Poetry Contest

Last year we enjoyed attending the Sunday afternoon event where the ten finalists for the first Love Letters  Poetry Contest read their poems.  Garrison Keillor hosted the event.  It left such an impression on me I decided to give it a go this year.  Here is my try:

Fourth Honorable Mention

I take after my Dutch grandfather.
I am pragmatic to a fault.
I worry about making mistakes.
But what about love?

As the years go by, people seem to be telling me,
I've reached the crest of my hill.
I remind them I still have my giddy-up-and-go.
But what about love?

I go to work like a soldier,
At the same place for 30 years and more,
Never questioning why or what for.
But what about love?

I enjoy pushing paint around on canvas.
With some pretense, I joined the artists' tribe.
I once won the prize for "Fourth Honorable Mention."
But what about love?

Most of the time I have had the companionship of dogs.
I take Barney for a neighborhood walk twice a day.
I'll cry like a baby when he dies.
But what about love?

Live music and theater can nourish my soul.
At times in my life I need them more than I know.
They bring me joy, a gift that pays off in spades.
But what about love?

I like to go to movies on Friday night.
It helps kick off the weekend.
(Hopefully nothing too violent or sexy.)
But what about love?

I purchased a new key from the Ace Hardware Store.
It fits the lock like a glove.
But it still takes a little jiggling to open the door.
But what about love?

I wander around in the bookstore and library.
There are lots of good choices for my pleasure and enrichment.
I usually end up with more than I can handle.
But what about love?

For my health and fitness I participate in a Community Ed. class.
It meets once a week on Wednesday evenings.
Sixteen of us are getting ourselves in balance with T'ai Chi.
But what about love?

Of course, I have my lucky numbers.
I always check on page 2 of the Pioneer Press to see if I won the Daily 3.
I never actually gamble my hard-earned cash.
But what about love?

There's a tree branch in my back yard.
I have to stoop under it to take out the trash.
I could trim it off, but it reminds me to honor Mother Nature.
But what about love?

Lake Superior is like our inland sea.
Grand Marais is the lake's safe harbor.
There are lots of beautiful scenes to paint on Artists' Point.
But what about love?

Traveling near and far can be fun and exciting.
Stonehenge was a spectacular ring of standing stones.
The pickpocket in Paris had considerable dexterity.
But what about love?

After asking the same question a dozen or more times,
It deserves an honest answer:


I met a dear person 40 years ago.
Her middle name is Lou.
I saw the writing on the wall.
It said, "Love is buried deep inside you."

When it comes to my final checkmate,
I will have won the prize without cheating.
It will roll off my tongue.
"I will always love you."

For ever and ever.  Amen.

For Sara

I had a co-worker move to L. A., CA.  I enjoyed having a good excuse to paint something as a send-off.

North Shore of Lake Superior

I enjoy sitting on the rocks at Artists' Point in Grand Marais, MN.  There's no other place I would rather be on a hot day in July.

Warm, Windy and Waiting

A simple pleasure I enjoy is sitting in the back yard.  I think Mother Nature provides therapy that can rival the best psychiatrist.  I wish all the troubled people in the world could find a favorite spot in nature to relax.

Duluth Two Mile Walking Race

We were in Duluth recently for the big race.  No, not Grandma's Marathon, the Park Point 2 Mile Walk.  The field of 38 walkers included this team of seasoned strollers.  Chris finished in 3rd place with a time of 24:04.  Linde finished in 8th place with a time of 26:42 and I was 2 seconds behind her in 9th place.  While I'm recovering from the blistering pace the first and second place finishers, who are 67 and 69 years old, are giving me some hope for my improvement with age.   

Meadow Flowers

I saw a nice photograph taken by Travis Melin from Ely, Minnesota.  He took it in a meadow near Tom's Logging Camp on scenic Hwy 61 near Two Harbors, Minnesota.  Richard Abraham, an artist, said he recalled the words of a customer of his who remarked while looking at one of his paintings, "no sky, no buy".  Well, that seems like a challenge to me.  I also remember a photographer, when we were visiting Paris, say to me "remember...close-up, close-up, close-up".  So, I'm off on a series of paintings, that at the moment, I don't seem to be tiring of yet.

Homage to Rydberg

In 1976 I bought a poster created by Steven Rydberg for the Minneapolis Children's Theatre Company.   I'm hanging some of my painting at the Ginkgo Coffee shop in St. Paul on December 9 - mid January 2013.  There is a nice large wall there that can accommodate larger work.  So I used Rydberg's poster as inspiration to make a large image that is a homage to his beautiful work.  It's 40" x 30", acrylic on canvas.

Quick Paint

As part of the Grand Marais, MN Plein Air Painting Festival last week about 50 artists gathered on Artists' Point for the challenging Quick Paint.  We had 90 minutes to complete a painting.  Our inland sea, Lake Superior, offers beautiful views of water and rocks that sing with the ever changing patterns of color and light.

Night Paint

Also, as part of the Grand Marais, MN Plein Air Festival last week I attempted my first night painting.  I sat down along the harbor under a street light and donned my battery operated cap from Home Depot that has three LED lights on it.  I looked back towards the downtown area and quickly edited out all the hard stuff to paint like sailboats and buildings and added in the fun stuff like the stars and a shooting star.

