My cat Giovanni died in my arms, one morning last fall, just as the sun was just rising and the first rays coming in through the window on us. He had been suffering kidney and heart failure and lost most his weight in just two weeks. He gasped three times then died an old kitty, almost 19 years old.
As an artist, it helped me to paint it out and work on a little cat alter. You paint out the love and the memories that you never want to forget. continue reading
It’s easier to paint a tree, than to grow a tree, I think now. As I grow older and impatiently wait for the maple I planted three years ago to grow more. My paintings of trees hold the memories of trees of childhood and long ago.
Here’s some of my favorite tree paintings…each one has a special meaning in my childhood. continue reading
The wind is like fire
tapping treetops, rippling leaves
and touching me now.
I wish I could stay
Forever floating in the valley,
From mountain peak to waterfall,
As quiet but strong as a canoe.
My spirit went into the forest
and found the treasure of my own
warm and beating heart
inside pure waters where
there is no death,
Oh no.
Where there is but rebirth and love,
and the love of children
hopeful and hungry — and
The sound of my own song.
~ by Irene, about a recent hike in the Sierras.
new painting, acrylic on canvas, by Irene Rowley
Here’s a painting I’ve been working on this summer… the first painting I’ve done in a long time!
In this case, I am working with acrylics on white canvas and I found that time had passed so fully, that half of my acrylic color tubes of paint had dried out. So, I managed this much, with about one third of my regular color palette. continue reading
Yours truly has just returned from Puerto Vallerta, Mexico. Here are photos I snapped of a local pottery lady, and the colorful pottery she is decorating. She is working in this sunny, outdoor Puerto Vallerta studio behind her family pottery shop. continue reading