Ocotillo Dawn is one of my early oil paintings – as ever the favorite subject – Dawn off my back porch. A few weeks ago one of my neighbors was visiting for lunch and took a shine to it! So, its forever home ends up being in Salton City, about a mile from where it was born.
Last Friday I traded out the work that I have displayed at the Palm Mountain Resort and Spa in Palm Springs ahead of our busy season. I took down the mixed media paintings and put up a series of oil paintings. For some reason my phone decided not to save one of the pictures. Oh well, all is not lost. One of the things I love about this Spahhhh is that the treatment rooms have names such as ‘Relax’, ‘Refresh’ and ‘Renew’.
#1288 Let Dreams Through. Watercolor collage, 5×3.5 matted to fit 7×5″ frame.
Here are another couple babies from the bin. For the first painting, I was definitely in my right brain when I was inspired to name it. On the second one, I just love the way I’ve been able to find the clouds that flow throughout the collage.
#1289, Continuous. Watercolor collage on foamcore, 3.5×5″, matted to fit 5×7″ frame.
I wrote this poem sometime in the 70s. Perhaps there was an eclipse around that time that was in the news, but I don’t remember getting to see it. What I mean by a “circular, alternating poem” is that each line has a different meaning if read as a couplet with the line above and the line below (the alternating part) – and the last line is the first line again….
Eclipse
(a circular, alternating poem)
as sky and sea and land
merged all in one
with darkness
filling the air
there was no sign
of life
there appeared no evidence
of fear
there was reek in the air
and the stench of death
in some nostrils
there was only despair
throughout the world
where darkness grew
silence ramified voices
like there was no language
things turned and walked alone
to await the time
only patience was required
before this second dawn of the moon
the word should wear a shroud
of fate and miscomprehension
the extent was unknown but widespread
and it was unseen by an outsider
this sudden relief when the end was over
and going back to the beginning
was a slow process
like this punishment
for crime unrealized and unintentional
is no less real and irreversible
an experience such as this like life
might be needed in the eternity beyond kings
to realize the beauty of its symmetry
it must be observed with real eyes
for there only can be seen
the world relazed unharmed reemerges
as sky and sea and land
Another couple of babies from that clutch that I hatched a few weeks ago. The second one is a personal “favorite child”.
#1285 “Precision”. Watercolor collage, 5×3.5″ in mat framing to 7×5″. $25
#1287 “It’s raining stars”. Watercolor collage, 5×3.5″ in mat framing to 7×5″. $25
I always enjoy passing along the Cloud Appreciation Society Newsletter and this month it has two things that I especially love – a beautiful day’s edge cloud, and a poem.
#1271 Night watch. Mixed media on solid pine panel, 14×24″. $250.
This is the last of the current batch of cloud-shaped paintings Theoretically the shape is great for a kids room, but not necessarily the poem written in it, if you want your child to ever sleep:
Night Watch
Stars between clouds
a night to stay up and watch
until the sun rises.
