Two Firsts

My studio walls are bare! But the walls of the Hotel Coolidge's lobby and hallway to the Vermont room are adorned with twenty-eight of my paintings. I had my first gallery show on Friday night, and thankfully, my artwork will be up there through the summer. I appreciated my family and friends joining me in celebration that night, and I am continuing to receive positive feedback from those viewing since the opening. I started two paintings today in hopes of building the color factor in my home again! I often work on more than one painting at once if I have more than one inspiration or an overabundance of paint on the palette. Both were true today. In the photo above, I have taken the first brush strokes of both paintings. Like I have done in the past, I will update their progress in my upcoming posts. Since one image seems more obvious (the blue bird—yes, I gave it away) than the other, I will let you guess what the bigger one will be. The blue bird was on my mind since my poem, "A Bird's View," was published June 1st in The Bluebird Word (thebluebirdword.com), an online Literary Journal for Poetry and Flash.

A Bird’s View

I perch in my favorite maple tree outside of her home

Grateful to reach my most northern destination from the South.

I peer in through the window. 

She is where I left her late autumn.

Writing at her desk

still

I am thankful that hasn’t changed.

What has?

She is wearing glasses. I don’t recall her having them before.

Is her hair more gray or is it just my imagination?

More wrinkles too

Her shoulders are elevated.

Does she recognize the stress within her body?

Should I let her know?

I leave my branch and fly to another nearby

hoping to get her attention.

I do.

She turns to look at me

saying “Hey, Blue! Welcome back!”

She looks back at her journal,

rubs her neck and sensing the tension

instinctively rolls her shoulders

Her chest rises and falls

She’s not coughing anymore. Wonderful.

Three cleansing deep breaths

and another

She likes even numbers.

At the other end of the room

I see more bright paintings

She’s been busy.

One in progress on the easel

Teal fence, blue sky

the Outline of a lighthouse?

Has she traveled recently

or is this a memory from her favorite place

and summer vacations in Maine?

The sun reflects off of her wedding rings.

Thank whatever higher power for that.

She has worked hard on her marriage.

Sparkle

She looks up from the page

out at me again

she wills me to stay

and ask my friends to join

Sunshine and warmth

She looks down 

resuming writing

What emotion is she spilling onto the page?

Fiction or nonfiction?

A poem?

Her attention is drawn to the computer screen 

She writes a few more lines

concluding with pen down

She looks at her reflection 

adjusting her position.

Is her head on straight?

Literally- her posture has been called into question 

Figuratively too- her sanity is questionable recently

Is she participating in another virtual writing group?

Does she finally see herself as a writer?

She nods to the other humans,

to me, 

to herself.

She believes.