Sea Bloom, Suzanne McDermott, Watercolor
I love water.
I love drinking fresh water, taking baths, standing under a hot shower, swimming, walking in the rain and on the sand along the shores of our oceans, rowing boats on lakes, canoeing in rivers and and, of course, painting with water.
I truly take some of my greatest pleasures in life because of water.
There is no life on Earth as we know it without water. It's what gives our Mother her nickname, the Blue Planet because almost two-thirds of her surface is covered with water, so rare a compound in our solar system.
We are, as humans, made up of mostly water. 78% as infants. Less as the weight of the world presses on.
And yet, so many of us take water for granted. (Here I refrain from launching into a rant with a long list of common, recent assaults on our water.) In many locations, water is not at all easy to come by.
it's a privilege to have water running from a tap, to be able to wash out and fill up my glasses of water to paint with. I am grateful for water every day.
I'm grateful to have dedicated my painting and teaching practice to the medium of watercolor. It's been a pleasure and privilege.
I truly take some of my greatest pleasures in life because of water.
There is no life on Earth as we know it without water. It's what gives our Mother her nickname, the Blue Planet because almost two-thirds of her surface is covered with water, so rare a compound in our solar system.
We are, as humans, made up of mostly water. 78% as infants. Less as the weight of the world presses on.
And yet, so many of us take water for granted. (Here I refrain from launching into a rant with a long list of common, recent assaults on our water.) In many locations, water is not at all easy to come by.
it's a privilege to have water running from a tap, to be able to wash out and fill up my glasses of water to paint with. I am grateful for water every day.
I'm grateful to have dedicated my painting and teaching practice to the medium of watercolor. It's been a pleasure and privilege.
"Water is the driving force of all nature."
—Leonardo da Vinci
I am writing this at the the Full Sap (Sleepy) Moon.
When I lived by the beach, I checked the tide chart daily to plan my day. Because I was keeping such a close eye on the tides and the moon phases, I noticed more than ever the remarkable differences in my body at the new and full moons.
At MIT, we kept a "Full Moon" file in the President's Office to keep mementos of happenings on just those very days.
Living by the lunar cycle makes so much sense to me especially because our bodies and the earth are mostly made of water and because the moon has such a dramatic effect on the tides and our bodies and minds.
Even if you don't intentionally follow the lunar cycle, in various ways it's built in to some cultural marks. For example, did you know that the dates of both Passover and Easter are set in relation to the full moon following the Vernal Equinox? It's true.
When I lived by the beach, I checked the tide chart daily to plan my day. Because I was keeping such a close eye on the tides and the moon phases, I noticed more than ever the remarkable differences in my body at the new and full moons.
At MIT, we kept a "Full Moon" file in the President's Office to keep mementos of happenings on just those very days.
Living by the lunar cycle makes so much sense to me especially because our bodies and the earth are mostly made of water and because the moon has such a dramatic effect on the tides and our bodies and minds.
Even if you don't intentionally follow the lunar cycle, in various ways it's built in to some cultural marks. For example, did you know that the dates of both Passover and Easter are set in relation to the full moon following the Vernal Equinox? It's true.
Now, off to swim laps in the neighborhood pool.
