RICIMER - TANGLED TIMES

A little boy, aware of his Destiny, sure of his determination to fulfill it …

a youngling lad, far from home so that he can master the knowledge and skills he will need in order to succeed, surrounded always by those from whom and with whom he is taught, yet alone always, alone with the demands of his Destiny …

a young man developing ties which will further his career, ties that will prove vital as the motion of his Destiny carries him ever onward along that path …

a man grown, gathering into his own fists the lines of control, sure of his direction, confident in the strength of those ties and of the lines of authority which carry the strength to his own hands …

a man, solitary, whose supports are one by one by one knocked from beneath him until when finally, in death, he can say the words “We did it” most of the companions, the ‘WE’ to which he refers, have gone on ahead of him into death.

They say we all die alone … but … maybe not.

One man.

One Destiny.

Not to rule but to break forever the power of ‘Comply or Die’.

Not to force his own will, but to force the Peoples of Europe to find, forge, fight for, and follow their Own Will.

One man.

One Destiny.

A continent at his command.

Hear the command of Ricimer:

‘Think or Sink!’

‘Fight or Fall!’

‘If not now, when? If not you, who?’

One man.

One Destiny.

Ricimer opens the maw of the smelter – and some call it hell – whose fire already burns, shoves in the raw ore, works the bellows, and steps away.

‘Think or Sink!’

‘Fight or Fall!’

‘Choose or Lose!’

‘Freedom belongs to you. Where now your Faith? Who cares for your Family but you? Choose wisely your Friends lest they become your foes. You hold in your hands, today, the Future of generations not yet even conceived.’

Such is the message of Ricimer to all of the Peoples he encounters.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Again.

He tells the Peoples until his throat is raw, his voice hoarse.

‘You have now, today, the Freedom to Choose,’ he tells them. ‘Find the Will to do so.’

The maw is open.

‘Now CHOOSE!’ he shouts.

And shoves the Peoples of Europe into the gaping maw of the smelter from which will emerge the Iron Will of the Peoples.

One man.

One Destiny.

A mother weeps for her son, who must do what no other can or will, no matter what.

Ullin of Iona counts, again, the Tears of Anna.

Getting back into RICIMER mode ... BUT MEANWHILE ...

Let it be a challenge to me.

We left him at age 12 with almost the whole of his very active life ahead of him.

He's got places to go, things to do, people to see.

Protege of Aetius, along with Majorian and Aegidius, Ricimer's Destiny is not going to be an easy one.

In between us abandoning Ricimer in the days of his youth, Our Characters have taken the bit in their collective teeth and skipped ahead to when they journey to America in the year 1600. Two of the AINE Books are written and in print (and on Kindle). Then we skip ahead yet again to meet the lot of them in the 1800s - in America's Wild West. That they bring their own Wild Ways with them is a given since the Young Ones show up (Colum, Saorsa, Marra, and Mamm the Younger). IF you've met them already, you don't need to wonder that the American West might be just about to get a little more wild than it already was.

This is the painting I used for the cover of the 'Go West!' book that has Our Characters moving from western Kansas into eastern Colorado, and then preparing for their next western move - to the Colorado Rockies.

So ... it's going to be a toss-up between RICIMER and these Characters of the American West (along with finishing the rest of the AINE Books) as to which will manage to get done in what order.

Stay tuned.

CATCHING UP WITH ARTWORK

These three were painted for the 2019 Las Animas Art Show in conjunction with the annual Santa Fe Trail Day Celebration. The 2019 theme was TRAILBLAZERS AND STARGAZERS.

Titled 'Go West!' this depicts an early morning leave-taking by a small group of covered wagons. 

The piece is 2' x 2', acrylic on fabric.

I titled this one simply 'Grandad', used a photo of my grandfather riding a bronc, 

paired it with a background of an early spring morning,

and used acrylic and texturing on really rough canvas.

aka 'Trailblazer'

Here is the 'Stargazer' part of things. 

The 'ghostly silhouette' effect is because this is the back of the original.

I messed up the front sky & couldn't fix it, so flipped it.

Acrylic on fabric.

So those are the pieces for that art show.

Going back a bit further:

Someone from Denver commissioned two pieces, both fairly large.

Here's the mock-up for one of them:

Acrylic on rough canvas, this little piece is probably about a foot by a foot and a half.

Here's the finished piece sized 5' x 2':

It's resized her to 30% of the original photo size.

Here's the reverse of it, just because ... 

The 'because' is that we wanted this one to be able to be back-lit.

Used very lightweight fabric stretched very tight so the pigments would bleed through.

This back view of the piece has an abstract look to it. 

