In Our Only World, Wendell Berry talks about making things in his essay, “Local Economies to Save the Land and the People.” As usual, Wendell is talking about much more than just the stuff we create, but this one point stood out to me as I thought about how little I actually make each day. Read more
surrender – verb | \sə-ˈren-dər\ : to agree to stop fighting, hiding, resisting, etc., because you know that you will not win or succeed : to give the control or use of (something) to someone else : to allow something (such as a habit or desire) to influence or control you I’m not very interested in painting […] Read more
I don’t know when I came up with the idea, and maybe the idea wasn’t even mine, but sometime shortly after the new year, I gathered together a few things I love–a couple of journals, some books about painting and gardening and poetry, my new sketch pad and colored pencils, a magazine or two–and stuck […] Read more
On a trip to the art museum a little over a year ago, I stumbled onto an exhibit of famous Indiana fashion designers: “An American Legacy: Norell, Blass, Halston & Sprouse.” Having heard of at least two of the names, I decided to check it out. The dramatically lit room full of swankily dressed mannequins […] Read more
The art form was new to me: small sculptures created from pieces of glass. But the chance to be creative, to use my hands to mold what normally lives only in my imagination, was a draw all its own. If there was art to be made, I wanted to be part of it. Joining others […] Read more
Seeing the tubes and bottles of paint brought a smile to my face. I was packing a bag to take to a friend’s house for the day, and among the things I was bringing were the paints, a jar filled with brushes of all sizes, and a couple of fresh white canvases. Sarah, an artist […] Read more
My mouth started watering as I walked around the “Big Food” showing at the Watts Fine Art Gallery in Zionsville. I had received an announcement about the paintings of giant pieces of pie and enormous bowls of Fruit Loops, and the pictures on the gallery website had been intriguing. But I never imagined a painting […] Read more
From the minute I heard about the Cody Center art studios, I knew I would be spending at least some of my free time at the Laity Lodge Writer’s Retreat drawing or painting. With my surgery just five weeks behind me, hiking and biking and swimming would be out. Even walking around the grounds from […] Read more
It was a tough weekend. After a few weeks of not feeling quite right and finally convincing myself to call the doctor, the results of an initial test were not quite conclusive. So, they scheduled additional tests on Monday. In the meantime, an ongoing infection landed me in the ER Friday night, and now I […] Read more
There’s a light breeze, the sun is dancing with the clouds, the water from the fountains is soft, steady. I hear the tat, tat, tat of the percussion, and the bom, bom, bom of the bass even before I see the instruments. Sounds forming a loom, a frame for the jazz we have come to […] Read more
