Tree Stump | 5.5 x 9 inches | graphite on paper 2009

Can’t remember where this tree is from, but I liked photo a lot. Therefore, this shall become a painting.

Cones #2 (while hearing Huck

Maybe I should rename this piece ‘Release.’

It’s all about giving up control, isn’t it? I mean, my whole life has been about controlling everything in my environment—music, people, relationships, career, and on and on. The more things I tried to be in control of the more my misery redoubled it’s stranglehold on me. Perhaps this is the pathway out of my terror and the loosening of my gut. It seems to be working already… some kind of relaxation is coming over me and burden becoming lighter. I’ll have to test this hypothesis.

Cones #1 | 10 x 8 inches | Prismacolor on paper 2009

This is a safety cone. It seemed to me out of place in the middle of a farm field. Harbinger of coming storm activity. Normally associated with road construction of urban areas, I appreciate the contrast of the two settings of agriculture and commerce. I think there may be more cones to come.

The Lovers | 10 x 8 inches | graphite on paper 2009

Meeting alone on the prairie
Slowly

Wait, Wait, Wait (just for a little while) | 8 x 10 inches | graphite on paper 2009

It has nothing to do with a Mexican standoff
Boleros or impeded justice
Flanks of horses bridled from full acceleration

Nothing to do with dry, relentless heat
or wandering through a ghost town
in search of a drink of warm whisky

No, not even a well in the town square
with only damp dirt at the bottom
mocking swollen tongue

What then?
Desert of spirit
To the path below
To the path below

Jack of All Trades | 8 x 10 inches | graphite on paper 2009

Each morning
I get out of bed
to take a short shower
before heading out
to the lake

A few minutes of prayer
and some study

It’s usually too dark to read
but gradually light reveals letters
and thoughts and ideas
refresh my mind

Since it is winter and there are people ice fishing
I get to observe some things
like trailers unloading ATVs and sleds

There was a very warm thaw this year
in February
So warm it was that all the fish houses
were pulled off the lake

They all waited together
like geese in the parking lot
For the cold to come back

I found them really intriguing all squatting together
and so shot a few photos, and drew