New Year Crow

 New Year Crow

Oil on Wood

6"X8"

Old friends in the New Year. Layering new paint on two old paintings seems appropriate at this moment. 

 Nothing is new. We just keep adding new experiences, making new memories. What was there seeps through in surprising ways.

Listening to Jon Batiste make Beethoven new and Bobby McFerrin do the same with Mozart, Bach, and other greats.

Life imitates Art imitates Life. 

Happy to be in the studio with the past and present.

The Day After

 The Day After

Oil on Wood

6"X6"

The crows were back first thing this morning. The self inflicted Christmas stress is over. No more expectation. All anyone really wanted was to be in each other's presence. To eat and drink, laugh and remember. We did that. We are here for each other. That is all. 

Shore Birds

 Shore Birds

Oil on Wood

6"X6"

On the way home from the market there they were busy being shore birds at low tide.

We all have to eat.

I stopped and watched them for awhile. It did wonders for my outlook on life.

Bird's Eye View

 Bird's Eye View

Oil on Wood

6"X6"

This is painted over a 2020 painting of trees burned in the 2017 fire. Looking ahead, like the birds who frequent the top of this survivor fir tree. Strength, perseverance, focus on now.

I keep thinking of Margaret Renkl's observation,

"The natural world's perfect indifference has always been the best cure for my own anxieties...The dramas and worries and pain that are the warp of my life, woven tightly through the light and love and joy that are its weft, don't register on the blue jay at all."

Crows Dec 5

 Crows December 5

Oil on Wood

6"X6"

Crows like to hang out at the top of my neighbor's birch trees in the morning. Today the sky turned dark, and a shower blew by followed by a bright rainbow stretching in an arch across the whole sky.

Then came an earthquake out to sea followed by a tsunami warning that sent everyone into a tizzy. We became experts on weather, watching Daniel Swain explain it all on his YouTube channel,

"Weather and Climate Office Hours by Weather West."

Once the weather event was over, I spent the afternoon in the studio with Jon Batiste's 
"Beethoven Blues" followed by Beethoven piano concertos and now Sonatas 1 and 2 for cello and piano.

Finding solace in the unexpected served up by Nature and the beauty of human creative endeavor.

I will end the day reading a chapter of Margaret Renkl's, "The Comfort of Crows: A backyard Year."

Full circle.

Oregon Junco

 Oregon Junco

Oil on Wood

6"X6"

Morning entertainment. Juncos on the deck. Small and sweet and finding a little something to eat. Life goes on.

Evening Walk

 Evening Walk

Oil on Wood

16"X20"

It's been 7 years since fire ravaged this place. Nature is resilient. We can be too.

HOPE.