Blessings

Blessings

16x20

Oil on Canvas

Seems I've been suffered from writer's block lately.  Sometimes I just can't find the words to express what I'm trying to say.  Maybe I should write in a daily journal.  Years ago I kept journals faithfully.  I would sit down in the late afternoon and record thoughts that would pop into my head.  When I was a young girl, I kept diaries too.  

As with painting, writing is something that requires practice. We need to air out our thoughts and feelings so that they more easily come to the surface.  When I don't paint for a while, I become blocked and kind of crabby.  When in the flow of painting, I feel happy and alive.  I think that holds true for any passionate activity.  Use it or lose it.

Have you ever experienced writer's block or any other block?  

Filling the Lamps

This is my oil lamp collection.  I started collecting these lamps many years ago.  Some of them came from Williamsburg, Virginia while on vacation.  Others came from northern Minnesota at an antique dealer's shop.  And some were picked up at local flea markets.

The other day, I cleaned and filled them all with lamp oil.  We have lost our power so many times this summer due to big rain storms.  Now there is a flashlight next to the bed because sometimes the power goes out in the middle of the night.

For the rest of the summer the oil lamps will sit in the middle of the dining room table.  Just in case.  I secretly love these times when I get to pull them out, light them and just bask in their glow.