Last Saturday afternoon, Paul was ready to visit his chosen Open Studio (OS) sites. After a break from the house chores list, I decided to tour with him.
Our first artist was Donna Thompson on the other side of Highway 1. When we first arrived at her home studio, it was quiet except for a few elderly ladies sitting in a line acting as both sentinels and greeters. Donna, recovering from her recent health issues, was a bit pale but vocal about the slowness of this year's OS, "There was no activity the first hour today."
Since our walls and visible hanging space are covered with Paul's framed photos, and paintings and drawings by Leni and Paulie, I skipped Donna's painting section, to go straight to her famed garden chicken table. Very quickly we picked out a pair of chickens, one B&W, and one iridescent blue at a price of $95 per hen. When we turned around, we found endless shoppers waiting for their turns. Before we said our goodbye, loaded with two chickens and two necklaces, Donna was beaming and busy with more visitors, including a lady honcho from the Cultural Council, the governing body of OS.
Our next destination was David Fleming's home studio in Aptos. Like Donna's studio, it seemed quiet too. But according to Dave and his wife Jeanne, they had a quite busy and brisk start with two big paintings already spoken for.
Donna and Dave are both emeritus art professors at San Jose State University. Apparently, the challenges from health and age have not slowed them down a bit. Dave is a prolific artist with his paintings stacked everywhere in the house, front and side yards, and garage/storage. While not firm on foot, he and Jeanne are crystal clear mentally, inventorying every piece of art and recalling every single detail about friends of the long past.
Dave paints and creates nonstop, while Donna diversifies her talents to paintings, pastels, papier mache and crafts. Her garden chickens have been bestsellers several years in a row in Santa Cruz. Such lifelong commitments remind me of Norwegian writer Jon Fosse's Septology series. Asle, the main character, also creates his oil paintings for as long as he lives, even though he feels tired in the end. Such dedication is driven perhaps by an artistic mission, or perhaps by an urge to dislodge an image stuck in his head, the same way as writers do with their writings, or as Paul does with his camera work or post-camera work.
True artists possess and fulfill their lifelong commitments
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