Sounds and Sights of Summer

I am in a time warp these days.  Painting from sunrise to long after sunset, seven days a week.  This is certainly a time of my life that I am thankful I love my work!  I do not know what day of the week it is, and this is the first time in my life that I have embraced a season, pretty much exclusively from my studio window.    I have become highly aware of every sound that passes through my open windows as each hour passes by and I paint, paint, paint, and continue to paint.  This must be where the saying 'window to the world' came from.  It is amazing what all happens in a day, when you are acutely tuned into your senses....Here was yesterday:

• the beautiful singing of chirping birds
• Zach, whistling as he brought  fresh milk up from the barn
• The humming call of the tractor & hay chopper rushing through the yard 
• People coming and going...all day long

                  - employees
                  - salesmen
                  -milk hauler
                  -next door neighbor to retrieve their dog
                  -the kids, going to and coming home from work
                  -the Schwan's ice cream truck

• The cows ballering at 5pm for feed
• The purr of the milk pump at 5am and 5pm
• Stella - barking, barking, barking (why do dogs bark anyway?)
• The beep-beeping of the UPS truck picking up Bonnie Mohr Studio packages
• The distant buzz of the neighbors lawn mower
• The laughter of our two boys riding away on the Gator to go fishing
• The clanking of the head gates as cows take their turn eating 

When your load is big and your days blend from one to the next, you surrender to small and simple pleasures of life - and smile....these are the little joys of the journey that you don't normally take time for or notice.  

Thankfully - I have a wonderful family who has supported my marathon painting schedule this summer.  Children who have cheerfully taken the 'mother' hat and placed it on their own head, handling the day to day operations of running the household, and a husband who has not complained about my absence on the main floor as the hours tick by while I'm upstairs painting.  And thankfully, I am now on the homestretch - the final painting for the book is resting  on the easel, calling my name - so I better get to it. 

Wishing you a successful, happy, eventful summer - and if you are up to your eyeballs in a epic project like me....I share my husband's famous line... 'keep your end gate up!' honey, your almost there!

Thanks for reading,

Bonnie