Monday. An overcast, chilly, January Monday. My dog has the right idea… I am jealous.

I’m having trouble getting in the groove this morning. To tell the truth, I’ve been having trouble getting in the groove and settling my mind down, every day lately. The world is in such turmoil and everyday it seems to get worse. The discord. The violence. The hatred. The untruths and paranoia. The chasm between people in this country seems to widen by the minute. Hope and love and peace seem to be impossible to come by. Painting seems trivial in light of everything that is happening right now.

Or does it?

We have lost sight of beauty. Of the beauty of those that look and think and pray and vote different than us. Of the beauty of grace and tolerance. Of the beauty of humility and honesty. Of the beauty of each individual life. Of the beauty of the natural world that surrounds us.

So each day that comes, I head to my easel. I paint and I think and I try to put those feelings and dreams of peace and hope in my painting. It gives me some measure of happiness; some measure of control over a world that seems to be spinning into chaos. It may not be much but besides my vote, it’s what I have to offer.

I began this painting with all of these thoughts swirling around in my head. I’m angry and so frustrated at what is happening right now. But I am choosing calm and I am choosing hope and I am choosing peace. I will not be dragged down into hatred and chaos.

I am choosing light.

It’s just a block in of a painting but it is a beginning……..

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