Author: -N-

Reflections

The end of the year is here, and a strange year it has been. For me, it has not been a big change in the life I have been living since I retired, but if I were still working, it would have been a big change indeed. For so many others, the world just turned upside down, and not just in the US, but globally.

I feel like I am living in a bubble, but now, the walls are beginning to tighten closer to home. A few people I know have died, some from the virus, some from other issues, but the isolation necessary to keep from becoming infected means not being able to say goodbye or to spend time with others, or even help out if needed.  I am of an age where my peers do die, which is just normal, but it is also sad when connections other than a Zoom or a text are not available.

I miss a good cup of coffee and chit-chat at Peet’s!  I miss looking people straight in the eye and laughing or getting a hug.

As a result of needing to limit contact with the outside world, a trip to the market is like a major outing.  People to talk to!  I had my teeth cleaned a couple of weeks ago and it was like a spa day.  Yacking with my sister and brother, especially this time of the year, brings back memories from days of yore.  Just reading about the thrill of a vaccine – at last – for the Covid-19 virus and the reactions of parents in the 1950s to the polio vaccine is reliving history – so many things to be glad for because of research and science.  Little things, big things – our lives are simple, complex, unpredictable, repetitive and dull – but all of these are the fabric of how we define ourselves and our world view.  And, we need to find time to think, reflect, be grateful for those around us and our own individual selves.  Connections all.

For some reason, while not the dreary parts of Hamlet’s soliloquy, I keep returning to the words:

What piece of work is a man, how noble in reason,
how infinite in faculties, in form and moving,
how express and admirable in action, how like an angel in apprehension,
how like a god!

And that is where my world lies – amorphous, strange, exhilarating, unknown – a fragility to be cherished in the here and now.

A Winter Morning

The last time it snowed where I live was like never. Up in the mountains it does snow – it did a year ago – but of late is relentless blue skies. Today and yesterday we have had clouds and chilly winds, so it feels like Christmas and winter, and even tomorrow, more of the same.

I rather like it!

Still, I think of those magical winter days when sun and snow and sky and trees all play together, your breath rises, and you keep walking to see all the miraculous beauty of the land.

And here is a tribute to those memories. Gouache, sort of pointillstic, sort of not. I did the underpainting with casein and acrylic gouache, to lay down a foundation which would not dissolve when re-wet. I think it worked out pretty well. Overall, I think this is my best original painting to date. It feels “like me” if that makes any sense at all.

Merry Christmas and a No Covid New Year!

Old One

Early last summer, or late last spring, I visited a park with a friend. It is in Los Angeles, above the 118 freeway, so if you frequent the area you might recognize the photo (below) and the painting (above).

It is the kind of park I like – open, easily accessible, and then winding away from the city into the canyons beyond. Since my friend cannot get too far, we never have gone deep into the canyons, but perhaps one day I will go further than I have. It has some lovely tended areas and then wilder areas, but what I particularly enjoy are the oak trees.

This is the view from the pathway returning to the city, and this tree never ceases to find a soft spot (hopefully a sharp spot with good focus in a camera!) when I visit. I think we all have trees or buildings or places we enjoy revisiting.

More pointillism, more gouache.