Grandma Moses & The Wisdom of Chickens

In This Bloutcher

• Announcements
• Grandma Moses and The Wisdom of Chickens
• From My Sketchbook

Announcements

• If you're in Boston mark September 13th @ 7 pm, Newton Free Library. I will be doing an author's talk and book signing. I will also have a surprise guest who will be bringing some surprise goodies! Bring a neighbor.
  
• Charlie Finesilver whose story appears in Becoming a Life Change Artist (he sold his plumbing business and then he and his wife joined the Peace Corp in their mid fifties) reports: "Your book pretty much captures my life experiences and changes. But I must tell you that I have been dressing like Monet lately, which has been getting a lot of attention..." Let's hear it for Charlie and his inner Monet!!!
• And if you plan to be in Central New Jersey on the evening of September 21st, I will be speaking to the New Jersey Professional Coaches Association in Edison, New Jersey.
• If you are a writer or interested in writing and books consider contacting my co-author Kathy Jordan. She is an active member of a remarkable on-line organization called SheWrites--over 9,000 strong women who have formed a community related to writing and books. You can reach Kathy for more info at http://www.drkathyjordan.com/contact/
  

Grandma Moses and The Wisdom of Chickens

"If I didn't start painting, I would have raised chickens."



Grandma Moses (Anna Mary Robertson Moses) spent her first 70+ years raising 10 children and working at broidery. In her mid 70s she picked up a paint brush for the first time. She died in 1961 at the age of 101 with a reputation as one of America's pre-eminent folk artists. She was still painting.

But if she had not painted the last quarter of her life she tells us she would have raised chickens. What are we to make of this claim?

For one thing, she was clearly not full of herself.

For another, she is going against the grain of a popular view that seems to be out there today. Many folks seek a purpose or passion in life. While such a quest is certainly worthy it risks the effect of making those who do not find a single purpose or passion feeling somehow inadequate or with a sense that something is missing in their lives. They may feel somehow diminished. Perhaps even on the periphery. But what about those who have lots of interests? What about those who cannot seem to find that one true passion? What about those who believe there is more than one of us in each of us?

Grandma Moses to the rescue. You can always raise chickens. Or shell peas. Grandma Moses understood there is more than one possibility in our lives. More than a single scenario or narrative. I cannot help but think that some of us have multiple passions and purposes. Contradiction? Well, I take comfort in Grandma Moses and her chickens and also in Walt Whitman.

Do I contradict myself?
Very well, then I contradict myself,
I am large, I contain multitudes.

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From My Sketchbook

My sketchbook is a hodgepodge of stuff. I sketch. I journal. I admonish myself. I motivate myself. I chronicle fleeting ideas or capture quotes. Sometimes I do all at once. As I did on this page.
Aren't we all a little strange?