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August 31st, 2014
Mystic 2014 by Drea
Using patience and introspection we can focus on rejoicing and know that new opportunities will come. Greater spiritual awareness comes when we manifest magical relationships.
Black Swallowtail
By Mary Oliver
The caterpillar,
interesting but not exactly lovely,
humped along among the parley leaves
eating, always eating. Then
one night it was gone and in its place
a small green confinement hung by two silk threads
on a parsley stem. I think it took nothing with it
except faith, and patience. And then one morning
it expressed itself into the most beautiful being.
August 25th, 2014
Oracle 2012 by Drea
Graton artist and school teacher, Drea Jensen, in efforts to raise money in memory of Cameron Varnell, is donating Oracle 2012 to a silent auction, with 100% of the proceeds going to fight childhood leukemia.
The Summer Day
Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
Oracle 2012 has been donated to the silent auction for Orion Strong’s 16th Birthday and Leukemia Fundraiser.
This painting was originally painted in honor of Cameron Varnell.
August 19th, 2014
Prayer for Cameron 2013 by Drea
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” ~ Mary Oliver
Dear Cameron,
Today is your 14th birthday and we remember all the ways you embraced life:
playing baseball with passion,
entertaining us with Michael Jackson dancing,
and adventures on the beach with friends.
You taught us all about hope, love, and faith as you courageously battled leukemia.
You were like a brother to my son, and you increased his ability to show empathy,
taught him about the loyalty of friendship,
and inspired him to play baseball in honor of your name.
Cameron Varnell, you have changed our lives forever, we remember you always, and celebrate your greatest gift:
your powerful spirit.
Love,
Your Friends and Family
August 16th, 2014
Acquiesce 2014 by Drea
“I want to believe I am looking into the white fire of a great mystery.” ~ Mary Oliver
The Ponds
by Mary Oliver
Every year
the lilies
are so perfect
I can hardly believe
their lapped light crowding
the black,
mid-summer ponds.
Nobody could count all of them –
the muskrats swimming
among the pads and the grasses
can reach out
their muscular arms and touch
only so many, they are that
rife and wild.
But what in this world
is perfect?
I bend closer and see
how this one is clearly lopsided –
and that one wears an orange blight –
and this one is a glossy cheek
half nibbled away –
and that one is a slumped purse
full of its own
unstoppable decay.
Still, what I want in my life
is to be willing
to be dazzled –
to cast aside the weight of facts
and maybe even
to float a little
above this difficult world.
I want to believe I am looking
into the white fire of a great mystery.
I want to believe that the imperfections are nothing –
that the light is everything — that it is more than the sum
of each flawed blossom rising and fading. And I do.
July 29th, 2014
Rites of Passage 2012 by Drea
Life can be a hectic mix of good and bad, light and dark, happy and sad. Living is all about slowing down and finding the highlights of it.
Walk the Road
By Drea
Pavement radiate heat,
Re-Blessing Ceremony,
red wine.
Dog day of summer,
caress bare skin,
nature time.
Walk the road,
freedom come,
excite now.
July 27th, 2014
Occidental Road Cellars owner Joelle Prather sits in the tasting room with daughter Fiona and puppy Dash. Photo: Carey Sweet
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/http%3A//www.sfgate.com/travel/tastingroom/article/Family-winery-with-a-homey-feeling-5645683.php#photo-6626044
"lots of colorful abstract paintings" ~ Drea Art mentioned in SF Chronicle write up for Occidental Road Cellars!
July 14th, 2014
Thank You for supporting Drea Art!
The Messenger
By Mary Oliver
My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird—
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.
Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,
which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,
which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.
July 13th, 2014
Testimony 2012 by Drea
Seeing things first hand is really the only way to experience things in life. Never miss a chance or opportunity to see something new.
Little Summer Poem Touching on the Subject of Faith
By Mary Oliver
Every summer
I listen and look
under the sun’s brass and even
into the moonlight, but I can’t hear
anything, I can’t see anything–
not the pale roots digging down, nor the green stalks muscling up,
nor the leaves
deepening their damp pleats,
nor the tassels making,
nor the shucks, nor the cobs.
And still,
every day,
the leafy fields
grow taller and thicker–
green gowns lofting up in the night,
showered with silk.
And so, every summer,
I fail as a witness, seeing nothing–
I am deaf too
to the tick of the leaves,
the tapping of downwardness of the banyan feet–
all of it
happening
beyond any seeable proof, or hearable hum.
And, therefore, let the immeasurable come.
Let the unknowable touch the buckle of my spine.
Let the wind turn in the trees,
and the mystery hidden in the dirt
swing through the air.
How could I look at anything in this world
and tremble, and grip my hands over my heart?
What should I fear?
One morning
in the leafy green ocean
the honeycomb of the corn’s beautiful body
is sure to be there.
May 13th, 2014
Redwood Forest Mural by 2nd graders and Salmon Creek Middle Schoolers
When I Am Among the Trees
When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”
by Mary Oliver
April 6th, 2014
Prayer for Cameron 2013 by Drea Jensen
The ability to stay strong and see the good when things are pushing down around you can go a long way, positivity is worth far more than some think.
http://dreajensengallery.artistwebsites.com/featured/prayer-for-cameron-2013-drea-jensen.html
Opening Day
There is a prayer inside
our hearts
stitched with red thread
On opening day
your legacy lives on
Cameron Varnell
Captured in the perfect pitch
the ball thrown to the mitt
cheers from family and friends
We are on the sidelines
while you take center stage
performing
eyes bright blue
your smile alive and present
When a young man dies
our souls shatter
fragments of our former selves
Our soft animal hearts witness your souls journey
from the physical to the spiritual
Your friendship lives on
Cameron Varnell
each pitch a prayer.
~ a poem dedicated to Cameron Varnell
August 19, 2000 – April 16, 2013