When I take out my paints lately (the gift of those couple extra days in the week) I've been gravitating toward landscapes, even though I often have intentions for other things. It might be that I am longing for an adventure somewhere out in the wilderness (or more wilderness than the city offers anyway.) I am also obsessed with mixing colors in rich colors--earth, sea, pine--that lend themselves to nature more than anything else. I am also working on scanning some of the other bits and starts from last year, when I felt like I was unable to paint anything, but did manage a handful of landscapes/lake or seascapes (for purely utilitarium purposes--I wanted a landscape for kitchen wall next to the fridge. ) I'll be working to get those scanned and sharing some of the more postcard sized ones soon.
During the worst of my feelings last year--my dissastifaction with humans and their pandemic behavior--I longed to retreat to the wilds and Thoreau it for awhile. The ultimate joke of Walden is of course, he wasn't that far out in the wilds at all.
I have these idyllic fantasies of retreating to Wisconsin, where I spent many stretches of childhood summers sleeping in tents and campers and vans. Swimming in lakes and sitting around campfires. I'm chill with camping if I can at least take a shower and sleep on a nice air mattress, but cabin life would be ideal. I spent some time looking up prices on lots up near Black River where my grandfather once lived. I even found the cutest abode on a little creak that I couldn't even possibly afford, but for a day, imagined living that life. Except that I hate being out of the city in winter and it's not only unavoidable in Wisconsin, but worse than Illinois. I also hate driving, especially in winter. Also, I'm not sure I'm cut out for rural life--my dependence on having groceries delivered and ordering tacos in the middle of the night larger than you might expect.
So it's a crazy unrealistic idyll to think I'd enjoy that sort of living beyond a weekend here and there. I follow a few YouTube van lifers who became cabin lifers during the pandemic and they seem to have a sweet life, but one found
a wolf spider in her kitchen the size of her palm that had been living behind her cabinets.. I would have to burn the house down if I was not certain it had been removed. (truly, South Loop roaches in the library are formidable opponents, but I don't feel like they will eat my face off if given the chance.) I grew up in a semi-rural setting, but luckily the larger critters remained outdoors and mostly unseen. Deeper in the woods, there are larger monsters for sure. A nice place to visit, but I don't think I'd want to live there permanently. Not to mention I have the most beautiful of all lakes just steps from my front door. Who needs giant spiders and pine trees when you can look at this lovely everyday?
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