Philo said, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” We all have our pain and struggles that we carry around with us. But some of us are better than others at hiding our battle scars.
These paintings by Brazilian artist Marta Penter called to my mind the thought of the lonely and hurting who walk among us. We can’t see the pain behind their smiles, the wounds beyond the laughter. Every one of us is one of them. Some days we might be carry our blues more prominently than others, but they are always there, just beneath the surface.
After spending too much time parked in front of the laptop this morning, I took a little break in our backyard. Just looking out the window, the landscape seems silent and still. But one step outside and the realization washes over me that every moment is teeming with sound and movement and life.
It’s happening just like that. We are so often caught up in our own microcosm that we forget there is a macro world happening all around us, in full sound, color, and light. As I type, the branches are softly swaying, acorn shells are dropping from a hungry squirrel’s mouth, clouds slowly pass, the neighbor’s chickens clucks are heard loudly through our little valley.
We’re so self-involved, it’s easy to let opportunities to see and relish the world around us pass by. Staring at our phones, working, going to the gym instead of going for a walk. These paintings by Australian artist Michael Muir drive home for me what a beautifully colorful world is awaiting. We just need to open our eyes to see it.
That little piece of thread. You know the one. You want to pull it, you want to cut it, but you know that if you do, that seam will be broken and everything will unravel.
Many times over the last year I’ve had that feeling, that longing to pull the thread, to let things unravel. Sitting by my mom’s bedside, especially in those last two weeks, alone with her at night in the hospice room, listening so closely to every breath, I had to stop myself from pulling on that thread. She needed me. I couldn’t let myself unravel.
We all felt it– she was so weak, we all had to be her strength. Then when she was gone, we were able to allow ourselves to unravel, to feel and express those emotions we’d dammed up for so long. Our cloaks were undone but we didn’t leave them in a discarded pile on the floor. We picked up the threads and began to weave a new story. One that included her memory, her spirit, her strength. It won’t look the same as before, not even close, we’re rebuilding into a completely different kind of beautiful.
The sculptural work of El Paso artist Adrian Esparza uses threads from Mexican sarapes and reconstructs them into architectural-like wall sculptures. To see more of his work, please visit the website of his representing gallery, Taubert Contemporary.
Mr. F and I are purists when it comes to spending time in the outdoors. We like to keep things simple and spend as much time exploring outside of camp as possible. For us, it isn’t about hanging out around a campground, it is about abiding in the wild and quiet places. Yosemite National Park is an incredible example of a scenic sanctuary, but with nearly 4 million visitors a year, it can be anything but quiet.
Yosemite is comprised of nearly 1200 square miles of wilderness so it just takes a bit of effort to escape the crowds and find some peace. Our last full day in Yosemite, we awoke long before sunrise, packed up for the day and headed out from Glacier Point to hike ten miles to Nevada Falls. Beginning in the mist and fog, we had the trail to ourselves for much of the morning. It is in those moments of solitude that we can truly appreciate the beauty and splendor that surrounds us. These are our favorite memories of wild places.
In her Yosemite series, Seattle artist Susanna Bluhm creates paintings based on her own experiences of the park, first from the eyes of a child, then through the eyes of an adult and mother.
We see the marks of human hand in Bluhm’s landscapes, graffiti-like marks and geometrics reminding us that we are ever encroaching on these wild temples. There is a reason, though, that we continue to return. These pristine spaces call to us, call to the untamed spirit that dwells deep inside, the one buried beneath the worries and wires of modern life.
Last year in Eureka, summer practically passed us by. I think I wore shorts twice. Which is just the way Mr. F and I like it. But this year in Marin, we’ve seen our fair share of warm days. And while the warmth definitely wears on me, the knowledge that it is short lived helps me enjoy its stay just a little.
