The Multiplication of Goodness

Goodness seems seasonal, like we have to build into it. For me, I have to give myself long periods of time to just be curious and interested, enough time for some form of boredom to set in. That's when everything gets good! It’s not a lack of activity or that I have to do nothing – oh no! For me, it’s about activity that leaves room for the opportunity to make big strides of progress.

I'm gearing up to judge the Bay Harbor Art Festival on July 26th. What an honor! I can't wait to see all the work of so many talented artists. They had to produce high quality work and apply to even get in the show. I'm so inspired by artists who make things and put them into the world.

I’ve been crazy busy making things work better. We did a big push to update my website with all of my work to date and then I organized the studio to make it so much more conducive to this next batch of work and now I’m antsy to paint.

I’m farming in a sense. I have to plant the right seeds in the right soil and then momentum takes over and everything grows like crazy. It’s like understanding certain crops that grow well together – tomatoes and basil or peas and carrots. Getting one thing done just fuels getting on to the next. 

This is why I like to work in a series of 3-5 paintings at a time. Same shared color palette, but not so much pressure on any one painting. Progress on any one painting, makes all the others better too! I’m finally in the swing on a series of six or eight paintings with a blue water palette. I’m working big while I have room. I have several 48x48” canvases in progress along with a medley of 36x48” and other mid sized canvases. In weather like this I can work outside too. I’m painting again about water.

The water always calls to me. I’ve been in my fresh water ocean a bunch of times now. It was a cold spring so my first swim of the season was quite late. The water was about 60 degrees which is a lot warmer than my first swim in years past I’ll tell you. My beach trips are packed with noticing things. Where the plovers nested this year. How many babies the Merganser hatched and what’s her nightly ritual now that her favorite rock is no longer accessible to her babies? Even the sticks and rocks and beach grass are bound to come out in this series somewhere.

My most recent big joy was the discovery of a whole beach full of a rare protected wild flower, the Lake Huron Tansy. I’ve tracked it the past few years, only 4-5 plant sites have been documented in the whole state. It only grows on sandy dunes. But this year…what a miracle to see. I hope it shows up as I paint this series too!

Nature is so active right now. I’m really breathing it in. Everything is in motion and in high growth mode. The sky changes from minute to minute. Birds nesting, hatching, and fledging.  You can sometimes hear the corn growing; it grows so fast – my grandma used to say the corn was “knee high by the fourth of July.”  

That’s how I feel right now. Growth is quick when you have space, time and a little sunshine.