new paintings for the new Edgewater Gallery in Stowe, Vermont
I’ve just delivered some new paintings of varied sizes to Edgewater Gallery
for their new gallery in Stowe, Vermont. The grand opening will be December 9
and I hope to be there to see the new space — along with old (and new) friends.
The Center of Everything 26×30 oil on linen
This new barn painting is from a barn in Panton, Vermont.
Mary Oliver’s poem ‘Where Does the Dance Begin, Where Does It End?’
has a lovely line about ‘looking to the center of everything,
the seed, the egg, the idea.’ Looking through open barn
doors and getting a glimpse of light through the darkness within
reminds me of all the ways I keep searching for insight.
Mining the same vein, the funny little teapot is one of my favorite
pieces of pottery, and I decided I needed to paint it when I read the last
lines of Mary Oliver’s poem.
When the Sufi poet whirled, was he looking
outward, to the mountains so solidly there
in a white-capped ring, or was he looking
to the center of everything: the seed, the egg, the idea
that was also there,
beautiful as a thumb
curved and touching the finger, tenderly,
little love-ring,
as he whirled,
oh jug of breath,
in the garden of dust?
My teapot, called Jug of Breath, is not whirling,
but I can feel the vibrations as it gets ready to dance.