Moonday Owl

Moonday Owl / oil on black canvas / 5x7 / $68 including shipping

Please email me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com if you would like to own this little painting! 

MY FRIEND CAROL AND I have arrived in Arizona, and I have to say, it feels great, so great, to be off the Eastern Shore and out in the world. 

We had a great trip, did some cool stuff, met some fun people, including the couple below - the Langs - who fixed up this school bus and then both quit their regular nursing jobs to hit the road, and work in temporary nursing positions for as long as the adventure continues. 

Here's their bus, outside and in. That's a little woodstove in the back, keeping things nice and warm!

They brought Lars, their Flemish Giant! 

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WE HAD GREAT BARBECUE at Tyler's in Amarillo, Texas

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HAD FUN SEEING CADILLAC Ranch, outside of Amarillo (and painting a car, too). Click here to read more about this fun public art extravaganza

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WE VISITED Blue Hole in Santa Rosa, NM, where would-be scuba divers were being trained...

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AND DROVE THROUGH Tucumcari, NM, with its great billboards and funky decorations

What a country this is! 

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Coda

"Once a year, go someplace you've never been before." 

- the Dalai Lama

 

Thurston Owl the Third

Thurston Owl the Third / oil on black canvas / 5x7 / $68 includes shipping!

YES, MY CULTURAL LEXICON includes "Gilligan's Island"! In fact, though I can barely remember what I did yesterday, or what I am supposed to do tomorrow, I can sing you the entire theme song of "Gilligan's Island." 

I would also more or less brag that I could tell you stories of the episodes, but first off, that would be a lie, and second, it would be more or less meaningless, since, as far as I recall, each episode went pretty much this way: One of the marooned people figures out a way to get off the island, Gilligan flubs up the plan, and they remain marooned. 

I've heard people my age (and even myself!) look at the current youth culture and rue the fact that today's teens and 20-somethings will one day run the world. I can bet that my parents looked at my brother and me being entranced with "Gilligan's Island" and had similar misgivings. 

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For Today

The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale

A tale of a fateful trip

That started from this tropic port

Aboard this tiny ship. 

The mate was a mighty sailor man

The skipper brave and sure

Five passengers set sail that day

On a three-hour tour

A three-hour tour

The weather started getting rough

The tiny ship was tossed

If not for the courage of the fearless crew

The Minnow would be lost

The Minnow would be lost

The ship set ground on the shore of this

Uncharted desert isle

With Gilligan, the Skipper, too

The millionaire, and his wife

A movie star,

The professor and Mary Ann

Here on Gilligan's Isle

That's all I remember! Or at least, that's all I thought I remembered, but "no phone, no lights, no motor car/Not a single luxury" did resonate. So the same tune recurred with new words on the closing credits. Here's how that part goes: 

Now, this is a tale of our castaways

They're here for a long, long time

They'll have to make the best of things

It's an uphill climb

The first mate and his Skipper, too

Will do their very best

To make the others comfortable

In their tropic island nest

No phone, no lights, no motor car

Not a single luxury,

Like Robinson Crusoe

It's primitive as can be

So join us here each week my friends,

You're sure to get a smile

From seven stranded castaways

Here on Gilligan's Isle! 

 - written by Sherwood Schwartz and George Wyle

Small Owl

Small Owl / oil on black canvas / 4x4 / $48 including shipping

sold! 

THERE'S AN AD ON TV - I think it's for replacement windows - that proclaims that "Faster is better." 

This morning, I started wondering about that statement. Initially, I thought that it was all wrong, that, in fact, most times, slower is better. 

But is it? Is there some inherent value in slowness? I do think there's a benefit to slowing down in life - to taking the time to look around, to contemplate, to wonder. But all the time? Would I want a generally slower life? The covid, and Peter's death, have forced me into a somewhat slower life than I used to have, and while that is OK for now - and good thing it is, since I can't change it - I certainly wouldn't want it to be even slower. 

I tend to work very fast. In journalism, speed (with accuracy) is a treasured commodity, and I had it. 

Now, I paint fast. Very fast. This used to worry me - but then I read that Vincent Van Gogh always painted as quickly as he could - and I think I understand why. By painting quickly, you outrun the voice that tells you that you suck, that you're the worst painter in the world, and that surely, that mark there, or that one there, or those three dozen there, are wrong wrong wrong. Paint quickly enough and you're gone before the voice starts its utterance.

So, I don't know. Maybe faster is better. 

I bet the window installers wish people would spend as much time thinking about their product as I've spent thinking about their slogan. 

***

For Today

Poetry of a different type. I hope you will take some time to go through the site. Slowly! 

https://www.livingyourwildcreativity.com/art-gallery-1-mitchell-1

Owl

 Owl / oil on black canvas / 5x5 unframed / $68 includes shipping

sold!  

DURING THE GREAT CONFINEMENT, as my brother calls it, I've learned I can live without some things that, in my pre-covid life, I was pretty sure I needed. 

