Rain, Sun and Their Wanting

Rain, Sun and Their Wanting

​"Rain, Sun and Their Wanting" - acrylic and charcoal on Arches 300 lb paper, 22 x 30.  Available here and at Artfinder.

I would like
my living to inhabit me
the way
rain, sun, and their wanting
inhabit a fig or apple.

- Jane Hirschfield

I didn't notice it until recently, but I am in countdown mode.

Feeling the next birthday (still 6 months away) because it is a big one.  Though inside I feel more vibrant than ever, the narrative I associate with being a sixty year-old woman is untrue and unfair, but there it is, weighty and angst-filled.  I have six months to change that narrative.

Hirschfield's words are a guide.  I want to be inhabited by my living - by sun and rain, by mountains and oceans and paint.  To be inhabited by the smell of loam, the taste of feta cheese and the sounds of a softly-strummed guitar.  Inhabited by a morning snuggle and awakening crows.   Mmmmm.

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About the art:  beginning with a rough charcoal sketch (photo right), then adding liberal amounts of water and titanium white to move the charcoal into various values.  Adding thin layers of color and resisting the urge to complete all the edges...letting them remain in process.  Focus on the eyes and mouth, the darks and lights.  Adding geometric blocks of color and allowing paint to run and create texture.

After a couple of weeks with this woman, I feel like we k now each other.  She requires nothing more to feel complete.