A number of pieces from my 2010 art show, "Moments", will be on display November 5 through 26 at Marti's on Main, a European style art gallery in Albion, New York (229 N. Main). There will be an artist reception this Friday, November 5, from 5:30 to 9:00 and readers of my blog are invited to attend. If you will be in the area and would like to see the paintings on a different date in November, please phone the
gallery curator (Kim) for an appointment.
There will be signed, numbered limited edition prints of some of paintings as well as notecards available for sale at the gallery. Some of the prints are matted, a few are also framed.
The painting above (Antique Tree Peony in Khaki Monochrome), a 48" x 24" oil on 1/4" hardboard will be featured in this showing as well as other oils and some of my watercolors as well.
In other news ... we had a frost last evening, and I always love getting out in the yard for some photography after an early autumn frost. The look of sparkling jewels all along the edges of the fallen leaves is newly beautiful each year when I see it again for the first time; I plan to create two or three paintings in the coming months depicting that pretty crusted frost look.
Last week I wrote about the spectacular look of a particular sunrise, if you recall. As luck would have it, a couple of days later my husband and I went out to buy some groceries late in the day and as we came out of the store found the evening's sunset was turning quite beautiful, much like the sunrise two days before.
As we drove home, the sunset became more and more beautiful. In fact, the more we appreciated the beauty we were witnessing, the more it seemed to expand. Sunsets in this are of upstate New York are quite different from those I used to see in Los Angeles. The California sunset is often a gorgeous, dramatic display of fiery oranges, yellows, deep purples, and near black blues. Here the sunset colors are shades of pale peach, lilac, and lavender fading ever so gradually and perfectly into a soft blue on the sides. That particular night our sunset was also graced by highlights of a brilliant pale gold, and the clouds in the sky above and below the sun had a look somewhat like folded fabric laying across the sky.
I thought about the point I made in the previous blog about how wonderful it would be to greet each day joyously, so joyously that you would run around literally shouting for joy that another day had begun. Speaking with my husband about those thoughts, I knew I wanted to write more on the subject.
Can you imagine waking up in the morning and greeting the first person you see -- whether it is your spouse, partner, child, or even yourself in the mirror -- and bursting forth in the biggest grin and saying genuinely, "Hey, it's
you! I get to have another day in this life with
YOU in it! " Imagine what it would be like to feel deep within and throughout yourself that you are just about the luckiest person alive because you get to experience another day in your very own LIFE. Your house, your feet, your job, your car, your loves, your dreams, your hopes, your challenges, and yes, even your disappointments.
If you allow yourself to do so, you can actually conjure up whatever feelings about your life and all that goes along with it that you care to.
The truth is, too many of the days of my life I have woken up and greeted my day and my circumstances with a less-than-welcoming attitude. Granted, I am living on this beautiful farm in a lovely and cozy, quiet little piece of the world. I have a wonderful husband who I love, an adorable grand daughter who I treasure, two children who I love and very fortunate to have in my life, parents who I cherish, a sister, my brothers, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, dogs, cats. I paint, I write, I knit, I cook, I photograph this lovely world, I have good friends and colleagues, all kinds of materials for creating the things I love to create.
The list could continue to grow, and grow, and grow of all the people, things, and abilities I have that I am so very fortunate to have.
And yet, I still find room to complain about some aspects of my life. I don't complain to you: I have a responsibility when I write to be a voice of insight, inspiration, and faith. However, I have to be honest with you that I
do experience discontent with some aspects of my life and still find myself having to battle at times with my own sour attitude.
I have two weapons I use in that battle: gratitude and love. They are powerful weapons and I find myself drawing them out daily.
There is a third weapon the glorious sunrise and sunset I recently witnessed reminded me to use.
This third weapon is joy.
I have the ability to create joy. I can look at anything and anyone and
choose to greet that person or thing with joy -- or not. It is a choice though, even if I fail to recognize it as a choice.
Joy.
And isn't it interesting, with this topic in mind, that the season that promotes Joy to the World is rapidly approaching. If you are an adventurous reader, perhaps start practicing the creation of joy now by looking at something or someone you have seen a million times already, look as if you are seeing that person or thing for the first or second time--much as a baby greets the world--and create an exclamation within yourself and throughout yourself of a genuine feeling of joy.
Do this today, and practice it daily. I will if you will.
Joy to you, and joy to your world.
Love,
firefly
