MAY YOUR HEART ALWAYS BE JOYFUL

May you grow up to be righteous,
May you grow up to be true,
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you.
(from "Forever Young," Bob Dylan, 1974)

(Gouache and watercolor painting by Old Girl Of The North Country, 2002)

A PLACE TO DRAW / A PLACE TO PAINT

(1/2 hour drawing, 5:00 to 5:30 a.m. -- 6B pencil on heavy weight, medium tooth surface, 9 x 12 Canson drawing pad, while listening to "Chants of India," which plays for approximately 1 hour and is a work of love by Ravi Shankar and George Harrison)

















"A place belongs forever to whoever claims it hardest, remembers it
most obsessively, wrenches it from itself, shapes it, renders it,
loves it so radically that he remakes it in his own image." ~ Joan
Didion

(Gouache and watercolor painting titled, "Calendar Series: 42nd Month / Gifts Of Love From Imaginary Brothers," painted by Old Girl Of The North Country in 1989)

I've been enjoying reading Loren Webster's recent posts on the Tao.

DESIRE / GIFTS

Never relinquish the fiery sadness called desire
(Basho He's young and on fire Full of hope and desire In a world that's been raped, raped and defiled If I fall along the way And can't see another day Lord, protect my child (Bob Dylan, 1983, from "Lord Protect My Child"
See gifts (post from November 16).

(Gouache and watercolor on Arches watercolor paper, painted by Old Girl Of the North Country in 1999)

STARRY MESSENGER

"In a world illuminated only by fire, Galileo described in detail the surface of the Moon, which we now know is 238, 857 miles away. His Sidereal Messenger, also translated as Starry Messenger, was the first-ever treatise to detail astronomical observations made through a telescope."

(quote from the The Teaching Company's introduction to The Sidereal Messenger, written by Galileo in 1610 )

A treatise by Galileo came to me via email recently. I put it aside, meaning to read it when I had some time. When I finally read the treatise a few days ago, I felt as if I were reading someone's blog entry because, in translation, the tone is somewhat conversational, like a letter. Galileo's voice and times came alive for me. It's a verbal telescope into the time when the telescope was first invented. I like what I am guessing are his drawings and a diagram of a telescope.

Imagine how bright the moon, planets and stars were in 1610!

Coastal Northern California in Mendocino county just north of the Gualala River, between 1973 and 1994, is a place where I was able to see the vast night sky as it appears only when one is far removed from large metropolitan areas and their artificial lights.

(the above image, THE BLACK AND WHITE SERIES: INDEPENDENT CHILD / HIS FIRST WORD WAS "LIGHT," was created by am in 2005 on Arches watercolor paper, using Payne's Grey (watercolor) and Permanent White (gouache). The moon and planets are from drawings my mother made as she looked out over the ocean and saw the Moon, Jupiter, Mars and Venus on June 14, 1991)

BELLINGHAM SPECTRUM SERIES: DURING THE WAR (2007)

This is the last painting, for now, of the Bellingham Spectrum series, 25 paintings created between March 1 and May 17, 2007. Yesterday I delivered "BELLINGHAM SPECTRUM SERIES: RED #1" (see the post for July 31, 2007) for jurying at a local art gallery. I'll find out tomorrow morning whether it has been accepted on a commission basis.

BELLINGHAM SPECTRUM SERIES: THRESHOLD (2007)

How strange that nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude! (Emily Dickinson)

BELLINGHAM SPECTRUM SERIES: VIOLET #1 (2007)

BELLINGHAM SPECTRUM SERIES: INDIGO #1 (2007)

Today I took a 3-hour walk with a friend at The Stimpson Family Nature Reserve. The highlight for me was seeing a very large Pacific Tree Frog jump to the side of the trail and later being able to hold a smaller Pacific Tree Frog who was also at the side of the trail. Although I frequently hear Pacific Tree Frogs, I have rarely seen them in Northwest Washington. We also saw a solitary deer who let us walk very close, a pair of Kingfishers, a Great Blue Heron, a Downy Woodpecker, and what I think may have been Wrentits. As we were walking back toward the trailhead, a somewhat distressed-looking young man jogged by us on his way out of the reserve. As he passed us up, he said that an owl had swooped down and "massaged his scalp" as he ran through the woods.

BELLINGHAM SPECTRUM SERIES: BLUE #1 (2007)

Bought a book today with a bookstore credit -- THE WAVE IN THE MIND: TALKS AND ESSAYS ON THE WRITER, THE READER AND THE IMAGINATION, by Ursula K. Le Guin (2004).

