Resuscitation

This trio started as an experiment on the front porch of a cottage on Beaver Harbor in New Brunswick, Canada.

June, two years ago. Bright blue skies. Fresh air. Early morning sunlight.

Played with acrylic and oil pastel on a long strip of canvas paper. Did some cutting up, fiddled with some superimposing. Brought it home in a pile of several such experiments.

Moved it from drawer to drawer.  Sighed more than once at its incompletion. Fell into some negative self-talk.

Then, a few weeks ago, a bookmark sneaked out of it.

Today, a triptych of greeting cards. Couldn't be more pleased.

You never know!

Just a Ferry Ride Away from Dulse
4.25 x 5.5" greeting card; acrylic and oil pastel
abstract
2018

Unexpected Port of Call
4.25 x 5.5" greeting card; acrylic and oil pastel
abstract
2018

Responding to the Prevailing Wind
4.25 x 5.5" greeting card; acrylic and oil pastel
abstract
2018

Ragman

Years ago I'd often head to a former factory in Cambridge, MA, with friend Anne. What we referred to as "Ragman" was a place that in post World War II years bought used clothes in bulk and cut them into rags for industrial customers. Then, in the late 1970's, the owner decided to separate out less-worn items from the raw materials and sell them on weekends for $1 a pound.

Craziest place ever. Big plastic garbage bags instead of shopping carts. Clothes heaped all over the old wooden floor. No changing rooms. Big scale for checking out at the end.

Initially paralyzed, I'd eventually pick a starting place and begin pawing through. My left brain had no option but to yield to my right brain. I found the best clothes clothes there! $23—new wardrobe!

My studio is a little less rough around the edges, though not much. I paw through piles of past paintings, let my right brain rummage through all that raw material. I find the best stuff there!

Another series of cards:

The In-Between Moments of Slack Tide
4.25 x 5.5" greeting card; acrylic, ink, and pastels
abstract
2018

The Sea-Rich Muddy Harbor Floor
4.25 x 5.5" greeting card; acrylic, ink, and pastels
abstract
2018

Redolent with Pungent Gurry
4.25 x 5.5" greeting card; acrylic, ink, and pastels
abstract
2018

Emergency Preparations

When dire weather warnings are broadcast, some folks rush to the grocery store for food and water. I make a beeline for the library.

As I've said before, do not ever leave me without a sizable stack of books on my bedside table.

Painted up another bookmark today. On the back, I wrote a few lines from the following excerpt, an endearing passage that appears in Rebecca Wells's novel Little Altars Everywhere:

The library will only let Sidda and me
check out two books at a time,
which drives us nuts.
We live in the country, I tell the librarian,
we need more than two books to last us!
My daughter and I are fast readers,
we are avid.
But the old bat behind the counter says,
Two books a patron, that's our limit,
no matter where you live.
Sometimes I watch my daughter smuggle
an extra book out and,
even though I know I should,
I just cannot bring myself to stop her.
Sometimes you just have to reach out
and grab what you want,
even when they tell you not to.

Even When They Tell You Not To
1.5x6"; acrylic and oil pastel
abstract
2018
[gift]

Twenty-Nine Years

Buildings could burn 

right next to us in the car, 

and 

if we were in the middle 

of a kiss 

we wouldn't notice. 

–Jane Hamilton, The Book of Ruth

Hey, L&J, buildings are burning! Right next to you!

Happy anniversary : )

In the Middle of a Kiss
4x5"; acrylic and oil pastel on paper, mounted on cardstock
abstract
2018
[gift]