The Whole Sky to Fly In and No Eye Watching

"The Whole Sky to Fly In and No Eye Watching" - mixed media on cradled wood panel, 24" x 36" x 1.25" .  Ready to hang.  Available here and at Artfinder.

The rains have arrive in Portland.  Rains and a wind that bangs the deep-toned gong in my backyard.  It is tempting to make the act of going outside a thing of necessity instead of the fun frolic of summer.  But a walk in the forest in the rain (thank you to a sweet friend for that), mud-covered boots, leaf-littered dog and the sound of an owl reset the mind to seek these soaking adventures.  Now we are ready for fall in the PNW.

This piece, perhaps the last in a series of weeping women, is the largest in a good while.  She's seen me through some sleepless nights, angsty self-questioning and ultimate surrender.   

"Creative work needs solitude.  It needs concentration without interruptions,  It needs the whole sky to fly in, and no eye watching, until it comes to that certainty which it aspires to, but does not necessarily have at once. "  MARY OLIVER

The Whole Sky to Fly In and No Eye Watching

I've been cultivating a delicious sort of solitude.  It is heady, so much uninterrupted time.  After a lifetime of raising children (and a grandchild), working for others, managing things and priorities not my own - this long stretch of unfettered days is a luxury of the sort not found on vacation.  This only ends if I wish it to.  Oliver puts it best: "And that I did not give to anyone the responsibility for my life.  It is mine.  I made it.  And can do what I want to with it.  Live it.  Give it back, someday, without bitterness, to the wild and weedy dunes."