ABSTRACTIONS
Many people are well-acquainted with my images, but almost no one is familiar with my abstract work. I'm a closet abstract painter. Once I dared show my Zen teacher some of my abstract work—he shocked me by buying one of them! Qualities of paint, pastel, charcoal, light & dark, line & texture are all events that fascinate me in themselves. Yet I tend not to respond well to abstract art—I want narrative, meaning, some relationship to urgent movements of life. At those times when abstract art moves me very deeply, I realize that a lot of figurative art also lacks narrative, meaning, & relationship to life. I tend to hide my abstract work (& certain kinds of figurative art) because it doesn't seem to carry my commitment to ecological healing. But what do I know? So often what we intend & what we effect diverge. Several weeks ago I was leafing through old portfolios & found a clutch of abstract pastels. They moved me & I committed to showing them in January. Today I read one of their titles: Ritual 2—Perhaps We Can Learn from What We Need Healing. [17 x 23", $700]

Ritual 2

Even more provocative:  Ritual 4 Out from Our Distant Past She Whose Face We Daren't Remember Comes to Help Us.  [17 x 23", $800]

When the time came to matt & frame these, I was less confident, feeling actually queasy, as anxious as if I were about to walk down Main Street in my underwear. Possessed by some artistic demon, I persisted. Eleven abstract works, some as old as 1980, some as recent as 2011, are now hanging for all to see at Sebastopol Gallery, 150 North Main, Sebastopol, open daily 11-6.

IN LIKE A LION: GOOD KARMA ART SALE
Saturday & Sunday, March 9 & 10, 10 am-4pm: my Second Annual Good Karma Art Sale continues the process of paring down my inventory & offering select work at ridiculous prices. This sale will feature animal totems, landscapes, psychological studies, experimental pieces, & drawings. There will be 50 originals at 50% off & may unframed works from $10 to $50. Plus music, refreshments, & fun surprises. 540 DuFranc Ave, Sebastopol.

SEBASTOPOL GALLERY
Our current featured artist is sculptor Colin Lambert. Internationally recognized for his public installations, Colin is showing some of his friezes as well as his small bronze figures. His reception is Saturday, January 21, 5-7 pm, with Swedish fiddle by Carolyn Thornton. On Saturday, February 4 at 6:30 pm, Colin gives an Artist Talk: "A wisdom narrative recounting many of the specific moments of guidance delivered through friends, mentors and circumstances, which in the course of a long professional career, shaped his inner world and artistic sensibility." James Reynolds has written a critique of Colin's work which you can read at http://sebastopolgallery.weebly.com/colin-lambert-by-james-reynolds.html.
150 North Main, open daily 11-6, www.sebastopol-gallery.com.

SALMON JOURNEYS
In July musician friend Steve Noonan introduced me by phone to Bill Jacobson, a consultant passionate about salmon. Our conversation began a process of mutual support in bringing love, legal protection & restored habitats to salmon populations. Bill hosts a blog, www.salmonjourneys.com, where I've started contributing. Bill & others post information & inspiration dedicated to salmon recovery—& our own spiritual health, so linked to theirs.

CORONA FLORA
Last October I got to read my first two crowns of sonnets (15 sonnets linked by theme and line sequence): Corona Gaia at Many Rivers Books & Corona Fauna at Coffee Catz. Now I have a third: Corona Flora. My intention in this one was to depict plants on their own terms, as conscious & in relation to those they nourish & shelter. All three are available as chapbooks at Sebastopol Gallery. The illustrations are abstract. For Corona Gaia, I spent quite a lot of time on realistic illustrations, only to realize that they distracted rather than supported the poems. When I tried abstract images, they worked well. For Corona Fauna, I switched to abstractions rather quickly. For Corona Flora, I began there. Some originals of the illustrations are at the gallery.
 
