Tuesday, November 30, 2010

CLOSING TIME

There is something beautiful in the ordinary...reflections on a long day, a good time, light flooding through the open window.

VAL D'ORCIA

This little painting depicts the beautiful Tuscan countryside where we painted late last spring.  My cup runneth over.

MONET'S GARDEN IN SPRING

We had a beautiful afternoon in Monet's Garden when all the other visitors had gone.  The tulips were especially spectacular.

LITTLE FRIENDS AROUND THE TEA POT

Here are a few more of my paintings from recent months.  With gratitude, I am painting and painting, looking for moments to record and to savor.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

"There are many things to see, unwrapped gifts and free surprises. The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside by a generous hand. But- and this is the point- who gets excited by a mere penny? If you follow one arrow, if you crouch motionless on a bank to watch a tremulous ripple thrill on the water and are rewarded by the sight of a muskrat paddling from its den, will you count that sight a chip of copper only, and go on your rueful way? It is dire poverty indeed when a man is so malnourished and fatigued that he won’t stoop to pick up a penny. But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted in pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days. It is that simple. What you see is what you get.”
—Annie Dillard
from “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek”

This sums it up for me today.  I have found the beauty in a plain scene.  In painting with the renowned Calvin Liang, I have seen his creations on this dreary, soupy day become little works of inspiration and beauty.  Let us all cultivate this simplicity.  I will post my painting later...