Boring Rainbow

I have something special for you… It’s a little piece of beauty.

I hope you like it.

Ready? Here she is:

Sometimes when I see things that are so beautiful, fun, and special, I think… “How is this allowed?”

And I wonder how this has been missing from my life for so long.

It’s like they expose these gaps in my soul that I never knew I had until they fit perfectly within. This is one such painting, by the artist Madeline Hewes, and it’s called Tropical Zoo.

Madeline Hewes, American Artist, Little Known About Her Life, 1912-1969.

She lived to be 57, which isn’t so long.

I wish I had talent for paintings like this — I’d fill my rooms with beautiful art and walk the walls still thinking I’m still not good enough. Because we are so cruel to ourselves, aren’t we? :p

Look at this tiny piece of magic:

It’d be hard for me to have this in my home; I’d just stare at it all the time and get nothing done. As it is, we’re busy over here.

It was Staff Appreciation Week at my son’s school which meant nice gifts for those we know well, and tokens of thanks for everyone, everyone, everyone.

This is what I made, attaching a rose tea bag to each one. We printed, cut them out carefully, hot glued the tea bags in their packaging, and signed each one on the back, over a period of days. Because everything takes tides to get done.

And then we deliver them like rain. And I wonder… did they like their tiny valentines? Their teas? Too small? Better than nothing? A tiny act of love?

Tropical Zoo, the first painting above, only sold for $2,000-$3,000.00 That’s insane for such a historical work of beauty. I wish I could track down the owner and offer them more, and a tea valentine, too.

If you look up the Biography of Madeline Hewes, you get almost nothing. You hear that she stopped studying at 18 to work to feed herself. That she became a child psychologist. That she married a German painter. And now, only her art speaks for her soul.

Oh my God, look at this:

I think I’ll print this piece out and put it in the Mouse House (Rat House). And I think I will do a little exploration of Madeline Hewes, put her work in a zine, and make that available at the Jack London Bookstore (of Glen Ellen). That’s where I’ll put our little books for the community.

I have never even read a Jack London book. Crime! I know! I’m just… reading a lot right now. We’re busy. I’m writing this blog.

And alas I have to go. The babysitter is leaving, my work for the day is over. I hope you liked this tiny exploration of all the things, and I’m sending you a thousand hugs and a big, Happy, Wonderful, Tea Valentine.

• Boring Rainbow