Winter Ruminations And the New Year

The snow on my windshield streaks at a sharp angle, strike, down, left. Then stroked away by the wipers and we begin fresh. 

Chunks of tiny white squares splat splat splat. The action is like any water I've every watched... the waves in the ocean - in and out, in and out. A pattern with ebbs and flows and crashes and spray all different. Or the flow of a crick around a stone in the mountains. A masterpiece of balanced disorder.  This is the reflection of our past year for me. As I abhor feeling special, my guess is that this is the experience of our species over the last millennia. 

Welcome to the new year with everything different and all things the same - in the comfort that I, you and we are part of this endless tide of change. 

A Long Winter's Night

Holiday silver and gold.

This is what I love the most, celebrating the moments that pass by, fleeting and lovely. Moments that build out our lives if we pay attention. 

Evening Falls; Winter on the Coast

The Zen of a Marmot, preparing for winter

Fall in the Pacific NW

I meant to publish this a couple months ago- but I think we can all enjoy a moment of the crisp fall we have just left. 

Playing with Something New

I'm recreating a painting I saw awhile back - this is only a piece of it:

It's surprised me what good practice it is- I'm reusing skills I haven't touched in quite awhile, remember rules I should use all the time and amazed at the talent the original artist had to create the piece. Learning things I didn't know, I mean. 

It is a new thing for me- copying another artists' work. New things are fun. Good thing to recall after a year of new things that were not fun. 

Just Another Day on the Sound

There is a timeless quality to being near the ocean, watching boats come and go and looking for the hint of snow on the mountains in the distance. Truly an enjoyable place to live... if a bit damp at times. 

The Butterfly

A friend asked me to paint a butterfly several years ago as a gift. It was oddly difficult to pick the colors and layout of the piece overall, which ended up with some bold color choices.

That said,  the butterfly turned out! 

I've intentionally cropped it to protect the innocent. :)

Painting:

Acrylic and Gansai on canvass

Title: Our Family First 

2020

Getting Out and About

Be radical and get outside.  

Keeping the Peace

This year is been so difficult to keep peaceful,  but in truth- its years of chaotic energy stored up....moments of reflection missed. A good moment, just now, to recall work isn't everything.  

Get out and take a look around.  It's nice out there. 

Finding a Quiet Peace

Wrapped in the Mountains

Warrior

This year has been up and down, down and up. 

Three months to go. 

Finish strong.

Ancestors- Remember Where You Came From

Fall is here and it's the time of year to remember that we all come from a history

One that is easy to forget in all the bustle- except this year.

This year is about remembering what matters in your life

To make the Most out of the time you have here.

Probably does not involve having your head craned- neck aching 

staring blankly at your phone, tv, laptop.

Time to get out of doors and go for a stroll

Deep breaths

Where did we call come from? Stardust...

Wrapping up September in more Zen

 

Rememory of Summer and Good Moments

 

Zen Wednesday

 We all need a little zen today. Halfway through September 2020! We can do it. 

Clearing away the old stories

It's time to leave old patterns behind, ones that have served their purpose. 

Containment and Release

This painting is not pretty but neither is the story. 

This is about coping with that age old idea of gaslighting - of people creating stories piled upon themselves.

It's about finding your way out, knowing there is a way, and leading your best life. 

The Green Man

 shows up, wanting to be seen again. 

Also

nubile youth sitting

next to her sweetheart's

muscular thighs

watching the skyline

thinking of sex and 

beauty. human and

mountain alike and

eyeballing my gladiator like

another piece of sex

candy itself

and I feel like a person again

and discovered I'm on 

the other side now

Supervised

Try as I might I get 

swallowed whole

Eaten alive by the 

violence of the polite

conversation dodging 

words like grenades

Forget which way is up

Forget what's goodrightreal

I'm so tired I'm

 backwards and

maybe I just need

a nap

A Classic Moment... Puget Sound

Obsession... year of the covids... propaganda

Right now I find myself obsessed with the function of propaganda. I'm experiencing individuals from all sides of me consuming it whole, then regurgitating. It's almost like friends, family, strangers at the grocery store.. expect me to open my mouth and take it all in, like a baby bird swallowing nourishment from it's mother. There is little grace for other perspectives, for learning, little listening, silliness. 

