A ribbon of mountain air

Sometimes grace is a ribbon of mountain air that gets in through the cracks.

- Anne Lamott

Winter Lights

It certainly as been all about End Times of late and in a weird way, December 25th has the same feel for me.

12.12.12 and 12.21.12 passed without incident, at least in apocalyptic terms. Unless you're a parent or loved one of the slain in Newtown, Connecticut. That's so horrific I can't speak of it.

But for me, the pressure to perform, to deliver by December 25 is just as...crazed. The deadlines, the pressures, the expectations for this one holiday...and the worst of it is, it is in fact a beautiful holiday.

I just can't ever pull Christmas off. I've never had a traditional life and I can't make this traditional holiday work with my life. It's never a White Christmas.

Add to that, I secretly think there's a built in code in my body to be sick on schedule. I can't remember a Christmas in recent memory I haven't been sick; either just preceding it, during it, or just after it.

But I do find beautiful moments in it and I'm so thankful for that. It's so dark when I drive home from work, and on this lagoon is little pier with this display of two deer and 3 little trees every year. It's so calm and silent and beautiful. I love the lights of the apartment buildings reflecting on the lagoon. I love the quiet of it. It is utterly serene.

Just as I'm about to turn left onto my street, there's this simple tree. But I jumped out in the cold night air and took these pictures with just a modest Canon camera. Without all the right settings and lenses and social media awareness. I just took some pictures with my fingers freezing because I like how these lights are little friendly sentinels on the way home. 

A little light in the winter's darkness

I hope you have lights to guide to you home and little moments of peace and quiet and loveliness this holiday.

Live inside that hope

 

The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what to hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Barbara Kingsolver

It's the End of the World as We Know It...

Behold this lovely world

©2008 Judith Nicholls, Beth Krommes

If today, 12.12.12., is the end of everything, and lately it's felt like it, it certainly is a beautiful day for it. The weather is sunny and crisp. My heart is so heavy today with the loss of a friend on Monday, but I look at this planet and say "behold!"

I love this beautiful picture book. The poems are from different cultures around the world and Beth Krommes illustrations are just wonderful. She creates her artwork by developing the images on scratchboard, photocopying the scratchboard and then filling in the photocopies with watercolor. It really is a stellar collection of poetry.

Above, above
All birds in air

Below, below
All earth's flowers

Inland, inland
All forest trees

Seaward, seaward
All ocean fish

Sing out and say
Again the refrain

Behold this lovely world.

- Mary Kawena Pukui

The Pane of Shame

So, the assignment for Week 1 of my expensive online and summarily neglected Get Your Paint On! class was to take a look at the incredible quilts from Gee's Bend. They really are wonderful and much documented so that's all I'm going to say about them. Specifically, "We want you to experiment and get familiar with your paint and make blocks of color. They can be super tight and orderly or wacky and off kilter like some of the Gee's Bend quilts." I bought a stack of 12x12 cheapo canvas panels. Not known for being true to square.

 I wanted to play with several things; fluorescent paint, my Copic airbrush system and stencils, and gold foil. It's hard to tell but there's also a gold metallic wash over much of the piece.

I actually like this tilted view of it a bit better. I'm pretty pleased with my little gold foiled circle. I did that with a rubber stamp, glue, and gold leaf. The dark red circle was airbrushed on with my Copic. I was wondering if marker would take over acrylic paint and, huzzah huzzah, it did!

Believe it or not, I actually put some effort into not being lazy and incorporated a little color theory to make the colors pop.

And there we have it. The one and only assignment I completed for a five-week course. Which makes this perfectly fine but-not world-changing painting exercise valued at approximately $150.00. I do take PayPal for anyone so inclined.

And for my final moment of shame. It's not the first time I've signed up for that class and not followed through. So really, it's a $300.00 piece of hallway art. BUT on the bright side, when the class rolls around again, I've got assignment one IN THE BAG!!!!!! Huzzah Huzzah Huzzah. And not to worry, there's a GYPO: Beyond the Basics class too.

I really do recommend the class highly and the lovely instructors, Mati McDonough and Lisa Congdon are just the most wonderful artists and the Teahouse Studio in Berkeley offers fantastic classes. Mati's new book is Daring Adventures in Paint. Like her, it is all manner of charming.

It will come as no surprise

to anyone who knows me that I completed assignment #1 and no other in my online Get Your Paint On! class. I shall post that sad, singular assignment next.  Given the cost of the online class, perhaps the most expensive sample painting I've ever done....

In the meantime. I spent today in an all-day training session that left me feeling hopeless for all mankind, if not my immediate colleagues. In my fantasies my dream job would be to be paid to MAKE ART, PIN ON PINTEREST, and PROCLAIM MY INSIGHTS.

1) Thus, although not my art, I was shocked to find that the incredible artist for this utilitarian but oh-so-beautiful Kleenex box was not printed on this box!  The artist is in fact Cori Dantini. She's wonderful. {click on photo}

2) Good God in Heaven the time I have spent on Pinterest is shocking. It is both my delight and my sorrow and I've known profound love and profound betrayal from it. Silly sounding, I know. But Pinterest had a profound impact on my life.

3) Lastly, I proclaim this insight. I astudiously maintain both my blog and Pinterest as politics-free. But I have a hatred for the Romney-Ryan ticket that is..unrivaled. If those toxic, deceitful despots are elected, the fucktards that voted for them will get exactly what they deserve. And I pity us all.

Which brings me to the glowing beautiful cocktail next to the the Kleenex box. It's my own recipe which I shan't divulge. Because it is so delicious I'm certain it will win me top prize in a cocktail contest. And I'll need the money if R&R are elected because those douchebags will undoubtedly do away with the institution of a free and democratic public library. I will tell you this much...it contains orange juice.