The Northern Lights

~ MaryG ~ 36 Comments

I think a lot of people in the Northeast (including me!) checked off “See the Northern Lights” from their buckets lists last night. This was especially rewarding for those of us who missed seeing them in May. Who knew our once-in-a-lifetime chance would come twice in one year?

The Northern Lights from my very own neighborhood last night around 7:15pm. I was on my way to choir practice and happened to look up.

This feels like a lot of things.

Remembrance

The lights and colors in the sky last night reminded me of my close friend from college, Carla, who died in 2022. She had brain cancer. She really wanted to see the Northern Lights before she died, but was too sick to travel, so her friends and family found a way to project them onto the ceiling in her bedroom in Santa Fe. It was beautiful.

A Sign

I know I’m not alone in feeling a lot of anxiety about the state of the country and the way it feels like we’re never going to go back to “normal” — no matter who wins the election. I’ve never in my life been afraid of a US election, but I’m afraid of this one.

Similarly, I never once saw the Northern Lights as a kid growing up in Massachusetts, but this year, many New Englanders saw them twice! A little girl standing near me last night said, “this is God.” Maybe so. Or maybe it’s a sign of transition to a new era—an era where completely new things happen.

Unknown new things are scary and I have a strong urge to “circle the wagons” and try to protect the ones I love. (I think to myself, “please stay in Massachusetts where you’ll maybe be a bit safer from gun violence, flooding, dangerous reproductive care, crappy public schools, etc.)

But I know that’s not really possible.

My new granddaughter will hopefully live into the next century. She will live out most of her life in this new era, whatever it may be. I want her to feel free, adventurous, and safe to explore the world beyond her home state.

Living in the transitional time

An activist friend of mine left for New Zealand yesterday. She’s staying until the end of the month. She said she just needed to get out of the country for these last few weeks before the election. I can relate. In some ways, it’s all just too much.

Maybe seeing the aurora borealis is the reminder some of us needed to center ourselves and live in the moment. Humans have been around a long time and have accomplished many great things and many terrible things. Even though it sometimes feels like end times are upon us, there’s a decent chance that something great is just around the corner too.

Final thought: just breathe

Related post:

Northern Lights II

This is whack

~ MaryG ~ 13 Comments

Listen, I know that nobody needs my hot take on what’s happening in the Middle East, but this is truly whack. The Trump regime has literally stranded upwards of 1,500 American civilians abroad. They were not warned not to travel to the Middle East before they left for their trips, and now they have no clear way to get home.

As someone who has consulted the US State Department (and enrolled in its Smart Traveler Program) before going abroad, I find this very disconcerting. Is it even safe to travel abroad now? Is the United States Department of State still a trustworthy institution? Have they fired so many experts that only unqualified people are making the big decisions? Are they just WINGING this whole damn thing???

(I’m still hoping for the best, but realistically—expecting the worst.)

Good news

~ MaryG ~ 18 Comments

Two good things have happened in my family recently. My daughter’s partner is now my official son-in-law. They tied the knot on their own at the Town Hall. I’m a little bit disappointed that I wasn’t there, but hey, at least I got a picture. My son-in-law is a good and kind person and a wonderful Girl Dad to my granddaughter. He’s also tall and good looking (never hurts).

Let’s face it, weddings are fun, but some young people and their parents spend (waste?) ridiculous amounts of money on them. Personally, I was a lifelong believer in the Princess Bride fantasy and had a traditional wedding (paid for by my parents). I think I’ve cracked open our wedding album about three times in 33 years. And I’ve never watched my wedding video. So the fact that my daughter totally skipped out on feeding “the wedding-industrial conplex” (as my friend calls the wedding biz) is OK by me.

The other good thing is that my son landed a new, better job within his company. And the really good news is that he doesn’t have to move out of state to take it! I really like his company and they seem to really like him. He started there as an intern after his junior year of college. They know him quite well and they truly seem to care about their employees. Perhaps it’s because they’re based in Sweden, where people’s happiness actually matters to employers.

I’m proud of my kids! There. I said it. I find it super annoying when people brag about their adult children on Facebook, but hey—it’s my blog and I’ll brag if I want to 😉

My son’s company sends all employees to Sweden for orientation during their first year. Now I want to go to Sweden!

Pastels

~ MaryG ~ 10 Comments

Yesterday I went to a “pastel painting demonstration” at my town’s community arts center. (This is not the center where I’m currently taking a watercolors class OR the one where I took a class in the fall. I guess I’m lucky to have three different community arts centers within striking distance of my house!)

