Burros!

By Carrie Jacobson

I’ve spent an awful lot of time during this painting trip missing my husband, and our home, my friends and my dogs and our little town on the Eastern Shore. I’ve felt guilty about leaving for so long (mid-January to mid-March), for missing this dire winter (yes, mid-January to mid-March; I’ve missed all of it), and for leaving my husband alone with the dogs in this cold, dismal time.

Now that my California Calling painting trip is winding down, I am surprised at how sad I am feeling!

It seems impossible that I could feel these two very strong, very divergent feelings at the very same time – but I do. I can’t explain it and I apparently can’t stop it, so I am just living with it, rocketing between tears and sadness that this amazing adventure is winding down – and joy and anticipation at being home and living my small, colorful life with my dear man.

I imagine that everything will sort itself out once I get going. And the trip is not finished. I have a show in Albuquerque this weekend – click here to find out more about it – and drop me an email if you’d like a coupon that gives you a discount off admission.

Between now and then, I have a few days to paint in New Mexico, and I’m excited about that. And then after the show, I head home. Even thinking about it makes me excited – and wistful!

At any rate, I love this burro painting, which was commissioned by a lovely woman who lives out here in Tubac. It’s one of my favorite paintings ever – and I can say that with no contradictory emotions at all!

Bank of Waves, oil on canvas, 20×40

By Carrie Jacobson

I’m thinking about summer.

Thinking about summer, and warm places, and sunshine and open skies.

Thinking about wearing sandals and seeing my hair get summer-blonde highlights. I’m thinking of seeing my wrinkling face warm from this awful winter pallor and start to look alive – and perhaps a year or two less old.

I start my show season in Indio, California, in late January. I’ve never been to California, so this is exciting – and doubly exciting as it’s the first stop on my second sponsored painting trip (click here to find out what I’m talking about…) . From there, I start painting my way east, stopping for a show and a nice long visit in Tubac, Arizona, where my dad and stepmother live, before trekking east, to a show in Albuquerque in early March, and then home to Virginia, painting the whole time .

Sure, it’s cold, even here in Virginia. It’s winter, the days are short, and it’s as it should be. I’m grateful that it’s nowhere near as cold here as it is in other places I’ve lived… Maine, Connecticut, the mid-Hudson Valley.

The wheels turn, and winter will thaw into spring for all of us. And even before that, I’ll get some sun and some scenery and some adventure. I can’t wait!