Frog Bay Tribal National Park

On the south shore of Lake Superior is a beautiful new park.  The Frog Bay Tribal National Park recently opened to the public.  It's on the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Reservation near Bayfield, WI.  It has a nice trail that goes through a dark, mossy forest down to the shore that opens up to this view of the Apostle Islands.

Gunflint Trail

We have often stayed in Grand Marais, MN over the past years.   But, this is the first time we took the time to drive north on the Gunflint Trail.  Near the end of this beautiful 60 mile drive there was an area near Seagull Lake that had burned down in a forest fire a few years ago.  The landscape was slowly recovering from the fire that destroyed all the trees and one benefit was that wild blueberries were growing here now.  I painted this scene looking down this sandy, gravel road that led to the wild blueberries.

Tombolo

Each year when we travel to the North Shore of Lake Superior we find a new favorite place to visit.  This summer we took a walk along the only section of the Superior Hiking Trail that follows the shore of the lake. It's a few miles east of Grand Marais.  We came to this nice, human scale structure that some people refer to as a tombolo.  I enjoyed trying to capture the feel of the place in a small 11" x 14" plein air painting.

Art Perchance 2012

It's time for the annual summer fundraiser of the Friends of the Institute at the MIA .  On Thursday, August 16th from 6 -9 p.m. each time you win a carnival game you'll win a chance to go home with one of the works of art donated by artists like me.  This year my painting is an abstract titled  "Over the Sofa".  www.artsmia.org/art-perchance-2012/

Grand Marais, MN

We enjoyed a trip to Grand Marais.  There's a nice overlook of the city up on the start of the Gunflint Trail on Pincushion Mt.

Downhill Ride

We rented this gray-haired people mover in Lanesboro, MN.  We set off on the Root River Trail and went to the small town of Whalan about 3 or 4 miles away.  We turned around and pedaled back to Lanesboro.  The odd thing was we were having so much fun that it felt as if we were going downhill the whole ride.

Vincent Van Gogh

I enjoyed reading the new biography of Vincent Van Gogh by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith.  It took the authors ten years to research and write the 900+ page book.  It was a sad but a life affirming story.  His death at age 37 followed by the death of his brother Theo six months later ended a remarkable tale of sorrow. The paintings remain an unmatched joy in the history of art.

Mark Ostapchuk

There is an excellent exhibit of abstract paintings by Mark Ostapchuk in the MAEP Gallery of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.  It's rare to see beautiful, interesting abstract work.  The colors are so rich. Congratulations to this local artist.  It's up until April 1, I can't wait to see them again.

It inspired me to paint this titled "Woven Wall Hanging".

George Morrison

George Morrison told his life story to Margot Fortunato Galt in the book Turning the Feather Around.  He is one of my favorite visual artists.  He was inspired by Lake Superior.  "I saw the seasons coming this year.  Here on the lake, it's so temperate and it's so rich.  Every moment the horizon is present.  The horizon has been an obsession with me for most of my life...  I think of the horizon line as the edge of the world, the dividing line between water and sky, color and texture...  From the horizon, you go beyond the edge of the world to the sky and, beyond that, to the unknown.  I always imagine that I am there.  I like to imagine it is real."

There was a wonderful solo exhibit at the Minnesota Museum of American Art:  Horizon: Small Painting Series, 1980-1987.  The many paintings, only about 6" x 14", were masterpieces.  All referenced the sky, water and shore of Lake Superior.  Always the horizon line about one quarter of the way down from the top.  I never thought such small paintings could be so powerful.

Reservoir Woods Park

There is a secret forest in Roseville.  The 120 park is home to a new water reservoir for St. Paul and a nice stand of red pine trees.  After taking a walk there, I decided to paint an impression of the tall, straight pines trees.

Road Trip

A visit to the 1968 exhibit at the Minnesota History Center got me thinking about what I was doing back then. In 1968 I was living in Colorado Springs. I remember the drive from Colorado Springs up to the Denver airport to pick up a copy of the New York Times. My friend, Peter Lehmann, had grown up in New York City and couldn't stand to be without the Sunday Times. In 1968 you couldn't get the New York Times Sunday edition until Monday afternoon in Colorado Springs. Well, this necessitated what would become the weekly trip to Denver to get the paper. The first car I owned was a 1960 VW beetle (the little yellow buggy). It had a 36 hp engine, no gas gauge and a wooden 2x4 for a back bumper. It did have a reserve tank if you ran out of gas, so you could just turn the valve under the dashboard and you had another gallon to get to the nearest gas staion. On these weekly trips to the airport Peter seemed to be fortified by drinking strong Medaglio D'Oro coffee and smoking unfiltered French Gaulois cigarettes. This car also made a memorable trip to Chicago with Peter. We had to post bail at the Cook County jail for Terry Miller who had been arrested for protesting during the Democratic National Convention. As my short term memory is diminishing, my recollection of events 44 years ago seems to becoming more vivid.