Life has been all hustle bustle in Arty Life land lately. Been bordering on a sense of OVERWHELM with all that’s on my plate. Clearing out Mama’s cottage. Finding space for everything in the studio. Writing. Arting. Learning. Being.
AAAARUGH!
Until this morning. I woke up to filtered gray light and the sound of a steady rain. And then came the delicious realization that it was my day off. And with that came the proverbial fork in the road… I had a choice. OMG!!! I. HAD. A. CHOICE. I could get up and continue the pace that’s driving me into the ground or—
I could spend the morning jumping on the bed, if I wanted. Practice those handspring and cartwheels.
Or better yet, grab the iphone from the side table and start taking pictures.
Because the geometry that is my bedroom, has been my bedroom for nearly twenty years, was suddenly very interesting.
And the drizzly light coming through the curtains was soft and lovely
And there were puppies under the covers. Puppies who wanted me to roll over and grab a few more ZZZZZZZZs.
So. I. Did. Which was a big deal. HUGE. Because I tend to be a burning-the-candle-at-both-ends kinda girl.
Holy crap! I slept in!!!
And when I got up, this is what greeted me. Everything fresh and wet and smelling clean. Life-affirming, life-giving joyful spring rain.
Water everywhere. In the concrete bowl I wrote about here.
On the St. John’s Wort growing wild between the house and the barn.
In puddles along the way.
The ponies wanted room-service this morning. Wanted me to slog through the mud to them.
Not that they hadn’t been out and about before I got there. But why walk over to the fence when Mom will wait on you. Really. Why?
Back at the house there was one more thing I had to do.
Thank the rain for knocking the pollen off the trees. And tell the stuff that was already on the porch I would hose it off soon. But not today.
Because even tho there are things I should do, things I have to do—everything will get done in it’s own good time. Right now I hear a studio calling my name.
Oh my sweetums, life is PERFECT! Yes indeed, perfect because the sun thesunthesun, that big old thing that lights up the days as we spin around in space…the SUN is showing her lovely face around these parts again.
And filling my heart with gladness, yes indeed.
Even though the days are short and continue to grow shorter (Boo! Hiss!) as we head towards the solstice, the storms and wretched dreary days of last week are GONE. Poof, just like that. YAY!!! They’ve moved on and taken their howling winds and fierce rains elsewhere.
Winds that kept me awake through the night, wondering if I would EVER see my children again. Seriously, I almost got up and wrote them LETTERS, farewell, my lovlies… but didn’t…because that might tempt the universe to dump a tree on the house.
Along with the wind came the rain. The heavens opened up and dumped over a foot of water over a few soggy days. The river rose high and ran crazy wild. And tera was no longer firma, just muddy soup.
The dogs planted themselves at the door as the water spill over the gutters and said, We’re not fools,we’ll pee in the house.
But now the rain, the wind are gone. Done. The dogs are doing their business outside.
And all is right with the world because the sun is back, the light is brilliant. And there’s a wee bit o’warmth beyond the late autumn chill.
But it’s the shadows that grab my arty heart.
The way the light comes through the curtains.
And bends Nana’s rocker around the corner.
The way it caresses the oaks in Mama’s grove.
And muffles shadow chimes silent against the wall.
But mostly because it gives me long long legs for dancing in the grass.
I hope wherever you are, the sun is shining today.
Oh, and hey…if you haven’t seen it yet, check out the video I made last week. I seem to have struck a creative chord with that one, it’s had quite a few FaceBook shares already. If you like it, please do me a favor and and tell your friends. You can find it on my website as well as my FaceBook page.
Helloooooooo, my sweetums! Been a long time. Took the weekend off from posting. Oh man, what a vacation that was. Channeled my creativity into painting. Yes indeed. Got some ART to show you.
But first…the weather report.
Remember all that rain I bitched about rejoiced over last week? Sumthin’ like 12 inches by the Friday evening news. That’s a whole lot ‘o wet. Indeed.
