Black Ants, Peonies and Painting

What are the limitations of "pretty pictures" to the search for beauty, authenticity and dare I mention, truth?  Without the black ants,  the short lived breathtaking beauty of peonies doesn't quite emerge.  Is an artist part of the scene or an outsider evaluating from afar or both? Is my presence as an artist better if hidden like the ants or out there like the peonies?

This past week I have been enjoying the companionship of outdoor painters.   I was working on evolving my process into maybe stronger statements by exploring new ways of seeing.  I value including the off beat and quirky into my process.  I am trying to avoid formulas. Sometimes, unknowingly,  I merely exchange one formula for another.  Every once in a while I try something that makes me uncomfortable.  I enjoy keeping a journal rather than creating "hoping to sell" paintings.  It is more meaningful to me. Black ants are an important though hidden part of the scene. As usual I am writing in metaphors and only using those wonderful black ants as a way of saying that I am struggling with how much of the real/unpleasant to include in my output.

In the meantime, I recommend the poem "Peonies" by Mary Oliver

on left page, a collage, using snippets from a painting workshop

The Silence that Music Opens

Before a human voice was ever heard here,

This place has known the respect of stone,

The friendship of wind, always returning 

With news of elsewhere, whispered in seed and pollen,

The thin symphonies of birdsong softening the silence,

the litanies of rain rearranging the air,

Cascades of sunlight opening and closing days,

And the glow of the moon gazing through darkness......

John O'Donohue

 Tahigwa Girl Scout Camp, 2014 Village Fire

This past weekend I participated in a community singing gathering in Northeast Iowa called Village Fire....three days of singing, camping, and campfires and did I mention singing?!
There were more than one hundred of us from infants to the elderly.  We sang and sang and sang.  And I'm surprised to admit this, but my favorite part was often that last full chord and then the silence following.

As the poet John O'Donohue says ...."As surprised as the silence that music opens,  May your words for each other be touched with reverence..." and from another poem....

"If you remain generous, 

Time will come good;

And you will find your feet 

Again on fresh pastures of promise,"

Laurence and Pelle on drums, Liz and Ida Rog and the rest of us on joyful listening

I am very grateful I had the chance to go, its one of the many ways we can learn to lift each other up.

Lots (of paintings) on One Beautiful Day

Wandering around Viroqua, Wisconsin

On a marvelous day in May, I did a series of "thumbnails", very small scenes, often working from one location but looking out in all directions sequentially and trying to quickly capture the spirit of the weather, and the wonder of the sunshine mixed with birdsong.

Meadows of Sunshine

My hands at work are in a kickstarter video!

https://vimeo.com/94621261    a big Thank You to Deann Horack!

Windows into Hidden Worlds

Windows have fascinated me both metaphorically and historically.  Light or deep shadows pour through this fascination and I end up studying the light again and again.  Maybe its on my mind since currently, in my reading life, I'm imagining the world of Vermeer, another of my favorites.  Here in Wisconsin the sunshine has been extremely elusive for many days, yet the light continues to be intriguing.

looking out and looking in

very quick small sketch: maybe 15 minutes

my new scarf from Avalanche Looms

Land of the Kickapoo River

 The greening of the earth has arrived after a long cold winter and we are all enjoying the land, water and sky!  

I have been out walking and sketching and even going to live radio shows featuring great music and happy spirits.  

WDRT Viroqua hosts the Kickapoo Barn Dance and last month featured  The Poor Nobodys.  I enjoyed attempting to sketch them as they played and we all clapped double time to make it sound like a bigger crowd.  wonderful wonderful music

I love the size of life here, the sounds of rushing trout streams and spring peepers

West Fork of the Kickapoo River  Vernon County Wisconsin