Why, You Ask?

It's great re-connecting with old friends, and being originally from New Jersey and telling folks I now live in New Hampshire, I often get the question why. All people seem to know of New Hampshire is that it's cold and it gets a lot of snow. And in truth we like to complain about that here too. It's what we talk about when we see friends and neighbors at the town dump, oopse, recycling center, the post office and the grocery store. And we do nothing to dispel such perceptions, preferring to have people think we are rugged and capable of handling anything nature throws at us which in part is quite true, using the term "us" loosely.  Although I must say, I think I have adapted to life here quite well, I pride myself on my wood stacking abilities and I've tended to farm animals, hacked ice off the eves of the house and even held elected office here (it too is part of the New Hampshire experience).

Aside from all of that though, there are days in Autumn when we say this is why we live here. Yesterday was such a day. Days like this, the air is crisp and fresh, the sun is warm and the sky being the most spectacular shade of blue is only the beginning. The trees absolutely glow with brilliant color. So instead of blathering on and on about how friendly people are here, which they are, and what a great place it is to raise children, which it is I'm just going to share some pictures of "Our Town" - which it also is, with you.

A farm on Windy Row in Peterborough

What I see when I setp out my front door and look up.

At the end of my road is the Contoocook River, always full of color in Autumn.

The Contoocook River down by the plaza

More of the Contoocook.

Walking the dog this morning, my road

 By way of follow-up, this is my studio all ready for company. "Like I said out of chaos comes order"

Gearing Up and Winding Down

Late Autumn and during the winter months my studio is a cozy refuge but when I am in the throws of the summer show season it tends to get particularly disheveled. There are but a few paintings on my gallery wall and several unfinished paintings littered about. Much as I try to continue painting in between shows it seems there's more of the "other stuff" to do. That is, putting together marketing materials, making sure my web sites are up to date and working well, making arrangements for travel, record keeping, framing and having prints done and anything else that "pops up". Last on the list, or even not on the list at all is tidying up the studio. So as I dash back in there before a show and pull out a few things to get to what I was looking for, they remain out of place until now. Now the Open Studio Tour is coming up and making my studio a showplace for my paintings is now at the top of the list.

But as Friedrich Nietzsche said, ‎"Out of chaos comes order." So it's my annual cleanathon to get ready. Mustering up the energy now, after doing six shows is a little trying, but I love it when things are in order, that may be shocking to hear from me, but it's true. Well. I guess I should qualify that with my kind of order, which I'm sure differs from someone else's or even anyone else's. Poor Tigger, even he had trouble navigating the place to find his bed.

In being brave - or foolish enough in showing these pictures I am reminded of an incident in college when I was far behind in my writing assignment for a final paper. When I started whining to a friend about how much writing I had to do, he was shocked and said "you'll never get that done!" Which was just the impetus I needed to do a fine job, and hand it in on time.

So I'm off to stuff more mailboxes with Art Tour maps, having walked several miles in the last few days to deliver a pile of them on Friday and Saturday. I'm hoping for a big turnout with the weather looking beautiful and the foliage starting to glow with yellows and reds and oranges. But really, I'd rather be painting.