Grounded Solo Show Opens March 7th at Gallery Wild in Jackson

In which I relay to you what I've been thinking about for my latest art show at Gallery Wild

I woke up having dreamt about the people in my gallery in Jackson - the lovely people who sell my work at Gallery Wild, where I will soon deliver a brand new show of over 20 paintings. I’m working on the logistics of getting the paintings to Jackson, an arduous task, more pleasant than shipping, but less pleasant than poking myself with a needle repeatedly. The business of making art is not always filled with rainbows and unicorns.

As of this writing, I am *almost* done with the show - a mixture of half encaustic and half cold wax paintings. I had hoped to be done last week, but a winter storm had other plans for my schedule. I hope to finish it presently, so I can get to the task of wrapping them up for delivery, finish editing photos, and then moving onto the next tasks, which is to make more paintings, of course.

Those who have been following me will remember my message from the Universe back in the fall - which was to “get grounded”. So naturally, “Grounded” is the title of my new show, in which every painting features “ground”. Not all of my landscapes historically have ground in them, in fact many of my encaustics are just trees and skies, the horizon line back out there behind the trees, hidden essentially.

But with the cold wax paintings, they’ve been almost exclusively ground, and that idea has very much filtered into my psyche - as though I had been missing a critical element in my diet, as though I am craving dirt and needed those essential B vitamins. So with this show there are distinct horizon lines in each painting - a foreground, a middle ground, and a back ground. This may seem outlandish to traditional landscape painters who always include a foreground, but for me it feels like a revolution.

The message I received while walking that labyrinth back in the fall was essentially to plant myself in the ground so I would shine brighter and be stronger. In winter, that’s not the easiest of tasks when you have feet of snow in your yard. I don’t really have a green thumb and indoor plants aren’t my thing, so getting grounded is very much a work in progress. I think I’m shining a little brighter, and I wish I were an expert already so I could tell you the secret to my success, but I’m not sure yet.

I’m meditating regularly, though. Every day in fact, except for a few days while on vacation, when the sway of listening to birds and walking on the beach occupied my time instead (a very reasonable compromise). I’m cutting back on the phone and the news, as though I’m weaning myself off a drug. I look forward to the day when I don’t mindlessly open the phone looking for something to do.

I have found myself trying to remember what I used to do while sitting in the passenger seat before there were smartphones. Did I just stare out the window that whole time, watching the land rush by? Who else played the game where they had a mechanism attached to the car that magically picked up trash as you drove by? No? Just me?

I am longing for spring, my favorite season where the sprouts push themselves out of the soft dirt and the buds on the trees open with such vigor. I look forward to hearing the creek from the house and see the wrens again making their nest. This winter has been weird and we have not skied our normal amount, plus a slight injury made me rest, so my connection to the outdoors right now feels tenuous. But still, it’s only mid-February and we still have at least 2 months of the season, so all is not lost. I certainly have been out cross-country skiing plenty, so I am adjusting my sense of normal.

Even though I long for spring, winter scenes hold a fascination for me - those skeletons of last summer poking out through the snow. The color palette of the subdued winter landscapes can be calming, simple, as though you have turned down the saturation dial, but also at times, so stark and full of contrast that it is blinding.

Otherwise, I am still learning how to ground myself. I know much of it involves just being present, but perhaps I am looking for a spell or a ritual I can perform no matter the season to connect me into the vibrant network of living things and Mother Earth. I am fantasizing about planting trees, raised planter beds, creating a labyrinth in my yard in the summer. I am pondering which plants and twigs I can use to make my cold wax paintings - for scraping and mark-making. I am touching rocks any chance I get as though they can imbue me with their strength, and when I pass by trees, I touch them too in acknowledgement and silent thanks.

The truth is I don’t know if I have ever fully known my place on this planet. I wish I could say I knew a better connection as a child, but I’m not certain. As an adult though, I had for sure become so wrapped up in the hustle of it all, that I was no better than an oil company executive, extracting energy in order to get ahead. I am teaching myself that I too am animal making my way across the vast landscape in search of nourishment and connection. I was looking for that in ALL the wrong places, and now I am working on my own cure. It will take some time to expel the toxins and return to self, or come into self, which is perhaps the real work of our lives. So I guess I’m doing it, and have been doing it.

I am channeling that part of my childhood self who ran around barefoot in the summer, building forts in the yard, and playing in the rain. The child who dreamt about going to camp all year long, and loved field days, school trips to the nature park, and art classes. The child who dreamt up art projects and stories, decorated doll houses, and wanted to befriend fairies in the small woods behind the house.

So this show is not so much about my discovery of how to be grounded, I do not have that answer, but rather an attempt to figure that out. Rilke said, don’t search for the answers, because you wouldn’t be able live to them, but instead live the questions. So how do I explore and practice the the act of grounding in my own life?

When biking, one the of the maxims is to look where you want to go on the trail. But if you look at the big rock you don’t want to hit, you’re gonna hit the rock. So instead, focus on the thing you want, and let the rest fall away. I’m working on focusing on the ground - the plants, the streams, and the rocks, the things right there in front of me, elements that I can touch, and feel, taste, smell and hear. All that stuff out in the distance, the foggy unknown of what’s beyond my knowledge and especially the future, I’m trying to let that all go.

To find out more about the work that will be available through Gallery Wild, please contact the gallery and they will let you know when they are ready to begin sales and send you images, prices, sizes of all the works.

Email Gallery Wild - info@gallerywild.com

Call - 307.203.2322

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The Sears Museum Invitational Opening last Friday in St George was wonderful. I met a lot of really wonderful artists and we had a great time. Thanks to Katie for joining me and the photos. This show is open for awhile and there are so many incredible paintings, all available for sale. So it’s worth going to check out if you can. PS, that ribbon is not mine, but belongs to the painting on the right, which was lovely.