Now don’t get me wrong– I’ll complain about the heat! But I’ll take the blue skies and sparkles on the water in exchange for the extra warmth. It helps soothe my soul to know that this time is fleeting, that soon the blue skies will change back to gray, the color in the leaves will begin to shift, the air will again be crisp and cool. Summer, you may come and I’ll bask in your short-lived presence because it reminds me this season will depart soon enough.
The paintings featured are by artist Seth Smith. See more of Seth’s work on his website.
As we approach the blank surface, perhaps there is a preformed destination in mind. Or maybe we simply begin and follow where the paint takes us. For many artists, painting is as much about process as it is about finished product. Actually, it is likely more about process and hardly about product at all.
Last year, New York artist Eric LoPresti created a series of paintings repeating the same composition but shifting to various degrees stylistically.
Even the artist that begins with an idea of where they are going will often find the paint taking them in a different direction entirely. It is when we are open to those new directions that the magic really happens– the subconscious takes over and our heart wields the brush ahead of our mind. All it takes is the placement of a certain color or line and suddenly we are off into worlds as yet untraveled.
Gems are cut to take advantage of the quality and color in the stone– for optimal sparkle. In the cutting and shaping we might assume that we’d lose the natural beauty of the stone, but instead, the process of refining the angles means the gems brilliance can be fully taken advantage of.
We are much the same. We begin as raw material and years of learning and living shape and refine us. Our first stage, that most natural state is beautiful in its purity, but as we are cut and polished by experiences, the light hits our depths and we truly sparkle.
The paintings featured are the work of Kurt Pio. To see more of the artist’s work, please visit his website.
Mr. F and I have been doing this travel thing for over four years now. That’s four years on the road.. four years of not knowing, four years of adventuring. We are getting ready to think about our next spot, taking off and landing again in a new place, awaiting discovery.
Each fresh spot brings not just a new landscape, but new environments, new vibes, new spaces. Every place comes with its own sense of being. Australian artist Richard Claremont interprets the character of landscapes near his South Coast home in paint and color.
I like to look back on the places we’ve been and think about our time in terms of what we felt and experienced in each one. Claremont’s paintings with their pink light and lush brushstrokes evoke the warm and loving feeling of a landscape well loved. We’re looking forward to finding our own well loved landing.
I see it every day among my friends and family on social media. Division. Us vs. them. Outright hatred. It is so disheartening to see such vitriol leveled against people we don’t even know. It all seems so pointless. A waste of time and energy. We are more alike than we are different. We were all born in the same way, we all die the same death. We are all one race– human.
These hyperrealistic drawings by Heidi Draley McFall touch on that link between us all– our humanity. We laugh, we cry, we are sad and vulnerable, angry and joyful. Every person of every color on every inch of this planet feels these same emotions, has the same physical needs, and most of the time, we just want to be happy. So why do we allow prejudices and judgements against our fellow humans to steal our joy? It seems a most useless endeavor. Imagine what kind of world this might be if we all tried to treat our fellow humans not as the enemy, but as ourselves.
Our time here in the Bay Area is getting short. As of today, we have less than a month left in Marin County. We’ve tried to take full advantage of the area’s beauties, but every time we venture out for some peace and quiet, something gets in our way. All the other humans.
These paintings by Melbourne artist Kate Shaw, with their layers of ink, glitter, and powder, speak to the way we as humans are corrupting the natural world we claim to love and appreciate so much.
Mr. F and I don’t want to come off as crotchety old so-and-so’s ( although, maybe we are! ), perhaps it’s just that our expectations of what it means to spend a day in wilderness areas are a bit high. We want to see and experience renowned beauty, but in places that are so heavily populated, the enjoyment seems to come with a price. The best thing about these places is that they should be refuges of peace, but it’s hard to commune with your thoughts as Rhianna is blasted down the trail. While Shaw’s work deals more perhaps with chemical devastation and destruction, I feel like there is a spiritual decimation happening, too. Or maybe we just need to find a cabin in the woods for a while.
