When you can see time

 

"Time Zones," 5 x 7 acrylic on canvas panel

Time--One of the many reasons I love the Southwest.

Out here,  the geology of this aging earth is always visible in dramatic landforms, constantly changing skies, light, colors and weather. 

So many stories laid one on top of the  other like the strata of sedimentary rocks, evidence of deep time. So many unanswered questions, like the mysteries of geologic unconformaties and fossils, gaps in knowledge of millions of years, all in front of our eyes. 

So many lessons of how recent we are, how small we are, how brief our lives. Out here  you can see forever,  into the universe and its daily reminders of time deeper than the rocks, the moon, the sun, the stars.

Thus today's little painting, part of what may be my desert series, with a multi-layered title, especially as another man-made month ends, and man-made time "zones" mean nothing--where you can see time.

 

Season of colors

"Sunflower Season," 5 x 5 acrylic on canvas

Autumn...season of colors, nature's paintbrush, the most beautiful time of year.

We think of our lives differently, of aging, of approaching death, and rarely of the color of our lives. Perhaps we instead should draw inspiration from nature, that these times should also be our most vivid, most full of the beauty of life.

I especially love the colors of Aspen and Cottonwoods in New Mexico, in the strata of the Southwest, and of the brilliant hardwoods changing in the upper Midwest and New England.

Yet I only have to glimpse the roadsides of Oklahoma for more of the colors. 

Thus today's acrylic painting, sunflowers. My lesson to my autumn self. Available soon at In Your Eye Studio and Gallery in Paseo Arts District.

 

End of year reading, piling up

Five books beckon this month, piling up the reading list in a year-end flourish.

Two others have Oklahoma subjects. One includes stories  about the South by one of the best writers in the country. One is a self-discovery book and another I discovered today. 
I've read more than half of one, and breezed  through two of them because they're books of short chapters and you can bounce around, and thus pretty well read them.
With 23 books read so far this year, I figure I can count those two to boost me past my goal of two a month.
The Oklahoma books

I recently found and bought a book I wish I’d had the idea for, "The Main Streets of Oklahoma--Okie Stories from Every County," by Kristi Eaton. It's full of quirky interviews and facts from every corner of the state, some with photos. Some are county seats, but others are small towns barely on the map.
 I was pleased that four of the chapters featured community newspapers--my love: the Sayre Record and Beckham County Democrat, Garber-Billings News in Garfield County, Seminole Producer in Seminole County, and Cordell Beacon in Washita County. Each of the publishers is interviewed.

The other Oklahoma book is Barbara James Fretwell's novel, "Cimarron Crucible," set in a fictional town int he Panhandle about a woman running a newspaper. It starts with the disappearance of a small girl, and that has stopped me from reading yet, but I'll get to it. I have a hard time reading anything that has to do with harm to a child. But I love newspapers and the Panhandle.

The South

One book essentially read already is Rick Bragg's "My Southern Journey." Bragg is a heavyset Alabama boy who has worked for the New York Times, winning a Pulitzer. His best is "All Over But the Shoutin'" about his mother. This book is a collection of his short articles in "Southern Living" magazine and elsewhere.    My Southern heritage makes this a scrumptious read--about common people  and their lives.
Discoveries

I found Elizabeth Lesser's "Broken Open--How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow," on my wife's table, and she can't remember where she got it. I wish I'd found it years ago--it speaks honestly to me and anyone about recovery.
Today, while judging this year's  non-fiction books for the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum's annual Wrangler Awards, I came across "Finding Abbey, The Search for Edward Abbey and His Hidden Desert Grave" by Sean Prentiss. 

Abbey, a Western Thoreau, has been a hero for me for more than 20 years, introduced by a favorite student at OSU. Anyone who loves the Southwest knows his value. I've only started this book, and am grabbed by the author's narratives and spirit. Published by the University of New Mexico Press.