Dec 31

Oh my god there are only a few more hours left in this year..... phew that was a slog to get through.

Today I did the afternoon shift on the hotline which has really messed up my head because I'm NEVER there in the afternoon so now I don't know how to place myself in time.

Ok, something that I came across and want to carry forward is the idea of expectations, and how our expectations- conscious and unconscious- shape our lives.

I always have new years intentions, but that's not quite the same thing as expectations.

Expecting outcomes, expecting positive. It's more of a command than a hope.

So, I am working on this energy shift.

On new years eve last year I got 2 of those big gold chocolate coins from Trader Joes- the ones that say YES on them. I got one for me and one for Daya.

So, last year I was meditating on saying Yes to good things coming in.

And I did do that.

I did that very well, actually, I think.

To several things.

Now, with meditating on expectation, I am contemplating that saying yes doesn't necessarily mean receiving. 

And that can be a bummer.

So, I'm having expectations for 2026.

I am leaving the ghosts of 2025 here in 2025 where they belong, and I am carrying forward positive expectations instead.

Hanging out with Fra Filippo Lippi

I like to do a master copy every year in egg tempera class.

The medium suits master copies, plus Doug is there to talk me off my many inevitable ledges of artistic despair. And tell me what my issues are and how to fix them. And I had much despair and many issues while painting this.

This year I scrambled my head with the famous Madonna painting by Fra Filippo Lippi (1406-1469).

I wanted to do a long portrait, slow, very opposite of all my plein air work.  It's good balance.

So, I started this at the beginning of October and thought I'd work with it and finish sometime in Jan-Feb.

Nope, Doug announced our class show hangs on Jan 17th for the opening on Jan 20th!

So I got all stressed out and thought I'd have to work on her at home... but it turns out I ended up finishing her last week in class. Phew!

Yesterday she got framed. She looks good.

I learned a lot from doing this painting.

There is something about doing master copies that puts you in a different mindset, a journey through someone else's process. It's very intimate. I absorbed- downloaded- a lot, but I'm not sure how to put it into words.

In class we have unofficial spots where we always sit.

I like to sit right next to Karen because she's amazing and a much better painter than I am, so I suck up her painting vibes. She has plenty of those to spare.

9x12 egg tempera and metal leaf on Ampersand Claybord, about 25-30 hours.

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Here are some progress shots:

Snowy Beach

We got snow so I went to the beach and did a painting.

This was one of the coolest landscapes I have seen!

6x8 oil

Illuminated Psalms

First, here is the microgreens update...the cats have not eaten them, thank goodness.

They still need a few more days.

There is a show about illuminated psalms at The Morgan Library.

It closes Jan 4th so I figured I should go, especially since today was a bad-weather day to paint.

(We are getting a snowstorm tonight and into tomorrow.)

I got this fridge magnet, which is from The hours of Catherine of Cleves, which I happen to have a facsimile of in my own library.

And this is one of the best images in it!

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Ok here are a bunch of pictures from the show, if you're into that kind of thing.