Revel In Art

When I first met Heidi Of The Mountains, she stood naked before a small group of artists who were studying her figure and drawing. She is what artists’ call, “Rubenesque”, a term referring to the famous Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640), and his delight in painting plump, attractively rounded women. Heidi is well built, but not fat. In the next three hours, I made five quick “gesture” drawings, and three 45-minute drawings of her in various poses. I had returned to Santa Fe from one year of traveling around the world, and she had begun modeling part-time for artists, to engage her creativity and break the stress of her full time job as a parole officer.

Over the next several months, I drew Heidi Of The Mountains again, and we began getting to know each other. I learned she represented artists, and she came to my studio to look at my art, and also the great variety of objects I had imported from abroad. She agreed to sell for me, and soon we began a romance that continued for two years. We married in Hawaii, November 4, 2011, and the romance continues.

Heidi offered to quit modeling nude if I object, since posing without clothes can elicit some sexual feelings. After traveling around the world and experiencing so much, I figured her body is just part of life.

Last week, I went to my figure-drawing group, and Heidi Of The Mountains modeled. Twelve people were there, seated in a semi-circle around a short platform. Heidi took off her clothes and stood on the stand. Most of the group had drawn her many times, and share affection for both Heidi and I, enjoying our new role as newlyweds. But a couple of artists were new to the group, and one of the men sat next to me. When Heidi first took off her robe, I could feel a bit of excitement surge through him, and it panged me a bit that he was enjoying in public what is my private pleasure. I realized that I risked losing a little of the special aspect of our intimacy. Nonetheless, what is even bigger is being an artist, and both Heidi Of The Mountains and I revel in art and rejoice in its creativity and generous flow.

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Jumping In

Jumping into married life after being a “free” man for years, is both joyous and daunting. I had been happy, dancing free and blowing with the wind, but now, it will never be the same because in marriage, although two trees grow side by side, their roots entwine in the earth and a symbiosis occurs so that the couple depend on each other for growth. I have to change my language. When I speak of experience, Heidi Of The Mountains expects to be included and so I have to change my thought—to use the term “we”, rather than “I”.

Heidi Of The Mountains is affectionate and full of aspirations, and we both have confidence for our future. We have assets and are combining our lives, step by step. She is pouring her energy into my art gallery and impressing me. She is a good arranger, has an aesthetic eye, is an adept manager and with her enthusiasm, sells my paintings frequently. We are marching together.

On Marriage

By Kahlil Gibran
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.


Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.


Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

Unusual And Entrancing Episodes

Sarah and I. We are at a dinner party in Chicago, at the home of her aunt. In the background is a large abstract painting I did in 2007.

"They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night." Edgar Allan Poe,  Eleonora

Paris Street; Rainy Day, by Gustave Caillebotte
French, 1848–1894   Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago

Land meets the sea, Kauai, Hawaii

“The very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.”
 William Shakespeare

The past thirty days, THE DREAM delivered unusual and entrancing episodes into the chapters of my life. I am a whirling dervish, with little care for possessions, so it was not hard to move out of the house I had been living in for the past year. After all, I have a studio, and recently started a gallery to show my art. My fiancé took some of my things for safekeeping into her home, and just as the days began to chill and leaves began falling, I went to Santa Barbara, California, where my parents live.

At the beach, Santa Barbara

Rose, growing in my mother's backyard

From there, I arrived in Kauai, Hawaii, an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. After ten days, Heidi Of The Mountains arrived and we married, entwined in love, flowers, and billowing elements where the sea meets the shore.

The newlyweds, Kauai, Hawaii

The endless sea, wild and free.

Monk seals

Halo around the sun, with Palm trees in front.

Chicago!

Ten days later we arrived in Chicago, the “windy city” on Lake Michigan, where sturdy buildings of steel and glass reach high into the air, disappearing into clouds overhead. Everything is available—museums, institutions of higher learning, vast commerce, science and industry, fine dining, entertainment, taxis, trains, busses.

Sarah, on her 25th birthday, 11-11-2011

My daughter, Sarah, lives in Chicago, and on November 11, (11-11-2011) celebrated her birthday with a grand dinner and then a dance party with live band at a local nightclub.

Dancing in a club . . . 

One month of whirlwind sites and sounds, and here I have made a photomontage. As it is said, a picture is worth one thousand words.

Seen at the Shedd Aquatrium

Baha'i Temple, Wilmette, outside Chicago

Part Of A Twosome

Wow. In one day I went from a single man to married. Well, maybe not in one day, since Lori and I had been dating for two years and a “couple” for one year.

I liked my five years of being single, especially the year of 2008, when I went solo around the world for twelve months, living in THE DREAM.

Now, I am in a conjugal relationship—part of a twosome. Fortunately, we give each other happiness, and can bounce down the path of life joyfully. I met Lori when she modeled for a life-drawing group and I spent three hours studying her figure. I have drawn her many times since then and we have become so enmeshed that she quit her long time job as a probation officer so that she is now my gallery manager and sells my artwork full time.

This week we married here on the island of Kauai. We wanted the ceremony to be very private, so essentially, it was just the two of us filling out Hawaiian legal papers and finding Baha’i’s to witness and sign. We had some nervous moments in preparation, but Spirit took over and accomplished our highest good.

Today, we leave lovely Kauai and arrive in Chicago. My daughter is celebrating her birthday with a big party on an auspicious day—11-11-2011.

Please enjoy the website I made: A SOJOURN ON KAUAI, HAWAII.