Paying Attention

Do you ever wonder why it is that you pay attention to some things and ignore others?

I notice I'm drawn to windows, that I'm proned to unconsciously walking to a window and staring at the world outside it.  And during our recent snows, I spent hours watching the squirrels and birds as they scurried to find a morsel.  And almost obscessively I took pictures.  Every formation, every gesture was intriguing. 

I remember from my childhood, my grandmother who we called Mama Cole, used the phrase "make haste" whenever she wanted one of us to get something done in a hurry.  Never "hurry", always "make haste."  It seemed to me as I noticed the speed with which the squirrels were searching for and relishing each sunflower seed, an inner voice was telling them:  make haste.  Was that why I couldn't stop watching?

And so what does an artist do but paint whatever she is paying attention to.  Here's my interpretation of watching those squirrels.

"Making Haste"    Oil on Canvas  16" x 20"

Enjoy your Tuesday.
Dianne

Why Not Celebrate

Yesterday, for the first time since just before Thanksgiving, I woke up ready to paint.  And just as I had done every day before Howard became ill, I got my coffee, went straight to the studio and touched brush to canvas.  It didn't make any difference what the subject would be, I just wanted to paint.  And so I opened my file of photos I shot from my kitchen window during our last snowstorm and found this male cardinal at the foot of the bird feeder.  

"Why Not Celebrate"    Oil on Canvas   11" x 14"

  

This morning listening to Krista Tippett's "On Being,"  I heard a quote but didn't catch its author:  "Wherever you go, there you are."  Today, with the title of this painting, I add this:  Why not celebrate.

Enjoy your Sunday.
Dianne
(Later:  The "Wherever you go..." quote is from the title of a book by Jon Kabat-Zinn available from Amazon HERE)