The winter here is always in motion.  The rain falls, the trees sway in the wind, and the clouds are always on the go.  Sometimes they appear as a heavy comforter, covering the sky in an almost impenetrable barrier between you and sun.  Other times the clouds flow like water.  They move around almost as though they’re checking on the ones they love.  And when the clouds meet the trees on the hill, they embrace as though they don’t want to let go.  They start to touch and dance in an almost seductive way.  This is a scene I see almost every day in the winter.  The clouds lower into the trees and it is nearly impossible to look away because of their mutual longing.  It is honestly one of the simplest yet romantic sights in nature. While defining the word haze is not all that difficult, describing it is.  How can one do this act justice with words?  I know I can’t, but I could try to paint it.  So here it is, my Defining Haze.

Do you know someone who makes something difficult look easy?  Maybe you only found out how hard something really is when you tried to do it yourself.  That’s what I thought of the most while creating this piece.  Did you that the average cloud weighs over One Million pounds!?  I recently rode my bike through one and I was reminded that although clouds can look extremely light and fluffy, they are actually quite dense and wet.  But they float and move around as though they weigh nothing.  They can stretch and swirl and change colors in a matter of seconds.  They make being a cloud look easy. While the trees are the centerpiece of this painting, the focus is all on those clouds.  My intense fascination with them is what inspired, not only this painting, but the collection that is to follow.  The collection, yet to be named, is a celebration of the relationships between the trees and clouds of Washington. Stay tuned for more stunning PNW scenes.  All pieces of the collection will become for sale at a date later announced.

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to be a bug? I have, in fact I’ve thought about it so much I’ve actually thought this could be a cute children’s book. Bugs live right alongside us, in the exact same world we do, and yet their world is so very different. Their lives are spent just being and taking each day as it comes. As I spent many hours painting this little scene, I thought about the lovely spider who spent many many hours creating this beautiful web. This is not only her home but also her livelihood. It’s where she sees the world go by and the seasons change. As the days go on she needs to repair her home. It gets used and damaged and she doesn’t complain. She just repairs it. This web is far from the perfect and yet to me that is one of the reasons it is so beautiful. It is her masterpiece and her labor of love. Lately I have been seeing ways that time has been affecting my own home. Things are wearing out and needing replaced. What was once newer is now outdated. Lived in, lovingly used and optimistically repaired. My home is the place I most long to be, and seeing the passage of time reminds me of all the love that has been seen there. All the repairs and things done over the last 18 years to make this special place feel like ours. And to me this is such a beautiful thing. I encourage all of you for just a moment, to imagine what your world would be like if you were a bug. Who would be in your little world and what would be the important things that would fill your day?