From Gretchen Del Rio: Wisdom for any day but especially welcome in the Time of COVID-19.
watercolor 5/2020
“Just slow down.
Slow down your speech.
Slow down your breathing.
Slow down your walking.
Slow down your eating.
And let this slower, steadier
pace perfume your mind.
Just slow down…”
……….Doko
Rest from the pandemic with a moment of peace from the inimitable sacred art painter, Gretchen Del Rio.
watercolor 4/2020
There is a traditional Lakota story. It is told that a beautiful woman appeared and gave the tribes profound teachings. She gave them seven sacred ceremonies to protect Mother Earth and the ceremonial pipe. After imparting the wisdom she transformed into a white buffalo calf. To this day the white buffalo remains a symbol of that mystical appearance of ‘White Buffalo Calf Woman.’
Gretchen Del Rio is a terrific California artist who finds her inspiration in nature and animals. Some of you will have noticed that thanks to Gretchen’s generosity, I sometimes use her work to illustrate my poems. Gretchen’s Native American spirit animals are the finest and I am enamoured of them.
“The paintings are from my heart and I always fall in love with the subject. I believe that we are all connected and, if an image touches you, it is because we all have the same heart even though our paths may be different.” Gretchen Del Rio
Recently Gretchen painted my grandkitty, Gypsy, in three of her many moods. Some of you know Gypsy from The Cat’s Meow. Though she hasn’t blogged for a while, her posts are still up for everyone to enjoy. She may get back to blogging one of these days; but currently her plate is full to brimming while she organizes the CitySon Philosopher and the Girl from New Mexico in their new house in a different city. She takes her familial obligations seriously.
Gypsy – like most cats – is at home with writers. She expresses her critical opinion by sleeping on good manuscripts and coughing up furr balls on bad ones. In fine feline tradition, she likes to play the muse posing variously as lap blanket, printer cozy, keyboard duster, desk trasher and in much the same spirit apparently as Ray Bradbury’s cat – a paper weight.
“I have my favorite cat, who is my paperweight, on my desk while I am writing.” Ray Bradbury
Here is Gypsy through Gretchen Del Rio’s eyes:
© 2013, original watercolor paintings, Gretchen Del Rio, Gretchen Del Rio.com
© Gypsy photograph, Karen Fayeth, Oh Fair New Mexico
This is post was pre-scheduled.
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