The foreground is Not overlaid onto the background.

The other commissioned piece turned out to be two back-to-back on the same piece of fabric (the same lightweight tightly stretched as the above piece, only with many layers of paint); one side textured, the other side not ... same essential scene but very different looks. The story behind that is that the front (textured) side had me so frustrated that I needed a break from it. So I flipped it and let the flip side relax me enough to re-tackle the front. 

When I get time I'll do a post in my artwork blog about the process of getting this 6' x 3' piece developed. For now, here's the front:

It's an early morning dawning from up on a mountain,

looking south toward another range.

Here's the 'other side':

Same view, different mood.

And again a bit further back - these next two are from 2018 December - about five feet by two-and-a-half or so.

ASPEN QUEEN (one of the variations) acrylic on cotton; designed to be back-lit.

Don't mind the shadows - these photos were taken hurriedly 

as they were being loaded into someone's vehicle.

This one has a tri-color base coat: 

cobalt blue top; off-white center; dark lower.

Then over-painted.

You want more?

Okay, we can do that.

Here's one I did just for the fun of it - on that rough canvas:

Texture with acrylic.

Coming back to the present, here's a set of hand-painted note cards. I painted a lot of them outside up in the mountains. Parked my vehicle on a pull-over along Phantom Canyon in the Colorado Rockies, pulled out my ancient little card table and newer camp-chair, unpacked my artwork 'go-kit', and ... just painted ... Others were done in my sister's cottage-studio, wood-fire keeping it toasty.

These next couple are waiting for over-lay.

There are a bunch more similar to these in various colors/combinations, so I've got some over-laying to get done! I may use paint; I may use ink ... we shall see what we shall see !! I'm just grateful to have this time up here to spend on this.

Does it feel a mite odd to be going from big paintings to little ones?

Yes.

You've already seen one of the texture/acrylic pieces on 100 year old cedar shake - there are more of them, and more plain acrylic on plain wooden plaques - but their photos aren't going to get added today!

artwork on 100 year old cedar shakes

One of my favorites:

It's acrylics and texturing on the cedar shake that came off the roof of my old house.

2019 SANTA FE TRAIL DAY LAS ANIMAS COLORADO

This year's theme was TRAILBLAZERS & STARGAZERS

For 85 years this has been an annual celebration on the last weekend of April in this little town on the Arkansas River in Colorado.

Celebrating the cultures of the area makes for a fun day. Indigenous Folk, Spanish/Mexican, Mestizo, Black, Traders, Homesteaders, Ranchers, Farmers, Town Folk ... and somehow it all just worked.

If you take a drive in this area now, you'll see cattle of all types, goats, sheep, llama, horses, lots of dogs, some cats, hog operations south of town, crops of corn, wheat, oats, sorghum, melons, onions, peppers, alfalfa, beans, and who knows what all else, people who represent all of the above list and some new-comers, plenty of churches, folks who open doors for one another and say "How ya doin'?" to all and sundry ... and watch out for each other. 

The emergency response teams are top of the line. We had a fire east of town recently that started in the river bottom of the Purgatoire River (called the Picketwire locally) and burned its way south to the Arkansas River bottom and then east along it. Took about 600 acres and would have been so much worse had it not been for all the area firefighters coming to help, and the National Guard's helicopters dumping water on it in strategic spots. When push comes to shove True Colorado Folk stick together and get the job done.

Our family's ranch was run by my grandparents; before that our great-grandparents homesteaded down south of town too, east of where Grandma and Grandad ranched. Before that, there were a couple of generations in west Kansas. Our lineage came to America in the 1600s (Quakers) and followed what has come to be known as the Traditional American Westward Trek. We had to stop going west when we got to Alaska and Hawaii.

Las Animas has been 'home' to us for six generations now. Most of us have gone in all the directions of the compass from here - but we know our way home.

Here are a few photos of the parade - there were many many horses and riders, too! 

For a Small Town USA event, it was mighty fine! 

"We have seen His Star and come to worship Him"

A homestead couple

This group later danced in the intersection

Bent's Old Fort was first a trading post

A man and his horse

Just a few of the MANY riders in this parade

Gotta love the Hereford cattle !! 

Saturday, April 20, 2019

On this day my soul is quiet.

It’s maybe a special kind of peace, perhaps a little unexpected. Because this is the day to remember the battle that raged a couple of thousand years ago as the Holy Trinity fought to bring Balance to a world that had need of it.

How to put into words what that means?

I don’t think anyone has ever been able to find those words. It’s more something a person intuits than explains. That makes it real at a depth that goes beyond words, or even feelings. It just IS. It’s affirmation of the power of I AM and you either get that or you don’t. Either way, with or without our being able to understand it, the result is the same.

