Two Paintings

These paintings were commissioned project by a woman for whom I had created custom wedding invitations several years ago. She requested a custom painting of a beautiful bouquet of wild flowers in a mason jar, for her mother. After I completed the painting, she requested a second painting on the same subject matter for her mother-in-law. It was an interesting exercise to paint the same subject matter twice. I think I managed to achieve the same feel in both paintings though the particulars of the colors varies quite a bit. I particularly enjoyed painting the rich hues of the door knob featured in these paintings.

Shall we dwell in possibility?

With the passing of Thanksgiving and the design of a holiday postcard, I’ve been reflecting on Emily Dickenson’s poem “I dwell in Possibility.”

The poem reads:
“I dwell in Possibility –
A fairer House than Prose –
More numerous of Windows –
Superior – for Doors –

Of Chambers as the Cedars –
Impregnable of eye –
And for an everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky –

Of Visitors – the fairest –
For Occupation – This –
The spreading wide my narrow Hands
To gather Paradise –“

In reflecting with gratitude for the year gone by and celebrating the new start of the coming year, I feel aware that the possibility of the present is where I desire to dwell. It’s easy to yearn to hold onto the experiences of days gone by or to project ourselves into a positive or negative future. I will struggle mightily though, to be present to myself and others in the each moment, and to behold the possibility that exists there.