Art shows. There are some wonderful things about the art shows, some things that I miss terribly - the artist community, the delights of seeing artist and buyer friends, the excitement of showing my paintings to new viewers and old ones. But I do not miss the huge expenses, the giant outlays of energy, the exhausting days spent on 90-degree pavement or in brutally shadeless parks or parking lots. 

Lunches out. I enjoyed my lunches out with friends - but they broke up my painting days even more than I suspected they did. Having entire stretches of days to work is a blessing. My friends here are by and large retired, and tend not to remember that I'm still working. Still earning a living. 

Going INTO WalMart. I started using WalMart pickup long before the covid, but with two exceptions, that's the way I've shopped since March. It's great. 

Hair dye. Yup. The covid has helped me make peace with my gray/white/whatever hair. 

Starbucks. Or Dunkin' Donuts, or any takeout coffee. Who knew? Along those lines, turns out I can live easily and happily without half-and-half in my coffee. Back to black, as I drank it for the first 60 years of my life. 

There is plenty that I miss these days, every day - but plenty that I'm not. And I am delighted to be living a simpler, easier life. 

What have you found you can live just fine without? 

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For Today

The Owlets at Nightfall

   The sun is sinking. Each minute the air darker. The night

thickens near the ground, pulls my body down to it. And if my body

is earth, then what? Then I am down here, thickening as night 

comes on.

   There are earth things, earthly, joined, they are snuggled down

in one manger, one sweep of arms holds them, one clump of pine,

the owlets sit together in one hollow tree...

   When night comes what has been sun in me all day will drop

underneath the earth, and travel sizzling along the underneath-

ocean-darkness path... There a hundred developed saints lie

stretched out, throwing bits of darkness onto the road.

   At midnight what has been moon in me will also vanish. I will go

down toward utter darkness and find myself in the prison cell with

Joseph. 

- Robert Bly

Owl

Owl / Oil on black canvas / 5x7 unframed / $68 including shipping 

MOST OF YOU KNOW, I think, that I am a recovering alcoholic, clean and sober since 1987. It's a vital part of my life - one that makes all the other parts work - and was a vital part of Peter's, as well. We always said that we would stay married forever - unless one of us started drinking, at which point, without discussion, the marriage would be over. 

These days, meetings are done largely on Zoom, and that means you can go to any meeting anywhere. So on Friday, I attended a meeting in Des Moines, where the father of a former Eastern Shore resident was speaking about his 53 years of sobriety. 

His main message was that he began to find success in life and in sobriety when he turned his will and his life over to the care of his higher power. 

I realized, as I listened, that I've been holding on very tight since Peter died. I have structured my life around tasks - the bird project, training the dogs, walking every day, losing the final 19 pounds. Getting rid of things. Clearing the house out. Task upon task upon task. 

That's been fine. It's been necessary. It's been how I have been able to cope. But it has kept me from so much that I value - discovery, imagination, adventure, exploration.

I realized, listening, that I've been clenching my fists around my life, clenching my body around my tasks, holding tight, as tight as I can - and understandably, since so much that I held and held dear was suddenly just gone. 

So I have vowed to loosen up. To hand it all over to my higher power. To quit worrying, as much as I possibly can, and trust that the joy and peace and love and protection that I have always felt in my life will continue, and will hold me safe, and let me feel like living again. 

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For Today

"The way to happiness: Keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, expect little, give much. Scatter sunshine, forget self, 

think of others. Try this for a week and you will be surprised." 

- Norman Vincent Peale

Owl

Owl / Oil on black canvas / 5x7 unframed / $68 including shipping

sold!

DOC AND LULU, two of my four dogs, are about 4 years old, and have lived with me for almost all of their lives. Koko is about 5, and has been my dog for almost all that time. 

Though Doc is a male, he rarely lifts his leg to pee. He's done it maybe 25 or 30 times in those four years. But last week, he not only lifted his leg three times, he also peed on Koko's head each of those times! And she let him.

Come to find out, this is not so unusual. My daughter Erika and my sister Laurie told me that their male dogs peed on their females. And I do remember that, ages ago, when Peter and I lived in Maine, we had two male dogs, Gus and Najim, who were mostly great friends but occasionally wicked enemies. In some phases, they would just pee all over, reaching for dominance. So we started locking them in their crates when we couldn't keep a careful watch over them. The crates were side by side, and in a while, they started to pee on each other through the crate. 

Well, I guess it is just us and society that says that this is a bad idea. I'm pretty glad us and society do say so. 

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For Today

"An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision."

- James McNeil Whistler

Northern Barred Owl

Northern Barred Owl / oil on black canvas / 5x7 / unframed / $68 including shipping

sold! 

I'VE LED TWO ONLINE painting workshops in the past two weeks, and they've been fun and successful, in that participants seemed to have a good time, and make paintings that they - and I - like. Even people who have never painted, or not painted very much at all, made cool pieces. 