God is Love really does mean something.

And so, today, the memory of who we are rises unbidden. Today, because of the battle that was fought and won all those long years ago, my soul can be quiet, remembering the meaning of the word Love.

It is not a day to spend in worry or tears. We already know that battle has been won.

What battle, you ask?

Well, yesterday was what we call Good Friday, when the Son finished one sort of battle on our behalf. Today is the day He fought and won an even more significant battle on our behalf. See, the thing is that it’s fairly easy for us to identify with the humanity of the Son, which is why He came in the first place. What’s harder for us to wrap our heads around is that we did not truly lose the Light when the Son of the Trinity left his human body behind on that cross and the world went dark for a time. He wasn’t lost at all. He knew exactly where He was and what He was doing. He was/is as much the Holy Trinity as always, keeping the Balance of our world intact. Physically, in a way that we can intellectually understand – spiritually in a way that our souls recognize.

The Light of the World took on the Darkness and won, keeping the Balance.

And so our own personal trinities (body, mind, spirit) are brought to Balance. That is what this day, the day between death and life, is all about I think. A day to remind us all that our time here is a gift; and the Son came to show us how to make the most of that gift. Birth, a life to live, death, and life again. How we choose to spend the life we have been given to live is up to us.

That there will be battles for each and all of us to face is a given. Body, mind, and spirit … all kinds of battles have to be fought and won. This day, the day between life and death and life, is a day to remember that the Holy Trinity keeps all in Balance. Our battles come and they go, same as we do. Some we will win; some we will lose (because we are not the Son) but in the end the War is Already Won.

Maybe that’s why my soul rests easy today.

In a world seemingly filled with hatred, spite, cruelty, and darkness working overtime, the Light still shines. Bright as bright can be, or in little flickers that mock the darkness and destroy its power, the Light shines on.

Because God is Love, not hate. The Holy Trinity rules all, has no need for aggression, no reason to inflict harm, no desire to diminish any person, place, or thing in a world so carefully and intricately wrought. That is darkness which hates aggressively, inflicts harm, and tries to diminish what has been set into place by the Almighty. That is darkness, and has already been defeated.

Tomorrow will bring again its own battles.

For today, my soul is quiet.

Remembering.

Knowing.

Gonna Get M'self Into Hot Water Yet

Although this post probably isn't going to do that LOL !!

It's gonna be a short one, relatively speaking.

There's a lot of rhetoric flying around every which way from Tuesday just lately, even more than usual it seems.

A hefty hunk of it seems to revolve around people demanding justification for building barriers along our southern border at vulnerable locations.

My 'hot water question' is the reverse.

I would like to hear someone's justification for NOT building it.

Don't need it?

So?

[Some folks think we need it - surely you aren't dismissing their needs as worthless? Surely not.]

Can't afford it?

Really?

[We can afford to spend almost three times the requested funds to build houses in AFGHANISTAN! Don't give me that 'we can't afford it' baloney.]

Won't work?

So?

[Nothing works 100 percent effectively 100 percent of the time. Making a difference is a good goal.]

They'll find other ways?

So?

[They'll find at least one of their ways a bit more difficult.]

What.

Ever.

None of those 'arguments' are worth a hill of beans.

What is worth a hill of beans is that a significant percentage of the population of the United States of America just has a hankering to have barriers along our southern border.

What is the big deal about denying them that?

Is it going to hurt anybody for those barriers to be there?

No.

Nobody is required to justify anything to anybody when it comes to wanting barriers at our southern border - or along our northern one when it comes to that.

If you can justify to my why you DON'T want it, please feel free to have at trying.

My point here is that it is ENOUGH 'Justification', all the 'justification' anybody needs, that a really big proportion of Americans WANTS IT.

So what if you or I or anyone else doesn't? It's not gonna do us any harm for it to be there, is it?

No.

Frankly, I'd consider it money better spent to make a whole bunch of my fellow Americans happy than to build houses in Afghanistan, especially when it's no skin off my nose anyway.

If it helps with security, that's a bonus.

It would help ease people's minds without affecting anyone who's mind hasn't been worried - big gain, no loss on that count alone.

Those barriers would just be a-settin' there not doin' harm to a single solitary soul in this world.

So what the heck. They're steel, for cryin' out loud. If the time ever comes we need some steel should we run out or some such thing, there's a ready supply stockpiled right there. Comes to that, it would benefit our forges.

Just sayin'.

Unless somebody can prove to me that they are going to be personally harmed somehow by having barriers in a place they're unlikely to ever even get close to, I say what the heck.

Build 'em and be done with it.