Goldfinch

Goldfinch, Oil on black canvas, 5x7, unframed, $68

AT THE HEIGHT OF SUMMER, goldfinches are brilliant bits of color, flitting around the yard. But they're not always that color. In the winter and the spring, they are a dull yellow, almost olive, a color no one would ever describe as "gold." 

Of course, this winter is an especially dark one for me, but truly, I feel that I am much like the goldfinch. Dull in winter. Sapped of color, of energy, of drive. I don't flit, I plod. 

In a week or so, I head to Arizona for a month, to see my dad and Paula, and to do a show - in a different way than usual. During the Tubac show, Feb. 5-9, I will be set up on the patio at Sweet Poppy, 19 Tubac Road, near Shelby's. 

I am hoping that by the time I drive through Texas and New Mexico and Arizona, and spend a week or so in the sun, that I will start to get my golden goldfinch color back. 

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For Today

"Fortunately, however, birds don't understand pep talks. Not even St. Francis'. Just imagine, he went on, preaching sermons to perfectly good thrushes and goldfinches and chiff-chaffs! What presumption1 Why couldn't he have kept his mouth shut and let the birds preach to him? "

- Aldous Huxley

Note from me, Carrie - I am a big fan of St. Francis, and I believe that he did let the birds preach to him.