People reference “pastels” a lot and I know there are many different types—hard, soft, oil, etc. (Years ago, when I was a teenager, I worked with pastels and enjoyed them. I think they were primarily soft pastels back then, but I’m not even sure.)

Huge pastel fawn that I did in high school

I had been thinking about trying pastels again, so when I saw the free demonstration advertised, I went. The artist “painted” a deer. (When I asked why he called it “painting” when I always thought of pastels as “drawing,” he said that it’s because pastels are the most pure/intense form of pigment. So even though you don’t use brushes, it’s called Pastel Painting.)

He started with a pencil sketch on UART sanded paper (400) and then added “hard pastels” as the first layer (he called it “the under painting”)—marking out the major color areas of the piece. He worked from dark to light (opposite of how most do watercolors). Then, he used a fairly big square brush dipped in rubbing alcohol to sort of smudge it all and work the major shapes. The alcohol dries quickly.

Then, he moved to soft pastels—and he had boxes upon boxes of them. Every color imaginable! “Ludwig” seemed to be his favorite brand (quite expensive). He used the soft pastels as the top layer to really define the piece and give it depth and beauty. He spent a lot of time on the face because he wanted that to be the focal point.

Pastel deer from a demo by professional artist John Forcucci

The artist had been primarily a watercolorist when someone gave him a “plein air” (outdoor) pastel class as a gift and he fell in love with the medium. Sometimes he combines watercolors and pastels. Many of his finished pieces were on display in the gallery at the arts center and some were really impressive. He mostly paints animals in the wild.

My thinking now is this:

Pastels look fun and I might like to try them again someday, but not now. I’m not ready to invest in the supplies and the dust they create is somewhat of a concern (both because of the mess and the potential toxicity).

I like the idea of painting “plein air” (outdoors) at some point, but that would require me to purchase an easel and other supplies. I’ll keep my eyes open for a workshop or other class that’s not too expensive. In the meantime, I have a full set of colored pencils, I should really just head outdoors with those and do some drawing, when the weather gets warm.

Bottom line: you can spend all kinds of money on fancy, new-fangled art supplies but they might not help you become a better artist. The only way to do that is practice. I feel I should keep working with the supplies I have and see where things go.

The other “problem” with pastels, is that you really need to put them behind glass (with separators) if you want to display your work, which is expensive. Watercolors typically require glass frames too, but at least you can just stick them in cheap frames from Michael’s. Pastels have a delicate, powdery surface. (In the old days, we sprayed our pastels to set them, but this artist strongly discouraged that.)

Still, pastel paintings can be absolutely exquisite and unique. Check out @CindyCrimmin on Instagram for some truly stunning examples of pastel painting.

If you read this to the end, thank you! I’m basically thinking out loud here. I feel like my blog is turning into a retirement journal and is very boring to anyone but me.

Another pastel from high school

Hoping for the best

~ MaryG ~ 10 Comments

A lawless President decided to topple the government of another country of 92 million without authorization from Congress or buy-in from the American people while he was sitting in his beach house in Florida.

Is it all just a distraction from the Epstein files? Maybe. Is the outcome going to involve massive cash windfall to Trump family businesses? Probably.

But what else can we do now but hope for the best? May U.S. military casualties be minimal and a new, free Iran miraculously emerge.

BU students reacting to the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022

Creativity workshop

~ MaryG ~ 15 Comments

I’m participating in a two-hour creativity workshop on Zoom today. The focus is on “exploring our art making process,” not learning particular techniques. It’s described “as a time to feed our souls and learn with and from each other.”

To prepare I need to:

Find a piece of clothing or textile with an interesting pattern or texture and bring it to my artmaking space. Assemble a bunch of different drawing tools such as any drawing paper of any size, pen, markers, pastels, colored pencils, watercolor, charcoal…

OK, I’m good on drawing supplies, but a bit stumped on the textile. Maybe I’ll bring my favorite skirt. It’s reversible so it has two cool fabrics to choose from.

I’ve gotten lazy painting things that I didn’t draw myself, so I experimented with a Calla Lily yesterday.

Drawing is hard and can be tedious, but the only way you get better is to practice. Painting is the fun part, in my opinion.

I was mainly trying to draw/paint the flower. The scene behind was me not wanting to waste the paint and paper.

Update:

In the creativity “playshop” (rather than “workshop,” get it?) we looked at a section of our textile, and experimented with it in some way.

I experimented with changing the colors and layering the colors. The shapes were giving me sea creature vibes.

