meanwhile

watercolor, 11x14"

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clear blue air, are heading home again.

-from "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver

Commissioned as a gift for an orthodontist turned Masters of Divinity student, himself an artist: http://celticlens.com/.  Thanks, Gerry, for the beautiful Irish tunes playing on your blog, your photography, and your generosity to help inspire this piece.  Glad to be connected with you through this thin space.

ap*ART*ment

Thanks, roomie, for letting me carefully paint over your carpet.

*buoyed on this rainy day by the soothing tunes of Danielle Rose and David Gray 

One of the joys of moving into a new place has been the blank walls offering their endless possibilities.  I offered to my roomie Melissa to paint something for our apartment; despite her travel to various interesting and beautiful locales, she was most interested in a scene of a Richmond place / a reminder of an experience we had shared.  Although we haven’t walked Maymont together recently, hopefully we’ll have chances to in this new year!  Maymont is one of my favorite places in Richmond, and I’m so lucky to have walked it twice within the past month or so.

So lucky to be painting flowers and green, off work on this rainy day.  Hoping for a twinge of boredom by the end of the day to indicate that sitting inside alone all day painting is not my full-time vocation. 

Choosing Joy

“Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.”

― Henri J.M. Nouwen

happy new year

acrylic, 18x24''

Works of love are always works of peace. - MT

Merry Christmas

"always, just when we think we've found a foothold, the order to flee to Egypt.

The star shines in the east.  How quiet the night must have been all around them.

How deep the dark."

yet,

a Love that lifts.  

-courtesy of Heather King (http://shirtofflame.blogspot.com) and Hafiz

Rumi-nating

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

As an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

-Rumi

Gold in its Pocket

"Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons." 

~Jim Bishop

I went to the Art Walk this Friday and came across some cute lettering and cards by the artist Clara Cline (http://www.claraworks.com).  I was reminded of both the dedicated effort and the pleasure that goes into setting up shop at a fair.  I look forward to setting up some card booths at fairs in the next couple of months.

Crispness is coming to Richmond, and with it Ardent's Sweet Potato and Sage Autumn Ale, Richmond's Folk Festival, turning of leaves along the Shenandoah and Carter's Mountain Apple Picking.  May God bless your October!