Sunday 28th of November. I've had an unusually interesting week. Work has progressed well, fall continues to linger so walks are enjoyable and I had 3 peeple over to dinner who topped it all off. I picked up Lance Richardson who is at the MacDowell Colony and invited Sy Montgomery and her husband Howard Mansfield for dinner. Sy has become so well known with her many books about animals but the one about the Octopus really put her on the map. They all got along so well and there was never a lull in the conversation all evening. My understanding is that they will stay in touch. Lance is writing the biography of Peter Matthiessen. Sy added another story about Peter about when she had dinner with him years ago. Per usual, it was not all flattering. What a complex man he was. Brilliant and sometimes difficult. My work seems to be going well. I have narrowed the subject down to about 3 elements. Greys for the colors of rocks and stones, celedon green for the ubiquitous moss in out area and just an astract surface on the panels representing both. A bit of blue for water or sky. I am using everything I learned the last few years with RC and Jerry Mclauglan. At first I did not understand his work as much as Rebecca's but after time I embraced it. Much of his work comes from bouts of depression while mine comes from simplifying what I love....rocks and moss and nature. At this point I have no images as nothing is complete. I hope to have some soon and to start my commission for Carol. As with previous works, there will be stones inserted into the panels but the colors muted to the three elemental ones.

My last post was in the spring! Now we are in the fall and so much has transpired this summer. A lumpectomy, radiation, gobs of house visitors, a new puppy followed by a heafty dose of Tendonitus. I will be happy to have life return to it's usual quiet, slow pace. However, there have been many positive events as well sprinkled amongst all the medical issues. I made several major sales of large pieces. Finally some sales of the Vanishing Landscapes. Nothing makes me feel more complete than a sale of my work so close to me. It's not the money persay but the gratification knowing that someone appreciations what I am saying enough to pay to own the piece and live with it hanging on their wall. Petrichor sold to a couple in Dublin NH and hangs in their newly renovated barn in their offices. Another favorite piece of mine sold as well. The last of my Stillpoint black figures. It is a 5 foot, mixed media figure. I miss having it in the studio giving me peace and inspiration and reminding me of my wonderful trip to Ireland with Rebecca Crowell. Since I was not in the studio much this summer, I worked with a friend to compile a catalogue of the past 3 years work. I brought together favorite quotes I like and am inspired by such as Thick Nhat Hahnh's "Be strong and enduring like a mountain and soft and powerful like water. Since my work is all based on nature, I continue to read about the magnificience of nature and all its intricacies. I am currently reading David Haskell's The Forest Unseen. He is a botanist who studied a square meter in the forest for a year and writes about all that goes on in such a small space. Of course some of it is explaining about the creatures and plants beyond what is happening that day on that site. I learned a lot bout how ants influence the spread of seeds. Aside from my work and self, I met with a Lance Richardson who is writing the biography of Peter Matthiessen. He is here at MacDowell and heard that I lived here. He came to the house to interview me. He is currently writing about the part of Peter's life when my father and Deborah divorced and my half sister Rue was born. Lance has already been writing for a few years and seemed to know all the good, bad and ugly about all those grownups after WW2.

Spring is almost here! The days are longer, the light stronger and definitely warmer days. I do remember March as the hardest month to get through. We used to have tons of snow. Now we have little. Though it's easier, it is a another sign of global warming. Tomorrow I return to the studio after about 10 days in the house pounding away on the computer. MY friend Lajla came for 3 days and we did a whirlwind job on a new website, photographs and other computer publicity. I am being forced to go online. That's where it's all happening. With galleries closing and the pandemic keeping people from traveling around, it's finally gotten through to me that I must embrace social media and the web. With about 8 paintings finished over the winter, It's time to put energy into finding another outlet. I feel positive about the newest work. Today I moved away from the stones and restored my love of poppies. Several years ago I had bronze sculptures made from dried poppy pods. They were made at a foundery in Chelsea MA. The painting series did not succeed too well so I was left with about a dozen of the bronzes. They popped into my head the other day. I had my neighbor, who has every tool in the world in his garage, cut the pod stems to the right size and then I popped them into the box where

I had been putting the stones. A new variation on the theme.

