Hello out there! Pandemic fatigue, anyone??? Day 50 here. Shocking really. Shocking that it’s day 50, shocking what we get used to and shocking that it’s not over and I’m oddly used to feeling like it won’t be truly over any time soon.
Lots of things are opening around the United States today but it feels like a false start. The state I live in, Oregon, is still on a stay at home order. School is cancelled for the year. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival here in Ashland is cancelled for the season. Summer is not looking healthy, more like cautious recovery.
But here I am, spending the days, like everyone is, in a new routine, some of it, even good! I’m painting consistently. I’m finding inspiration in new books I haven’t opened in years. I’m listening to podcasts I didn’t have “time” for. I’m binge watching some TV that’s fun that I have zero guilt over. I’ve even organized my studio and purged lots of supplies. And…I’m painting BIG. Ok, I painted exactly one BIG painting (36″ x 48″) but it feels like a lot. It’s on a canvas that I probably bought two years ago? Swore it was on on my 2019 must complete list and then boom, 2020 and…you know the rest of the story.
I think I’m either hard-wired this way or it’s human nature, but i needed to approach this behemoth canvas like a cat. Slow, on my terms, when I wanted. Nope, just kidding. Not interested anymore. But wait, don’t put it back in the garage. I might be interested Or not. I’ll decide.
And I did decide. There are three half starts underneath this piece. An abstract, a landscape and a seascape. All were exciting and inspirational when I started and all fell flat when I started working. There was no mojo. Nothing. So i stopped and started again and again once more. It was finally on a walk that something clicked in my brain and I knew I had to return to my collage roots. But in paint form instead of paper. You know an idea has struck when the urgency in action matches the sparkly must start instantly feeling. (For years, I worked in paper ephemera and did many blocky pattern mosaic-type pieces.)
After 2+ years of walking by this 3ft x 4ft beast, I walked up to it like i had bought it yesterday and started. And didn’t stop until I was done. There were several sleeps in between but you get the gist.
It’s part patchwork memoir and part diary of what’s happening in our community and world. Kindness. A whole lot of kindness. I’ll write more when this is over about the crappy parts of living through a global pandemic because it’s not all pollyanna perfection. But right this minute, this day, I am struck by how kind humans are when put to this kind of neighborly test. We’re truly all in this together.
Mxo
“Horizon” 36″ x 48″
Named “Horizon” because one of the first things I learned on a sailboat was to look at the horizon. It will keep you from getting seasick. Advice that stands for these rough waters too.