POMO HONORING MONTH
Janey Hirsh's play, WEYA, was a wonderful success, introduced by an impromptu speech by Pomo elder Gloria Ross & well attended each weekend. We also had an excellent discussion led by filmmaker James BlueWolf at a showing of his Hinth'el Gaahnula at French Garden, as well as art shows at Slice of Life (Christine Cobaugh) & Brown Street Grill (me). Janey & I appeared on Ken Rose's show on KOWS. You can hear us archived at www.pantedmonkey.org. Laura Shafer & I are working on an article for News from Native California, with help from Jackie Braun. As we move toward next October, we invite new volunteers to help shape our evolving celebration. Please contact me for meeting information.

NON-PROFIT PROFILE: Salmon Nation
Salmon Nation, an offshoot of Ecotrust, is not really an organization, but a concept, place, set of values, community, & way of viewing interrelationships. Through a variety of means, including the book Salmon Nation, business partnerships, & artistic collaborations, they let people know that 137 species depend on salmon as part of their diets, & the landscape itself is nourished by them. "The forest raises the salmon," writes Richard Manning in his essay The Forests that Fish Built, "but the salmon also raise the forest. This mutual dependence is the very definition of community, and in the end, the heart of the matter." www.salmonnation.com.

COLLECTOR PROFILE: Kathy Woeltjen & Tom Spittler
Kathy & Tom are dear friends from English Country dance, who now own a number of my works, including Distant Meadow, March Morning 2, Spring Sentinels, & All the Desires. Tom is a geologist for the State of California, working primarily on environmental protection issues, & Kathy makes beautiful beaded jewelry.
Kathy says that when they moved from Southern California up to this locale it was for its tremendous beauty. They love that my work is very much about this place, both physical & spiritual, & its significance to them. "We have your art all over our walls because it's a reflection of the place we love—& I had to have a salmon painting because I'm married to someone who's worked on salmon restoration for so many years." Tom & Kathy have also worked on my restoration over the years they've known me, & I'm very thankful for their friendship. If you look closely at any of my Thunder Woman paintings, you'll see a necklace made by Kathy.

GRATITUDE
This holiday season brought many good things. Thanks to all who made my Holiday Studio Sale successful & pleasurable—generous, enthusiastic customers & wonderful musicians. Music infused two other memorable events. First, a house concert of The Family Crest, an orchestral indie rock group that includes my friend Gayles's daughter, Laura Bergmann. This talented group of classically trained, edgy young people amazed & delighted everyone present. I went away full of hope: even climate disaster cannot prevail against such powerful beauty! The second was a North Bay Country Dance Society progressive Wassail party: a large herd of folks going from one home laden with delicious food to another. At each stop we sang a blessing to the hosts. After feasting, musicians played & Morris dancers leapt & jingled & knocked sticks together, feet nimble & faces illuminated with joy. At the last stop, savoring cookies & home-made ice cream, we settled into fiddle, concertina & singing around a fire under the stars. Resting in deep peace, I felt our overindulgence & sweet comradery sending a happy energy beyond us into the world. Political action may or may not be beneficial—this certainly was. 

RANDOM THOUGHTS
I got mixed responses to my suggestion that psychotherapy contributes to the decay of conversation. My college friend Timm Triplett, now a philosophy professor at the University of New Hampshire, sent this wonderful quote:
...dialogue is not the simple exchange of opinions, where I have my faith, my politics and my God and you have yours. That is parallel monologue. One of the goals of dialogue is to have our opinions rationally challenged in such a way that we might change our minds. True dialogue is changing one's mind. —Simon Critchley

Next Issue...
Quercia Gallery show with Lama Zik Whitehand
Wild Prayer

Contact 
I welcome your comments & studio visits. Please phone  707 824-8189 or e-mail  sandoak@sonic.net. Please pass this newsletter to others. If it was forwarded or came by post, please send your e-address. 

Winter Actions
Visit Sebastopol Gallery, hear Colin Lambert's Artist Talk, check out Salmon Journeys, come to In Like a Lion Good Karma Art Sale, enjoy good dialogues.

By hearing plants, animals, stones, and rivers, I am at peace.
Painting Spirits, Cycles & Waters