Sketches from the watering hole...

One of my favorite things about travel is being exposed to new landscapes and wild-life.   On a recent trip to Namibia, Africa, every day was filled with birds, animals, people, sounds, textures and terrain that were unknown to me, and have filled my heart with their presence.  Here is a link to the blog that James and I created to share this epic adventure.  With over 1,000 photographs between us, journal notes and sketches, the blog merely scratches the surface of this experience, but the inspiration from this journey will surely shape how I move forward, so I am sharing it here and giving thanks for the richness of all life and the gift of being able to experience its deep variations.

Dankie, Namibia.

janetandjamesinNamibia.blogspot.com/

Early Spring

Wind, Mixed Media, 44" x 30"

Canopy Song, 48" x 38", Mixed Media

Mixed Media, 8" x 8"

Mixed Media, 8" x 8"

Mixed Media, 8" x 8"

Mixed Media, 8" x 8"

Seattle is hosting Spring early this year, and with it comes the recognition that it has almost one year since my mom, Ena Fagan, died.  The last twelve months have been rich with opportunities for growth and reflection.  In celebration of this wonderful life - all that is lost and all that is received - I offer thanks for two wonderful shows in Twisp at Confluence this past Winter, opportunities unfolding around me each day, and the excitement of new work to share now.  The smaller works on paper don't have real titles yet, but they continue my small format exploration of wildlife from the places I remember as, and call Home.

Holiday Show!

Jennifer Molesworth is curating the Confluence Gallery's Holiday Show, Snow and Indigo.  This group exhibit runs from November 15 - January 3.  I hope you can make it to the Methow to check it out - several of my pieces will be on view. 

  
Confluence Gallery
104 Glover Street
Twisp, WA  
509.997.ARTS

Tracks and Sightings

All of my life I have had my eyes to the sea, the trees, the sky.  These paintings are about the heart that looks, listens and is filled with deep gratitude for all that is life.  These paintings are the tracks of my sightings. 

Upcoming Exhibit at Confluence Gallery, Twisp, WA

My "Winter Bird" series continues with these 5" x 5" and 12" x 12" mixed-media pieces.  Thank you to those of you that have expressed interest in and purchased these pieces as I preview them on social media.  Your support is hugely appreciated!

I am looking forward to my first exhibit with Confluence Gallery in Twisp, WA, which opens on April 26th.  It is a group show with a Corvidae theme, so some of these pieces may find their way to Twisp.  I am so excited to exhibit in such a gorgeous part of the world, and in a town where good friends have created true magic and filled my heart to bursting on treasured trips, over and over again.

Winter birds.

winter birds series

6" x 6" approximately

mixed media on paper

I am shaping my days in Florida with an intention of being as present as I can be with my family while I am here.  To that end, I have set up a pattern of wooded morning runs and evening solitude to process and express all that these times bring.  What a treasure these days are - I look deep into the heart of each moment and welcome the shining truth that waits there with open arms. 

Sightings

 

 

 

 

It rained all day today and I thought about bears.

sighting

5" x 5"

mixed media

watching and listening for movement

A pocket full of miniatures, inspired by the rewards of open eyes and ears.  The top one is the piece I consider most successful and I look forward to following its lead.  I am enjoying painting animals again - it has been a while since I have considered them as motifs, and approaching them in this very delicate way is rewarding and giving me inspiration for the days when I can return to a larger scale.    For now, these small works are allowing to continue making while other parts of my life demand attention.  They are reminders for me to watch and listen as I witness and facilitate change.

deer series (all)

5" x 5"

mixed media

Running the darkness in...

Untitled
Mixed Media
5" x 5"

Untitled
Mixed Media
5" x 5"

Untitled
Mixed Media
5" x 5" 

Fall runs in the Puget Sound carry with them all of the poignancy and drama of their transitional place between the naked freedom of a Northwest Summer, and the glittering glow of Fall's monastic sister, Winter. The images of running darkness in - from day to dusk to quiet night - is what inspires much of my work.  Transition. Contrast. What is left and what is taken.  What is found and what is given.  The emotional imprint of moving through the world. 

Here is a little verse I wrote last night after a particularly beautiful run that fed into these tiny paintings today:

Gold leaves, medallion faces
Shine up, whispering the way.
I run the darkness in,
The sun a seam beneath the grey.
The purple sky behind me,
Folds a darting cat into her sleeve- the flashing glow of taillights, a distant orange-red beat. 
A perfect run- 
a gift - a dream.
5 minutes or a lifetime - 
to move, to live, to breathe.

Homage

Untitled
Mixed Media on Paper
5"x5"

Untitled
Mixed Media on Paper
5" x 5"

Fall begins and as the rains start and the days shorten, time expands and the Harvest Moon hangs in the sky.  As I explore this series of miniature works on paper with printmaking, painting and collage - slowly finding the rhythm of making within the rain - core motifs return to speak.  Moon, landscape, bird.  These are the voices of inside.  The voices of always but particularly now - this Fall of large moons, flocking birds, and grey skies striped with the armatures of trees.  Here we are.

Fall into Winter

Untitled
Mixe Media
5" x 17"

Fall

Untitled
Mixed Media
5" x 17"

Welcome Summer

Wake
Monoprint
6" x 6"

School is out and in cleaning out my studio-classroom I enjoyed re-discovering the many demos that I did throughout the year for my wonderful students.  Here is a small monoprint that I had put aside.
It was also wonderful to be able to take home several lovely pieces of work to remember my students' efforts by.  Their discarded proofs are now my happy treasures.  I decided not to return to this Jr. High in the Fall so that I can re-align myself with my long-term goals of arranging my professional life in ways that best support my practice.  The movement of Life continually asks me to readjust and find balance in fluidity and grace.  I love this repeated request and will not stop moving to meet it.  Welcome Summer.

the white crow

Wind, waves, the repetition of trees, inhaling - exhaling.  All of life is pattern and rhythm.  I have found myself since September in a place where studio time is like the white crow or the volunteer Chestnut tree in an ornamental garden.  It is rare and it breaks the expectation of the pattern, but it is still a part of the larger design.  Right now I am practicing gratitude for the abundance of other satisfying work that I have.   My sporadic blog posts reflect this place of plenty and honor my intention to not force my relationship to my practice to remain fixed.  It will change as it always has, as I do, while simultaneously remaining constant and deeply a part of my purest self.

Long Winter Dreams

Long Winter Dreams

Mixed Media

44" x 30"

The mountain chickadees guide our path - up through the fog to the blue sky .

Winter calls Spring

Response - Spring
30" x 44"
Mixed Media

Response 2 - Winter
44" x 30"
Mixed Media
in progress

I am becoming happier with these pieces.  They are getting closer to finding their stopping points as I continue to explore  the idea of  Response.  It is fun for me to consider similar ideas with varying levels of abstraction.  

I can clearly see my own responses to the heavy Winter days of Seattle within this work - the veils of fog  and rain, the glorious otherworldly sunshine at elevation in the Mountains, and the quiet signs of Spring that are beginning to appear.  

I feel all of the space and life beyond my studio walls calling.  My response and homage through my practice is from within, and that response is fueled anew with gratitude each time I step out the door.  Amen.