January 6, 2021 As I wrote in my 'end of the year' letter, during this tumultuous year of political turmoil, erratic weather patterns and a pandemic, I did have 3 wonderful events occurr. First was the birth of my second grandchild, Beatrix Clementine. The second was that my neighbors logged their property giving me a spectacular view of Mt. Monadnock. I was given a view of the entire ridgeline with Monadnock in the center. It's spell binding to watch the weather roll in and the colors change hourly on the mountain. And third was that the past years of traveling and residencies and workshops all seem to come together this summer. Though I am unable to go to FL I would have chosen not to as I need to be in my nothern studio where I have more materials and more space to work. Due to COVID, many good teachers from far and wide are posting their videos on Youtube. I have come across some wonderfully gifted painters which have added to my painting abilities. Combined with what I have already learned, I felt I made some giant strides.I returned to the stone theme with new techniques. I surrounded the 3 dimensional stone with my color fields. Slowly, building up layers of CWM and oils, I have acheived satisfying effects. The stones I place in recessed boxes. I am not sure what all the meanings are of the box. Is it a safe haven? Is the stone hiding? Is it a symbol of my aloneness? I leave that to the individual viewer.

These two, 14 x 14 inch pieces, are CWM and oils on panel. Stone inserted in the surface. They are titled Silent Sentinel One and Two.

"Abondoned stones which I became interested in invite me to enter into their life’s purpose. It is my task to define and make visible the intent of their being." Isamu Noguchi I continue in Noguchi’s path and have for many years. I think I have finally settled into painting of stones using the simplest of colors and relinquishing the need to draw the shapes of stones. Rather, focusing on the surfaces of the stones. Since I am partial to the granite pillars, I am going to construct six by two feet panels on which I will apply the simplest of colors and focus on textures. I am also inspired t o attempt this simplicity by Jerry McGlauglin however his panels are mostly black which is too bleak for my message. My granite colored pillars remind me of my “Stillpoint” series. If there is to be any color, it will mostly be the moss green representing the lichen that often grows on stones. I am using sand I brought home from FL, ash from my wood pellet stove, dry pigments and oils and CWM. My first attempt at this simplicity included a panel that has a small insert in which I will place an oval stone. Much like the painting I completed in 2002 titled "Genesis".

Genesis "GENESIS" was completed in 2002. It is oils on a panel 44x32 inches. Inserted is a small metal box in which I placed a small white stone. It was the first of my attempts during the years to show a hole inside a larger plane with something residing in it. Nineteen years later I find myself returning to my theme of stones. I have studied methods of using cold wax medium with the oil which allows one to build up layers quicker and add texture. Having majored in sculpture I suppose the textures appeal to me.

These stones are often egg like in shape. The title Genesis can apply to both stones and eggs. When on Easterly beach in Ireland, I was mesmorized by the many shapes of fossils throughout the stones on the beach. They were everywhere with algae adding the only colour on the black and white stones. The earlier works were based on colour fields. The more recent pieces focus on organic shapes including inserts within the shapes. I think Charles Simic's poem sums it up for me: “Go inside a stone. That would be my way. Let somebody else become a dove Or gnash with a tiger’s tooth I am happy to be a stone. I do not know what my love of stones means for me or for the world. In part, I respond to them because they were one of the first available surfaces which man was able to write their developing alphabets and bourgeoining words; the future way to communicate and record history. The enclosed fossils record the physical history of the organic earth.

The smaller dark stone was completed in 2020 and will be on display at the annual Monadnock Art Tour. It's 12x12 inches on panel, oils and cold wax on panel.

Readying the studio for 2019 Dublin/Monadnock Art Tour.

The Monadnock Art/Friends of the Dubllin Art Colony 24th art tour is over the Columbus Day weekend. I will not participate on the third day but rather start my journey to Italy for a 3 week residency. As always, I start feeling trepidation about upcoming trips. I did the same when I flew to Ireland to study with Rebecca Crowell. Several things are contributing to my reservations. I learned that most of the students will be finished and returned to USA. Next I found out that the village comprises of 90 inhabitants! But I have since learned that Eros, the manager, speaks good English and I do still have someone to cook all my meals. I am getting to know Nora who summers in Harrisville and the rest of the year lives in Sutri....not far from where I will be. And then my sister Rue had to cancel meeting up with me in Rome so I started to feel like the trip was cursed. Turns out son Clement has friends in Rome who he met when he was at the Rome Academy. And I know of one other person who will be there. I will just have to wing it and see how things fall. A neighbor visited the other night. She told me she knew of Montecastello and ICARTS and had been there with Nick Carone when he started the school. I was stunned to hear the name as I once talked with him on the phone about 10 years ago. I do not recall how I heard of him but he was a friend of my father Clement Pollock. I am currently reading the book '9th Street Women' about the beginning of the abstract expressionist period that began in the early 1900's after WW II. My father was in the village as was Nick Carone and all the heavy hitters like J pollock, Frankenthaler, Hans Hoffman, etc. What an exciting era to have been part of. I wish I had known of this when I would have my rare visits with my father usually in the Village. 9th Street Women has given me more courage to pursue my own path of combining sculpture and painting in a large format. While on this residency, I will have to work on paper and rather small but that ended up fine in Ireland.