I planted a lot of petunias in pots in the back yard. I like them because they bloom all summer and for the ones I bring in before the freeze, they continue to bloom all winter as well. The front yard is full of unwanted grass and wanted perennials and a bird bath. I ignore the front pretty much. By the way, you need to water plants in pots everyday. I reuse milk jugs to store water and carry around pot to pot like a strange really big bee.
But I want to talk about ART! So, the triptych above is one of my favorites. It was an escape from the political and societal woes ever present on the news, and being Spring, a renewal is always welcomed. Here is a dreamy seductive Mother Nature - it is her job, after all, to get whatever Life there is to keep renewing, propagating, making more. What Mother Nature is not that clear on are the limitations of her cousin, Mother Earth. I had a guy nearly burst a vein when I said the Earth was a closed system, that for every new human pumped out other things have to go, hence so many species being extinguished. He hated that idea. He wanted Mother Earth to be unlimited in her ability to sustain all our greed and selfish desires for more and more and more.
But that is not the case.
What I dislike so much is the notion of competeing billionaires racing to inhabit Mars with their unwitting slave labor force volunteering to go and leaving the Earth to perish. They need to save the Earth first otherwise they are just transplanting the same selfish fantasy mindset to another locale and way too early to make even that sustainable. But, don't you bust a vein.... I'm just one artist wanting the Earth to survive with all the cool animals and plants on it and maybe less humans so that can happen. But But But doesn't EVERYBODY want marriage, home, kids??? Okay, everyone needs food, water, a safe place to sleep, out of the weather but,
No, everyone does not want career/family/kids, nor is it required to be a happy human being.
I give you permission NOT to reproduce. You want to raise kids? Adopt some. I prefer cats, but adoption is the way to go. You fear that your life will be meaningless if you don't clone yourself? Why? Are the endless subtle mind control advertisement working on your subconscious? Put a stop to that. Turn off the TV commercials - you know, the mute button. Learn how to support causes for the common good. Make art, write poetry, donate clean water wells and animals to raise. Support the world kitchen! So many things to do and time to do them if not raising another wild ass human to be sucked into some fanatical dangerous cult or another. Just sayin'
Not everyone is "talented" some complain. Says who? The Art Market? And who is the Art Market? Oh, how my now dead artist friend Burt Marsh, a stunning draftsman of frontier men and stage coaches, hated the sway of the "art market" of rich collectors hoarding away the high ticket items and shunning the living artists. I once worked for a musuem art director who said the only good artist was a dead one. I hope you understand that I seriously disagree with this idea.
Support living artists. The seamstress who is now making an "apron" for me of flying pig decorated fabric by another artist, who I met at the Gathering of the Guilds a few weeks ago in Golden, CO. Hooray for the potter who made some plates for us with nice high edges so we could stab our food easier in our dotage. Draw your own greeting cards. Write your own sentiments inside those cards. Reuse, repair, repaint, re-invent. YOU CAN DO IT!! Buy it locally or at least stuff made in your own country. And go plant some flowers, maybe a tomato and some beans. Make your own sacred garden and add nastursiums to your salads that came from your own window sill. Simple? Slower? those are not bad things. My love goes out to you, such as it is - here's a big virtual kiss, and a petunia.