with me. Sending glimpses of what was and what is.

And maybe all I can catch are leaves and feathers from the other side but I am grateful for the damn feathers.

Be Present.

My hand hovers, nervous with need, that hungry driven ache in my eyes, my hand hovers over the blank white canvas.

And then the wind sighs outside; she sighs and I feel her breath in my bones, and I relax and begin...

'Still Here'

16" X 20" X 1.5"

(Oil Pastel, Acrylic, Canvas)

Doodle (Original)

Doodle art

9" X 12"

More Doodles

Fly Away with Me (Original Work)

'Fly Away With Me'

Details:

12" X 14" on a  12" X 14"

Canvas Stretch over board

(Acrylic, Matte Gel, Paper)

(Associated ramble here)

Fly Away with Me (Work in Progress)

I had a pretty dang cool dream the other night and I have spent a large part of the last two days daydreaming about it.

(Which means conversations with me were likely annoying and impossible -I am not really present when in this mood.  You may have dealt with a lot of "Say what again?" or "Can you start over" as I checked in and out of our fractured dialogue. ...my Apologies.)

Anyway. Yesterday.  I have two-ish hours just for me.  First time in a week or so and I happily started on the atmosphere but! ugh! UGH!  It's so... FLAT! I was using heavy gels for texturing yet they are still blandly lackluster,  There is no movement.

Irritated I fiddled with paint and absently kept pushing Charlie the cat-dog away.  He ignored my attempts to ignore him and kept pawing at my legs, ever loudly beseeching "Pick me up!" Exasperated I look down and scold him, "No! Not now!"

"MEOOOWOWOWWWWW!" he replied, eyes narrowing, ears laying flat and claws lightly hooked in my legs, not quite breaking the skin ...yet.

I gave up and sat on the floor to hug the persistent creature.  I see he has thoughtfully pulled out all of the silky soft packing paper (which five minutes ago had been uselessly folded neatly in a box). Resigned I made him into a happy burrito with the paper.  This pleased him very much and I am laughing as I watch him chase a shadow under it....

The soft paper reflects light and shadow as the brightness of the room shifts from outside clouds rolling past the sun outside...

Huh.

I got up, (first pulling the easel chair over so Char would have a front row seat next to me and perhaps leave me to my endeavors), mixed some of the heavy matte gel with water and paint, crinkled up the paper and stuck it over the cloud.... Yes.....

Mess..  glorious awesome mess..... water is dripping all over my hands, the canvas and I am grinning so hard my face hurts...

Three hours later, the beginning is begun.

9" X 12" 

Acrylic, Matte gel, packing paper on Canvas 

(Canvas stretched over board)

My preoccupation is worse.

Completed piece here

July