September Table

Last Sunday was rainy, but actually really nice. Clare, Rene, and Sara came over and we painted out on the patio and my daughter joined us to draw too. The fine mist of the rain was pretty, and we were actually happy to be confined to close to the house where we could eat and talk. We grabbed flowers I had around the house, Clare's hat and champagne bottle, and we were set. It was a great day.

Cityscaping

Once again we met and painted and gabbed. My drawing contribution is at the end here because I didn't finish. However, in my own defense, I arrived two hours late. We talk and eat before we paint (and during too I'd have to say) but I didn't get the necessary amount of talk in before drawing, so I was a chatterbox and not an artist. But, the perfection of this day for me, was just being present, though I believe I did get some great photographs. (To be posted at a later date.)

Friendscapes

Using landscapes and nature to explore connnections and contemplate how life works is an intellectual tradition, I'd say particularly in America. (Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, and more...) but I'd like to reverse that approach at the moment. I'd like to look to contemplate light and nature by thinking about life lived together over time. The friendscapes below include my closest friends, all of whom I've known for thirty years or very close to that.

The garden scape is about three of us who grew up with each other in high school and beyond. The city steps are from another paint party with my friends from college and my early career. We're now 50 and being together anywhere incorporates the richness of our entire life. Our history is our friendscape. It's a place we create together. And just as the whitespace or open space of any composition contributes to the whole, the things that we don't say or don't have to say, or see or don't have to see, or choose not to see or say, imbue the moment with a light that you may be able to catch in these photos.