A new outlook on life ...

Summer Song • 16x20 acrylic on gessobord • work in progress ...


This one is almost done ... I just need to add a few finishing touches. I squeezed in time to work on it in the midst of the flurry of activity surrounding the installation of our NEW WINDOWS!


Yes, as fashionable a look as it was, gone are the plywood and cardboard panels filling in for broken panes (except for the half-round opening in the attic, window to come, and one itty bitty spot to the left of the front door which will have to wait until we get the new front door). Here’s a before picture. I want to give mention to Nationwide Windows here in Shreveport; we went with their Restoration Windows line, and the customer service has been terrific!

We had the windows custom styled after the originals, and we considered getting the hand rolled glass to have that true antique wavy glass look, but as it turned out that was WAY too expensive. About twice as much as we could spend. So, sadly, I had to let go of that idea. But the new windows are really pretty. And now we have all working windows, so in a couple of months when the weather turns nice and cool, we can open them up and get a wonderful fresh breeze going through here.



AND they’re double-hung – they can swing toward the inside so I can wash the outside without going out with a bucket and ladder. On those odd years when I actually decide to wash the outside of the windows, that is.

Here’s the view from my temporary studio/office (a.k.a. the breakfast nook):


Beautiful.

Speaking of beautiful, here’s an excerpt from my devotional reading this morning:

Psalm 107:9

He satisfies the thirsty soul,
And the hungry soul He fills with what is good.

“God makes every common thing serve, if thou wilt, to enlarge that capacity of bliss in His love. Not a prayer, not an act of faithfulness in your calling, not a self-denying or kind word or deed, done out of love for Himself; not a weariness or painfulness endured patiently; not a duty performed; not a temptation resisted; but it enlarges the whole soul for the endless capacity of the love of God.”

– E. B Pusey (1800-1882)