Work in Progress

Did I tell you that we all read poems on Thanksgiving? Amy read one by Anna Swir. I had never read her before, so I looked her up and found this poem.

It’s translated from Polish by Czeslaw Milosz and Leonard Nathan

 

Happy as a Dog’s Tail

by Anna Swir

Happy as something unimportant

and free as a thing unimportant.

As something no one prizes

and which does not prize itself.

As something mocked by all

and which mocks at their mockery.

As laughter without serious reason.

As a yell able to outyell itself.

Happy as no matter what,

as any no matter what.

Happy

as a dog’s tail.

A Long Time Ago

I found an old 2-1/4 negative–one I had been searching for for a long time. It’s one Dad took of my sister Aggles and me dressed up for Halloween. A studio here digitized the negative and made a 30” x 40” print for me! We’re trying to decide how to frame it or mount it.

Anne's Show

Very excited about this: My friend Anne Herbst’s show Currents starts today at FOG Gallery, and will run through January 2, 2022.

Anne Herbst Birds Flying Together watercolor on paper, 14 x 20 in. 2021

This Is Us

Holly, Bill, Barbara, me, Tom, Larry

Presents!

Listening to a concert

As usual, I stayed in my room most of the time and arranged beach treasures and painted, unless I was chasing these two up and down the beach.

Pawleys Island

At the last minute we decided to fly to the east coast to join our pals Barbara, Larry, Holly, and Bill.

 

It was so beautiful this evening that I had to stop my bike, untangle my phone (odometer and camera) and take some photos.

6:32 pm looking west from the wooden bridge

6:32 pm looking east from the wooden bridge

 

Painting Class

 

Every Wednesday evening I take an online painting class from my old San Francisco teacher, Mel. The class focuses on painting a series. There are ten participants. It’s a joy to be able to paint and talk together, even over Zoom.

We're working on statements for our work; my series might be about AI:

I want to express my affection for creatures we humans endow with artificial intelligence. The portraits in my series are named after creatures I've read about and seen in movies: Clara, of “Clara and the Sun;” Rachael of “Bladerunner;” Meena, of Google. These creatures are bursting inside with their own type of humanity and I believe we should show them the same courtesy and respect we offer our friends. I wrap these beings in cozy colors and patterns I think they’d like. I paint them with precision, knowing I could never come close to their own handiwork.

in progress

 

Jeep Trip With The Boys

Tom, John, and Tom

Tom, John, and Tom

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Jewels bought out of the back of a car at Tsegi Overlook.

Two Lindas and a Tom

This evening we were invited out to Linda C.’s. After the sun set, we moved into her gazebo with a bottle of wine and a tray of incredible snacks. What kind of snacks? A salmon spread on cucumber slices, apples wrapped in cheese, cold shrimp, fruit salad.

p.s. That’s Linda C.’s dog Max.

 

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I miss this little gallery in San Francisco so much–and its owners too. But I’m happy to say we’re all still working together even though I’ve lived in Albuquerque the past 2 1/2 years. That’s our latest poster (above). I emailed the file to Anne, she walked it over to FedEx and set it up in the gallery window – all in the course of one afternoon.

Our Man Dan

 

This is Dan, our magnificent contractor. Everything nice in our house has been built by him. And today we got to meet his wife, Rebecca!

 

Big Jim's Farm

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Big Jim’s makes the best watermelon agua fresca.