Take a Deep Breath
…reads a note beside my desk. Every once in awhile, I look down and see it, and do it. Because the holidays are here, which means — 2025 is almost over. Whew! Deep breaths can always help, right? (anyway, they can’t hurt!)
I’ve got a few tidbits for you today: A new painting, a new poem, and some holiday help…should you want to go out and buy some gifts AND support local a local small non-profit…..
Shifting. Organic. Starting with an inked imprint of yarn across the surface, this image evolved through multiple layers. At some point I tossed my brushes and just used my bare hands: you can see my fingerprints in it - especially at the upper right. Like any moment that passes, it is unique like a fingerprint, and unrepeatable like a first impression.
This is a 12 × 12 inch acrylic painting on wood, wired on the back and with a partly shiny finish, that should stand up to just about anything. Available at Village Gallery of Arts through December 2025.
undermountain
the stars scrape a frozen peak
awaiting cover of dawn
breath and blink, flicker and finch
sun on my side, soothing and warm
you caress the conifers, tasting light,
who cast their storm-kissed needles
to the dappled, dim floor, where
gem-eyed cougars creep to watch
warm-bodied elk wander and graze
green on dark lava soil cooled by time –
Here. It’s good for you. Eat.
across my skin, slip the salmon
up creeks to lakes, cupped in my hands
you know me, I know you
each finger calmly at rest
feeling voles tickle my palm
through bright grub and burrow
reaching down root by root
to drink from old flood water.
I am the work of yesterday’s lichen:
an elaborate project to erode
as fungal strands weave
a delicate net of connection -
make me whole, make me one, I say,
and
you do.
Glacier-born stones
on granite beds, sleeping
in the afterglow, I wait
for the next tremor and shock
here where no light reaches
the muffled low moan
the black depth of fissures
lull me to my heart
at the center, pulled down
to the place where I lose myself
and earth herself begins.
Gifting with Heart
Behold! Pictured below — The last of their kind, for your shopping satisfaction —
The remaining three archival prints on watercolor paper! (pictured: in the bin at Village Gallery, plus details)
“Amphibian Love” - a coffee-table style art book, full of detailed illustrations and information about amphibians of various sorts. I’ve been told, this book is great for kids - and can be enjoyed with them. The science is on each left facing page, and the big colorful painting with simple text is on each right page. Neat! (also never to be printed again, and I’m down to these last few)
The VERY LAST of my stock of professionally printed holiday cards, two designs: “Peace on Earth” and “Let It Snow”. Someday, I’ll order more. (Today is not that day.)
And one more original: “Crawling” - Watercolor and gouache, sealed with cold wax. On 5 x 7 inch birch, wired and ready to hang. Stand in awe before Nature, who is largest and most powerful, in each manifestation, and in every incarnation.
My intention is to do these updates seasonally, but at this point I think it may be Summer of 2026 by the time I do another! As I start thinking about 2026, and everything going on in my life, it looks like I’ll be knee-deep in (chaplaincy) internship hours from January through April. Then it’s two multi-day, silent retreats - one here in Oregon, but also one at the Garrison Institute in upstate New York. Hoping to see the program through and then wrap everything up with a poetic flourish! (I’ve chosen to do my “final” by reading poetry aloud to the assembly…..) Whew…guess I’d better start writing, huh?! 😉
Wishing you and your loved ones the warmest and coziest holidays possible
