Monday, December 31, 2007

old year post

I was looking for one image from my work in 2007 to sum up the year. This is a personal favorite. I love the random and accidental marks and the powerful maze of the cross. For me it's is a good metaphor for 2007 . I thank God for the blessings (and challenges) of this year and I pray for guidance through 2008.

Monday, December 24, 2007

Deck the Halls


At this link, you can scroll down and see links to the holiday decorations of hundreds of bloggers! I got there thanks to my sister who is so good at the internet it's scary!
http://boomama.net/?p=1924

We've used this tree for 24 years. Except now we just use the top half. I love it. It goes into the basement (with the lights still wrapped around it). It gets covered with a sheet and sleeps until we haul it out again the next year. No, we're not a hot chocolate, wander the woods and slaughter some poor pine kinda family. Sorry. It works for us. The good news is, we could have Christmas in July at a moments notice! The Hallmark plastic tree topper w is something we got for 1/2 off the first year we were married- 30 years ago. All the favorite ornaments are on there.

My neice made the wreath for me. I painted the icon (called the Hodegetria) and where the quilt is hanging, there's supposed to be an Advent Starry Night. You'll see it on the table next to the icon. I finished the quilt (which was a big learning curve for me). I made it with a Lenten theme. When I hung it up with the Advent stuff just to look at it for a while, it seemed to fit, so here it is! Serendipitous Christmas/Lent combo.

Now I should go help to shovel snow. My Husband probably looks like Nanook of the North by now. we really got walloped overnight.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

LOWELL DAWN


Another recent painting 24"x30" and the photo that inspired the sky. This one is heading for the January-February show in the lobby of St Mary's Health Care.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

ADVENT STARRY NIGHT

I painted this Advent Starry Night in 1997 in purples, blues and golds. I removed the color on Photoshop for possible reproduction on a Christmas eve liturgy. It's nice to see that the composition holds up in black and white. For me, pondering the mysteries of Christ's birth is what this season is about.

Of course , there is a serious nod here to Vincent Van Gogh.

Monday, December 17, 2007

MOVING SPIRIT 2

The second in a series of morphing non-objective compositions. They are painted intuitively without an advance plan. It's just me and my paint and the moving spirit. It's a fun way to work.

Friday, December 14, 2007

ONEKAMA SNOW








Here are 4 stages of a recent painting from vine charcoal on a warm brown background to the finished product. This is 24x30" and headed for a show at St. Mary's Health Care in January.

Saturday, December 08, 2007

AUGUST SUNFLOWERS


I spent many hours on this at the Fire and Water Showroom between customers. I think I've refined it as far as it wants to go! It's an amalgam of pictures I took and experiences I've had in Northern Michigan. It's 30"x40". It's fun to work that large. It will be included in the solo exhibit I'm having in the St. Mary's Health Care lobby in January.

Monday, December 03, 2007

Rilke's birthday


LIVING THE QUESTIONS #10, V. Wieringa

December 4 is the birthday of poet Rainer Maria Rilke, (books by this author) born in Prague (1875), one of his ideas was that human beings are put on earth in order to experience the beauty of ordinary things.

In the Ninth Elegy, Rilke wrote:

"Maybe we're here only to say: house,
bridge, well, gate, jug, olive tree, window —
at most, pillar, tower... but to say them, remember,
oh, to say them in a way that the things themselves
never dreamed of existing so intensely."

I listened ahead to the Writer's Almanac for tomorrow. Rilke said some amazing and interesting things. His quote about "living the questions into the answers" was an inspiration for me for a series of paintings last year.