a christmas carol.

a christmas carol.

14x44 oil on canvas 

In December ring

    Every day the chimes;

    Loud the gleemen sing

In the streets their merry rhymes.

        Let us by the fire 

        Ever higher

Sing them till the night expire.

    Shepherds at the grange,

    Where the Babe was born,

    Sang, with many a change,

Christmas carols until morn.

        Let us by the fire

        Ever higher

Sing them till the night expire!

    These good people sang

    Songs devout and sweet;

    While the rafters rang,

There they stood with freezing feet.

        Let us by the fire 

        Ever higher

Sing them till the night expire.

.....A CHRISTMAS CAROL. by Henry W. Longfellow

humility

9"x11" acrylic on canvas

"The masters' works I look upon,
And I can see what they have done:
When looking upon this or that by me,
What I should have done is what I see." (1815)


"Seh ich die Werke der Meister an, 
So seh ich das, was sie getan:
Betrachtich meine Siebensachen,
Seh ich, wa ich hatt sollen machen." 


by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


Ughhh......there are so many things I still need to learn. It seems like  every small step forward is accompanied by 5 more new things I would like to do better next time.  This painting was done several months ago and I can already see that I am now seeing it in a new way and that if I painted it again it would look different.  Eventually, I want to add a lot more content to my work. Right now, they are mainly about capturing a 'mood', a place, and a time of day.

the requiem

Here is the finished version of 'black friday'. I definitely like the finished surface of this board that is also good with watercolors as a medium.  This is the first time I have painted something that is sad. My in-house critics were not so excited about that.  However, I like the quietness and retrospection here. I think the dark colors and blue-green carpet lends to the somber mood. I am really drawn to the light coming from behind the girl's head and spilling down under the table and over the floor.  For me this and her simple white nightgown represents something spiritual.


I wonder if others see this in the same way?