Cross Currents

Cross Currents

Oil on Canvas

24"X24"

Distractions have threatened to derail me lately. The barrage of news from the outside world, calling my representatives, and the constant list-making inside my mind have been creating havoc. And then there is Mary Norris's enchanting book, "Between You and Me," which has me second guessing every sentence and punctuation I write. 

Despite it all, I happened upon the beach last week while walking with a friend from afar. A breath of fresh air in the company of friendship gives one some perspective. The world is big. We are small. Life is short. Live it up.

Yellow Slicker Meets Monet's 'Red Kerchief'

Yellow Slicker Meets Monet's 'Red Kerchief'

Oil on Wood

8"X10"

Last week I took time out from all the sadness at hand to step back in time at the Legion of Honor, taking in "Monet: The Early Years." "The Red Kerchief" has stayed with me. She is so alive in her bright red against the winter chill, fleeting past the window, so like life. The lady in her yellow hat and slicker carrying a red purse is stopped in her tracks. "All part of life's rich colorful pageant" as my dear friend once said. Now you see her. Now you don't. Gone, but not forgotten.

A.A. Milne and E.B. White

A.A. Milne and E.B. White

Oil on Wood

12"X12"

In an effort to escape the news of these days, I have been seeking out books that will do for me now what I remember "Winnie the Pooh" and "Now We Are Six" doing for me in childhood. Anything by E.B. White is as relevant now as it was when it was written.  Like seeing an old friend, his words warm the soul. Thankfully, Book Passage has come to Sausalito.  Today I picked up George Saunders' "Tenth of December" because I loved his answers to the "By the Book" questions in the February 19th New York Times Book Review. 

Question. "What moves you most in a work of literature?"

Answer. "Depictions of goodness that are not fraudulent or sentimental."

Bring on "depictions of goodness" in art and literature, and then let's hope life imitates art.