Green, green, everything is green

Crabbing and college recommendations

Kids are kids no matter where they grow up. Explaining things like tectonic plates and Pangea to Theo. How do you explain that made up borders on top of real land determine if you live or die? If you are free or not?

I remember distinctly August 2020. We were living in Brooklyn, NY (Park Slope - see my summer of slow post coming out on saturday this week-although for some people it may have come to your inboxes already - woops!) and I was trying to paint in my tiny studio for my hybrid show ‘Grounded’ at The Mariboe Gallery (installed in person, virtual artist talk, visits). I took that month off social media. Andy and I took a day trip to a lake in upstate NY. We were itching to swim. We got there and the beach was at capacity (Covid). So we drove around and hiked to a spot where we could sit and jump and climb out (difficult) and lay and read and paint. Andy wore his sneakers in. I remember his hair was long and very blond. The water, cool and crisp. I can remember exactly what I painted, how good it all felt. Can I remember this so deeply because I was not on social media? I could replay that whole month, now 5 years later, week by week with details in a way I just can’t remember anything anymore. I want to change that.

Watched Jaws tonight, outside in a pool. The movie is a color palette I’d like to live in. Andy and I jumped off the “Jaws Bridge’ in Martha’s Vineyard during our last trip there. As I saw the bridge, I remembered the rush of hitting the water and then swimming as fast as I could to the surf, as if the fake shark from a movie many years ago was somehow in the water with us all.

Collages in my journal this morning. Watercolor line work that looks like the watermelon vines, swirling and curling and opening up to the sun.

Theo turned four. I got to bring him to my favorite dock and crab with my cousin Alex, like we use to do when we were kids. But this time Alex was teaching my four year old how to do it. He caught two on his first try (then we hit a dry spell, the patience was not winning over the excitement of pulling the line up).

Self portraits in pencil this morning. I feel tired in a way that is comical. It’s the only way I can fill my pages and wake up and not really use my brain. I lean the mirror on my desk and attempt to document.

I found my college recommendation letters. They ran over me like a balm. I guess I was surprised how much I am still her. How I am trying to stay connected to her, get back connected to her.

We checked out this Keith Haring biography picture book from the library. I learned that one of his last mural projects was in Pisa, Italy called Tuttomondo. I never understood the intense focus he put on working for and creating alongside kids. He started just drawing at the kitchen table with his dad. His work was actually the first of it’s kind, which is a hard thing to even consider finding these days.

Thinking back to my Peddie art studio. It was tiny, but it had a window. I had to walk through Libby’s studio to get in. There was a little closet and a square wooden tall table. I don’t even know if I have a photo of it. Can you imagine?

We harvested our first carrot. Theo pulled it out. He and Lila brought it to the park as their “snack” and ate the whole thing. Their approach was interesting, but they ate it.

Cutting basil, parsley, rosemary, and zinnias for neighborhood bouquets (re: summer of slow activity this week). We received a potted plant as a thank you from last week’s bouquet left with a neighbor. Leaning over, cutting with my kitchen scissors, I was asked over my shoulder if I was selling my zinnias. It got me thinking of the perfect roadside zinnia farm in Cape May, NJ around the corner form my parents house. We would bike to it and buy $5 bouquets in preparation for the weekend when people would be visiting.

Green, green, everything is green.

P.S. Check out my Terrain pieces highlighted in this recent email below. Did you buy something from my collection? If so, it would mean the WORLD if you left a 5 star review on the Terrain site and share why you love it!