Sheep Lice Write So Very Little

"Sheep Lice Write So Very Little" - acrylic and charcoal on cradled wood panel, 12 x 12 x .75.  Ready to hang (sides are painted; no need to frame.  Hanging  hardware attached).  Available here and at Artfinder.

"...good writing is about telling the truth.  We are a species that needs and wants to understand who we are.  Sheep lice do not seem to share this longing, which is one reason they write so very little. " - from Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott

​I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to understand who I am.  Which leads to me trying to understand who you are...and how all of these beings weave and bob and dance around and with each other.

It makes sense that I do, being part of a species that needs and wants to understand.  Good understanding, like good writing, I think begins with the truth.  The inside truth, the outside truth, the oooh wait a minute that's not MY truth, that's what I was raised to BELIEVE is truth but holy cats in a basket it is not!   

​Life is so very messy.

Sheep Lice Write So Very Little

But maybe that's the purpose of it all.  To spend enough time sorting through the mess, getting to the truth, understanding a little of who we are - enough time that we can sit with that mess all around us and say "well, ok then."  And then maybe take a day off of all that mess-sorting and be ok with not having figured out all the mysteries of the universe.  Becoming more like sheep lice, just for a moment or two.  Who knew I would ever write that? ​:)

About the art:  A recent hike through over eleven miles of forest burn has left images of darkened trunks, obsidian sentinels, etched in my brain.  The trees, their shadows, the sparkly light dancing through the dark and providing the impetus for wildflowers to pop through places that might have been so shaded just a year or two ago - it is a deep beauty.

In this piece, a slightly abstract view of shadow and light: towering trunks, the echo of fire and the bright green of new growth.  Tools used include brush, fingers, rubber wedge, wooden pick, sprayer bottle and paper towel.