Cotton, A Studio Assistant

Maintaining a creative mind and spirit is a daily task for an artist.  One way west Tennessee assists is its long view of row crops.   Throughout the year my lover regularly drives me into the country to see this amazing abundance and none is more helpful than a field of white cotton.  For weeks I watch the fields anticipating the coming miracle, miles, and miles of white fluffy lines of cotton—growing on a plant!!!—heaven had to erupt in a standing ovation when He described it to the angles, probably at the fitting ceremony where each one got their cotton cape.  Yesterday was the day.  My lover and I went to see the show and He did not disappoint, West Tennessee has put on her best cotton gown and elegantly sashays down the row runways.  

A Planned Day is A Great Plan

One great joy in life is applying your mind to a day.  What is possible in one day?  It is just before dawn, minutes away from being able to see outside and day will begin but what will it be like.  Planning a day is about as much as one mind can accomplish.  It is Sunday so we will go to worship at a local church, FGUMC.  We will load the truck, return our library books and head west.   Heading west is always a great lead in to a day and this journey will be the biggest part of our day, 4 ½ hours.  Every day is spent on a path, trail, byway, highway or interstate, here listed in preference to ability to add meaning to the day.  Byway, Hwy. 70, will be our choice, Tennessee’s first state road, Memphis to Bristol.  My day will end in a double recliner, my lover and I warming each others old bodies to slumber temperature.  Eventually we will ease into our tiny bedroom in our college dorm, pray and hold hands to end our day.  Our Good Morning to Good night, October 24, 2021.

On The Edge of Time Waiting On The Trees

Fair Haven lies on the edge of the Eastern Time Zone.  This may not seem to be meaningful except that it messes with the dawn.  It is 7:05 a.m. and it is pitch dark. For someone who is normally awake by 5, this means a substantial amount of day spent waiting on it to be day.  I love dawn, one of the most hope-filled periods of my day but I would prefer to live through it not wait on it.  The bright side of this is the anticipation.  The hopeful straining to see the first outline of the trees in our front yard appearing out of the darkness.  That is the first hint I get that the earth is indeed turning to allow me to bask in the starlight God made for us.  But right now, 7:11, still just black dark.  And there they are, 7:16, the trees and their joyous though quiet, “good morning!”

      

Oxymoron: Fix Your Eyes On THE Unseen

The other day I was reading in my time alone with God and read the following quote;

"The most important thing about you is what comes to mind when you think about God". A.W.Tozer

Today I began to answer that question.  Below is #1.

1. Kind!!!  So very kind that you even know me or care anything about me much less make sure where I am, the world, seems fully capable, without any assistance from humans to take wonderful care of me.  That is what’s so important about a window; it allows your kindness to be present.

 

 

The Long View?

I am trying to develop a new show; brand new Art.  It is very difficult because at present I have no body of work propelling me forward.  I have cause, theme, or concept, a set of guiding principles listed below;  

ART RULES

1. Must glorify God.

2. Simple enough to not need to be explained.

3. Complex enough to be Art.

but no ideal ideas for work.  It is my last show at Union scheduled for the spring of 2023.  I feel the weight of it, the culmination of 30 years of teaching, the last lecture if you will.  When I leave Union I am not walking across town but leaving town.  It is the rear-view mirror that has got me, the glancing back without regret.  I had better get it right, a lot is riding on it for me.