Maybe it took the not so subtle shift of 180 million people leaning towards the hopeful, optimistic, proud and unified. But the days’ and weeks events have put me back in step.
A seminal shift it was. As the oath was taken, the oaf was taken- away by helicopter.
Don’t look back, you’re not going there, as my favorite needlepoint pillow used to say. Yesterday, there was a sense of a fresh start, the feeling that we’re in very capable hands. No matter how many times the blackboard got erased in 3rd grade, it never looked right until, at the end of the week, it was washed. New. Clean. Ready for the clear absorption of the next lessons.
Her capable hands are a work in progress. This might even become a study for the next one.
New Years this year, fell on January 20th. Hello Muse.
I’ll be away from the studio and home for a week to spend time with my mother. I’m leaving a plate of cookies for the muse so she doesn’t run off. I think this time, she’s here for all of us.
Tags: Capable Hands, clean blackboards, oil painting, painting in the Caribbean, the Inauguration, the Muse, work in progress
Asheville: The North West of The South East 
January 21, 2009 at 5:05 pm |
Amen to that, sister!!!
Did you like the sight of evil being wheeled out of the White House?
Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead, the Witch is Dead, the Witch is Dead…
What a day! What a day!
Safe trip to you! Don’t forget to leave stuff out for Larry. 🙂
January 21, 2009 at 5:08 pm |
Well said B, a day in History that I will remember!!!
Have a great trip, say hi to Mom and Noel
January 21, 2009 at 5:52 pm |
You have obviously been inspired. She is beautiful! Happy travels, dear friend. It’s going to be chilly in Florida compared to St. Croix. Bring your fleece. Give my regards to your Mom and Noel.
January 21, 2009 at 5:53 pm |
I was the boy who dusted the erasers. I never got to actually wash the board….damn we are getting old me thinks.
January 21, 2009 at 6:30 pm |
Nathalie- didn’t evil look like Dr Strangelove? A very fitting exit.
What a day indeed. And many more to come.
Anthony-we were all so ready for a GOOD day in history.
Wreggie- makes you wonder how many kids got asthma from breathing in clouds of chalk dust. You seem just fine (well, except for that swollen face……)
Countdown for you too now, no?
January 21, 2009 at 8:25 pm |
“the oath was taken, the oaf was taken- away by helicopter”
I’ve noticed (here and on other occaisions) that you so good at the puns. I can imagine that dinner conversation with you would be very entertaining.
I love the drawing. It’s almost as though it’s a De kooning, erased by Rauschenberg and drawn over by Luria.
January 22, 2009 at 12:32 am |
Razz- your compliments could serve as the appetizer for a dinner that if YOU prepared it would in fact be very entertaining. Especially if I was there.
I do appreciate your comments, wholeheartedly.
It’s nice to know that people really pay attention while they read.
January 22, 2009 at 1:12 am |
I’ve been feeling the same way about Obama, I think the whole nation feels refreshed since the inauguration! 🙂
January 22, 2009 at 2:15 am |
Well, if you’re ever in Sydney I’ll be happy to round up some other artists I know and whip up a little something to make the trip all worth while.
January 22, 2009 at 11:39 am |
Bonnie! So glad the muse is back. Your painting is beautiful and very much a Luria. Can you send the muse here. I got nothin’.
January 22, 2009 at 11:47 am |
Razz- that would have to be a BIIIIG whipping up of something. It would probably take me a week to get from here to there.
But I’m going to remember this offer!
Carol-the muse, is like the cable camera over the inauguration- it’s everywhere. You got plenty.
January 22, 2009 at 12:09 pm |
I so-o-o-o look forward and enjoy your posts! Where in FL? Have a great trip–although it’s COLD here this week!
January 22, 2009 at 12:31 pm |
JoAnn- So glad you enjoy reading these. I’ll be in Ft Lauderdale and I just checked the weather ! Ha! For us, this is coooold.
But it’s warming up and my mothers house is probably set at a fixed 80 degrees anyway!
PS- I’ve left a comment or two on your blog in past posts but they haven’t shown up. Who knows why…….Did you change your comment feature?
January 22, 2009 at 12:44 pm |
So Rush Limbaugh says now, “I hope he [Obama] fails.” Apparently the right still feels the unregulated market has done a fabulous job! Tell a lie big enough, often enough, and people will believe (they hope).
On the other hand, your young lady and your paintings are a part of the Truth. The muse speaks. She was never really gone…
January 22, 2009 at 2:29 pm |
This is going to be another wonderful piece, Bonnie. Somehow you make each step an artwork that could stand on its own.
