My friend Mame Willey has just published a book of poems  with the title above, published by Antrim House.  The poems are wonderful–accessible, thoughtful and structurally sophisticated.  I think one of the great functions of art is to make people aware of the moment, to get them to notice something they might otherwise miss.   And all of that is to be found in this book.  I urge you to run out and buy a copy.    Of course I have to mention that Mame used one of my paintings, “Flight of Fancy” for the cover–a real honor.

Echo  oil on birch panel 9 x 12″ in gold frame  $400 framed, $350 unframed but ready to hang

Here’s a painting that I started way back when the peonies were in bloom.  Last year we were in Syracuse to hear our grandson play viola in the Syracuse Youth Symphony (brag, brag).  With a couple of hours to kill while Mason was rehearsing before the concert we went to the Everson Museum, a really nice small museum downtown.  In the gift shop I found a thin-lipped mug–the object of many a search–and Ed bought it for me.  I loved the flower and thought it would look nice in a still life with another white bloom.

Babas in Limoncello  10 x 8″  oil on birch panel  $200

Well, it has been an age since I posted anything.  Dial-up got to be just too frustrating.  But the happy news is that recently we got a satellite dish and a somewhat faster connection.  It’s not ideal but compared to what we had previously it’s wonderful.  I can sit in bed and get email now.

Another reason for not posting in a long time is that I’ve been working on large paintings for a show this coming summer–all clouds all the time.  I really have been totally obsessed with clouds and once we got a faster connection joined the (British of course) Cloud Appreciation Society.   I don’t want to post photographs of the cloud paintings until the show is up in June. But since I’m about finished with all the work for the show I can turn to other subjects.

Today I was looking at art from Cloud Appreciation Society members and I found a wonderful painter, Barbara Kacicek.  She does beautiful alla prima paintings–the whole thing in one fell swoop.  So this afternoon I thought I’d try that over an old painting of mine.  Alison and John gave me a pretty jar of babas in limoncello for Christmas  and I’ve been guiltily snacking on them.   I decided I should do a still life while there were still some left.   I did the whole painting in a couple of hours this afternoon and put the jar back in the fridge.  It probably would have been a little better with more babas, but hey, who could resist?  Alla prima is good; now I can resume eating my subject… And I guess I’m not completely done with clouds.

Before the Ride  oil on birch panel  9 x 12″  unframed but ready to hang  $200

This pasture with its rolling hills is a spot where I’ve wanted to paint for some time.  The forecast was for nice weather too.   I set up behind a barn and started in.  Some horses appeared in the distance so I grabbed the camera and got a quick  reference shot in the minute before they started galloping around.    Then after I’d gotten past the point of no return with the painting some riders arrived.  My umbrella spooked the horses so much I finally had to move my easel so they could be coaxed into the barn.  Once the riders were on their way and I’d settled back in  ominous clouds appeared.  I was sure I was once more going to be caught in a downpour but I couldn’t stop putting one more touch and then one more on the painting.  Happily, the dark clouds moved off, followed by some beautiful bright ones.   Finally, when I was leaving, I somehow managed to hit a stone wall, knocking off a non-essential piece of the car.  Oh well, in spite of the complications I was pretty pleased with the painting.  I of course added the horses in the studio.  They were so tiny in the distance I had a hard time suggesting their forms.

Glow   Oil on birch panel  12 x 12″  unframed but ready to hang   $300

Here’s a painting I did as a study for a much larger painting that I’m working on now.  Since clouds can be a landscape in themselves I’m painting some with no other middle or background.

We’re back from L.A. and blogging with  dial-up seems even slower after 2 weeks of wi-fi.  Life in the woods is wonderful but we do yearn for a faster connection.

While we were in L.A. we had dinner with Ed’s niece, Terryn Westbrook,  a successful actor.  She gave me a wonderful quote from Martha Graham to Agnes deMille.  I think anybody who attempts anything creative can relate to what she says.  I’m certainly glad to hear that dissatisfaction is “divine” since there’s plenty of that along the way!

“  There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, the expression is unique.  And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.  The world will not have it.  It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.  You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work.  You have to keep yourself open and there is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others. “

Lift          Oil on birch panel    9 x 12″    unframed but ready to hang $250

Not long ago I did a cloud painting from our porch.  When I’d finished it I thought it wasn’t very interesting and then I remembered that I had (pre-digital) photos  from the Quechee balloon festival about 17 years ago.  So I just painted the balloons on top of the clouds.  The background clouds in the photo actually looked a lot like the clouds I’d already painted.

Larches and Lupines  oil on masonite   unframed   $100

Here’s a painting of the back slope behind our house.  I painted the larches  (“The Larch” <)  and then remembered that there was also a reference to lupines in a MP episode (“Give me all your lupines!”).  So I tucked in a few lupines growing further up the hill.   Well, it amused me…..

Ned’s Garden   oil on birch panel  9 x 12″  unframed but ready to hang  $200

The garden of a house on the Strafford green looks out over beautiful fields.  A friend and I parked ourselves under a huge  tree and spent a lovely morning in the shade.  We don’t have a long growing season here but in the summer growth and bloom are explosive.

And here in California we spent a day at the Getty Museum–wonderful collection and gorgeous site.  We went years ago right after it opened and didn’t remember that there were so many good paintings.  They  have several by wonderful  Chardin as well as enchanting works of Oudry, Tissot and Sweerts who’ve never made much of an impression on me before. And of course the many Rembrandts were amazing.   I would have liked to see more contemporary work but apparently there are restrictions.    The Dutch landscapes gave me  a  chance to study clouds as well.    We also went on an interesting local “art crawl.”  At a gallery that has shown David Hockney we saw huge pieces that were highly textured monochromes.  Maybe someday I’ll get some acrylic gel and play around with heaping up mounds and valleys.  I do approach museums and galleries very selfishly, looking for ideas I can use.

Morning Clouds  oil on birch panel 9 x 12″ unframed but ready to hang  $250

Here’s the second painting I did this season when a friend and I went to a spot high above the village.  I was mainly after clouds and to my great delight there were plenty.  Often in the summer  clouds don’t appear until late morning but this time they were there at 9:00 and stayed until I left a couple of hours later.   Clouds are constantly moving so the best you can do is to slap down some basic shapes and use similar forms as the painting proceeds.  I really like the green patches in a vista like this, the combination of trees and open fields.

Cottage and Barn  oil on birch panel 9 x 12″  unframed but ready to hang   $200

I’ve been working and reworking some very large cloud paintings for a show next summer so I haven’t had much to blog.  Finally the weather warmed up enough to get outside and this is the first plein air piece I did this season.  Now we’re visiting our son, daughter-in-law  and handsome new grandson in California.     At last have a fast connection for the next 10 days and can post more easily.

The painting is of a cottage and barn situated on a stream behind the Strafford townhouse.  The morning was beautiful and once I got set up in the shade I had a good time  working on it.