"How The Light Gets In" Show Opens This Friday

It’s happening! My show opens this Friday. No, like, THIS Friday.

I know, I don’t understand time either, which is why I make calendars to try and get a grasp on it.1 But yes, it is already that time of year and my next show is happening. The opening celebration is this Friday at Gallery MAR in Park City, and it’s also Live PC Give PC, so please consider donating a whole bunch of money to your local charities.2

WOMAN, TAKE ME TO THE PAINTINGS

As we discussed in the last newsletter, the new show is all about windows and how the light gets in, or out depending on how you see it or what time of day it is. Today, that light from inside is happening an hour earlier, and much to my dogs' frustration, “No, I don’t care that it’s already dark. I’m not feeding you at 5:30 pm.”

But windows are a two way street and they provide a certain viewpoint, so how and where you look at things, matters. And in this day and age, it’s real easy to see things with a less rosier outlook. If I had a dollar for every time someone has said, “It’s A LOT right now,” I could buy my dream car.3

It IS a lot right now, and if I’m not careful, I would fall down into a deep, dark hole of despair, but I don’t think that’s very helpful. For anyone, especially me.

So I am challenging myself this November, with Thanksgiving practically on our doorstep, to find new perspectives. I’m trying to find the good and to be grateful, but not in like a gratitude journal way, more like in a “fuck, isn’t being alive incredible?!” sort of way. I want to work more on giving than receiving, with a full, open heart rather than with the guarded heart of my past self. I want to find the magic in the every day, and remind myself that being here in these meat suits, experiencing the majesty of this planet, is a damned miracle. That’s why I hang prisms in my windows - because every time I see a rainbow on my floor or my wall, I am reminded that all of this is simply phenomenal.

I keep thinking about the poem from recently deceased Colorado Poet Laureate, Andrea Gibson:

          WELLNESS CHECK
          In any moment,
          on any given day,
          I can measure
          my wellness
          by this question:
          Is my attention on loving,
          or is my attention on
                       who isn't loving me?

So with this new month, I’d also like to challenge you to reframe something in your life, look at it from a new perspective, see the world through someone else’s eyes, or walk in their shoes if you can. Find some good and latch on to it with all your might. Put it on a pedestal and worship anything that is sweet and lovely right now. Focus on what you want to see rather than all that is wrong. We’ve got a lot of work to do on our hands, and there’s no time like the present to start dreaming of the world we want and then do something about it. So, in the words of Leonard Cohen, who is responsible for the title of this year’s show:

I would be very honored if you took some time to peruse the work for the new show and if you’re in the area, to see the work in person.

Please contact Gallery MAR if you have any questions or are interested in the work. They can even photoshop an image of the painting into your space to see if it’s the right fit. And perhaps I’ll see you on Friday!

“How The Light Gets In”

Opening Celebration, Friday, November 7th

6-9 pm at Gallery MAR in Park City, UT

SEE ALL THE WORK

We totally binged Season 4 of Clarkson’s Farm last week. It’s just delightful and all very British and I feel constantly called to the UK with nostalgia, despite having never lived there. I’m certain I lived there in a past life as a witch in a stone hut with a thatched roof full of herbs drying in the rafters. Also, my skin would be so dewy and fresh there. Anywho, watch the show on Amazon. I think it’s also really important to show how very difficult farming is. THANK YOU FARMERS. Also, I want Harriet, the substitute farmer on Season 4 to have a more permanent role. And I know we hate Amazon right now (always and forever), but this show is so good, and worth it.

I’ve been way into poetry lately and this book was incredible. Like, I did not expect it to be so very good. I cried multiple times and finished it in 3 days. I could not stop reading the poems. The title poem “You Better Be Lightning” still hits me hard, even thinking about it right now makes my guts clench and my heart ache. Get it for yourself, and then give one to someone who needs to feel all the feels.

The latest episode of Science Vs about Daylight Savings Time lays out the dilemma pretty simply - it’s complicated. But here’s my solution, and feel free to spread this far and wide, because this is the only way to solve this 100-year old catastrophe - we split the difference and move the clocks by 30 minutes. We never have to do it again, and we all live in a world that is only a half hour off from how we’ve been used to it. In a week’s time, no one would even be able to tell that we were just slightly off. Only problem, and I concede it’s a large hurdle - I think we would need the whole world to agree to the 30 minutes shift. Thoughts?

We are currently binging The Diplomat on Netflix, and it is so, very, good. I had heard many people sing it’s praises, but had put it off, because honestly, who needs MORE politics right now, but damn. It’s like Game of Thrones, but modern and with less fire-breathing dragons (maybe?), and the clothes are great too. Also, Keri Russel as Kate Wyler is chef’s kiss, and can we talk about how the women are the one’s pulling the strings?

And honestly, it’s kinda giving me a new perspective on politics. One, I think the series shows that there are people in politics who do actually care about helping others, but there are many with giant egos that only care about themselves. And two, I mean it’s all just as harrowing as ever, but now I’m seeing it from an audience’s perspective and damn, this season of The American Democracy Experiment is possibly the spiciest yet. Will they or won’t they succeed? It’s a nail-biter folks.

Ok, thanks for staying til the end. Mwah!