“The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.”
The story behind my painting “The Christmas Bridge”
A few years ago we had a unexpected snow storm on Christmas Eve.
Two weeks in the making, we had already sent invitations in advance to a host of our closest friends. “Join us for a very special Christmas dinner!” we promised.
The storm as it turned was insurmountable and dangerous and so it became impossible for our friends to reach us.
And so we sat, the two of us, with a king’s ransom of dinner, lights, music, desserts and unopened gifts – feeling, well a bit empty. Our special evening didn’t seem quite so, well, special.
We sat, eggnogs calming, candles burning, the blue twilight casting something magical across the little bridge out the front window.
The Christmas Bridge (a painting, PRINTS Here) – Douglas Moorezart, copyright 2016, all rights reserved
Nothing had changed really. The bridge into our house stood steadfast, waiting for our guests to arrive, not seeming concerned about the turn of events in the slightest. And it would, it promised, continue waiting each and every day. That was its purpose, its reason for being after all.
“The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.
― Eric Hoffer
That evening we agreed that this small unassuming bridge represented, to us, friendship. Friendship which remains true whatever challenges come along.
I wish for each and every one of you (who have so kindly blessed me with your comments and visits) successful arithmetic this season. That you can find blessings to count. Perhaps even some that at first don’t seem especially so.
Arcimboldo’s Muse, photography by Douglas Moorezart, copyright 2018, all rights reserved
“To the predators…. I say to you, ‘You can choose your sin but you don’t get to choose the consequences. To the victims …I see you. I believe you …and I’m listening’ ”
“When you stop searching and you calm down and you put your books away, and you confront yourself and see what you are all about, that will bring about bliss faster than anything you can ever imagine or ever do.”
Robert Adams, photographer
Koi Pond 9, Watercolor, Pencil, Gouache, D. Moorezart, c 2018, all rights reserved
“He was still too young to know that the heart’s memory eliminates the bad and magnifies the good, and that thanks to this artifice we manage to endure the burden of the past.”
― Gabriel García Márquez
Memories of Naples, (fantasies on vintage Italian postcards), watercolor, Douglas Moorezart, c 2018
“If you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living… Follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.”
No. 16 – Wish You Were Here – Original photography by Douglas Moorezart, copyright 2017. all rights reserved. Prints are available by clicking the image above.
Good retro morning to all from somewhere in Los Angeles, California!
Artists with serious aspirations need to be left alone to follow the course of their own imagination.
Robert Genn
Studio Couch, mixed media on paper, copyright 2018, D. Moorezart, all rights reserved.
In my studio the onlooking “studio couch” continually asks me to step back, take a break and see what’s happened so far. Not to fall down a rabbit hole and get distorted in purpose.
To reflect, to consider, to put on another pair of eyes for a while. Sit a spell.
“Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine.”
Alexander Smith, Dreamthorp: Essays written in the Country (1863).-
“The wisteria was especially lovely in my garden this year. As I painted just outside my front door I remembered this wonderful line from the Scottish poet Alexander Smith. It states perfectly how I feel as I meditate in this sun dappled spot.”
Douglas
Wisteria Arbor, Oil on Canvas, Douglas Moorezart, c 2018, all rights reserved
Thomas Mann
“The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.”
A few years ago we had a unexpected snow storm on Christmas Eve.
M o o r e z a r t 