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| The paintings I made in 2020. These don't include the Pandemic Sketchbooks, Vols. 1-3. |
It's that time again when we bloggers cast an eye back at the past year. In many ways, 2020 was the year that wasn't: plans were scuttled; anxieties sprouted like weeds; and, perhaps most sadly, brother fought against brother.
But on the other hand, some good things came of what I call the “damndemic.” I mastered Zoom and trained myself to mute both my microphone and camera in an instant. I read the entire series of Michael Connelly's Bosch novels, all 22 of them, and now can walk my way through a murder scene like a pro. Trina and I discovered “The Great Courses” and can expound for hours on Native American history, Celtic history and something called Big History. We watched countless different BBC versions of “Mansfield Park”—or was it “Wuthering Heights” or perhaps “Jane Eyre”? (They have started to blur together.)
But seriously, I am thankful for our little family and the extra time we've had together. This spring, we bought a used 1999 PleasureWay camper van, which we take out on local overnight trips for our mental health. I cook breakfast for us every day, alternating between hot cereal—muesli with Craisins and pecans being the current favorite—and an egg dish, usually a vegetarian omelette, although huevos rancheros is becoming my specialty. Blessed with plenty of hiking right from our front door, we take two or three nice walks a day with Raku, who also is grateful for the extra time.
I was lucky enough to sell several paintings this fall as part of my 50% Holiday Sale. (By the way, it's still going on until the end of the year.) A publisher offered me a contract to write what I consider “the” definitive book on plein air painting. And I've been doing a great deal of sketching in gouache and casein in the little canyon behind our house—a wonderful meditation practice that has stamped down many of those sprouting anxieties. This damndemic, despite its bad reputation, has fostered my personal growth.
What will 2021 bring? Two vaccines have been approved here in the US, with more waiting in the wings. Still, I'm not counting on a miracle happening just yet. But with optimism I've scheduled a few summer workshops in Maine, and I dearly hope I'll be permitted to travel to Campobello Island to my studio there. I'm looking forward to being part of the faculty of the Plein Air Convention in May in Denver which, I'm told, will go on in some form. I'm also looking forward to more work on the book—the task of assembling paintings, illustrations and text is a pleasure indeed—and, yes, to finally handing it to my editor. And as for painting, I hope to turn some of my little gouache sketches into bigger studio pieces.
We will keep pushing on—cheerfully.
