Leisure Acres: tiny broodings
A nostalgic hand-painted sign nailed to a hickory tree welcomes you to "Leisure Acres," the neighborhood where we live in the Appalachian mountains. My husband likes to joke that there is no leisure in Leisure Acres. The name is so opposite who we are- I mean-we don’t even own a couch. Living off the grid in a tiny house we built ourselves on six wooded acres keeps us busy. Our ways are a bit obscure too. My husband is the mastermind and often I feel a bit lost in all the special "systems" we use to keep this “thing” we dubbed TINY, sustainable. As COVID-19 closed the borders to Switzerland my planned art residency in Geneva also came to a halt. After reading Ninth Street Women, a biography of the women of the NY Abstract Expressionist movement, I decided to consider my own surroundings and feelings more to inspire my art.
As for all families, Covid-19 has brought about discomfort, sacrifice and transformation. I have questioned my ability to teach, guide and homeschool our 13 year old nephew who lives with us. I have questioned my ability to mother from afar our older daughter. I have questioned my role as a wife, woman and artist. This has been a time of contemplation and yes, even brooding. In light of what so many in the world have had to traverse through, my issues seem so small, my broodings so tiny, just a drop in the bucket of despair the Pandemic has caused. The verb brooding seems so fitting at this time of lock down and “nesting“ at home. It is not a state of despair, it is a state of waiting and pining for things hoped for. Even in scripture God is compared to a mother hen caring for her young. I believe these new works deserve a place in my landscape painting at this time.
As for all families, Covid-19 has brought about discomfort, sacrifice and transformation. I have questioned my ability to teach, guide and homeschool our 13 year old nephew who lives with us. I have questioned my ability to mother from afar our older daughter. I have questioned my role as a wife, woman and artist. This has been a time of contemplation and yes, even brooding. In light of what so many in the world have had to traverse through, my issues seem so small, my broodings so tiny, just a drop in the bucket of despair the Pandemic has caused. The verb brooding seems so fitting at this time of lock down and “nesting“ at home. It is not a state of despair, it is a state of waiting and pining for things hoped for. Even in scripture God is compared to a mother hen caring for her young. I believe these new works deserve a place in my landscape painting at this time.