On the Move Again and subscription changes

                                            Beltane watermedia on Yupo 26x20 inches, 66x51 cm

                                       Reliquary 3 watercolor on Yupo 26x20 inches, 66x51 cm

 Both of those paintings please me and the second was painted in a day. That is extremely rare and I`m taking it as a good sign that this long project of painting abstractly is going somewhere. I sure hope so. I painted on location recently and that didn`t feel right. Beautiful place on Oswego Creek too. I will return to the field this summer, it`s so nice to just be outside. Yet I wish my desire for the landscape were stronger.

 Unbeknownst to me, I was told 'Feedburner' , a service or subcontractor or something with Google, will no longer send out this blog to you as an email beginning in July. John installed it on the upper right on the blog where many of you subscribed by adding your email address. I`m going to put a new one up there run by follow.it Seems quite a few of you never sent back through email a required confirmation of your subscription. You may not receive future posts. If you write me at randalldavidt@gmail.com I`ll add you to the new service. The people at follow.it are saints, let me tell you. They hoped to sell me all kinds of analytics for my business but even when I explained I only wanted to preserve the readers I had, they still helped me transfer the addresses which were confirmed. This was a grueling experience because I`m old. It required days of correspondence. I wore out one employee and ground down another. These bright young IT types must dread interacting with a dinosaur. I couldn`t figure out where the correct CVS file was. Day after day they coached me. John got involved after long days at the hospital and we couldn`t find it. Until we did. They deserve a lot of credit for their patience. I wish they had something I could buy that I could understand.

 Took the first road trip in years recently. My brother Mike and I went to see our cousin in Port Angeles WA. She is dying of pancreatic cancer. That`s the same one that took out my brother Gary and at the same age. I haven`t seen her much since we were kids but I wanted to go. My brother`s death was one of integrity with very little pain, so I hoped to reassure her. We expected her to be in bed but she was up and around though extremely thin. We had the best damn time! Conversation and laughs just flowed. Having the same grandmother alone was a source of delight. Our low expectations were overwhelmed and driving along the Hood Canal was as lovely as I remembered.

 Soon we are flying to Omaha for the wedding of one of my closest, oldest friends. I met Todd in 7th grade and now he is getting married again at 68! New starts of any kind that happen in retirement just please me so much and marriage is an ultimate gesture of hope. For the second time, he asked me to be the best man. The first was in 1976 and I had just moved to New Mexico and I was broke. I said no because I was so determined to pay my own way and be responsible for myself. Later I wished I had borrowed the money and been there. Now I have a second chance. 

I have to say I`m nervous to fly. Regardless of new CDC guidelines, I think masks will be required. I hope so. Until the violence with Israel and Hamas knocked it out of the news, the pandemic situation in India had my full attention. The suffering has been unspeakable. I love that country.

 These subtle mysteries were painted by the Australian, Clarice Beckett. Though appreciated and collected now, she died at 48, was ignored for decades and a huge amount of work was lost to the weather due to lousy storage. For most of history, women artists didn`t matter. What a loss for humanity.

I saw this on Facebook. Not elegant but sure to the point. Why would we ever think it could be easy? Every time I begin a painting, I fervently wish for the rare experience when decisions flow organically and the process is elevated. The joy in painting then is indescribable! At last, I have reached my apex! But like everything, it passes. What is surprising in comparison is that a lot of worthy work is completed through sheer struggle.

 The entire Western United States in is drought. Even the rainforest I live in. Yet we`ve had the gentlest spring, so full of sunshine and fragrance it`s like heaven itself. But many fear a reckoning to come. The fires now are on a scale never seen before. Take it from me, they are truly terrifying. With the entire region so dry there is no safety assured anywhere. Wish us well. Every summer now will be fraught with tension. At least we have a president now and the party in charge that recognizes Global Warming. We cannot address this soon enough.

 Hope you all have your vaccine! Covid 19 is nasty, protect yourself! Protect your neighbor!

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Rescue

                                              watermedia on Yupo 40x26 inches, 101.5x66 cm

 No title yet but I`ll be patient waiting for it. A friend saw tears and I do too but I don`t think it`s mournful. Not consciously anyway. In fact I`m getting excited about the election. Deliverance at last! The 4 year nightmare is almost over. It`s my belief that a majority of citizens will not only reject the president but also the Republican Party which enabled this tragedy. Democrats are spooked because of the last time of course but everything is different this election. We have seen what he will do and it is not acceptable. I`m confident in this because of the high turnout for the midterms when Democrats won 41 house seats. That was before Covid. Before impeachment. I`m confident that most Americans are so sick of the drama and incompetence of this administration, they`re desperate for it to end. 225,000 are dead in these last seven months from the corona virus yet it didn`t have to be like this. It will be a wild couple of months waiting for the inauguration of the new president. Trump is a sick insecure man. That is the most dangerous kind. But with a new day in sight, I believe better minds will constrain him. I sure hope so.

                                                                 Photograph: REX/Shutterstock   

Amy Coney Barrett was just confirmed as the newest Justice on the Supreme Court. Conservatives are jubilant. Presumably because hers would be another anti-abortion vote. I would just hope that this majority for 'life' think long and hard about restricting such a fundamental right. I have trouble imaging a more spiritual issue than a woman`s autonomy over her own body. Her right to decide when, if ever, she will bring a new life into the world. Allow her body to contain and support that life. 

