Storm

 Nor'easter / Oil on black canvas / 11x14 / $250 including shipping

sold! 

THE STORM WOKE ME at 3, a few mornings ago. It was the wind, wailing, yelling, slamming against the windows and the walls and the trunks of the trees. It was the rain, smashing against the metal roof and the windowpanes. And it was the strength and power of the storm itself, the first nor-easter of the season, the line storm, marking the passage from autumn to winter. 

I woke, the dogs woke, and later in the day, I found that many of my friends had also woken, all around 3, nudged into consciousness by the wrath and muscle of the wind and the rain. 

Sleep took me back, and on the way, I vowed to paint the feeling of the storm. My note says that I must paint it BIG (I wrote the word in caps) and this one is not BIG, but it is the storm - and perhaps a study for the BIG one. 

I hope you like it. 

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Coda

"Every time we say, 'Let there be!' in any form, something happens." 

-Stella Terrell Mann

Storm on the Salt Marsh

Storm on the Salt Marsh

Oil on black canvas, 20x20

Please click here to contact me for price and availability

When I drove into town - on a lark, six or seven years ago - the salt marsh captured my eyes and my heart right away. I set up and painted. It was late September or early October, and the marsh was golden, the sky a light blue tailing up to manganese, and the light was round and bright and loaded with color.

I've painted the marsh again and again since that first meeting, and over the years, have begun to get to know her moods and colors, the rhythm of wind and season, the sway of the marsh grasses on a windy, rainy day, and the every-enticing colors of her landscape.

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Stuff I've Seen

On the way to Harborton stands this adorable little store, run by a woman named Eva. Every day, it is stocked with fresh vegetables and fruit, frozen soup, fresh or frozen homemade bread, and delicious-smelling baked goods. 

Eva's is all serve-yourself. Prices are written on post-its, and you're trusted to do the math correctly, not steal anything, and put your money in a little box on the outside of the building. 

At one time, Eva grew everything in the store. That, apparently, has changed, but she gets as much local produce as she can, grows what she can, and does all the baking. It's a real treat! 

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Dog of the Day

Met this guy out in Tubac, Arizona! What a beauty. 

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A Final Thought

"Art is the reason I get up in the morning, but the definition ends there. 

It doesn't seem fair that I'm living for something I can't even define." 

- Ani DiFranco

The Storm Lifts

The Storm Lifts

Oil on canvas, 24x24,

Call me at 860-442-0246 or email me

if you are interested in buying this painting

What great responses to my recent comments on success!

The encouragement I received from you, in the blog, via email, in person, was just spectacular. Thank you. I was not seeking encouragement, really - I was just talking, just sharing. But you were all so thoughtful and so kind. I am grateful.

It is heartening, too, to know that so many of you are asking the same questions in your own lives. Asking what "success" is, how you define and measure it and how your sense of it is changing.

One thing I've realized in the past few days - and honestly, have realized again and again during these years - is that I am living a life so rich, so full of purpose, so imbued with creativity that it simply does not include failure. Truly, I never dreamed that living could feel this wonderful.

I have time for the people who matter in my life. I have time to think, to talk, to love - and to paint. And all of it informs and enriches the rest of it. If I died tomorrow, I would die happy and fulfilled - and until I left the corporate world, I could never have said that.

So I am reinvigorated, and refreshed, and I am thankful.