And here's an uncolored version for you. You can print it from the PDF below and use your colored pencils and markers to make it your own. Enjoy! above_all_else_guard_your_heart.jpg File Size: 952 kb File Type: jpg Download File

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DAY 9 Is here already. Here's the collection so far... 

These all feel like one or the other of my children. 

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The cycle... I'm wondering if this has anything to do with my middle son, Kyman, moving away to college this year... Tomorrow is going to be a surprise!

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Last year's hummingbird Twelve for Twelve was a lesson in listening. I didn't set out to paint twelve hummingbirds, but one day led to the next, and the series came together as an acceptance and a  celebration of the whole of life with its joys and challenges. 
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Beginning. 
Building. 
Guarding.
Fledging. 
Flying.
Watching. 
Resting.
Falling.
Supporting.
Praising.
Savoring. 
Ending.

​"We are more than the clouds. We are the whole sky." 

This year, I don't have much of a plan yet, either. But the Wren has been the subject of Day 1 and Day 2. This little "King of Birds" has a rich history in symbol and myth. Celtic mythology considered the Wren a symbol of the past year. This little bird is known to sing, even in the dead of winter. The wren's symbolic Celtic meanings include activity, vibrancy, alertness and efficiency. St. Stephens Day is Ireland was for centuries celebrated by killing a wren. Read more here. ​

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My good friend, Temple, gave me a wren's nest from her front porch as a birthday gift last year. It was almost unrecognizable as a nest, but its roots and twigs have been near my painting area all year and have served as inspiration. I had a different idea for a starting place for this Twelve for Twelve series, but yesterday as I was sketching and preparing, my son Kyman called my attention to a wren that was industriously working and singing outside our kitchen window. I took it as a sign, since these magical little birds rarely show themselves. And so, a wren is what I am beginning with today. More later about the fascinating symbolism of these tiny "Kings of birds". 

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I have to share this Haiku, written in response to this painting by my very talented friend, Russell Mays. 

Delicate sparrows
Tiny joy-filled reminders
God Loves every one

 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?      Matthew 6:25-34

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The Fiddlemaker. 24x36. Oil on Panel.

Alfred Michels with his portrait. 2016

Alfred works with the film crew of "Mountain Minor" gettting ready for the scenes with his horses.

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"It is six A.M., and I am working. I am absentminded, reckless, heedless of social obligations, etc. The tire goes flat, the tooth falls out, there will be a hundred meals without mustard. The poem gets written. I have wrestled with the angel and I am stained with light and I have no shame. Neither do I have guilt. My responsibility is not to the ordinary, or the timely, It does not include mustard or teeth. It does not extend to the lost button or the beans in the pot. My loyalty is to the inner vision, whenever and howsoever it may arrive...."
Mary Oliver on Time, Concentration, the Artist's Task, and the Central Commitment of the Creative Life" 

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