Clouds and Kindness

These clouds have appeared as gifts of tumultuous beauty throughout the past month at precisely the right moment, reminding me that Life has an...

"...uncanny way of showing up at exactly the right moment to summon you below the surface of your life."

~Kim Rosen

The above quote is how Kim Rosen describes the poetry of Naomi Shihab Nye. You can read an interview between Kim and Naomi here.

Her poem, Kindness has touched me to the core this evening. Kindness is the one thing that we all need to give and receive more of. Perhaps it is all that is left after everything else has been stripped away.

 

Kindness

By Naomi Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is

you must lose things,

feel the future dissolve in a moment

like salt in a weakened broth.

What you held in your hand,

what you counted and carefully saved,

all this must go so you know

how desolate the landscape can be

between the regions of kindness.

How you ride and ride

thinking the bus will never stop,

the passengers eating maize and chicken

will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,

you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho

lies dead by the side of the road.

You must see how this could be you,

how he too was someone

who journeyed through the night with plans

and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,

you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.

You must wake up with sorrow.

You must speak to it till your voice

catches the thread of all sorrows

and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,

only kindness that ties your shoes

and sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,

only kindness that raises its head

from the crowd of the world to say

It is I you have been looking for,

and then goes with you everywhere

like a shadow or a friend.

New York City

Exhibiting in NYC was exhilarating and stimulating, in equal measures. The Parallax Art Fair was an eclectic and interesting mix of art work and artists. A refreshing art fair originating in London that encourages the visitors to "be themselves" and relax into the works being exhibited. Dialogue between the artists and the viewers is encouraged and becomes an integral part of the whole event.

The fair was extremely well attended and I sold a couple of small pieces to a group of delightful women visiting NYC from Turkey. I was most fortunate to have my youngest daughter helping me to unpack and hang the show. We later braved the stifling heat of the city and went out to explore the High Line Park and the MOMA.

It was a joy to share the experience with Georgia. She discovered and connected with  Boccini's "Dynamism of a Soccer Player" in the MOMA.

 

And the Monet "Water Lilies" room that always sings its delightful song of colors and texture to me, no matter how many times I see it.

We stumbled onto the works of Alighiero Boetti: Game Plan and thoroughly enjoyed discovering his obsessive and diverse work.

Order & Disorder

Georgia treated me to lunch at the MOMA and I was served this exquisitely beautiful bowl of watermelon and tomato gazpacho, a jewel like mandala of color.

Parallax Art Fair NYC

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Exhibiting in the Big Apple

Parallax Art Fair

I am pleased to announce that I will be an exhibiting artist at the inaugural Parallax Art Fair in New York City. This event has been held in London for the last four years and makes its premier in NYC with a private viewing on Friday, August 3rd from 7 to 9pm. The Fair is open to the public from 11am to 7pm on Saturday, August 4th and from 11am to 5pm on Sunday, August 5th. Admission is free and you can obtain complimentary tickets in advance online.

More than 200 emerging artists from more than 25 countries will be exhibiting, guaranteeing a wide variety of styles, media, and prices. Participating artists and examples of their artwork can be found on the online catalogue. The event is being held at 82 Mercer Street, a beautiful 50,000 square foot event space in the heart of Soho.

I hope that all of you in close proximity to NYC will be able to attend. I plan to exhibit some of my smaller, more recent works from the Berkshire Hills and the Laurentian Forests.

Rocks in Moonlight / 30" x 24" / acrylic on panel board

Living Land / 24" x 30" / acrylic on canvas

Verdant Hills / 24" x 30" / acrylic on canvas

Poems from the Roots / 12" x 9" / acrylic on carved wood

Towards the Within / 12" x 12" / acrylic on canvas

Forest Incantation / 28" x 22" / acrylic on canvas

Return to the Source

This week-end I headed for Mont-Tremblant to escape the extreme heat of the city. I brought a pile of smaller paintings and set up under a tree at Place de la Gare in the old village.

 I stayed with a friend who lives in a magical cabin perched amongst the rocks along the edge of a lake. There is no road to this little piece of wilderness bliss so she came to

pick me up in her small motorboat every evening.

I was happy to visit with my friends, the rocks and roots again. They had much to tell me and I loved listening to the silence of their textures and crevices.

As the days grew hotter, plunging into the lake was like slipping into a cool, silk gown, refreshing for body, mind and soul.

"Crying Lake" was painted one week before I encountered this lake. Did I paint the lake into my reality? or did the lake beckon me? When does the imaginal realm cross over?

Liminal Space / Sacred Space

Crying Lake / 16" x 20" / acrylic on panel board

Sometimes painting is a magical, mystical ride.

Shimmer

Shimmer / acrylic / 54" x 72"

Late in the afternoon, silence pierces the sun warmed rocks and bursts into flames of maple.

Breathing with the earth in the Berkshires

Breath of Spring / acrylic 24" x 30"

Living Land, acrylic, 24" x 30"

Verdant Hills, acrylic, 24" x 30"