Studio cleanup so I don't have to paint.

Moving things around in the studio is, according to mood:

1. Destructive.
2. Invigorating.
3. Hair Pulling.
4. Renewing.
5. Baffling.

I find I don't really need to buy new hanging apparatus as there are three under the table, several on the flat file, and many amongst the cockroach wings and legs in the corners.  I know....gross.

I find I have more supplies than I would have guessed....and most are not dried up
.
I find many artifacts of nature once or twice used in still life or intended for such, most are dried up.

I find brushes, long fossilized, that I could never throw away because they might be useful someday.

I also find objects that look like they belong to something.  I have to keep them in case I figure it out someday.

I finally shove most of it back into drawers and behind other things and go back to painting.  I was just procrastinating anyway.

Can you relate?    Peace.

A Dog's Life

Here is a story about a dog. This dog, a big shiny black lab, romped up to my son the day after he graduated from University of Texas at Austin. My son was unsure about what he wanted to do, which direction he should follow. But the dog, who was homeless, knew exactly what his own role was. He hung out with this young graduate, gave him the doggy equivalent of wisdom, guidance and boundless love.

This was a noble dog, with a big wise head, and he won me over by sitting on my feet and sliding to the floor in a puddle of warm friendship the first time we met.

Big dogs aren't supposed to live to be fourteen years old, but this dog did. He saw my son through some hard times and into a good new life with his own family and his own new roots. And my son saw to it that this dog had an exceptionally good elderly dog life. And yesterday it came to a peaceful noble end.

So I want to say goodbye to Jake....the noble lovely dog...I will miss him too.


Peace.

Houses and Trees

Getting back on the aircraft, back into back and forth.  Finished a painting.  Started several others, mostly still life pieces,  my favorite at the moment.  Maybe the stability of still life is stabilizing to me too.  In my back and forth.  In the sky.
This current painting that I'm posting is about a nature preserve I saw...many acres given to the community by a couple that had lived in a cabin there long ago.  Originally, there was open space around the acreage....now houses are right up against the preserve.  Made me feel claustrophobic.  Houses pressing in on the trees.  So in my painting the trees are griped by orange ribbons, the crow has a house in his mouth and the orange houses are fielded across the background, taking over.
On that happy note....I fly away for a little while.

Peace.