Watermelon on Memorial Day

This blog has been on my mind but I'm just now taking the initiative to write again. . . .on Memorial Day.  It's been a good holiday as I've given myself permission to do "what I want to do".  I've been learning I do not need to "go away" for a holiday but just by changing out what I do and when I do it makes it feel like a holiday.  So, I've celebrated by changing around my day and cutting open a big, juicy, red watermelon just like my dad used to do when he took an Indiana-grown watermelon into the backyard and cut it up so my three siblings and I could each have a slice and slurp it up with drips running down our chin!  What memories.  Maybe a watermelon will find it's way into a painting sometime?

I've continued in my "giving" mode by offering a recent painting (shown below) to the Limner Society http://www.limnersociety.com/ for their Small Works Art Sale Fundraiser.  Check out their website for more information. 

Third Day Vegetation

18" x 18"

acrylic on paper

I continue to learn more about acrylics and am enjoying the process.  I've begun a series of acrylic paintings inspired by the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  I've found a fascination for archaeology and the unearthing of fragments from the original scrolls of the Old Testament which were discovered in the Qumran caves near the Dead Sea in 1947.  These discoveries contained several copies of every book of the Old Testament with the exception of the Book of Esther!  More about that inspiration later.

I've also begun a series inspired by the Medieval Books of Hours, which record hand-written prayers for different times of the day.  These were books for private devotions and were often commissioned and could have been the first and only book a commoner owned!   They often brought awareness of the presence of God throughout the day.  I'm fascinated with scribes, illuminated manuscripts, and all manner of book-making, paper, letters, etc.  I don't know where all this is going, but I'm newly inspired to keep reading, making and finding out.