But Saturday we woke up to SUN! Blue skies. Big yellow orb. Heaven. Pure heaven. For a couple of hours.
Walked outside and it was like an enchanted forest around here. All that water going back up to the sky.
But it came down again. Only colder. Next morning we woke up to a different kind of enchantment. The kind that makes the dogs crazy happy.
But that’s enough about weather. Happens one way or another, every day. So let’s move on to ART! YAY!!! Let’s hear it for studio time. YAY!
I can’t hear you. Let’s do it again. LOUDER!
YAY!
Much better. Okay, so here are some works-in-progress. All acrylics. 12×24, (2) 24×24, 40×40. The closest one to being finished is the one with the woman.
'In Her Dreams' by Susan Lobb Porter. Acrylic on canvas, 24x24
Pretty close to being done. Might be, in fact. But until it walks out the door to a new home I always reserve the right to make changes. Just because I can.
Oh, how I enjoyed being in the studio. Enjoyed being productive. Did some thinking while I was painting and realized I need to do more of that. But since there’s only so many hours in the day something’s got to give. So I decided to cut back on the blog schedule. Instead of posting EVERY DAY (Is that nuts or what???) I’m cutting back to three days a week. At least for the time being. To make things easy to remember, I’m thinking Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
So I’ll see you Wednesday. Remember, that’s Random Acts of Art day. If you’ve got a link to share, there’ll be a link up on my blog. You can also send your photos to me and I’ll post them here. If you’re sending photos, be sure I get them by Tuesday afternoon, Pacific time (California). Can’t wait to see what you have to share!
Holy kamoly! Water water EVERYWHERE!!! Just pouring outta the sky like, umm…RAIN. All. Week. Long. The meadow is now a lake, the culvert a raging, bank-breeching creek.
Mr. Spouse is putting the studio project on hold while he builds the ark.
Yoo-hoo…goddess of precipitation. This one’s for you, hon…ever hear of moderation?
Lights are flickering. I think I’ll cut this short before I get cut short. Going to take the weekend off while I’m at it. But I’ll be back Monday.
And if I’m not, it means the connection floated away. Or we’re without power.
Now in case you’re in drought mode, here’s something to remind you what it’s like….
I’m sitting here listening to the weather. Not the weather report, the weather. The real deal. The sound of rain blowing through the pines. Beating against the widows. Spilling over the gutter onto the patio.
The sounds of winter when it’s not quite cold enough to snow. The sound that will keep the pastures alive this summer. That will help the trees retain some moisture during fire season.
I’ve been listening to for days. It’s the most beautiful music, especially coming so late in the driest of dry winters.
That, my friends, is the number one thing I give thanks for this week.
Although the roof over my head and the fire in the wood stove are a close second. Creature comforts are a good thing.
Speaking about creatures and their comforts, it a wet world outside these days. There’s standing water everywhere. Puddles and mud. Puddles and mud. The ponies are hanging out in what I call the barn but it’s really a three sided shed that keeps them high and dry and out of the wind. They can go in and out as they please. When the weather is…weather, I make sure they have a nice fluffy bed of shavings to keep them warm.
And no one appreciates that more than my boy, Saki, AKA Pony-My-Heart. The sight of Mom lugging a bag of shavings through the mud gets him all aquiver. He’s all over me as I slice open the plastic. Nuzzles the bag. Pawing impatiently. Making excited little noises deep in his throat. Can barely contain himself as I dump the shavings onto the mat. And then he’s down on his knees, over on his back. Grunting and groaning and rolling like he’s the happiest boy on the planet. And for a couple of minutes I think he is.
The wind is picking up right now, driving the rain against the roof. It’s a comforting sound. In a few minutes I’ll climb into bed. We always sleep with a bedroom window open, no matter what the weather. I’ll snuggle under the covers. The rain and wind will sound like I’m right there. Outside, in the thick of it. Like a lullabye it will lull me to sleep.
