Side thoughts

'Looking East'  oil pastel;  Kathleen Faulkner

June has come and almost gone then July arrives 

and the year is half over.   

I have yet to be warm.  

If I had a choice between time on the coast or time east in the heat,  I would usually pick coast.  Today though, I'm thinking about how nice it would be to warm up with some sunshine east of the mountains.

Summer fun

'Heading West' oil pastel;  Kathleen Faulkner

It rains and rains

but then I think about other places and it reminds me of how lucky we are.

Last night

the rain

spoke to me

slowly, saying, 

what joy

to come falling

out of the brisk cloud, 

to be happy again

in a new way

on the earth! 

That’s what it said

as it dropped, 

smelling of iron, 

and vanished

like a dream of the ocean

into the branches

and the grass below.

Then it was over.

The sky cleared.

I was standing

under a tree.

The tree was a tree

with happy leaves, 

and I was myself, 

and there were stars in the sky

that were also themselves

at the moment

at which moment

my right hand

was holding my left hand

which was holding the tree

which was filled with stars

and the soft rain –

imagine! imagine! 

the long and wondrous journeys

still to be ours.

Last Night the Rain Spoke to Me by Mary Oliver

For Paul Havas

'John's Trees' 17x17" oil and soft pastel, charcoal;  Kathleen Faulkner

About a year or more ago I did a piece titled ' John's Trees'.   

There was a story that went with the work.  The trees were planted by a well known Skagit artist and so I titled it accordingly.  John Simon had recently passed, he was on my mind and I titled it thinking of him..  but he didn't plant those trees.

I did this piece from my memory of the work.  It came out closer than I had expected.  

So, here's to you, Paul.  May you rest in peace.

'Paul's Trees' 17x17"oil and soft pastel, charcoal;  Kathleen Faulkner