oil on panel, landscape, 4×4
Landscape No 20
Available here
Small to large prints available here

Killing oneself is, anyway, a misnomer. We don’t kill ourselves. We are simply defeated by the long, hard struggle to stay alive. When somebody dies after a long illness, people are apt to say, with a note of approval, “He fought so hard.” And they are inclined to think, about a suicide, that no fight was involved, that somebody simply gave up. This is quite wrong. -Sally Brampton

Last week was most difficult. We’ve been mourning the loss of a family friend. It’s a tragic story, not mine to tell. Now to gingerly pick our shattered hearts, and lives up off the floor, and carry on. I need to paint today. 

oil on panel, landscape, 4×4
Landscape No 18
Available here
Small to large prints available here

I’m going to continue to challenge myself this month as far as writing goes. I’ve decided to do morning pages again. The last time I attempted this, I think I did it for a day or two, and forgot about it. Oops. This time, I have no excuses because my writing desk is the first thing I see as I walk upstairs every morning. I’m going to put a big MORNING PAGES sign on it. There’s no way I can forget, but in case I do, I’ve also put it in my Google calendar, and it will be emailed to me each morning at 4am.

I think it’s pretty amazing that Julia Cameron isn’t a morning person, yet she sets out to do these pages every morning. I wonder if she ever skips or misses a day? I’m sure there will be quite a few I’ll want to skip, but I’ll force myself to do it. It’s for my own good because the more words flow, the more they keep flowing. I want to get to a place where it’s easy to write. I’m sure it won’t be easy every single day, but I want to work towards that goal, and the only way to get there is to write more often.

In other news, the blizzard is going to miss us, but the thunderstorm last night was pretty cool. Thunder and fierce lightning on the first day of February will always be cool in my book, tho. The sun is shining now. Hard to believe just a little north of here it’s a whiteout.