Really like the drawing, the lines, the design – very cool.
January 22, 2009 at 3:09 pm |
Don- to Limbaugh I say, the ” rush ” is over. I know the thugs are still smarting from losing and would rather we all fail than some of us succeed.
Did anyone else notice during Obamas’ inauguration speech that he addressed the stage by saying ” my fellow citizens”?
I don’t recall any other president saying that. They always said
” my fellow Americans” at the exclusion of the rest of the world. Like only WE count.
I think if he keeps his inclusionary agenda, there will be too many to hoodwink. That’s my hope.
Bill-thanks for saying those things. I’m never sure when it’s done. Someone said that a painting is never done, it’s just abandoned. I liked that.
January 22, 2009 at 9:59 pm |
Yay Obama!
Marvelous composition in this painting!
January 23, 2009 at 3:40 am |
Always love your work and so enjoy HOW you do it.
YOU ENJOY your trip home… after all that’s really what matters isn’t it… ? The people we love.
Yes… optimism is in the air…. Now comes the hard work of putting us all back together!!
January 23, 2009 at 5:50 am |
“the oath was taken, the oaf was taken” yuz gotta way wiz words, comrade! Paint with renewed vigor!!!
January 23, 2009 at 9:56 am |
I agree with David! The turn of phrases in this post! I loved the blackboard analogy, too. When the blank canvas is finally reassuring! I love the inaugural poet, too…Pick up a pencil…Begin.
Hope your visit to Florida goes well. We’ll be gathered around that empty cookie dish looking guilty.
January 25, 2009 at 1:34 pm |
Lovely painting. Have a good visit with your mom.
Paz
January 25, 2009 at 2:22 pm |
Have good trip!
The big show was on late where I am. It was past my bedtime, but it doesn’t happen very often. I can look back on it one day and say, “As a matter of fact I was lying on my couch at 2 am in the morning when that happened!”
Didn’t Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter look good!
January 26, 2009 at 9:20 pm |
ROSS! YOU ARE KIDDING….you noticed Jimmy and Rosalynn on this day of days! You are hilarious. Oh, hi, Bon Bon! Hope your trip is going well!
January 28, 2009 at 2:59 am |
Bonnie – tell me you haven’t abandoned this piece!
January 29, 2009 at 12:59 pm |
I’m right with you on your blog comments today! And this figure study is powerful. I like the idea of leaving cookies for the muse. My muse probably is holding out for cookies, too…
January 29, 2009 at 9:07 pm |
See? I told you I’d come right on over!
: )
Oh, I think it was in commenting on Marc Hanson’s blog a while back that I said there’s nothing like a sketch to rip open the heart. I’m soft-hearted for sketches, and I really liked yours! But, I also love the “washiness” of the painting – it’s oil, right? But it looks like pastel – soft and malleable (sp?) and limber, all parts! Nothing brittle, nothing rigid. So supple and lovely. I like both!
Hope your trip to your mom was good.
And, now, it’s almost February!
Smiles,
Solveg
January 31, 2009 at 7:08 pm |
Bill- I haven’t- I’ve started a larger version of it. But don’t go setting your timepiece for it’s completion, houseguests are arriving.
Kelly – thanks for stopping by. I think your muse is happy for those wonderful candy hearts. You go girl…….. ( I still like the old ones..)
Solveg- hi! Yes you did and here you are. A wonderful painter, Colin Page, who I learned about through Franks’ blog, said that if he did a finished drawing ( or words to this effect ) he’d have no reason to do the painting.
I can appreciate that so much since I really liked this drawing but I lost something in the painting.
I’m working on a bigger version now.
Yes, the months are ticking by.
Keep warm.
January 31, 2009 at 7:17 pm |
Marian- thanks for the visit again and your always encouraging words.
David- fellow comrade of truck and bicycle fame! That oath/oaf was just sitting on the tongue waiting to be put down on electronic paper. And now to Blogoyovitch, I sing a verse of Bye Bye Gov, with a nod to the Everly Bros.
February 1, 2009 at 3:41 am |
Well, I don’t know what you lost, because I can’t see inside your mind’s eye, but I sure like the painting, too. Her expression in the painting evokes far more, both in her face and in her carrying poise! Can’t wait to see the bigger version! All three will be works unto themselves!
Solveg
February 2, 2009 at 1:58 pm |
Time to kick the house guests out to the beach for the day so you can get to work.