RURAL HUDSON VALLEY

PLEIN AIR AROUND THE WORLD

I’m a triple (almost) Taurus. Except for the one degree of Aries that my rising sign occupies, I am a full-bodied, red-blooded Bull. I prefer sitting to standing and laying down to sitting. My movements are slow and sure, maybe plodding, and I prefer to work in the middle of a field alone, but have come to love good company there too.

Earth girl here loves to start the day with a sweatshirt covered in paint, with a tank or tee underneath a pair of many-pocketed, floppy shorts and sandals (I know, I know, Lyme Disease), and a full thermos of black coffee. A well-worn leather knapsack that my cousin Virginia gave me forty years ago is filled with a loaded pochade box, a dozen or so small panels, a sketch kit, and a handful of brushes and rags, usually a hard-boiled egg or some wee sandwich and a jug of water and bug dope.

There are artifacts from other years in there, too; a dog-eared sketchbook, a map of Monhegan and roll of medical tape and an Ace bandage, used Hand wipes and lip balm and an unused stick of Neutrogena SPF 15. Coins minted both here and in Europe jingle in the bottom of the bag, just in case.

I need nothing else. I can spend a day in the wild as the happiest girl ever to be born, whether my paintings are successful or not. I will likely be teary-eyed and filled up with gratitude on the walk back to my car or house, as the case may be, and I will sleep with the angels that night, knowing all is well with my soul.