The Allied Arts Holiday Festival has opened. Last Thursday, Fred Cook and Dick helped me get the booth all set up. When we started putting the bi-fold doors in place we realized that the overhang above my space is just a bit shorter than the doors so we unscrewed the hinges and took the sections apart. In the end, that worked out just fine.

Friday night the show opened. Becca, Todd, Nate, Chloe, Dick and I all went over for the big doings. After we admired the show for a bit we walked over to Mallard Ice Cream for a treat. They all went home after that but I stayed around the show for a bit longer. Ben and a friend were there and I also found John Hoyt. John and I walked over to the Blue Horse Gallery to see the Plein Air Paint Out show that Trish Harding put together - I wish I’d finished the painting I started for that show!

Today, I did inventory at the Holiday Festival. No sales yet. I think I’ll add some lights to my booth so the colors of the rugs show up better.

The booth as it looked on Sunday:

This last week, I moved into my new studio! Dick and I are sharing a workspace - he has a big open bay where all his cars will fit and I have a nice big room. We will share a utility sink in the tiny room that connects the two areas. I started working at the studio on Thursday afternoon. So far, I’m finding it a great place to work.

One of the biggest advantages of a dedicated studio is that I don’t have to put everything away every time I work. Also, I have enough room to step back from my work to see what’s happening with it.

Here are some pictures of the place:

This next week the Allied Arts Holiday Festival begins and I’m scrambling to be ready. Since this is the first craft fair I’ve entered, everything has to happen from the ground up. I traded a polka dot rug for 6 bifold doors for the walls of my booth, Dick has figured out how to make the walls stay standing. I’m working on a sign and figuring out how to include a table in the display so I can hide my extra merchandise until it is needed (I hope it will be needed!)

I’m feeling like I’m about one month behind schedule. Wednesday, I’m going to spend the day packaging rugs, table mats, and coasters, sticking price tags on them and filling out inventory sheets. I could do these steps earlier but the shrink tube and business cards I ordered don’t show up until Tuesday. Also, I ordered a nifty canvas display rack but I don’t even know if it’s been shipped yet.

Tomorrow, I’m going to put the first coat of sealer on 5 table mats and 10 sets of coasters. 20 rugs are ready to go. I have a pretty good stack of little drawings matted and in plastic sleeves. The show lasts for 5 weeks, though, so I have to keep busy making things so I don’t run out before Christmas Eve.

This process has resulted in much of the house being turned into a studio. The dining room table is covered with paper and colored pencils, the guest room is filled with painting supplies and my drying rack, the garage is the primer application spot and the laundry room is set up for quick paint drying.

Next week I move into my real studio, though! More on that later.

On Friday, May 18th, I was watering the plants in the backyard with my favorite watering tool: a water wand. It puts out lots of water but gently.

It was a beautiful sunny day. When I got to the bed where we’ve planted red twig dogwoods and a fothergila, a rufous hummingbird joined me.

The hummer seemed fascinated by the water. At first, it just hovered near the water. I thought, maybe it would swoop in for a sip. I held the wand as still as I could while the hummer hovered. Pretty soon, it got a bit bolder and began to try to perch on the water. In a minute or so, off it went.

When I moved over to the bed under the weeping cherry, the hummer came back.

It took a sip or two and then resumed the perching-on-the-water game. I could see its feet hanging into the water as it hovered. Once it even flew into the stream of water and then shook itself off, just like any bird does when taking a bath in a puddle. As it would appear to get tired, it would move up to perch on the wand for second. The plants I was watering got a good soaking because the hummer played for several minutes. I just continued to stand still.

This whole thing was a surprise to me. Last year, I saw exactly one hummingbird in our back yard and it didn’t stay long even though there was a feeder available. I’ve never seen a hummingbird play with a spray of water and I haven’t seen them be so calm around people before. When we lived in Scotts Valley, we had many hummingbirds hanging out at our place. Sometimes they even came into the house and they were always freaked out when we got close to them. This little Bellingham hummer was right beside me for several minutes.

Finally, I have a real photo of the painting I put in the Allied Arts show.

This is the painting I finished for the Stations of the Cross installation.

The ideas shaping this painting arose during my meditations on the crucifixion. I found that the thoughts that came to me as images rather than words. Here I will try to put those images into words.

It seems to me, that while God suffered that day, watching Jesus die for our sins, he must also have been delighted with Jesus for taking on this terrible task. I have watched my own children do difficult and painful things and I know that I am pleased to see them accept the challenge and maintain their good character while suffering. Surely, God felt immense pride in Jesus’ willing sacrifice to redeem all of creation! The bright color surrounding Jesus in this painting is the way I see God’s delight breaking through the pain.

