Abstract and Landscape
In the months since we visited the Turner exhibit at the Boston MFA, my art practice has undergone a revolution. Turner’s sketchbooks and studies in watercolor and oil pointed the way to constant, blissfully imperfect practice. Another exhibit and then a new mentor confirmed that, even in a modern era when we are saturated with… Continue reading Discovery
The Saturday after Thanksgiving, and Vermont and got its first foot of snow for the season. Skiers were giddy. The woodstove was roaring, and, almost five years to the weekend after we got back on the grid, the power was out (again). I'd gotten up at 5a.m. on to get the apple cinnamon oatmeal slow… Continue reading Good to Know
Most years, we have or are company at Christmas and Christmas Eve feasts for which all the stops -- good china, good silver, family favorite recipes - are pulled out. This year, with Covid raging, 'company' is our little nuclear unit, and we were grateful to have it. We knew this year would be different.… Continue reading A Good Night for the Good China
Not belonging to any religion -- organized or not- our nuclear unit reconfigures most holidays to fit our wants and needs. The fourth Thursday in November is no exception, especially this year. Like many Americans, the Big Guy, Thing 2, and I have been recreating, working, and schooling from home since March. Thing 1, needing… Continue reading Some Things Stay the Same
Thing2 has been experimenting with the digital projector I use for presentations at school. He’s been projecting video games and Avengers movies on the ceiling and underneath the TV. here’s an idea man, so it should’ve been too much of a surprise when the two of us looked at each other and said, “let’s have… Continue reading Partners in Crime
It’s interesting watching fathers and sons connect. It happens in the very beginning, but it seems as if, during those early teen years, a chasm sometimes appears. When Thing1 was eight or nine, he and the Big Guy bonded as father taught son and then sons the fine art of burping on command and then… Continue reading Fathers and Sons
Somedays the wind is howling around the mountains. Other days, the sun is pointing out every new bud in the forest. Even when it’s grey and the back section of our trail is more pond than path, though, at four o’ clock, at least one kid and one adult will ask if we’re all ready… Continue reading Organically Grown
Still on the Group W Bench together It started with a writing prompt a few days ago. Write a scene with no more than four characters that happens in one room. It was a good assignment, but at first it took me to some very dark places before I remember I was in control of… Continue reading Don’t Go There
My favorite picture of the Big Guy and Thing1 doesn’t show their faces. To the casual observer, it’s a picture of them replacing the radiator on our 20 year old Volvo wagon. for me, it’s the moment when our oldest kid learned that sometimes you get the best education when you roll your sleeves up… Continue reading Self Schooling
Pain in my chest has made standing and painting less enticing over the last few weeks, but I hate to have my easel empty, especially since my study/studio is my quarantine headquarters. I decided to put the first oil painting I ever did. Appropriately, it happens to be a picture of the first masterpiece I… Continue reading Resting My Laurels
I am able to walk an extra lap around the house or drag a few branches out of the garden these days, but my real skill these days is corralling the boys into believing that all of the work they’re doing to get our house ready for summer is fun. This morning I got Thing2… Continue reading Faking It
In an apparent attempt to prove that the world would be better off run by members the next generation, the boys have been dragooning me — for my own good — into a very short ZeroK walk around the house every day since I’ve been sick. Thing1’s rationale is that there is nothing that even… Continue reading Feline Friday and The daily Zero K
Rachel Barlow Art 