Everett and Charlie

The new gallery in Linden Hills, Everett and Charlie, is a wonderfully sunny place to visit on a cloudy day!  http://everettandcharlie.com/artists/

Nuthatch In Progress

A Perfect Day for a Bluebird Landing

Charcoal and Pink

These were the colors of the day....

Cool and Sunny

Perfect weather for bluebird spotting!

Linden Hills in 1901

A wonderful glimpse of our neighborhood in its infancy!

You may want to copy and paste this link into your web browser to see the original article in the Star Tribune.

https://startribune.newspapers.com/image/181089890/?fcfToken=44314e716f69696d426e3934444767354950756b44334a736d526a354b5438445970393462374641574843585136553135784457325071645a305545654c3662

A Summer's Song

bees'
and
butterflies'
way-station
for weeks
drifts
toward
a
well-
deserved
respite

Not Just Another Butterfly

Winter 

seemed endless

 this year

and now 

high summer

blesses

butterflies

bees

hummingbirds

as they feast

and quietly

in the hazy reaches

of a distant

dream

a fluffy 

white blanket

silently

awaits

as

anything

in time

is born

and dies

Awareness

is 

eternal

Linden Hills History 1889 Part 3

Here is the link to copy and paste into your browser:  

https://startribune.newspapers.com/image/180443875/?fcfToken=763972644455357a5535374f65693250694d30734276486a6b652f633773673347564f6e725148684359366a65484c3168466e6645536e65363858363561523544346b4573734d45474b553d

Linden Hills History 1889 Part 2

Here is the link to copy and paste into your browser:  

https://startribune.newspapers.com/image/180443875/?fcfToken=763972644455357a5535374f65693250694d30734276486a6b652f633773673347564f6e725148684359366a65484c3168466e6645536e65363858363561523544346b4573734d45474b553d

Linden Hills History 1889 Part 1

Here is the link to copy and paste into your browser:  

https://startribune.newspapers.com/image/180443875/?fcfToken=763972644455357a5535374f65693250694d30734276486a6b652f633773673347564f6e725148684359366a65484c3168466e6645536e65363858363561523544346b4573734d45474b553d

Everett and Charlie Gallery in Linden Hills

Have you been to the new gallery in the heart of Linden Hills called Everett and Charlie?  Suzie Marty is the Gallery Curator and she is selling my work.  I've brought in a lot of studies like this one.  See you there some time?

Everett and Charlie Gallery
2720 West 43 Street
Minneapolis, MN 55410
612-444-9706

No Patience

I bought a giant set of colored pencils because I admired someone's work with them.  Now I find I just don't have the patience anymore.  So I took out the watercolors and painted this.  No drawing first.  Just paints splashed on and gouache when whites disappeared in my enthusiasm.  Maybe tomorrow I'll have more patience.

Great Harvest

Great Harvest has started selling their spring breads which necessitated a trip there on a cold morning after a 9 inch drop of white fluff.  While waiting for Bruce to come out with the cranberry orange bread, Teddy and I watched the sputzies line up eager for fresh crumbs.  They got closer and closer, allowing me to take some close-ups leading to trying to capture them in pigments.  My first attempt with colored pencils fell short, but then I took out the Derwent Inktense pencils and they seemed a bit more cooperative.  You layer on the color and then wet it with water and it becomes "Inktense."

March Morning

The light
creeps in
slowly
this year
tiptoeing
past
soft
pillows
of
white

A Peaceful Morning

"Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous to be understood."

                                                                                      -Mary Oliver

The Tall White Lily

All night
I float
in the shallow ponds
while the moon wanders

burning,
bone white,
among the milky stems.
Once

I saw her hand reach
to touch the muskrat's
small sleek head
and it was lovely, oh,

I don't want to argue anymore
about all the things
I thought I could not
live without!  Soon

the muskrat
will glide with another
into their castle
of weeds, morning

will rise from the east
tangled and brazen,
and before that
difficult

and beautiful
hurricane of light
I want to flow out
across the mother

of all waters,
I want to lose myself
on the black
and silky currents,

yawning,
gathering
the tall lilies
of sleep.




White Night by Mary Oliver

The Chat

I wish
I were
the yellow chat
down in the thickets

who sings all night,
throwing
into the air
praises

and panhandles,
plaints,
in curly phrases,
half-rhymes,

free verse too,
with head-dipping
and wing-wringing,
with soft breast

rising in to the air--
meek and sleek,
broadcasting,
with no time out

for pillow-rest,
everything--
pathos,
thanks--

oh, Lord,
what a lesson
you send me
as I stand

listening
to your rattling, swamp-loving chat
singing
of his simple, leafy life--

how I would like to sing to you
all night
in the dark
just like that.

by Mary Oliver

Ducks have returned to Lake Harriet

Everything in its Place

Caught the moon on the fly!

and hung it on a flag pole!

A Fresh Blanket Feels Calming

Be Ready

 


Be ready. Be available. You are available when you understand that there is nothing that you can do on your own to get to the King. When you acknowledge your total powerlessness, you become an empty room. As soon as you become an empty room, you are a sanctuary. So the King can enter, take the throne and grace you with immortal presence.

Francis Lucille

Imaginary Hummingbird

Dawn in the Meadow

Snow showers in
late February
evoke
a dream
of
Queen Anne's lace
at dawn

The Essence

Pink Trees Remembered

This is a memory painting before the show begins.

It won't be long...

Green

Full-unfurled

Summer-ready

Dancing

To the music

Of soft breezes

Untroubled

By their Six-month-Sentence

Celebrating

Serenely

Their

Love 

For

Light

Six Weeks?

Just saw on an old email that magnolia trees could blossom in about six weeks!

That brought out the bluebird in me!

Exploring Ice Shanties at Dawn

It finally warmed up and was a full 20 degrees this morning as Teddy and I headed for the lake.  The shared path looked less than inviting so we headed for the lake itself for our run.  The sun was just barely making its way to the horizon.

But the camera let in more light as Teddy looked south, hoping to see other dogs.

We then spotted the shanties and the light and sculpture display in the distance.

The ice sculptures had candles and must look pretty in the evening and at dawn they sparkled a bit as well.

The path to the bandshell looked perfect for running.

I made it to the bandshell with Teddy at my heels and we turned around for a better look at the sculptures and the shanties.

The Butterfly Shanty looked colorful and welcoming.

The Silo Shanty looked very Minnesotan.

The Whale Shanty was a stand out!

As we headed up Beards Plaisance Hill for home,

I saw Teddy had lost a boot somewhere on the lake.

So I had to carry him over the salty sidewalks home.  It was a good exercise morning!