My textile:

Watercolors—baby farm animal #1

~ MaryG ~ 12 Comments

I started my 5-week class at a very nearby community arts center yesterday. I don’t like the set-up as much as the fancier arts center where I took my first watercolors class in the fall. The room is nice and sunny, but it’s quite crowded and no sinks. You have to use the restroom in the hall to get water and rinse your brushes.

The people seem nice. It’s a similar vibe to my first class. Lots of retired people who re-register each semester because they like the teacher and have gotten to know one another.

The difference is that we all paint the same subject each week, with the teacher giving a demo for each step. It’s not exactly a recipe for developing one’s own unique creative voice, but I’m sure I’ll learn some stuff by painting along with a pro.

It’s surprisingly hard to make a chick’s face look “not mean.” I think the spotted Easter eggs help a bit.

It’s cold in here

~ MaryG ~ 19 Comments

Yesterday our furnace died. Maybe the blizzard was just too much to keep up with, but it was only 14 years old. It should’ve had a few more years left. Note to everyone: never buy a Maytag furnace. We had several other problems with it before its untimely death.

Fortunately, my husband got right on it and we’re having a new one installed this morning. (K’Ching$$$) In the meantime, it’s cold in here! I’m thinking it’s about 45 degrees Fahrenheit, but I have my coffee and my Comfy, I’ll be fine.

Last night we lit a fire in our fireplace and I made s’mores and then put them on top of ice cream for mixing in. It took some effort to crush the s’more and fully mix it with the ice cream, but I did it. It was good. Not as good as the best mix-in I ever invented, but yummy.

The chocolate didn’t melt as much as I would’ve like, but I managed.

Here are some of my post-blizzard pics from Tuesday.

This is the snowbank at the TOP of my driveway—right next to the house. I’m 5’ 8.5” so that’s a lot of snow. The plow guy has no other place else to pile it all up. There’s a flower garden under there, which I’m worried about. Note: I had to balance my phone on a trashcan with my mitten and use “timer” to take this photo. That’s real skill.
My aptly named street
Neighborhood snowbank
I can’t tell if this mailbox is still attached to its post. Sometimes the plows knock off mailboxes and people just shove them into the snowbanks until they can be repaired. People then try to make the town do the repairs, but I know from experience, it’s easier to do it yourself.

In all, we got about 12-14 inches of new snow, but Rhode Island really got slammed. They beat their Blizzard of ‘78 record, with 35” inches in Providence (38” at the airport).

Related post:

Blizzards of Yore

My first boss is in the Epstein files

~ MaryG ~ 10 Comments

One of my old friends from my first job at the contemporary art museum reached out with news that our old boss is in the Epstein files and has resigned his current position in disgrace.

ArtNews coverage

NYT coverage

I can’t say I’m totally surprised.

David A. Ross is not accused of assaulting anyone in the files, but there’s evidence of him being very sweet and supportive to Jeffrey Epstein, even after Epstein served jail time for felony prostitution in Florida. Clearly, David wanted Epstein’s money for his museum exhibitions (including a very questionable one involving photographs of minors) and an ill-fated magazine project. David claims that he fell for “Epstein’s lie that he was being framed for these crimes as political retaliation for supporting Bill Clinton.”

I did a deep dive and found some other accusations about David from the contemporary art world, one involving another person that I worked with.

So, there you go. One of the biggest personalities from my early twenties—an influential arts leader who helped envision not one but two major contemporary art museums in Massachusetts—was also an unethical creep.

How the mighty do fall.

My old boss (back to camera) chatting with a bunch of guests at an exhibition opening in the late 1980s.

Related post:

1989

My Rapunzel driveway

~ MaryG ~ 6 Comments

Blizzard is over! And the power stayed on!! Two things to be grateful for.

However, there’s still the matter of the driveway. We have a long, skinny, mini-hill of a driveway that is not passable until plowed or snowblowed. And shoveling anything more than a couple of inches off of it requires a level of fitness that I do not possess.

The plow guy came once yesterday but I’ve just learned that his plow broke, so I am trapped up here. My husband managed to get his car out this morning, but will never be able to get back up the driveway unless it gets plowed again.

This is an ongoing situation with this house that I had all but forgotten about, because we haven’t had this much snow in years.

So, I’m up here alone in my snowbound fortress, waiting for some man to save me. Either the plow guy (young and cute) or my husband (strong but bad knees) will have to rescue me. This situation always reminds me of Rapunzel.

If my hair was long enough, I could braid it into a rope and throw it down the driveway to my potential rescuer.

This round tower in Ireland also reminded me of Rapunzel

I know, I know. A real feminist would’ve learned to use a snowblower years ago and get herself out. Blame that one on my father. “Girls don’t blow snow.”