BELLINGHAM SPECTRUM SERIES: WAKING UP IN SPRING (2007)

This is the 16th of 26 paintings I did between March 8 and May 1 of this year. Spring seems like a long time ago. Summer is my low energy time of year. I want to hibernate. It is cool and overcast today with a light breeze.

BELLINGHAM SPECTRUM SERIES: GREEN #1

I've been on study schedule, preparing to challenge two quarters of Anatomy and Physiology at the local community college in order to fulfill the prerequisites for their Massage Practitioner Program, for which I am second on the waiting list. Reviewing this material via a series of DVDs and textbooks has been a good experience. When I do my yoga practice and when I am walking in the woods, I am much more aware of the intricacies of my body.

Along with studying for the challenge exam, I've been re-reading THE LETTERS OF VINCENT VAN GOGH (Penguin Classics edition) as well as re-reading NEZHNIE: WEAVER AND INNOVATIVE ARTIST, by Linda Rees. Yesterday I got out my inkle loom and started another inkle belt:

















Between now and the end of October is my favorite season in Northwest Washington. It is the time of year that most reminds me of my best memories of winter in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1950s. For the most part, the sun shines and the temperatures are in the high 60s and low 70s, accompanied by a gentle breeze. The air is clear, fresh and spicy with the fragrance of flowers and evergreen trees. As I did as a child, I walk often, sometimes with friends but frequently alone.

Today's new flower from my porch garden:

BELLINGHAM SPECTRUM SERIES: YELLOW #1

BELLINGHAM SPECTRUM SERIES: DIALOGUE (2007)

BELLINGHAM SPECTRUM SERIES: ICY DAY IN EARLY SPRING (2007)

As a result of visiting Whiskey River, I found this.

and this:

‘The question occurs to me -- and quite seriously -- how many shoe soles, how many ox-hide soles Alighieri wore out in the course of his poetic work, wandering about on the goat paths of Italy. The Inferno and especially the Purgatorio glorify the human gait, the measure and rhythm of walking, the foot and its shape. The step, linked to the breathing and saturated with thought: this Dante understands is the beginning of prosody . . . ‘

Osip Mandelstam, The Noises of Time, trans. by Clarence Brown

(from the heading of an interview by Alec Finlay with Thomas A. Clark)

BELLINGHAM SPECTRUM SERIES: ORANGE #1 (2007)

"I have no time to be in a hurry." (Henry David Thoreau)

BELLINGHAM SPECTRUM SERIES: SPRING AT THE OCEAN PAINTED FROM MEMORY (COPYRIGHT 2007)

July moon to the southeast at twilight:

BELLINGHAM SPECTRUM SERIES: CROSSING FROM WINTER INTO SPRING (COPYRIGHT 2007)

and looking east on the afternoon of July 25, 2007:

















Today I learned about this today via Theresa William's blog and added "My Library" to my blog below my archives.

BELLINGHAM SPECTRUM SERIES: INDIGO TREE (COPYRIGHT 2007)

While painting these recent images, starting in March and ending in May, I was listening to a reading of Robert Pirsig's book, ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE , having first read the book around 30 years ago, and then went on to read Robert Pirsig's second book, LILA: AN INQUIRY INTO MORALS, where he mentions an affinity with William James, a philosopher and psychologist and author of the book, VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE.

The next time I was in a bookstore, I came across the recently published book, WILLIAM JAMES: IN THE MAELSTROM OF AMERICAN MODERNISM, by Robert D. Richardson and bought it and am nearly finished reading it.

From Richardson's book, p. 474:

"Like all of us, James had many sides. Like other uninhibited people, he had more layers and more life in him than most, and despite notable blindnesses, he was better acquainted with himself than most. He was always teetering on the brink of collapse, but had been able -- so far -- to catch himself and fall backward to safety at the last moment. The different parts held together in a kind of confederacy. The fundamental condition of his life was, now and always, torn-to-pieces-hood. But the pieces were never just thrown to the winds. They remained loosely if oddly clumped together, never completely unified, but on the same shelf."

I am looking forward to the upcoming discussion of ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE at In A Dark Time.

Some July views from home:

BELLINGHAM SPECTRUM SERIES: STORMY PLACE (COPYRIGHT 2007)

"In dark rooms ghost-green fires are shining." -Tu Fu

Thanks to Brian from Five Branch Tree

BELLINGHAM SPECTRUM SERIES: BIRD WITH LANDSCAPE (COPYRIGHT 2007)