Focus

Like everyone else, I've been dismayed, sad, and disturbed about the entire string of recent events, from the natural disasters in Mexico City and the Caribbean to the shooting in Las Vegas. I've started several posts here, only to abandon them, not wanting to add to the river of words already flooding our lives. Besides, I feel that a lot of the discourse misses the point, and until I find the right way to express my own feelings, I'm better off keeping quiet.

So I've returned to painting, and specifically, to this particular painting that I put away a while back, not quite satisfied with it at the time. In the past two days I've finished it, and was happy to be able to see what needed to be done. Painting, writing, music, dance, gardening, knitting, walking in the woods: we need to do whatever it is that brings us back to our center and allows us to continue in the face of loss, grief, anger, and lack of hope. There is always hope, and the spirit is always deeper and stronger than we think. Here is a good post on taking care of oneself, from my dear friend Rabbi Rachel Barenblat. And I hope you will consider sending some funds to the areas hardest hit by hurricanes and earthquakes. Our help is needed, and that is something we can all do.

 

Comments

[Ann Elbourne]

Your picture shows so much that is right with the world. I think it's my favourite of the pictures painted by you that I've seen. Will you show us the original when we have our book get-together?
Ann

[Jan Jorgensen]

Thank you, Beth, for acknowledging and making space for the silence, too. It is a grace to know that one is not alone in the sorrow - and it is a grace to gaze into this landscape ...

[Frances/Materfamilias]

So much to love in this post (the emphasis on guarding words until we're ready to articulate thoughtfully and precisely; the possibility and importance of hope) and in this painting (I'm mesmerized by the way it invites me to see as if from a distance but also pulls me into intricacies that need a closer view -- the blue flowers in that foreground, particularly). . .

[Rachel Barenblat]

Beth, that painting is beautiful, and I love also seeing it in progress / alongside the implements of its creation.

[Natalie]

Beth, wonderful painting and photo of it with its materials. Almost edible, the way a fabulous dish looks before it's consumed.

[Kathy Hughes]

I agree this painting is one of my favorite of yours - the field in the forefront just beautiful! Thanks for articulating how many of us feel is these troubled times....