I woke up this morning to a deep quiet outside my window. The window was open a few inches (I like sleeping with cold air on my face.) Most mornings, even as late as yesterday morning, I awake to the chatter of tiny songbirds in the lilacs just outside. This morning all was silent. It was our first snow and I knew my paint palette was going to change with the season.
Category: Montana
Falling is Easy – Staying in Love takes Work
Naomi and Cristian, I salute you for coming this far. I salute you for going beyond what you thought you were capable of. I honor and respect you for sticking with each other, for being kind to each other, for apologizing, for making repairs, for building a new life together, and for always. always. always remembering the love that brought you together for life.
1+1=1 Gallery is Moving – and having a Big Sale
Thank you to everyone who has become a collector of our art, who has come in to 1+1=1 Gallery to look, appreciate, help, buy, and just visit, get/give hugs. We couldn’t have done 11 months without you!
Now we are asking for your help and support again. This time we need cash flow to remodel our new gallery down the street. Purchase framed, numbered archival prints from our gallery during the month of September for 20% off. You can save between $70 and $140 and we raise money to help us fix up our new space. Cool!
My New Favorite Season: Spring Near Yellowstone
It’s been a long time since I have visited Paradise Valley and Yellowstone Park in springtime. Starting when my sons were little, we camped in Yellowstone but usually after school was out for the summer, or in the fall. I’d always heard about the incredible spring surge of baby wild mammals and birds there, but I’d never experienced that awesomeness until this retreat. Fall was always my favorite Montana season. I’ve changed my mind, though. My new favorite season? Spring-near-Yellowstone. Yes. That is a season. Springtime-near-Yellowstone. Not just plain old Spring.
Snow Geese, Calligraphy and a Cold Dawn
Dramatic. Exciting. A truly spiritual experience: being at Freezeout Lake at dawn in late March. Hundreds of thousands of snow geese and other migratory birds use the lake as a rest stop on their journey from California to Alaska.
Throngs of geese erupt from the lake at sunrise and head east to the grain fields. You can hear their wings beating as they fly overhead, and the sound of their calls — it’s shiver-making! Put this breath-taking experience on your bucket list, if you live in Montana or are visiting in the early spring.
Kids’ Arts Festival from the Perspective of a Docent
A circle of hands is how it felt for me, as I helped with KidWorks alongside the volunteers, my fellow docents and staff of the Holter Museum of Art. We needed everyone to make it work.
After this weekend, I have a visceral feeling for something else we docents get to do: help put together the most amazing festival — KidWorks! — a huge, wonderful day full of hands-on art activities for kids. Read on to find out what a docent REALLY does … and to see the magic that happens when over 800 participants come through our doors.
The Color of Zero Degrees Cold
it takes a day like today:
wide open skies,
not a single cloud,
an almost
(imperceptible)
mist hanging close
to the frozen earth.
it takes this kind of day
to remember
how many different blues are inside the cold,
… how many
different
colors belong to white.
Snow. Is not. White.
(You knew that.)
A Prairie Sunset that Fills Me with Peace
I love the soft gradients of some sunsets. This kind of sunset is a quiet counterpoint to the wild, heavily textured sunsets we sometimes have. I like both kinds. This kind fills me with peace.
These two skies were on either side of me. The top photo is looking east in the evening twilight … then I turned around and shot the photo below, facing directly west.