UNCERTAIN OUTCOMES

This is a detail of a 21" x 21" pour painting that I just finished this month. It is called Bullseye Slurry and its acrylic on upholstered wood and iso board. It is in an exhibition called "18" at the Janice Charach Gallery in West Bloomfield MI. Opening on January 15, 2023 3-6 PM. I will have five paintings in this group show of Abstraction.

Happy holidays from the land of uncertain outcomes. What land is that? It's this land, the place we will be until we one day are not.  

I was going to go to Boston, but then a family member / host got Covid, and that began a cascade of uncertainties. Can you relate?  Was it covid? the snowstorms? The war in Ukraine? Now it's 2 degrees outside, with a much lower windchill factor, where we are hunkered down in Michigan. There is a blazing fire in the woodstove here in the studio and I can't feel my fingers despite this fact. 
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I sound like a real Debbie Downer today don't I*?

The silver lining on this whole thing is that, right now, from where I'm sitting, everything is actually fine. Even though I don't know how it will be in an hour, I'm actually in a good mood. The birds are all puffed up as big as possible and at the feeder almost constantly to not become instant popsicles. They are the most cheery and visible to me at this moment, of all the creatures including humans all across the globe in extreme weather and life conditions. 

Whatever your conditions are today, whether optimal or sub, they are always in flux. I think the abundance I want to celebrate, with gifts, good food, candlelight and nice music, is that in the midst of the mess that is this human life, there is so much to celebrate, an abundance of evidence that love is never not with us, and that the complexity of what you feel is most certainly that love as well.

Brain chatter will tell me that something is always wrong, missing, not quite right about me, about you, about the scene in front of me or coming up. That is how the human brain is wired, so its the default pair of glasses I look through.

Knowing creatures are freezing or burning, I invite you to give a hell YES! to the fact that in this moment you are alive, not freezing or burning (I'm assuming if you're reading my post). The sad, the overwhelm, the sheer luck of your circumstance, the fact of what and who is here with you right now: Enjoy it while it's here. I say this for mainly myself on days when its hard to remember. 

Thank you so much for being with me through all of this year, for your consideration and time, comments, support and friendship. And happy happy new year to you!

Peace on earth, in this heart. 

AND If you want to do some annual written reflection in the quiet hours, here is a post with lots of prompt questions for some quality journaling from last Winter's post when 2022 was about to be:

 2021: Consider Your Year 

This post will aid in organizing your thoughts and to consider your year - the one ending the the one on the horizon.

You can also explore all the posts in the archive by year and month on the right side margin BTW. I've been at this blog, burning away for ten years plus!

* (sorry to Debbies everywhere)