A Wednesday in October

The first night here in Maine at Muth and Futh's house this week, I go to get some applesauce for dessert. I open the fridge door. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, I am standing in a sea of blueberries. One second, no blueberries. The next moment, nothing but blueberries!

That's kinda what the past few days have been like. I come home from vacation expecting to pick up the strands of my life at home with Dave and my students and my painting. Then, suddenly, I am in Maine. One second, one life. The next moment, nothing but this different life with all my sisters, my dad, and my sweet mom whose life is ebbing.

Blueberries rolling everywhere.

Nothing to do but roll with what I find in front of me moment to moment.

Today I pull out my portable studio again—a plastic carry case that used to hold a Fisher Price toy set and now holds bits and pieces of my collection of art supplies. Bits and pieces that ground and center me. I grab a pen, draw lines to simulate the little 3x5" pads of graph paper Muth bought for us kids on a trip to Weggis on Lake Lucerne back in 1961 when we lived in Europe. I grab my colored pencils to simulate the Caran D'Ache pencils she bought us. We loved filling in those little squares with color, making patterns and designs.

I fill in some of today's squares and rectangles, feeling less focused than when I colored in squares at age eleven. But my sister Barby, without knowing what my intention is with my art today, leans over to look at what I am doing and asks, "Do you remember those little pads of paper Muth bought for us when we went to Switzerland?"

So many little bits and pieces—on the floor, on my watercolor paper, on this Wednesday in October.

Bits and Pieces
4x5", mixed media on watercolor paper
abstract
2015
$20