Cosmic Dance

Finally I am back in the studio. Life got the best of me and obligations of the day to day took power over the brush.

Today could have gone the same except Jim promised me a cup of Dunkin Donuts latte if I got in my car and drove into the studio. It was this tiny reward that made me realize I could carve out a morning to paint. The bigger reward of course was painting itself.

Prepping this painting took longer this morning than the actual laying down of paint so far. It is another of my paintings composed of multiple canvases. In this case 12 12"x12" canvases. I like the format of multiple canvases, to me it is a reflection of our pixelated lives—lives bound by multiple lenses, the fracturing and re-blending of ourselves and our concept of community and the larger world.

This painting is inspired by my very many walks in the Vermont forest. The forest has many stories. Their is a story in each tree, in each stump, in each pile of rocks and earth. I think their story reflects our own. How often do we stop to see and embrace our stories?

Lastly I'd like to share this reflection from Thomas Merton that has been embracing my soul the last few weeks as my parents and I are working to bring together the support they need at this time in their lives. We all need support for our different stages—whether becoming a new parent, learning to drive, entering adulthood or mid-life or any change of our health. Knowing when and where to turn and what to enjoy at each stage is where the heart is discovered.

The Cosmic Dance

—Thomas Merton

When we are alone on a starlit night, when by chance we see the migrating birds in autumn descending on a grove of junipers to rest and eat; when we see children in a moment when they are really children, when we know love in our own hearts; or when, like the Japanese poet, Basho, we hear an old frog land in a quiet pond with a solitary splash--at such times the awakening, the turning inside out of all values, the 'newness,' the emptiness and the purity of vision that make themselves evident, all these provide a glimpse of the cosmic dance.