A new year, same me! Still trying to figure things out. Still making things. Still wondering what the heck is happening in the world and worried about what is to come. Still mothering my children even though one is about to be officially be an adult. Still dreaming of one day living out in the mountains by a lake surrounded by green growing things.
But it is a new year and I did my routine of reading through this blog to review 2024. Last year was definitely a year I stepped out of my studio and into community. I taught several workshops at Manor Mill, taught a weekly art class for disabled adults at TALMAR, taught a 4 day retreat in WA with Bellisima Art Escapes, and joined a Baltimore art collective that created the XoXo Gallery. Wow, that’s a lot! I guess I should be careful with setting my intentions at the beginning of the year. But the wonderful thing about stepping out into community are the people I meet and the connections I have made. I am an introvert, but a friendly one. And I am so curious. I love hearing about people’s stories and who they are.
This was the last painting I made in 2024. But actually I finished it yesterday, several days into 2025. I changed two things in the painting. I adjusted the house and I added another pink line on the left side of the meadow. I probably could have left the painting as it was on 12.31.24, but it would have bothered me. So I worked on it yesterday and signed the painting. So it’s done and in my 2025 folder.
I loved working on this painting. Especially the foreground of the plants. I felt loose and happy in my brushstrokes. I have the painting up on my studio wall now and when I enter the room and my eyes catch it, I feel happy. And that’s important.
This might go in my February show. Not sure yet. But decisions need to be made very soon. Like yesterday.
“Landscapes have a language of their own, expressing the soul of the things, lofty or humble, which constitute them, from the mighty peaks to the smallest of the tiny flowers hidden in the meadow’s grass.” -Alexandra David-Neel