July 17

I spent time yesterday with Polo, a sweetie pie pup. I had seen him around, following a gentleman walking his dog. It seems his owner is away during the week so the man’s mother comes to the house at night to feed Polo and two chickens. He was hanging out with the gardener and of course, we became pals. I am a total push- over for pups. In my studio, he went right for all my sticks on the floor. I thought —anyone reading this will be glad there is one less stick to me to ponder.

I did paint today. I plugged into jazz musician, Bill Evans and started making marks. With shapes on my mind, I went to the favorite animals on my walks—the dairy cows. The black and white bodies create crazy patterns in the green fields.

I am a different person working with paint than with wood. The wood already has a soul. With paint, I am looking for an emotion. Turn up the music, fill the brush with the ooze of color and have fun. Painting cows is not my goal. I strive to let the color dance on the paper.

Yesterday evening, I walked Polo back to his cottage at the end of the lane. No food or water yet. And, of course, he followed me back to the Center. On the way back, he lead me to the lake to throw sticks for him. At dinnertime, I learned, understandably that it was best not to encourage him. I watched out the window while he sat in the rain. A fellow artist went to his studio around 10 PM and he hung out with him a while. I went to bed worrying about the little fellow.