I write tonight as I sit by the fire pit
I write tonight as I sit by the fire pit, fire roaring, with spring peepers sounding off in the background and the sound of the ocean lapping at the bay. Every now and then a cow moos in the distance, but they are Highlanders, and they sound a lot like donkeys in my opinion. I am alone, and tonight I write pen to paper, not fingers to laptop, as there is something to be said for getting deeply in touch with your craft. Some would say visceral, which essentially means "in your guts." I am pen-to-paper feeling from my guts, just like when I paint in a place, rather than at home from a photo, and the energy rises up from my toes to my stomach and down my arm and then to the brush or pen and then spills onto the canvas or paper in a messy heap that is raw and beautiful.
Wild and free. I have arrived in the land of wild and free, with the longest "golden hour" I have ever witnessed, where the light comes across the land sideways from the lower sun and lights up the grass and earth, so it is the greenest and reddest you have ever seen. I swear that I have never seen grass so bright, Highlander cows so rusty orange, ocean mud as rich and red as the desert, and the best of the brightest bluebird skies. I have dreamed of this place and my dreams have come true, but more vividly than I imagined, and I just keep saying, please don't pinch me, because I don't want to wake up.
This is a Guest Post written by artist Jodee Hickcox.
Jodee Hickcox is an artist and traveler who loves adventure. She picks places to visit and paint, turning her car into a traveling studio. She paints mostly en plein air (on site in the landscape) using the alla prima (wet on wet) technique. Jodee goes on at least one multi-day painting trip a year, visiting places like the Great Smoky Mountains, Harper’s Ferry West Virginia, Quebec City, and the Bay of Fundy. When she’s not on an epic road trip, Jodee can be found painting local to her home in New Hampshire in places like Boston, the White Mountains, and the New England Seacoast.
