Gratitude
I’m starting to do some more elaborate rocks in gouache not meant for outside. I am going to send some as Christmas gifts to certain people.
We had a nice Thanksgiving for three. I am grateful that I live with two pretty interesting (if at times baffling) people. My daughter put the holiday spin on things with her flowers and table setting.
A sloppy retrospective of rocks.
Gratitude to the WordPress community for your support: thank you!
Giving Thanks
I spent a lot of time thinking about the earthweal challenge this week, to write a poem of thanks. It all came down to the same thing: I’m thankful for life, to be alive. But I couldn’t think of another better way to say it.
always unexpected—this
grace, this balancing—darkness
shining into light
Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating, and those who are not. May we remember and honor all life with care and gratitude.
The Kick-About #15 ‘High Street’
Just in time for the holidays…some ruminations on shopping and shops.
After the informality of our collective Boogie Doodle, this week’s responses take as their starting points the urbane visions of Eric Ravilious’ High Street, beguiling in their nostalgia and just as bitter-sweet considering our current circumstances. Somewhere out there, some opportunist on Instagram is no doubt augmenting Ravilious’ shop windows with social distancing stickers and ‘Please Wear A Face Mask’ notifications. I don’t know if this is clever or just very depressing.
James Randall
“Another brilliant challenge! It had me going up to the high street at dawn over a few days to get some nice light and look around – camera in hand. Our suburb Earlwood is a bit of a sleepy hollow coming out of Sydney’s inner west – but I avoid the high street, a thoroughfare to the city, so heavy with traffic and fairly grotty. Earl wood is also a suburb with a large…
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Poem up at The Ekphrastic Review
My poem, “Talking to Andy”, inspired by Warhol’s iconic soup can, is posted today at the Ekphrastic Review along with work by Marcy Erb and 15 other writers. You can read it here.
My thanks once again to editor Lorette C. Luzajic for supporting my work and the interaction between the visual and written arts.
a fragment of a dream, caught in the morning light
and I am reminded again of who I am,
what I see when I look up at the night sky,
the scent of the earth in spring–
I feel the summer lingering,
long days of sun and sand
and the salty taste I carry
through days that follow me in rhythm
with the waves–
I see the sharpness of blue sky
behind black branches,
a playground of white snow
that culminates in hot chocolate,
logs burning,
the inside warming the outer—
I have been uprooted and transplanted
so many times that nowhere is home–
everything is temporary–
I’m always expecting to move on–
but I remember looking up
through the shade of oak trees,
the roses in my mother’s garden,
lilacs filled with butterflies—
the rust and gold of autumn
singing beneath my feet
For the earthweal challenge, a song of earth-praise from 2019. How far away that seems now. But I am still thinking of my mother.
Some weekend work
The rocks are ones from the neighborhood that I took back and did in the Arteza outdoor acrylics. They are not like gouache; it’s hard to get any kind of fine line from these.
I’ll put these out and see if they stay better than the gouache ones.
No new paintings ready to post but I’ll post this one started a couple of weeks ago. I never really know where I’m going with these but so far I like the seed pod things in the picture.
I just called in sick to work. Not feeling quite well and I’m alarmed at the Covid cases rising here (20 in one day in my town). As an older person and one who works in a medical clinic setting, I’m going to stay vigilant. Be safe all. Nina
The Kick-About #14 ‘Boogie Doodle’
Some pure delight–we can all use it.
The previous edition of the Kick-About featured a rather precarious vision of a civilisation held together by threads. I won’t labour this analogy any further, but suffice to say civilsation feels a good deal more secure this week! I feel a bit of a celebration coming on. Anyone fancy a boogie?
Jan Blake
“Just a couple of small painting ideas relating to Boogie-Doodle I had various thoughts in my mind as with the American election this week making it tense and electric, the idea of a Boogie of delight became more evident.
So my initial little strip shows the exuberance I felt for the emerging outcome informed at the same time as watching a crow returning to its nest, with what appeared to be a mission of house-clearing, as it proceeded to kick about and turn out the shower of leaves that had landed in his nest. Maybe they…
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Draw A Bird: Peace Dove
One of my favorite cards that I ever did. I think this is the last one which I had saved. It seems appropriate to post it today although it isn’t an anatomically correct peace dove.
Dove on a rainbow by Edlef Romany from my sister’s collection (now in mine, sadly. She’d be so happy right now.).
Happy Draw a Bird Day! Nina
Draw a Bird Day: Nuthatch
upside down
the world becomes new–
balancing
body mind
opened into new visions
enlarged perpectives
One weekend sitting on campus with our coffee and tea, my daughter and I were surrounded by birds. A mockingbird sang a complicated repertoire of songs for about a half hour, blue jays and cardinals visited, crow got in a word or two, and there were lots of sparrows–at least we assumed all the small birds were sparrows–until one started going up and then head down around a tree trunk. Sparrows definitely don’t do that.
When I looked it up in my birdbook at home, I discovered it was a white breasted nuthatch. They like to forage in the bark for insects, and even cache seeds in the crevices. They are quite common in the United States, although I don’t recall ever noticing one before.
I had found my subject for draw a bird day, and wrote a shadorma to accompany the art for Colleen’s #TankaTuesday, poet’s choice.
Hope
No words to describe the relief I feel.
Congratulations Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. You’ve got a hard road ahead. I’m with you all the way. Long live the USA.
method two madness 
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