something blue

8 x 10, oil on canvas

This Double Arch has been gently molded and shaped by the forces of nature, while the distant mountains serve as Something Blue; overlooking, sheltering and working in harmony with the surrounding gorge.

And in the same way, we are shaped by those we meet, and our hearts are sheltered by those we love. Congrats and much love to Jen and Carson.

Ever thine,

ever mine,

ever ours.

Ludwig van Beethoven

something borrowed

10 x 8, oil on canvas

Trees burrow in, cheerfully sharing their bright colors of autumn amid the welcoming grey cliffs. And the unions of friendship, support, and comfort are celebrated by gifts received, as well as those extended. Something Borrowed celebrates those reciprocal bonds...

"Love

is the condition in which the happiness

of another person

is essential to your own"

Robert Heinlein

something new

8 x 10, oil on canvas

a young pine tree miraculously sprouts up between the boulders...

and Something New ensures optimism for the future...

"The journey of a thousand miles

begins with a single step."

Lao Tsu

something old

10 x 8, oil on canvas

Switching gears to landscapes for the next couple of weeks -

There are more than one hundred natural arches at Kentucky's Red River Gorge, and this one represents Something Old For Continuity...

Music creates order out of chaos:

for rhythm imposes unanimity upon the divergent,

melody imposes continuity upon the disjointed,

and harmony imposes compatibility upon the incongrous."

Yehudi Menuhin

seven eleven

12 x 12, oil on canvas

Today is the seventh day of the seventh month, so I wanted to share an old joke:

"If Seven-Eleven is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, why do they put locks on the doors?"...

At first glance it is merely a humorous insight, but doesn't it also serve as a gentle reminder that each path we choose carries its own tempo and flow; and the only "locks" are the ones we imagine, or place there ourselves?

No? Uh...ok, sorry...maybe that was just an extra shot of caffeine talking...

"Getting started,

keeping going,

getting started again-

in art and in life,

it seems to me

this is the essential rhythm."

Seamus Heaney

young gardeners

12 x 12, oil on canvas

"How sublime to look down into the workhouse of nature,

to see her clouds, hail, snow, rain, and thunder,

all fabricated at our feet!

but, tho' an old man

I am but a young gardener."

Thomas Jefferson

As our country ages, may we choose to remain young gardeners, planting seeds of harmony and peace with each encounter.

Happy Birthday America!