I painted in my regular way, in oils, on a black canvas, and using a palette knife - but participants used all sorts of materials, from watercolors to pastels to acrylics to digital paints. 

There's another workshop scheduled for this Saturday. It will be on my Carrie Jacobson, Artist Facebook page, which you can reach by clicking here - here's the full-blown address, just in case - (https://www.facebook.com/carriejacobsonartist). Go to that page and click Follow. Likewise, go to my personal page and put in a friend request. 

In the next day or so, I'll create an event, which should also make it easier to find the workshop. 

It will take place on Saturday, April 4 at 1 p.m. Eastern. The workshop is free, there is no need to register or sign up. Just set up with whatever you want to paint, and whatever you want to paint on, turn on your computer, find the workshop, and give it a go. The workshop will last about an hour. See you online! 

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April Flowers

Friday, April 3, through Sunday, April 5, on my Jacobson Arts website (http://jacobson-arts.com), I'll be hosting an online Flower Show and Sale. Fun! Paintings will range from $38 to $5800, and most will include shipping (or delivery). 

The sale will come online Friday morning around 7 a.m., on a special page on the website. You'll email me from a link beside each painting to make your purchase, and it's first come, first served. 

The paintings are fun, and bright, and cheerful, and full of springtime's hope and promise. I hope you'll find something you like! 

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For Today

"I hope you love birds, too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven." 

- Emily Dickinson

Owl

Owl / Oil on black canvas / 5x7 / unframed / $68 including shipping

sold! 

APPARENTLY, SOME PEOPLE don't know that you're not supposed to touch paintings. First of all, the older the painting, the more brittle. If you touched a Rembrandt, you'd most likely be arrested, but you also could chip off parts of the surface. 

Second, and more to the point (as we are talking MY paintings, which are neither old nor Rembrandts), your skin is covered with an acidic oil that keeps it flexible and healthy. But it damages paintings, and can't be wiped off without damaging the paintings more. 

And third, and even MORE to the point, some artists bring wet paintings to shows and hang them in the booth before they're dry. Yes, I am guilty of this, though I make every effort to hang those wet paintings in places that people can't reach. 

This owl painting, I made during the Tubac show. I put it on a box behind a screen at the very edge of the patio where I was showing my work. And some woman went all the way back there and picked it up, smearing the paint all over her fingers and along the edges of the painting. She didn't damage it, really (I can fix it), but she made me angry. 

So please, don't touch the paintings unless the artist invites you! 

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For Today

There was an owl

who lived in an oak.

The more he heard,

the less he spoke. 

The less he spoke,

the more he heard.

We all should be

like that wise old bird. 

Free Already

Free Already

Oil on black canvas, 16x16, $385

Please click here to email me for availability and shipping info

 I was taking a detail photo for a person who is contemplating buying "Leonine Dreams," and it occurred to me that the detail I'd photographed - the eyes, part of the ear and some of the sheep's coat - would make a fantastic painting. 

And so I gave it a try. I love the abstract quality of this piece, the shadow on the eye, the free flow of colors and paint, the heavy surface. 

It's not the first time that a part of a piece has presented itself as a whole piece, and it got me thinking that maybe people are like that, too. And when you find someone you love - a partner, lover or friend - it could be because the part you saw first truly echoes the whole that follows. It's a thought, at least. 

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Deli meat for that oh-so-tiny, 1-pound family. Sigh. 

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Dog of the Day

Three Shelties, behaving well, as always. Saw these three in Omaha last summer. 

Want your pet to be Dog of the Day? Send a jpg to me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com

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A Final Thought

"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art."

- Andy Warhol

Mr. Owl - and These Dark Days

Mr. Owl

Oil on canvas, 6x12

commission

I will never love the holidays as much as I loved them when my mother was alive. That pang of sadness, it's always with me, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I know I'm not alone. 

Friends of mine are facing deep and painful losses now. Other friends are going through the holidays without loved ones, for the first time. The distance between death and this part of life need not be small to matter. It's been decades since Peter's mother and brother died, in the holiday season. Decades since we lost our dog Najim on Christmas Eve, since my grandparents passed away. 

It's hard to celebrate the birth of Christ, to find joy in family and in friends, to seek peace and goodness and look ahead to a new year when pain is your canvas, sadness your colors. 

The holidays go on around you, with presents and sweets and Christmas carols, and they swirl and shine and don't touch you. And that's how it has to be, this year, next year, for however long. You must feel what you feel. There is no hurrying grief.

In years to come, the holidays will never be the same. They will never look as sparkly or as innocent. But the years will put a distance between you and the pain, and in time, you will celebrate again, remembering the ones you love and the light they brought to your darkest winter days. 

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Dog of the Day

It's a long-legged Abby. She's had some bad days lately, behaving 

like the big, dumb puppy she is. But with training

 and some time, she'll learn. 

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