Two ideas are carried by the used tarletan veiling the painting. All the ink accumulated on the cloth, to me, stands for the stain and weight of sin on humankind. The ink does not fully obscure the view of Christ, however. We don’t fully see or understand all that happened on the cross, our view is blocked by our mortal humanity. Our own personal point of view stands in the way of God’s view for each of us. St. Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (I Cor. 13:12)

On the day Jesus was crucified, the veil in the temple was torn clean through from top to bottom! As long as the temple had been standing, the veil stood between the people and the Holy of Holies, the place where God’s presence encamped. That veil was a two-way protection: the people were protected from too much exposure to God; and God was shielded from the sin of the people. After Jesus died, and the debt of sin had been satisfied, the veil was no longer needed! The way the tarletan is torn reminds me of the way the temple veil was torn and the way that we can begin to get glimpses of Christ’s glory on the cross. Remember that, “…having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (Col 2:15)

Last week, I was part of the team leading a pastor’s retreat at Kanuga Conference Center, just outside Asheville NC. It was a week full of delight and surprise. One surprise happened while I worked on my Rule (or Rhythm) of Life*. In all my life, I’ve never known how to see my artwork – is it play? Is it work? If I see it as play, I can’t find permission to indulge myself in art. If it’s work, it’s pathetic and doesn’t lead to any income. Round and round it has gone. As I was trying to fit Art into the Rule and Rhythm of Life, it suddenly became clear to me that it is neither work nor play – it is prayer. This is the place in my life that I see my response to God. I don’t set out to paint pictures of life-with-God, I just paint. My hands paint the truth about what is going on inside me and when I look at my work, I often discover God’s impact on my life. I haven’t finished thinking about this new view and I can’t predict what difference this will make in my life. It will make a difference, though. So far, it feels like freedom is emerging.

*Rule of Life was developed by St. Benedict, during the monastic period to help the monasteries keep some sort of balance. Some monasteries were wealthy and indulgent and others were cruelly impoverished. The Rule of Life helped the various orders (and individuals) see how their total activities included a balance of rest/play, work/study, prayer, community involvement. This is still a valuable exercise. My friends and I think it is more accurate to call it the Rhythm of Life.

On Tuesday this week, I entered one of my paintings in the Allied Arts Members’ Show. This is the first time since 1984, that I’ve shown any art. It was amazingly easy to get motivated. The painting was done and only needed a simple frame to be ready to go. So, away it went!

I went to see the show today and I was pleased both with the show as a whole and with the way my painting fit in. In the picture on this page, my painting is the one hanging highest on the wall. While I took my turn as the gallery sitter today, Dick came to see the show and then Reba and Nate and Chloe came for a look. I feel like an artist again!

This week I’m experimenting with canvas prep for the next series of floorcloths: roller vs. brush for gesso application, sewn hem vs. carpet tape, gesso straight out of the can vs. thinned a bit, sewing the hem before putting gesso on the back vs lots of gesso before hemming. I may discover a few things.

I had a section of lighter weight canvas left over from an earlier project and I’m in the process of turning it into 4 placemats. Tomorrow I’m going to buy some paint (the leftover paint I thought I had is empty!) and get serious.

Our local Allied Arts group is having a members show this month. I have a painting ready for that. We’ll frame it tomorrow, too-just painted lath strips. I’ve decided I’m willing to sell the painting I’m going to submit so I’m figuring out a reasonable (as in rational, not inexpensive) price.

And, a friend of mine is working on a “Stations of the Cross” installation for Holy Week. I have a painting ready for that too. She’s coming to look at it tomorrow, I hope. As soon as I have both these paintings framed I’ll post photos.

At Bellingham Covenant Church, we celebrate Ash Wednesday on Sunday. (I guess that demonstrates our devotion to convenience.) The church service today was much like that of any other Sunday morning. We sang some songs, read from the gospel and listened to the pastor preach. Then we began the observance of Lent with “The Imposition of Ashes”. This little ceremony is not common in American Protestant churches. Actually, deliberate observation of Lent is a bit unusual, too. What we are attending to for the next 40 days is our mortality and our brokenness. The rest of the year we can forget about that but from now until Easter we remember.

So, back to the “Imposition of Ashes”. We accept a smudged cross on our forehead or hand and hear the words, “From dust you have come and to dust you will return. Repent and trust Jesus for your salvation.” Participation in this ritual is entirely optional in our congregation and a fair number of people sit this one out. Today, I got to join the pastors in marking and reminding the congregation. I had a little white bowl of ashes and as each person came up to me and knelt down, I made a cross of ashes on them and reminded them of their impermanence and their hope. We don’t ordinarily say such things to others. It felt like I was giving each one a special gift: this is your deepest fear and embarrassment and here is the escape provided for you. Let me explain. Even though we like to think we are completely okay, at a deep level we also know that there are parts of us that we can’t even bear to look at. On top of that, we don’t really believe in our own personal death, irrational as that may be. The remedy offered is simply turning away from our embarrassed mortality toward life offered by God.

Person after person knelt to receive the ashes. Each one became mortal in my sight. I wondered how it was for the elderly to hear, spoken aloud, “to dust you shall return”, and to be reminded of the decreasing number of days left to them. I wondered how it was for a man who we all know is very sick to hear those words. When I reminded the teenagers and older children that they were made from dust and would return to dust, I could see that those words were just beginning to make sense to them.

The next words, “Repent and trust Jesus for your salvation” felt like a blessing. Our long-term relationship to dust, is not the last word. It was a rare privelege to issue the age old invitation to trust the-one-who-can-save. There was a sense of holiness and wonder as words and ashes combined to draw people toward God.