Clair de Lune

Clair de Lune
12 x 10

Another small painting for the Autumn Exhibition at Blackheath Gallery, London. Click on the image for a larger view. The limited palette and close values necessary to paint nocturnes are surefire "mood makers".

I was thinking about this poem by Mary Oliver as I painted this piece.

Moon and Water
by Mary Oliver

I wake and spend
the last hours
of darkness
with no one

but the moon
She listens
to my complaints
like the good

companion she is
and comforts me surely
with her light.
But she, like everyone,

has her own life.
So finally I understand
that she has turned away,
is no longer listening.

She wants me
to refold myself
into my own life.
And, bending close,

as we all dream doing,
she rows with her white arms
through the dark water
which she adores

Painting the Night

Moonlighting
12 x 12
Available at Blackheath Gallery, London

Its probably no secret to those who have been reading this blog for a while that I love nocturnes. Like many of my visual obsessions, this one goes back to childhood. Like a lot of kids, I stayed out on summer evenings to catch fireflies and count the stars. But my most vivid memories are of a cottage on a lake where we stayed for a few weeks one summer. There was long dock with a covered boat house and screened porch where I could wile away hot summer nights watching the moon rise or the reflections of the lights from the other side of the lake.

These days I sometimes wake early to watch the full moon, huge and glowing, set outside my window. Here is a favorite poem that puts words to my fascination. Enjoy.

Moon & Water

I wake and spend
the last hours
of darkness
with no one

but the moon.
She listens
to my complaints
like the good

companion she is
and comforts me surely
with her light.
But she, like everyone,

has her own life.
So finally I understand
that she has turned away,
is no longer listening.

She wants me
to refold myself
into my own life.
And, bending close,

as we all dream of doing,
she rows with her white arms
through the dark water
which she adores

Mary Oliver

Trees

Pine Tree Study
Vine charcoal on Hahnemuhle paper

I started teaching my online class Drawing & Painting Trees this past Friday, so trees have been much on my mind. Here is one of my favorite poems . Enjoy.

The Trees

Do you think of them as decoration?

Think again.

Here are the maples, flashing.
And here are the oaks, holding on all winter
to their dry leaves.
And here are the pines, that will never fail,
until death, the instruction to be green.
And here are the willows, the first
to pronounce a new year.

May I invite you to revise your thoughts about them?
Oh, Lord, how we are all for invention and
advancement!
But, I think
it would do us good if we would think about
these brothers and sisters, quietly and deeply.

The trees, the trees, just holding on
to the old, holy ways.

Mary Oliver

Early Moonrise

Early Moonrise
36 x 30
Available at Hildt Galleries, Chicago

"To rise, I must have a field to rise from."
Mary Oliver

I've been looking into phases of the moon lately and moonrises in particular. Online you can find out when the moon was full a hundred years ago or when it will be a hundred years hence (remember, hope springs eternal). What surprised me though was how often the moon rises at midday or early afternoon. When I was out walking this afternoon I looked for it. There it was almost directly overhead at 6PM. So, those early moonrises on summer nights when the moon rises as the sun sets are not so early after all.