This a redux of a painting I did a couple of years ago. She has been sitting on the easel staring at me for weeks.

Was a better painting day today, I allowed some space around my disgruntledness of yesterday, no resistance. Things began to flow. Allowing for happiness by being aware today, bringing the light of consciousness to today’s activities.

and: lovely words snagged from my friend Mei Noel:

you may not go home and paint a painting and get it in the louvre. but you can go home, paint, just do it, love it, and hang it on a coffeeshop. or share it online. or give it to someone who will love it.

you may not become a concert violinist, like you wanted to since you were 9, but you can buy a violin and take classes and enjoy it and learn to listen to music in a new way (this happened to me)

you may not be able to go home and write the next great american novel, but you can go home, write, love it, get it published, and write some more.

every moment you paint, draw, make music, sew, write, etc etc is a moment in which you are living the life you love, and just because you may also have another job that you need to pay bills does not mean you are not also, in those moments, living the life you love the most.

In between working on body parts” I have finished this painting which has been sitting on the easel for a month reincarnating. finally done. Title: “Flashback”

oil on canvas, 18 x 24

this pop eyed girlie had a mind of her own, changing my direction with each bit of layering and so the original idea has gone by the wayside and I will have to mull her over for a few days or weeks. Right now my inclination is to dull down some of the coloration, but also wanting to think out the conceptual aspects…

For Steffie Stitches, feeling the pain on the outside helped her to not feel the pain on the inside…

The Amaryllis are blooming, adore!!

And the grapevine over the pergola is making lots of grapes this year, also you see a rare watermelon bird eyeing the hummingbird feeder

poolside, MINT! yum for tea

Landslide

The title from a friend of mine who immediately thought of the song when he saw the painting:

I took my love, I took it down
Climbed a mountain and I turned around
And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills
‘Till the landslide brought me down

Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Well, I’ve been afraid of changing
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I’m getting older too

Ah, take my love, take it down
Ah, climb a mountain and I turned around
And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well, the landslide will bring it down

And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well, the landslide will bring it down
Oh, oh, the landslide will bring it down

I documented the process through most of this piece, but the approach was different than I usually do, so I don’t think I will be able to share the process, epecially towards the end where much of the decision making was intuitive.

Will allow this to dry then a bit more glazing and details.

I’m very excited to have a piece in the exhibit, if you live in southern cali and like Low brow you will like this show with over 150 artists.

Max Kennedy writes about the exhibit on on the La Luz de Jesus blog siteArtofficial

“It’s a man’s movie, supposedly, so why did I think it was the best feminist statement of the 90s? Maybe because it was time to watch a man learn what women have always known: That living a life defined by home furnishings, fashion, commercialized domesticity and constant messages about how your body should look can literally drive you batty.” Sheerly Avni

A reasonably good painting morning, except for an obstinate hand that will now wait until final phase tomorrow, sometimes I can do hands like poof in an instant and other times each stinkin finger drives me nuts. A few more arteries and some final glazing and detail then done.