Serious Case of Spring Fever

I had written a long email letter telling my subscribers about Love Letters to Henry Miller things around the studio, trip out west and yearlong plans. Plans kept changing with the times. The real truth is I have a serious case of spring fever. After years of neglect on my part, I am falling in love with my garden. In part because it brings me into the symphony hall of blue bird, robin, and red winged blackbird song. Mostly, it is something I can take charge of, take action to provide food for the table. The garden work keeps me positive when I imagine all the flowers that will attract the pollinators and grace the dinner table with that food. Thankfully, we are having the right amount of rain (that’s putting it uncomplainingly).

How are you using your time at home the COVID-19 challenge is blessing you with? Please tell me in a comment below….

I will be showing all nine of the series Love Letters to Henry Miller to you soon on Instagram, emails and blog articles, including a studio tour. I’m so in love with them. For now, let me say that whilst looking through 2010 portfolio I was magnetized to nine collages so much so that I began to discern the reason. I couldn’t understand why I had only sold three of the original twelve and why had I kept them for ten years.

 © Kathleen O’Brien, Love Letter to Henry Miller, 9, detail, watercolor, graphite, botanicals, mica, 7.5×7.5″

Simple, I adored them. But why? Their still present energy is the reason. They were the product of being sparked from Miller’s words about watercolor painting. We had just returned from a pilgrimage I’ve wanted to take since the 70’s, to Henry Miller Memorial Library in Big Sur. The words dipped into the pigments and made shapes and colors so playful, and to use his phrase, “always merry and bright”. From that exposure, my favorite art burst out, Always Merry and Bright, Book of Light pages 164, 165, 166, followed soon by these nine.

More to come….

To be honest I have painted them into a new state of being. In doing so I again met the muse that reminded me about the supreme power of watercolor painting (or any mode of creativity you might engage in) to soothe the soul. Are you finding the time to create something?

Please look for the art and writing, little curiosities, and more confessions that will come soon to your inbox (if you are subscribed!), here and on Instagram.  My biggest hope is that it can reach you with uplifting, expansive thoughts.  And that it might begin conversation. We all need that and each other right now!

©Kathleen O’Brien, Love Letter to Henry Miller, 10, detail, watercolor, graphite, botanicals, mica, 7.5×7.5″

Happy Spring, we made it through the winter!

“Let us do our best even if it gets us nowhere”. Henry Miller, part of Notice to Visitors sign in his garden