The Veil

I will sing for the veil that never lifts.
I will sing for the veil that begins, once in a lifetime,
maybe,to lift.
I will sing for the rent in the veil.
I will sing for what is in front of the veil, the
floating light.
I will sing for what is behind the veil---
light, light and more light.

This is the world, and this is the work of the world.


(ahhh...such lovely words (excerpt from Work by Mary Oliver))

Headlands Again

Headlands East, 6 x 12, Oil on Panel
Another painting resulting from the birding morning on Sunday. In this case this painting is done on one of those new panels that are in the stores now. They're called The Artist's Panel made by Ampersand. (probably other companies marketing them too) Basically its a masonite panel on a wood frame. Kindof a gallery wrap look. The surface is intriquing to work on... Its smoothish as opposed to the feel of canvas. Paint moves differently on it. I enjoyed working on this painting and on the surface. The oil maintained translucency and was easy to work into. So I bought 2 more panels tonight. I can play some more!

Tracy Helgeson (www.worksbytracy.blogspot.com) works on birchwood panels. Besides the fact that her paintings are amazing and I am lucky enough to own one due to a Pay It Forward venture via artist's bloggers last summer; the panels lend a dimension to her work. Plus there's no framing involved!

Mentor Headlands

Sunday morning, October 12 at Mentor Headlands State Park. Birding with friends. (Birds of note: 500+ yellow rumped warblers...crazy, crazy there were so many! Winter wren, white throated sparrows, hermit thrush, juncos and more)
Along with the birding, soaking up the beauty of the day, taking many reference photos.
Working from the photo above, I developed this painting. I didn't print out a picture, just used the camera screen as reference. The goal being not to literally interpret what I saw, but to capture the essence of the light and color of the morning at the dunes. The softness of the dunes.

(contact me if interested in purchasing this painting, 8 x 10 unframed, 14 x 16 framed, oil on panel)

16 year old Cat

As a kitten Little Kitty (aka scarlett jasmine rose, as my now 22 year old daughter meg named her when she was a 6 year old) often played with the water in the tub. Today I washed the shower curtain, thus giving her a view of the tub. She hopped in. I had forgotten how she used to play with water. As she's aged, she's left some of her kitten ways behind. A year or so ago she was sick enough that I thought we'd lose her.
Not so.
She is much healthier now. Entertaining me daily with her cat ways.
If only she'd take care of the mouse that's moved into the kitchen.

I have been painting lately, back to landscape..will post pics soon.