3/17/11 | Some months ago i dreamt of blue and purple and green. Nothing else, just color, but the dream was so vivid, I woke up thinking I wanted to do something similiar in color to Louisiana Spring, only to paint the south end of Conesus Lake again.
There's been a lot of environmental change in the lake during my lifetime (and I'm not THAT old.) There used to be tons of perch, then only large perch, then none. The dreaded zebra mussels came, the crayfish (crawdads as I say now) disappeared for a while, and now the weeds grow like crazy. Waterskiiers have sadly been largely replaced by ski-bobs and jetskis. Part of the swamp at the end of the lake was filled in by a development project that never went to completion and disturbed fish breeding crowds. There's almost no beach left for fourth of July bonfires, which I think may be illegal in NYS now anyway. (just like everything else.) "The world is on the brink of environmental collapse and nothing is as good as it was when we are kids and young people are ruining everything blah blah blah"
Gee, I do sound like an old fogey.
But- the crayfish are coming back. The zebras cleared the water for a while. My niece and nephew are learning how to waterski and my kids think I'm a hero when they watch me. Bald eagles were almost extinct because of DDT use when I was a kid, and there a dozens of nest in this very swamp. There are foxes near the lake. My family gathers at the lake every 4th like we have for generations, with an ever growing number of little kids, play some of the old games, make up some new ones, do all sorts of fun things that NYS may or may not allow anyway.
So- As my earth science teacher Erwin Marks frequently reminded us in high school, "nothing is constant but change itself." You can either think of change as catastrophe, or progress, or both.
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 | The artist's pallet has changed; brighter and more vivid and thes new works are simply awesome. | -- Bob Loiseau, 3/18/11
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| What a wonderful comment - both on the lake and on life. The painting is beautiful and it is great to see you back with your blog! Can't wait till summer get togethers! | -- Mom, 3/17/11
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8/14/10 | A few years back I painted 'mexico OR crazy." I guess at that point in my life I figured I had some choices to make. (By the way 'mexico or crazy' is the title of a song by Jason Boland and the Stragglers)
Artists have a long tradition of both of being a bit nutso and of running away to Mexico. Right, Frank?
So why not have both? Go to Mexico. Be a little crazy. Your life- well, there's no good reason for it not to be just a bit more fun. This one's for you Summer. We've come a long way together, my crazy friend. Una mas cerveza darling.
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5/21/10 | I've heard people worry about video games and kids, and about how kids will sometimes just push 'restart,' when the game gets rough, instead of pushing through it. There is a lot to be said for working through the tough stuff.
But don't underestimate the power of 'restart.' We do get second, third, fourth, etc chances in life. Literally, sometimes with electricity to defibrillate the heart or mind, and sometimes figuratively, a slap to the face, or an eye-opening realization that, "HEY! I don't like it here, I don't like who I am, or what I'm doing!"
and there's a big shiny red button- just start living and thinking differently. and keep pushing it over and over if necessary. Your heart will stay rooted where it needs to be.
Go ahead- push the shiny red button.....
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4/20/10 | | This one was inspired purely by admiring the night sky as I was driving home from a lovely evening with artist friends. stalling stalling stalling and taking some photos. You know, the nights you just are having too much fun and don't quite want to go to bed yet? well I didn't and stayed up half the night working on this one. Lots of Frank influence here. thanks, buddy. |
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| I love it! Looks like a southern sky. | -- Mary, 4/21/10
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| Jessica-so excited to see your newest. love it! cpp | -- Carolyn Pratt, 4/21/10
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1/12/10It's been quite a while since I posted, but not because of lack of painting (lately anyway) Lots soon to come, and I've been learning an extraordinary amount from an extraordinary man, mentor, and friend, Frank Gerrietts, over the last few months. ( www.franksgerrietts.com)
The world has been good to me as of late, my friendships and relationships have taken on new meanings and everything is just plain more interesting than before. Life is way, way stranger than fiction. Not my story to tell here. Here's to seeing the backside of 2009, welcome 2010. Keep it weird. :)
j
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| Happy New Year! Looking forward to your new work. | -- Aunt Mary, 1/13/10
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10/4/09| pictured here is a field of echinacea I photographed in Monteverde, Costa Rica in 1998. Isn't it a shame that so often in life we don't realize how happy we were until later. "The good old days" are sadly gone before we recognize them. I was lucky. In 1998 I was blissfully happy and I knew it.