I'm am feeling pushed to explore this idea. How can we do better unless we take the responsibility to masticate propaganda before it's regurgitated. It's the Ayn Rand demand of rationale thought: a call and demand to think, not follow. 

It is time to invest in investigative journalism. Trust me, there is a difference when you pay for news. Try not to react until more information is present; there is time to process; time to think. 

We are in the midst of the fog of war... have patience. 

Sacred Space - Alpine Wildnerness

The Mtns pierce the tip

of the sky with

pale blue or green or yellow

rushing mountain water

refreshing my spirit

Sacred space for my soul

a five minute reset

breath in the roar

and river driftwood

spinning in a long 

twenty-five foot circle of inches 

and watch the flat rock

Home in my hear is here

and so on

Come back again and again

Campfire

It's so hard to capture what flame feels like, licking upwards. It's strange that something violent is also comforting and beautiful, you can just sit and watch it and be absorbed in thought. 

June Camping in the PNW... Mosquitos but mostly worth it

A person camping in June in the Pacific Northwest is definitely contributing the lives of generations of mosquitos, but we think it's worth it ... to get out and witness the green and fresh state of mountains. Especially with everything going on, it's calming to get away from the anger and division of our modern world. 

Moment of Zen - A Blue I've Never Seen in the Sky

Classic Summer Moment- June 2020

Roses are such a classic flower for summer. They immediately make me remember every other summer - particularly as a kid, when I used to actually spend quite a lot time smelling them. Then I look hard at each one and realize they're all lovely and even echo each other, but also unique... probably like us human beings. This one even has a little friend. 

And She Shrugged

It is so out of vogue to recognize the value of property rights, the value of the contract, in starting this nation of ours. I learned it well and appreciate it for a high value to all of our lives.

A gift for a dear friend who made me read a book. Strange how calm I feel looking at my own painting. In some moments I feel like a grain of sand in the wind.

Anyway my friend it's finally done. Only took me three years and a lot of dilly dally as I decided if it was any good. 

Fine or not Fine, Ode to the Global Pandemic [and EVERYTHING else] 2020

The year is such a year as to make even me- tired and dreary with work- rekindle my artistic spirit. 

Am I a drunk or artist or athlete or something else? Do I wander through this moment of race riots and the loss of Hong Kong's freedom while drinking a beer looking out a window watching the sun on the leaves of the trees so lucky because my cousin is stuck in her apartment in the dark and I'm afraid of my own shadow and need a mask to cover my face. A man dies and the painting I created is already out of date, but I still love my friends  and I speak out at the horror and mayhaps I'll have another beer. I suggest you drink along with me and welcome to 2020.

You'll never have another like it.

Moment of Zen - A Tree Line

The Treeline From My Window - Global Pandemic 2020

Moment of Zen - Spring 2020

Feeling Out the Colors Again

Having discarded art for awhile, the feeling of picking it up again is as that of an unused muscle, flabby and strange. The use of space and color feels awkward and slow. In a way it's a relief, knowing that to be good at anything takes time. Life really is anything you pick and you create that life around what you have selected. 

Starting Fresh with a Global Pandemic

I left the desert and came the green northwest and dove into a new job, promptly drowning myself with my commitment to learning the work and world and committing fully to it's challenges. 

This global pandemic has left me in the fascinating moment of revisiting old parts of self and trying to recall what I want or who I am or where I'm going. 

It seems to lure me with the most horrible parts of myself- obsessions run wild and rampant. I dive headfirst into wine or television or and more and or. My life focus of having goals with purpose and meaning askew.

It seems to lure me with the best parts of myself - I've committed time to writing and artwork, and spend every day doing a little of something. Old sense of self drifts forward and I recall that 5 minutes of pure silence- no phone, no computer, no tv, no podcast - it is pure bliss. I can witness spring happening, watching out my window as the soft colors build back into the true colors that herald summer. 

This is a good time to start fresh and be something more complete as a person for all of us. What has become lost returns - philosophy, time of contemplation, thinking independently and not being persuaded by the endless messaging thrown at us all in the guise of intellect and confidence. 

Be yourself.