POWERFUL DAY

Last week I was hiking up a snowy mountain to watch my daughter's ski race.  Ahead of me, there was a woman also walking along in the early morning light.  She had a knitted hat on that said "OBAMA" and it had a picture of his very recognizable face on the front.  I could hear someone commenting on the hat as she walked by and she responded, 

"It's not that I think he's superhuman... or that I think he's a miracle worker.  It's that I think he is an intelligent man who has a great spirit and energy and he might be capable of getting us to work together."  

I don't often talk about politics.  It's personal to me.  I'm not a straight party voter.  

But, this lady with the hat said what so many people are feeling.  His energy and intelligence, ability to communicate, love of this country... has given us hope and it's a common thread through many of us.  

All those thousands of tiny American flags waving and people smiling back at him smiling--it was a powerful, beautiful scene.

WINTER WINDOW

One must have a mind of winter

To regard the frost and the boughs

Of the pine-trees crusted with snow.

And have been cold a long time

To behold the junipers shagged with ice,

The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the january sun; and not to think

Of any misery in the sound of the wind,

in the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land

Full of the same wind

That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,

And, nothing himself, beholds

Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

THE SNOW MAN   Wallace Stevens

WINTER WINDOW photo  LH

S T O R I E S

For part of November and early December, I ventured off into a whimsical story land.  

Maybe it's from those many hours of plunking down on the sofa or the edge of my children's beds and reading beautifully... thoughtfully... whimsically illustrated Christmas books aloud to them that gives me great joy in telling a story with my own pencil and paint.

I was kindly asked to create a holiday greeting for my daughter's school, Burke Mountain Academy of East Burke, Vermont.  The result was the painting above (named late one evening before bed) "'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE A SKI RACE...".  The other was a request from a friend living in an old farmhouse which they've brought to life with 4 children, a dog, a lot of work, play and love.  It was a surprise gift for her husband and painting it for her was incredibly rewarding and exciting--"PINE VALLEY FARM".  

They are both departures from my normal painting days and yet feed that love of creating in an equal, but different way.  

I hope you enjoy.