Full Moon, India

The full moon will be Mar 3; we will be in Bombay. there will also be a lunar eclipse that night. And, most interesting, it will be Holi the Hindu festival where people throw colors at each other. Last time we saw people covered in purple, so awesome, purple people and cows. Should be fun!

A Little Gem

Titled "The Tent" 6x6" oil on streched canvas.
I'm entering this little gem into the Ohio Plein Air Society Winter Juried Exhibition in Columbus, OH.

I painted this in October 2006, on Jon Browning's Henney Farm in New Philadelphia, OH.

The tent made me think back to my daughter's wedding on the front lawn of my parents house in Maryland. We hung white paper Chinese lanterns in the trees and rented a yellow and white tent like this for the outdoor reception. The tent really made for a party feeling. At the paintout, I kept eyeballing the tent all weekend saying, "Someone should paint that tent." Finally, I could stand it no longer, and so I did!

Studio Rendition

Here's the 36" x 48" studio version of the 6" x 8" plein air painting I posted in November along with a photo of me painting in Ireland.

"Hag's Head, Cliffs of Moher" copyright 2006.

India Count Down

I am working on getting together names and addresses of those who wish to receive a weekly update from India and Bhutan while we are away.

Just imagine Hrundi, "Bertie", and myself, crammed into small cubicles, sweating and typing out our adventures to you. If you'd like to receive this updates, you just have to let me know that you want to be included on my list!

Snow today!

We had our first snow today. About an inch. Everything looks quiet under this blanket of new snow.

I am thinking of the day I painted this snowy sunset. At the Indian Mounds in Newark, OH. Part of the largest earthworks in the world. It was February 2003, the day after the Space Shuttle blew up. But it was strangly quiet. It was easy to let your imagination run wild in this setting.

This painting is 16 x 20" oil on canvas. It's the painting that I did to represent Licking County, as part of the Paint Ohio Project. Signed/numbered prints are available of this painting. Contact me: debrajoycedawson@earthlink.net.

Yin & Yang of Life

I woke up this morning, parted the curtains, and there was a full moon, oh so bright looking back at me. I didn't have my glasses on, and thought, "is that really the moon?" My daughter had called a couple of days ago to say there was a full moon, and I was not expecting to see it there this morning. It was 7:30am. I put on my glasses to see if it really was the moon.

The color was magnificent, a warm yellow against a deep blue sky. Nature at her best, and for a few moments I was quite visually excited!

But, just after Christmas, I saw my sister, in ruin. She is the victim of credit card fraud, forgery, and is about to loose her house. She knows who did this to her. Her son, and his new girlfriend. I spent three days helping her uncover and shed light on the truth of what had been happening to her from April until the end of November: $70,000 of credit card debt, a wiped out bank account, and no money left in her IRA. I returned to Ohio a little depressed.

So, right now, the world doesn't shine as brightly as it did. My sister will be 65 on January 5th. She has a long, hard road to walk in trying to salvage some semblance of what her life once was.
And then there was this mornings moon. Calling me back to the beauty of life. It didn't totally succeed, but it did get me dressed and with camera in hand, I drove two miles from my house where there are open fields. I parked the car on the roadside in front of a barn and some cows, and stayed with the moon until it set, taking it's picture.

This is the third January that I have done this. In 2005 there was a frosty, foggy moon - it was a cold winter, there was snow already on the ground, and we'd just had an ice storm; in 2006 the sky was bluer and clear; this year winter has so far been mild, and the sky was filled with pastel shades of pink and yellow. The setting moon was huge. Cows were having their breakfast at a feeder. Curiosity made one turn it's head to look at me.

It was a soft, glorious morning, and I just want to give thanks to Mother Nature for being there.