looking ahead

Tulips. Monotype. 12 x 12.

If you are anything like me, you settle in to the new year with some cleaning up kinds of projects. Put away holiday lights and decorations. Sort through cards and save some and discard others. Write thank you notes. Take down 2016 calendars and hang new 2017 calendars in their place.

It is difficult to enter a creative mindset with all of the upheaval in our country. At times, it is next to impossible. I go out to the studio, but only manage to clean and putter around making little color swatches or reading something in a book.


But, on some days, I charge into the studio with my juices flowing and I experience again the rush of life breath from creating something new. The monotype, "Tulips", happened on one of those days. They are a reminder to me of what is beautiful, and hope-filled.

Friends. Monotype. 12 x 12.

This piece, "Friends," came from my reflection on the joy I feel when I am with people who know and care about me. Friends lift and inspire and keep me connected to what's important.

Looking ahead to a new year, I will be more involved politically and more active in my personal exercises of freedoms. I will continue to put myself in the studio and express what concerns me, both on paper and here in the world. And I will continue to share music that means much to me with the hope that it will find resonance in you.

As this little sign in my studio says, "Don't look back, you're not going that way."

This YouTube video touched me deeply. My father died in the Spring of 2016, and I think of him often. I know that he would have loved this kind of thing. Who wouldn't? The Piano Guys Charlie Brown Medly.