Holiday hope

"Decoration Dawn," today's 5 x 7 watercolor holiday greeting card

 I won't gripe about people putting up holiday decorations early this year. I don't think there can be an "early."

I'm not talking about the holiday music already playing in stores, trying to sell more merchandise. "Black Friday" has already become a month-long endurance tests for unending ads, which does make sense as merchants also struggle to survive.

But I wouldn't be surprised if some people are more than ready to hang some wreaths, get out holiday lights, and more. In the biologic and political disease ridden year of 2020, we need some holiday hope.

I saw these fence posts in the Texas Panhandle a few years ago, and  thought it would be appropriate to hang some holiday hope on them. It would brighten my day to see them, no matter how early, this year.

Where fences tell stories

Morning on the Llano, 7 by 12 watercolor, 140# d'Arches

The Llano Estacado of the Texas Panhandle. Big, empty, wide open spaces where the wind never seems to cease. 
Fences are few and far between, and the old ones have the character of the land...rugged and ragged as the land and the posts. The wind rustling and grass on the fence lines and singing through the old rusting barbed wire.
This old one is long gone now, replaced by more efficient steel posts and new wire but it was just up the road from my daughter and son-in- law's house near Canyon, Texas.

Beckoning to High Lonesome

Gate to High Lonesome--watercolor, 8 1/2 by 9, handmade Indian paper

High Lonesome calls, where there are skies, and far vistas.
 All you have to do is unhook the gate, and follow the faint trail. Ahead is silence, space, sensual overload. The gate isn't locked, but waiting for you to take the first step. 
Amazing how a perceived barrier can waken you, as with this painting, the eighth in as many days..