Possibility
In 1984 when I was 40, I purchased a house in a village in Greece. It was a roofless dwelling used only to stable sheep. I did not ask myself whether I could restore the house; I simply knew I wanted to and would. Repairing the walls stone by stone with my own hands,...
Being There
This is the window I unconsciously represented in my painting #114, which I published in the 4 July 2011 post. It belongs to the "sheep corral" I purchased in the Greek village, Elika, in 1984. The purchase was motivated by an inexplicable urge to have a village home...
Beyond the Stars
For years I had envisioned my oil pastel painting #114 on the front cover of my anticipated 3rd book, Dances in Two Worlds—the realm on one side of a window expansive and bright, that on the other side implied but not defined. I understood that the image draws one...
The Fundamental Note
W.W. Norton published my first book, You May Plow Here: The Narrative of Sara Brooks. The Fundamental Note published my second book, Dancing Girl: Themes and Improvisations in a Greek Village Setting. I first came across the term “fundamental note” in the late 80s. A...
A Sustaining Activity
This is the painting I mentioned in my previous post. Why make them wait to see it, I asked myself. So here it is. To me the piece looks like a finger-painting a kindergartener might have made, but I was 44, and I applied tempera paint with a brush. Naive though it...
Dances in Two Worlds
You might wonder what this 2-sided found-object wooden totem has to do with the story I have to tell. I met the artist, Michael Mrowka, in a Jungian painting group where I first began to paint in 1988. I purchased the sculpture to celebrate the publication of my...
Genuine Encounters: Welcome
I first came across the term "genuine encounter" in Ramona Gault's review of my second book, Dancing Girl: Themes and Improvisations in a Greek Village Setting (1991). The book contains warm, spirited accounts by and about the people of Elika, gossip I heard about...