A Release of Gratitudes

Gratitudes, for me, are private things.  A moment taken to connect with a feeling and to put a thought to it.  After a few morning drawings, gratitudes come easily.  When I remember, I jot them down in my @studio journal — sets me up for the day.

Catching gratitudes, I’ve ample experience, yes.  But releasing them?  That’s new.

I’m inclined to share a few this week because today is July 1. 

For most of us Americans, I’d wager we’re thinking gratitude in relation to our Independence Day coming up on the 4th. For me though, July 1 prompts a different — and perhaps peculiar to me — gratitude.

Each July, I have my own private celebration of a chimpanzee who was born July 1957 in the Cameroons: Ham, the baby chimpanzee who Americans trained and sent to space in January 1961 as part of the Mercury Space Program.   

April 2023.

For the first gratitude — an excerpt from the Featured Blog post on my home page.

May 7, 2024. 

Grateful for geometric shapes and following the lines of action — leading to ideas.

June 28, 2024.

A Raven’s Grief

Working in the studio, I often snap a photo of how I begin a picture.  Gives me focus and a little perspective in quick succession.

June 30, 2024.

Big Talker

This one was thrilling in the moment of making.

July 1, 2024

Catching a Thought

From my note-taking yesterday while attending an artist talk with Tommy Gregory and Sean Hennessy, made possible by my friend (Island sculptor and painter) Peter Sprung. The talk was part of introducing “Artists Foment” — a project to foster collaboration and social action for environmental sustainability, social justice, and diversity.

More about the Artists Foment project is here:  https://www.create.bainbridgebarn.org/AssnFe/ev.asp?ID=5319780

Afterword:

Readers of this blog know of my favorite poet’s poem, THE BOOK OF ST. ALBANS, 1486 — with it’s “. . . Such charming and whimsical lexical feasts are served in abandon on bundles of beasts . . . .” (from the May 15 post, A Murder of Crows).

Got me wondering — what could be the collective noun for a group of gratitudes?  A gaggle of …?

Let's go with a Release of Gratitudes.