I came downstairs to get coffee at 6:30 this morning, and caught this peaceful scene of Mango hanging out by the Christmas tree and couldn’t resist taking a photo. Serene is not I word I normally associate with this cat, and the tree does not have any ornaments on it again this year, because she is so … not serene. This was a very sweet moment to witness and encapsulates how I most enjoy this time of year and Christmas in particular.
This year has been an emotional one that involved a lot of travel to be with family, for happy and very sad occasions, so a quiet, reflective, peaceful start to Winter and Christmas holiday is all I want. Since we are not traveling anywhere over the next few weeks I also hope to spend a good amount of time painting in my studio.
However you like to spend the holidays, warm wishes that they are joyful, warm and peaceful. Happy Solstice, too!
For those of you looking ahead to maybe signing up for art classes in January, registration is open for my upcoming mixed media classes on Tuesday afternoons and Saturday mornings at the Oak Park Art League, starting January 10 and running for five weeks through February 12. Visit here for the schedule and to register.
There are some good shows coming up at the Carriage House Gallery in early 2022, as well. “Figures & Faces” in January, and “Hot House: a Botanical Oasis” in February. I have been doing a lot of figure drawing in recent months so I am hoping I have at least one show-worthy piece from all that practice, and I will definitely have work in the botanical show. I am working on a few larger botanical pieces at the moment, and I am planning a botanical workshop for February, hopefully involving drawing over at the Oak Park Conservatory and then working in the studio classroom. Stay tuned for details on that front …
Addendum:
I just listened to a BBC Radio Shetland broadcast from the other night that included a bit at the end (starting at around minute 25:00 and ending at minute 29:55), in which my mom and grandad were interviewed back in 1946, and my mom’s brother is narrating present day! Here it is : https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0012qm8
Hearing the voices of my mother and grandfather from almost 80 years ago was pretty special, to say the least.
For some context, my mom was six years old at the time and my grandad, Jack Moore, were being interviewed about Christmas during World War 2, my mom talking about Christmas trees coming from Norway and my grandfather talking about the Shetland Bus, the effort between Shetland and Norway to rescue refugees from the Nazi Occupation and funnel needed supplies back and forth for the resistance. I have always been so unbelievably proud of my grandfather’s and his family’s role in that effort – they were boating engineers who gave their business over to sheltering and repairing boats which were coming and going across the North Sea.
I could go on and on. If you want to know more about the WW 2 operation, go here.
