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This painting has the honor of being my last painting of 2019. It has been a whirlwind year - lots of trips back and forth to San Diego to help care for my 93 year young Mama. Pockets of intense painting punctuated by weeks where I can't paint at all. Lots of unfinished larger paintings languish in my studio, waiting for completion.  My heart longs to paint huge pieces...my fragmented time dictates smaller works. So we will see what 2020 brings!

I do have a few shows being planned for 2020: "Driven to Abstraction" is a group show scheduled for July 13-26 at the Carnegie Center for Creativity in Fort Collins. A "prequel" to that big show will be a smaller show centered around the theme of "Connections" and will be up May 6-June 29  at Artworks in Loveland (more details as the event gets closer). I'm also hoping to get back to Equis Art Gallery in Red Hook, NY and Assemblage Contemporary Craftsman Gallery in Buda, TX this year.

As I look forward to the New Year, my intention is for clarity. So often life is filled with confusion, chaos, choices - so many things vying for my attention that I find myself being more re-active than pro-active. Clarity - the ability to see clearly, hear clearly, think clearly...for me comes from a stillness of being, from a sacred space of focus, from a daily practice of honoring my body and mind and soul. To clear from my eyes the cataracts of modern life, where Truth is veiled by the fleeting, the forced, the fake and the frivolous. To understand my purpose as a vessel of pure light and love. To create art that will open hearts. To be truly Alive...to Surround myself with other Beings of Light and Love...to Spread Kindness...to Incite Riots of Joy and Laughter...to Dance with Grateful Abandon...to Light the Darkness with Stars of Hope...to Honor the Sacred Connection that binds us all together...and...to always remember to put my oxygen mask on first.

The 30 Day daily painting challenge was at times challenging: there were days the muse didn't show up, and I struggled to put paint on canvas. There were times the challenges of life made carving out a few hours to paint difficult. And there were days where everything just clicked. What I learned...and it is something I already "knew", was that whether something came quickly and easily, or was a hard-fought battle, didn't necessarily reflect on the success of the painting. Struggles usually meant I was learning something new. And maybe what I learned the most from this challenge is to just show up.

Interestingly, the song "Do You Hear What I Hear?" was running through my head as I painted today's piece. This was truly an intuitive painting - I had no idea what would show up, but it didn't take long for Red Fox to appear. With her head and tail up, she appears to be very alert, as if she has heard a sound and is now listening with her whole body.

"Do You Hear What I Hear?" is one of my all-time favorite Christmas songs; both the melody and the meaning inspire me. And now that we are officially in the Christmas season, and I have officially completed my daily painting challenge, I invite you to join me in taking time to  listen to your heart, do the right thing, and pray for peace.

Bittersweet...a vine common in North America that is is poisonous but bears beautiful (edible to birds, poisonous to people) red-orange berries. As a taste, it describes something with a blend of both bitter and sweet flavors, such as chocolate with a very low sugar content (yum). As an emotion, it describes a feeling of sadness mixed with happy memories. That's how I am feeling now as my 30 day daily painting challenge is just about done. I will miss painting these little guys every day and sending them off to my "tribe" of newsletter subscribers...and the experience was wonderful and enlightening. I am however happy to return to painting larger pieces...and excited to see ideas that formulated with the small paintings will translate into new work.

If I had magical powers, I'd make this painting huge. Maybe 48x48. I don't know if it would work at that size, but something about it seems larger than 8x8.

And while I in the mode of "what if"...if paintings could talk, this one might have a lot to say about never never never giving up. I actually started this painting last Friday, and put it aside because what I had wasn't doing it for me. This morning I covered up Friday's work, scraped back, scribbled with my palette knife, put it aside and started something else...and then, finally, saw in the chaos the shadowy beginnings of something...and voila!

I can't tell you how exciting this painting is to me (although obviously I am trying!). It embodies everything I want to accomplish in painting...emotion, spontaneity, abstraction, power, the juxtaposition of simplicity and complexity, color, surprise...

And so it is truly Golden.

I have priced this piece higher than the other daily paintings because of it's importance in my growth.