Supplicant 2017

 Supplicant:  someone who prays or entreats humbly

The year 2020 has rocketed out of control. It seems to be a storm of awful things happening, from the global pandemic, to civil unrest, to trying to make sense of a leader who appears, for all intents and purposes, to just simply be evil.  And then personally, a number of close friends have had frightening things happen to them, really bad things. When I did this painting three years ago I wasn't sure of exactly what the painting was saying, just that it was an important piece for me.  But now, in the midst of all of this, I'm starting to understand: giving up control of thinking we are in control, and asking, or praying for understanding, whatever that means. I think the piece is about turning over to a greater power because, really, what else can we do?

Stretching 2020

I come from a long line of stiff people. To combat this, for the past four or five years I'd been taking "senior yoga", an hour class that met at the senior center every Wednesday morning at 8:15.  It was mostly woman, most of us from the 50's up, with a few men and, infrequently, a young person(always a woman ) coming along with her mother. The price was right($5 per class) and it was a ten minute bike ride from my house, which was my favorite part of the experience. At times the class would be jam packed, and I'd have to fight for a place for my mat, people turning their eyes away so they wouldn't have to move.  I didn't really like it, and I never seemed to get more limber or more flexible. I would watch the minutes pass on the clock on the wall with agonizing slowness.  Then covid came, and the class was cancelled.  Compelled to at least not get any stiffer, I started doing yoga online at home. I could put in the amount of time I wanted to spend doing the class(30 minutes), and how much shivasana(5 minutes). And now, with the magic of the internet,  I often manage to "forget" that it's yoga day, and I still watch the minutes plod along once I force myself to get going.  But, as my daughter says, it's not really cheating if you bend your legs a little. Or, as in my case, a lot.