Red Dirt Farm and Studio

What a messy heartbreaking year 2022 has been for us.

 

This year has brought one challenge after another, the final cruel blow –  losing my dad.

This photo was taken Thanksgiving weekend, sadly, just two weeks later, my dad passed away. Here, dad was so happy and smiling his sweet smile.  He really loved our once, feral, three legged cat.  That Cat had a very difficult early life before he came to live with us.  Consequently, he was skittish and very distrustful of humans.  It took many years to gain that trust where he would sit in my or Charles’ lap.  He has only ever let a few people rub him.  Dad was one of those people.  Dad told That Cat in the early years that they were going to be buddies as they were kindred spirits, with TC missing his left front leg, and dad missing his fingers on his right hand.  They did indeed become great buddies but as much as dad would try, TC would never jump in his lap to be held, until this day.  Oh gosh my dad was so very happy.

 

A few days after dad passed I found TC in dad’s room just laying in his bed.  This was something TC had never done before.

After living with so many different animals and witnessing them in nature, I have felt that animals know more than they are given credit, I believe they feel things we don’t necessarily feel.  I also believe their compassion for love and forgiveness far surpasses most humans.  Did TC know that dad had limited time when he sat on his lap?  Did he go to dad’s bed because he knew he was gone, and wanted to feel his presence?

Have you been witness to extraordinary wisdom and action of animals?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am so grateful that I decorated for Christmas before dad passed, as otherwise I might not have done so.  My parents both loved celebrating Christmas. Dad loved to write poems and clues that led to a scavenger hunt to find another clue that eventually led to the gift.   It was always so much fun and it is a tradition that I will certainly miss.  All my life I have only had 2 Christmases that I wasn’t at my parents house on Christmas Day.

 

Christmas week was bitterly cold, thankfully dry as so many suffered through that horrible blizzard.  We had frozen pipes, and frost bitten chickens.  Frankie Roo, became quite ill from infection from frostbite.  I brought him in the house so I could care for him, which kept my mind busy so as not to dwell so much on the sadness in my heart, all the while hoping he would recover.  I feared losing him on Christmas Day and that would certainly have put me over the edge.  He is better but not 100% yet.

 

I sit with the knowledge that perhaps I am a bit broken right now. I also have to believe that once again I will find joy.

This post by Donna Ashworth I feel is worthy of sharing, If you are struggling I hope you find a bit of peace with these thoughts as I have.

 

I had planned to share this post before the new year, but I just couldn’t get my shit together in time.

 

 

 

The next few weeks I will take time to reflect on what has come to be and how I will move forward. I finally took a bit of time at the end of December to spend creating, it has been months until I could come to the table and feel my creative spirit.  After Hurricane Ian destroyed our retirement community in September, I have been at a complete loss and now losing my dad my world is unthinkably dark. Painting is therapeutic for me, and I think I need more of this kind of healing.  My first creative love is photography and now videography.  I can feel the feels with the camera that I can’t express with words. I guess that is also very true of my painting.  I’ve been away from social media for quite some time, and it has been good for my soul.  I don’t know when or if I will go back to posting again.  I will say the kindness of folks that I have never met in person but have had the honor of meeting through this internet thing has been quite comforting and uplifting.

I also want to say thank you to you for showing up in this space, leaving me messages.  If you have liked, or commented on my social media accounts or purchased my art, I am truly grateful.  Thank you.

 

I hope you will enjoy this little video.  These mixed media pieces have been created with a combination of photos I have taken in our gardens, then painted over.  A mix of collage and painting, soft pastels and vintage papers and handwritten notes and letters from my mom.  Mom was a school teacher, in these pieces I use her class notes – for me there is something comforting about seeing her handwriting mixed with my painting.

 

 

I wish you all good things for this new year.

Until next time,

Kim