The Underpainting

September 22, 2025

The Underpainting

It was, as one must say, a day.

First off Jimmy Kimmel has been reinstated after being canceled. Amazing how the power of the dollar wins even against an autocratic megalomanic. Lessons can be taken here on how we can continue to rally against.

Likewise a solid opinion piece in The Atlantic by David Frum, "Trump Might Be Losing His Race Against Time: The president is gambling that he can consolidate authority before the public turns too sharply against him.". I highly recommend and if you can't access it, message me.

Both have left me optimistic that our battle to save democracy could work.

And then there's the fact that it is FALL! Somehow I was not looking forward to this change but once it hits its stride, I am all in. Vermont is my home and this is one of the reasons why: full seasons!

And if that isn't enough my stepson Pat and my daughter-in-love Emily just shared they are expecting their third child. some mixed emotions here but my immediate one was pure joy. They are such good parents. Just yesterday I recieved my 5th letter from my granddaughter Satori in three weeks, always ending with "I love you Grandma Ann". And of course Jim would have been so happy. He loved being a grandpa, and I love being a grandma. We shared so much time with them, flying out to California and them visiting here. Yet his dying, Covid, distance, has a way of layering grief and love and joy. Yes, tears today.

And then I'll add a third, my handsome man Doug is finally returning from Scotland! He'll be here tomorrow and I'll be like a spaniel puppy meeting its new owners for the first time. I'm hoping I don't overwhelm him.

Enough on all this.

Fall has also meant washing windows (finally), sorting through things to gift away, pulling out Halloween decor, finding buried cucumbers and tomatoes, cutting sunflowers for bouquets, recognizing the hummingbirds have truly left, cutting the final roses, dwelling on the last cricket calls, and reorganizing my studio. YAY!

New pallete found on a day trip touring with Doug to our histories. A large window now cleaned up. And a new start to a painting!!! So exciting to be returning to my painting season which these last few years tends to be during the quieter, darker, contemplative months.

With my newly restored palette (and yes, I had to clean my other two palettes left from my last paintings) I started a painting, finally, using as a resource a drawing from my silent retreat at Peace Village Learning & Retreat Center this past summer. Even while I was there, I knew it was meant to become an oil painting. The experience was that profound and this place so special to me. Where I meet God and just listen.

They say don’t use charcoal as a medium to sketch with in an oil painting (for chemistry reasons) but…if it frees, I say go for it. And definitely I'm in that kind of place right now. These following photos are the stages in the underpainting so far. It's like breathing again. My friend Lisa points out the symbolism of the dead tree and the tree that is alive. Yes, I feel that I have re-entered my life while at the same time my life is always with me.

And painting is also like this. There is the underpainting carrying forward, glimpse through the layers, and then there is the final. Life is the underpainting.