Author: Marilyn

I am so fortunate to live in a part of the world where the outside is pleasant and physical distancing doesn’t restrict painting, even with a friend 6 ft away.

On one of my early morning walks the rising sun (well risen to be honest) caused the prickly pear to glow against the dark background of vegetation

I love working with the palette knife but my early ventures have been less than satisfying. Today was the first time I felt as though I was working with the knife, paper and watercolor. It’s early days, but the glimmer of confidence has been nurtured. This was my second attempt at capturing the scene. I consciously tried to move away from literal realism.

Chedda, felt pretty comfortable with these prickles too😉

Today was a glorious windy sunny day and not too hot. A perfect day to visit our local community garden, Desert Meadows. The garden is run entirely by volunteers and has walking paths weaving through spectacular displays of succulents. There’s also an area of raised beds for vegetables. The owners of those plots donate most of their surplus to the food bank. There are lots of gazebos, most closed now to discourage loitering 😉. While the wind was a bit too much to think about watercolor, I decided to try just plain pen. Lots of learning today. I applied watercolor after I returned home

My community woodshop has been closed since March 14. Needless to say I have not done any turning since then. I’ve been busy with home organization and modest renovations. My friend, Mary Anne has helped me cut some thin cement board and I am now ready to return to my glass roots.
As many of you know I have been dabbling in water color and sketching. Working on those skills has helped me develop new techniques for conceptualizing my glass ideas. Soooooo here is a design concept for a 40” x 22” mosaic

Perspectives on grief, loss and emergence

A friend of a friend (https://balmerart.com/blog-posts/) who self publishes catalogs about his work inspired me to revisit my wood turning art of the past three years and reflect on the role my art has played along the way to becoming Alone.

Before Richard (my partner of 40 years) died I read a couple of books about dying. One in particular “When Breath Becomes Air” (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25899336-when-breath-becomes-air) was particularly poignant as it was written by a man, Paul Kalanithi who battles and eventually succumbs to metastatic lung cancer. His wife Lucy, wrote the epilogue. While I cannot remember the details (part of my brain’s cleansing activity) I do remember the emotions. Heartbreaking and yet inspiring. Survival was possible without losing the spirit of the love lost.

Initially I started “Path of the Cherimoya” as a way to explain to myself what has been going on in my head both consciously and sub-consciously. As it progressed and started to develop a life of its own I felt comfortable sharing it with a few trusted friends. While intensely personal there is nothing unique about the situation. Many people have and continue to find themselves alone after a mutually compelling relationship comes to an end. “Path of the Cherimoya” represents just one questioning voice where art and personal reflections on life’s changes meld to describe an emotional journey without a destination as yet…

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/path-of-the-cherimoya-first-edition/26337271