Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Paint that one again...


I remember a quote from Joni Mitchell, "A painter does a painting, and he paints it, and that's it, you know. He has the joy of creating it, it hangs on a wall, and somebody buys it, and maybe somebody buys it again, or maybe nobody buys it and it sits up in a loft somewhere until he dies. But he never, you know, nobody ever, nobody ever said to Van Gogh, 'Paint a Starry Night again, man!' You know? He painted it and that was it."  She was saying how paintings are different than songs in this way, because songs are sung again, and again, and again.

Well the above photos are an example of a painting being painted again, and again, and again.  People did ask me to paint this over and over after the first one sold and I showed a photo of it in various places.  These paintings are inspired by the William Butler Yeats' poem, "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" :

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

This poem resonates with me so much, and I believe the sentiments of it are felt by so many people more and more strongly.  It is the universal longing for nature, a kind of primal or spiritual longing to return to the connection with the earth that is hardwired in our DNA somewhere.  Perhaps that's why this painting has been a kind of self-portrait for me, one I return to often, and that others are drawn to.

Full Circle Farm is my version of Innisfree, with all the connotations.

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

I love to grow food!

There are few things more satisfying to me than growing my own food.  I love to tend the plants and nurture them along until there are fruits to eat and cook.  Nothing so delightful as fresh food with herbs, and lovely places in the beauteous landscape to sit and enjoy a good meal.

We are a long way from fruition this season, so I am just dreaming of gardens from times past.  It is still cold and gray here, but the bulbs have pushed through, and it won't be long before everything is growing like crazy.  I can't wait!








Monday, April 2, 2018

on being a Jane of all trades

I am a "Jane of all trades" or better still, a "Renaissance woman."  I have never been able to fully specialize, as my interests are vast, and I become bored with the same thing ad infinitum.  It occurs to me that this quality of diverse interests and skills is part of being an artist and a farmer.  The global, corporate world seems to pressure us all into specialization, but I reject the merits of that.  To me, having diverse interests and abilities in many fields is a more natural and healthful path than specialization.

In Vermont, I am right at home with these ideas.  Vermonters, as a general rule, have several jobs that fade in and out depending on the seasons and the cash flow.  It is rare to meet a true Vermonter who has only one job.  Perhaps it is simple survival skills adapted to a harsh climate that have created this situation, but it is also reflective of country life in  general.  Not only does the money come in spurts from varying avenues, work needs to get done at certain times and often there are only so many people to accomplish everything, so everyone ends up wearing a lot of hats.  To me this is completely natural and as life ought to be.  Specialization is what seems peculiar.

So, with Full Circle Farm, I offer the goods and services that I have learned to provide for myself.  Of course there is still some specialization.  My skill set includes art making, growing things, sewing, cooking, design, teaching, problem-solving, and maybe a few other things, but of course not everything.  I am interested in an economy of "the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker..." but not in the limited sense of each person doing only one thing, but of each doing an assortment suited to individual taste, and communal need.  I am interested in a local exchange because exchange at a local level creates strong and healthy communities.  When exchange is centralized as in a corporate system, local communities lose their power and vibrancy.

Being a Jane of all trades is a holistic way to work.  The patterns of my work and production become tuned to my own daily needs.  I grow food for myself at the same time I do it for others, likewise with cooking, making winter wares, or preserving the harvest.  There is a natural rhythm to work that coincides with the needs of my family.  I make provision for myself by providing for others.  This feels right to me so much more than giving all my time to a job that is not connected to my own daily needs other than through money.

I know these ways are not for everyone.  This is why I said in my last post that both art and farming are vocations rather than jobs.  They are a way of life.  I wholeheartedly and enthusiastically embrace this way of life, despite it's inherent uncertainty and spontaneity.   I really can't live any other way, or certainly don't want to.  I embrace the "Full Circle."