Hark!

December 25, 2015 by Sheila

For Christmas Day, a painting and a poem. Merry Christmas, everyone, as we go onward together holding hands, listening for angels.

A little girl is singing for the faithful to come ye
Joyful and triumphant, a song she loves,
And also the partridge in a pear tree
And the golden rings and the turtle doves.
In the dark streets, red lights and green and blue
Where the faithful live, some joyful, some troubled,
Enduring the cold and also the flu,
Taking the garbage out and keeping the sidewalk shoveled.
Not much triumph going on here—and yet
There is much we do not understand.
And my hopes and fears are met
In this small singer holding onto my hand.
Onward we go, faithfully, into the dark
And are there angels hovering overhead? Hark.
— Gary Johnson

Ann

Stephanie

Noah

Nevin

Tony

After a fall of snow

December 21, 2015 by Sheila 1 Comment

In celebration of this shortest day, this longest night of the year, a poem by May Sarton, and a chair in the National Cathedral Bishop’s Garden, painted during a snowier winter than this one looks to be.

Before going to bed
After a fall of snow
I look out on the field
Shining there in the moonlight
So calm, untouched and white
Snow silence fills my head
After I leave the window.

Hours later near dawn
When I look down again
The whole landscape has changed
The perfect surface gone
Criss-crossed and written on
Where the wild creatures ranged
While the moon rose and shone.

Why did my dog not bark?
Why did I hear no sound
There on the snow-locked ground
In the tumultuous dark?

How much can come, how much can go
When the December moon is bright,
What worlds of play we’ll never know
Sleeping away the cold white night
After a fall of snow.

—May Sarton

Turkey Tales

December 4, 2015 by Sheila Leave a comment

When I go to the gym, there are always multiple TVs on, so from visit to visit I get a glimpse of several news threads at once, although never the whole story. In the past few days, I saw each of these.

David

Gideon

Nelson Mandela 1918-2013

Approach Of Winter

December 1, 2015 by Sheila Leave a comment

A picture, and a poem, for the first of December.

The half-stripped trees
struck by a wind together,
bending all,
the leaves flutter drily
and refuse to let go
or driven like hail
stream bitterly out to one side
and fall
where the salvias, hard carmine—
like no leaf that ever was—
edge the bare garden.

—William Carlos Williams

Melissa

Chuck

Merci

November 26, 2015 by Sheila Leave a comment

The lovely village of St. Cyprien-Dordogne is where we were living last Thanksgiving, celebrating quietly and far from home. This year, back in our native land, and happy and thankful for the beloved company of family and old friends, we’re also grateful for those we came to know in our adopted land and anxious about the recent attacks on this spirited, creative, humorous and resilient people. I look forward to a day (probably centuries beyond my lifetime) when we might celebrate in harmony a universal Thanksgiving in appreciation for our beautiful world and everyone in it.

Below, a poem for this day.

Te Deum
Not because of victories
I sing,
having none,
but for the common sunshine,
the breeze,
the largess of the spring.

Not for victory
but for the day’s work done
as well as I was able;
not for a seat upon the dais
but at the common table.
—Charles Reznikoff

Vive la France

November 14, 2015 by Sheila Leave a comment

I cannot live without…

November 8, 2015 by Sheila Leave a comment

Thanks to Mary Quattlebaum, it was a splendid Sunday afternoon spent among new books and their authors and illustrators, including Laura Elliott speaking about her new book on Ginevra de’ Benci.

Aunt Marge

Mesmerized by Music/Mahler’s Third Symphony

November 5, 2015 by Sheila Leave a comment

I am sorry about two things: first, that Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter is a mere tiny purple splotch in this sketch; and second, that I didn’t know until too late that she also would be singing—among other things—Simon and Garfunkel later in November at the Library of Congress.

Joe

Erna

A Calendar for 2016

November 4, 2015 by Sheila 4 Comments

Here is a new calendar for 2016, each month featuring one of my seasonal still-lifes. (Unless you prefer to be surprised, you can scroll down to see the twelve still-lifes featured below.) The calendar is 8-1/2″ x 11″ and printed on sturdy satin stock, substantial enough so the images can be saved as prints.

A single calendar is $23; a set of three is $60. Shipping is 3-day Priority Mail, domestic US.

(If you are in my area, you can obtain a calendar from me directly without shipping—just let me know.)

For one calendar:

For a set of three calendars:

Elephant Moving Day!

October 20, 2015 by Sheila Leave a comment

On my zoo walk this morning by the elephant house, I didn’t know I would be saying goodbye to Kandula, whose birth in 2001 I remember.

Below, I post a sketch from December 2004, when Kandula was three years old.