Seeking the Sublime in the Everyday

 Rest In Peace and Sweetness Lucy Russell Sherman February 6, 2008-February 23, 2023 Today we said good-bye to our beloved Lucy after fifteen years of happiness.  I know this is not the same as losing a human being; it's hard in a different way. We knew we had to take her for that final visit but both our vets came down with Covid this week and their office closed.  Trying to make this plan, watching Lucy struggle, convincing myself and Arthur that it's time, has made me more than a little nuts, as my friends working on the 7 Days show with me can testify.  I thank them for their patience. I'm almost finished with Queen Elizabeth the First  but the queen I've been channeling is Victoria, who said,  "Nothing will turn a man's home into a castle more quickly and efficiently than a dachshund."   Well, she got that right. I wrote a blog about Lucy a few years ago-you can read it here. Lucy Jessie and Molly came over yesterday for a cuddle and a good-bye hug wi

Pitchers and Catchers report for Spring Training! The daffodil bulbs I planted last fall are popping up!  I really hope they're not  putting themselves in danger of freezing in a late frost but we appear to be having an early spring, which brings its own worries. There's always something to celebrate and always something to worry about. I choose to celebrate without loosing my attachment to reality. This is a good reminder. This week I really must take down the Christmas tree. We haven't had our Christmas party since covid struck and this year I caught it at Thanksgiving time so we had very quiet celebrations.  Even so I did the full decorations and feel sad that no one got to see it.  So here it is.   I kept it up for Valentines Day and Arthur's birthday but I guess this is it. It really doesn't work for Easter.  I'll have to take time out from Queen Elizabeth the First, which I showed you last week. The next phase; I started the frame and the patterns of her d

  My Valentine's birthday is February 15 so we always have a double celebration. I've already told the story of the bear several times so I won't repeat it but here's another Valentine story.  On February 13 a few years ago I saw a Police car parked outside Lilac, the elegant chocolate shop in my neighborhood.  The driver had hopped out of the car and run inside. I said to his partner, waiting outside, "I hope he's getting something for you in there." He replied, "Yes, but I have to wait until tomorrow to open it."  Love was in the air.  I hope it still is. I'm announcing my solo debut as a curator!   Art at First at First Presbyterian Church Presents 7 Days: Artists View the Creation In the Great Hall Gallery,  12 West 12th Street at Fifth Avenue Featuring work by Fran Beallor, Lois Bender, Colleen Deery, Karen Fitzgerald, Barbara Hermor,  Lori Horowitz, Donna Levinstone, Malcolm Ritter, Rob Swanson,  Elizabeth White-Pultz, Alice Zinne There

 I'm proud to be part of   City Life, Captured, Scene and Unseen  curated by Lori Horowitz and Kathleen Migliori-Newton, now on view on the New York Artists Circle website.  And mark your calendars; you're invited to an online Zoom Event Monday, February 6 at 7 PM, EST    Here's the link;  City Life Zoom Event  . I also have two pieces in a show titled Hope out of the Darkness at the Belksie Museum in Closter, New Jersey. I'll be posting more about that next week. This week I took a few half done drawings out of the flat file and gave them a second look.  I had put them away in boredom--I'd been looking at them for too long and nothing was happening. I don't know if absence made my heart grow fonder, but I looked and thought there might be hope for them. I I liked the blue floor and the three arches but they were very beige, so I added a lot of Indian Yellow and Yellow Ocher and livened it up.  The photograph is lightning over south Hero VT by my brother, Rob, s