Also in Monteverde there is a cheese factory, founded by a group of pacifists from Alabama in 1951. They just packed up and left, because they would rather live in a country not at war, and in fact with no army. Peace and cheese. Who wouldn't be happy?
I am in fact very lucky. I too left a lot behind recently, not of choice at the time, but have found peace again. And maybe all the bad stuff in life just makes the happy times more obvious. All the more reason to appreciate the good when it's there. | |
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| Beautiful picture. So glad you are feeling peace again. | -- Aunt Mary, 10/12/09
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| That is so profound - and so wise! I am proud of you for developing such insight! | -- Mom, 10/5/09
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9/15/09 | I meant to be doing more suburban landscapes, but my kids have been getting more involved in my painting. Which is pretty exciting for all of us. My 3-year old really liked this photograph, and he suggested the name. (he's also responsible for such titles as "the bridge" and "the woods") Even my 5 year daughter is getting into painting, although her motives may be a little different. Somehow she's under the impression that "artists make tons and tons of money," and that fingerpainting is going to supplement her allowance. Perhaps it's time to teach her a little arithmetic.
This picture was taken on some farmland owned by my father in upstate NY. A lot of it is being developed now (like everywhere) but it was a great place to play when we were kids. It seemed like we spent hours out there in the summer sun, looking for tadpoles, finding strange things in the woods (more on that another time) spooking ourselves with 'children of the corn' type scenes.
kids are fun. I may be painting trains soon. But I draw the line at Thomas the tank engine.
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9/11/09 | | I have to thank my three year old for the title for this piece. He very much likes bridges- to the extent that we drive out of our way to go over bridges. Going under bridges doesn't have quite the same appeal but is better than nothing. This particular underpass is just around the corner from my new house and is part of my new daily jogging route.
I've been thinking of embarking on a new series of landscape paintings, but not traditional landscapes. I don't know what percentage of Americans live in suburbia but it is probably pretty high. So why not suburban landscapes? Maybe traditional "pretty" just doesn't appeal to me right now. Maybe I miss my old life as a soccer mom. (I'm not exactly a retired soccer mom- more forcibly laid off. Oh well, the economy's in the toilet anyway, I'm not the only one who lost her job) If my son had his way I'd paint a whole bunch of trains. Preferably little blue tank engines going over bridges. Maybe. |
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| I like the sun coming up right over the bridge. Cool painting. | -- Mary, 9/14/09
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9/4/09 | I think this may be the last of my fish paintings for a while. Why is it that something so painful is so beautiful? Why this classic association of pain and beauty? (excuse me while I kick off my 4 inch heeled sandals and think about this for a minute) Would an ugly jellyfish not get fed? Is the beauty supposed to be some kind of consolation for the pain of the sting?
I got stung by a jellyfish once trying to surf in Costa Rica. It REALLY hurt, but I never even saw it. It hurt so much it was hard to swim to shore. But I made it, and back to the hotel pool, where I nursed my sting at the swim up bar with a frozen margarita applied inside and out. In my twenties I used to say that there was nothing in life that couldn't be made better by a frozen strawberry margarita and a hot bubble bath. OK, we all make mistakes in our twenties. But swim-up bar (what a great concept!) and margarita are a great therapy for jellyfish stings.
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9/2/09 | In high school, for my senior yearbook quotation, I chose the famous line from Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening;" 'The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.' Setting aside for a moment the fact that it rarely snows in southeast Texas (it did a LOT in western NY) I think those lines appealed to me because I felt like I had a lot "work" ahead of me, stuff I was "supposed" to do, go to college, med school, internship, residency, get a job, get married, have a family. Well, those woods really did look lovely, but I resisted them and did all the stuff I promised to do. But not everyone keeps their promises and sometimes those woods just come right out and grab you off the road you were on. Thanks woods. It sure is lovely in here.
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Previously published:All 35 blog entries |
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