Thinking on a Winter Day

When the going gets weird, I have learned to disengage myself for a bit and explore the inner recesses of my mind. It's called thinking - remember that? It would appear that thinking has become old fashioned these days because I really don't see a whole lot of thinking going on out there.  I mean how many people do you know quote this and that but when you ask them what they think, still quote this and that or preface their reply with "we think." It's pretty scary.  I do hope they still teach thinking in school these days. Do they?

I spent pretty much the whole day Saturday thinking. It was that kind of a day. I feel very fortunate to have had the practice because I too forget that my mind can create, question, solve and ponder endless possibility. I don't remember getting anything settled or resolved, but I sure had fun. It tickled and maybe my brain expanded just a wee bit.

I guess I feel like it's important to keep up, to the best of my ability, with our ever expanding universe.

Thinking on a Winter Day • 8"x 8" watercolor framed to 12" x 12" • $200

A Short Drive Out

I've been trying to get back into skiing this year. It's been great fun. The conditions are surprisingly good and the weather has been right on at Sugarloaf when I'm there during the weekends.

Tom and I got up and out of bed at 6:30 this past Sunday and were on the road and ready to get the first chair up the mountain. Our goal was to get a hold of some snow before it got scraped off. It's vacation week and it hasn't snowed. That means any snow on the trail is coming from grooming and is generally dust by 10 am. We were on our way north when we got a call from Nick up at the coffee shop. We had to pick up some milk. That meant we had to wait until 8:30 for Trantens to open. I was appalled - I could have slept for two more hours NO PROBLEM!

To kill some time we decided to take a ride on one of the roads that spokes out from town and into the countryside. It was very quiet and peaceful out there in the middle of nowhere. I wish more people had an opportunity to see what we saw that morning. It would remind them of what's really important - preserving those places so that we can all visit them when we feel like the rest of the world is going insane.

I sighed at the landscape and the farms - it reminded me once again of how beautiful it is in Maine during the winter months. I, like everyone else, get so focused on getting from one place to another that I forget to pay attention to the process of getting there. That particular morning we were paying attention and it ended up to be a stunner.

A Short Drive Out  • 8" x 8" acrylic on paper framed to 12" x 12" • $200

Crawling Tulips

I don't know if I'm using the word morph correctly here, but I've been watching this bouquet of tulips morph for about a week now. They are far from the same tulips I bought a week ago.  I would not expect them to be the same of course, but what's different about this particular bunch is that it's beginning to resemble and act like a daddy long legs. It appears to be on a cleverly disguised and barely perceptible crawl across the kitchen table. What it doesn't realize is that I've been watching!

I don't usually pay much attention to flowers - they're pretty and the colors are stunning at times - but this little bunch of tulips is really beginning to scare me. What if one of these nights the darn thing makes one of those inexplicable biological leaps from flower to beast and realizes it can crawl - sort of like the missing link thing? What if it already knows it can crawl and is just waiting for the proverbial black monolith to land at which point it will prove the urban myth true that spiders clean your mouth out while you sleep?  Woman found dead in her bed apparently having choked in what appears to be an attempt to eat her tulips. Oh for heaven's sake Claudia, get back to work!

Crawling Tulips • 8" x 8" acrylic on paper framed to 12" x 12" • $200

Winter Fields

I was up in Kingfield this past weekend. It sure looks a lot different up there than it does down here here in Portland. There's a couple of feet of snow on the ground around our house and we have snow banks. Maybe we're coming into an age where, like California, we'll be able to surf on the coast and ski in the mountains on the same day.

While we wait for the evolution to occur, I will have some of my paintings on display at Edna & Lucy's up in the center of a beautiful Pownal. Fans will remember I did a little write up about Edna & Lucy's just before Christmas. It's one of my favorite spots - their food and coffee is incredible.

The work will be there from February 12 through March 31, and will include blog paintings and some larger paintings. I hope you'll stop by. It really is a great place to eat breakfast and/or lunch.

Winter Fields • 8" x 8" acrylic on paper framed to 12" x 12" • $200

Vader's VW

When advertising hype around the Super Bowl begins, I click over to You Tube to see what Volkswagen's up to.  I'm never disappointed. In fact I went on to look at a history of VW's ads. It was fascinating and fun, and two hours later I'm suddenly remembering the deadline I was working on. Naturally I decided to postpone the deadline and paint a Beetle. When The Force moves you, you go with it.  "Do not underestimate the power of The Force," as Vader's states it so well. Anyway, I'm a sucker for Star Wars, Volkswagens and floating around the ethernet - a proverbial trifecta for me and a good reason why I'm generally destitute.

I painted this particular Beetle to be what I imagine Vader would go for if he was in the market for something a little different. It's black, a bit distinctive and a classic. It's very powerful, but stealth in it's power - a major component of the man himself. 

The model I painted is the one millionth Beetle sold.*  I figured Vader would have to have had it, and would have done his throat thing to get it.

Vader's VW • 8" x 8" watercolor framed to 12" x 12" • $200

* The one millionth VW Beetle was sold somewhere in the world in 1955, six years after its introduction to the US in 1949.

A Walk on the Clouds

I've been playing hooky.

On my way back from a recent hooky tournament I glanced up from my newspaper and looked out the window - this is what I saw. Of course I took a million pics, but I liked this one because it illustrates the first thought that came to mind - that I would give anything, except my life of course, to take a leisurely afternoon walk off that wing and onto those clouds.