 Make no mistake, if Roe v. Wade is invalidated, it will not end abortion. It will only make them dangerous. Throughout human history women have taken great risks to decide this matter for themselves. Rightfully so.

      

                                                                     by Chris Trueman

 Chris is my new painting crush. His work is process driven but edited throughout by a discerning sensibility. It is visually mesmerizing and joyful. Even watching him paint in this video, I still can`t figure out how he does it but I`m going to. He works a lot on Yupo and makes the most of its ability to reflect light back through the paint layers.

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The Opening Sky

                                The Opening Sky oil on panel 20x16 inches, 51x40.5 cm


 Well, that was/is terrifying! When I wrote six weeks ago that I`d rather take my chances with the virus than live in fear, I was an idiot. What made the disease so scary was reading the accounts of people who had it. Once I knew what was possible, it got personal. I`m older, with asthma and my husband is a nurse in a hospital. I felt like a target.
 Hospital staffs were warned to expect thousands of Covid patients. Clinics and other large buildings were to be turned into makeshift hospitals, the governors emergency decree allowed for redeployment of personnel wherever they were needed, personal protective gear was in serious short supply and there was a sense of martial law in the preparations.
 And then it hardly happened. At least at the predicted scale. Oregon stayed home, flattened that curve almost into a line and saved thousands of lives. I`ve never been so proud of my state.
 We ate out for John`s birthday March 2 in an empty restaurant.
No one really knew how effective the isolation would be. If people would observe it. But they did.
I am so grateful to the families with small children especially. It has to be extremely hard.
 I`ve been tripping over my own privilege all month. We have an extra bedroom I`ve been sleeping in for safety, a yard, a paycheck, delivered groceries and proper heath insurance. And it still shook me to the core. For the first time ever, it was imaginable that we could both die soon. For the first time in my life I had to really think through my death. What needed to be done? How could I hold my  ground while looking this in the eye?
It`s said, gratitude is the antidote to fear. For me, accessing it takes time and concentration. It`s not like a grocery list I jot down. I wanted the experience, to feel blessed all over again. So I spent days lying around sifting through memories, recalling the people who gifted me their attention. Remembering situations where only grace could win the day and it did. Many old friendships came into view, most from work or school but rich nonetheless. The wisdom and sacrifice of my parents is clear. So many beautiful landscapes I was able to walk in. The constant sense of purpose my painting has given me. That I`ve always had love to support me.
Nothing needed tending, no unfinished business. It has been a full life. I only want more.
I suspect my fears were/are everyone`s fears. Sure, 80% only feel slight or no symptoms, but they were not telling their easy stories. No, what I kept seeing were tales of week long fevers, fighting for breath after the simplest of movements, and chaos at the Emergency Room. Death and the dying are quite different.
 The Himalayas are visible from Delhi a hundred miles away, the sacred Ganges is drinkable in places, dolphins swim in the canals of Venice.
Surprising and good things will come from this.
Let`s never take cashiers, repairmen, warehouse stockers, farm workers, delivery drivers, ........ for granted again. All deserve living wages, healthcare and paid sick leave. No exceptions. The 'humble' essential worker has kept this country afloat for a month. By themselves! Let`s not forget them. Especially in the next election. Like my Dad told me, Democrats are for the little guy.

                                          Winter Shore watercolor on Yupo 11x14 inches

 My first plein air painting of 2020. Painted on Feb. 28, still way too cold.

                                  Easter Monday watercolor on Yupo 20x10 inches, 51x25.5 cm


 Just finished and painted in a manner of work I did 35 years ago in New Mexico. The state is mountainous and one is always looking out, up, or down. I would take features in the landscape and stack them into a tower.
Spring in New Mexico is about the tenderest most delicate thing you can imagine. If the howling winds finally stop.

 One of the first hippie cookbooks was called Diet for a Small Planet. It was filled with things you would never want to eat, trust me. But it did have a great recipe for chocolate chip cookies. These are special, maybe perfect for contemporary waistlines. Good, but not so much you want to eat ten. Two will do. These cookies contain a gram of complete protein in each one. They could be dinner if the power goes out. I like them best frozen.

Cream together;
1/2 cup of butter
1 1/2 cup brown sugar

Add and beat until fluffy;
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup of instant dry milk  [this is the only weird ingredient but it is available in grocery stores]
1 tbs of water

In a separate bowl mix together;
21/4 cups of whole wheat flour
1 tsp of soda
1/2 tsp salt

Add to the wet mixture;
12 oz chocolate chips
3/4 cup of chopped peanuts
1 cup of sunflower seeds

Combine the wet and dry mixtures, drop by tablespoons onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes

It seems everybody is baking during this lockdown. John made astonishing bread the other day without a recipe! The artist within must be free!

                                                                    Don Gray


 My pal Don Gray was featured on a local public television show recently called Art Beat. They chose to air it during the middle of a virulent global pandemic but you can`t have everything. This is truly one of the best such profiles I`ve ever seen. No narration, just Don talking!

 Seen in Taos NM last weekend. Sacrilege? Or an indictment of consumer culture?

                                                       Carter watching Jo Jo Rabbit



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