While it's been rainy and cold outside, I've been busy in my studio with still life paintings. This one I had printed for our Christmas cards. 12"h x 9"w "American Christmas" depicts a few items that make me smile; a vintage "Coca Cola" bottle, some old and frail (german) Christmas ornaments that belonged to my grandmother, and in the background a holiday kitchen towel given to me by my dear friend when I lived in Lake Elsinore. I only put these things together, you understand, because I liked the way they looked together and the memories that they brought to mind. But when I was done, I reflected on all these random objects from different places and different times that made up this composition and how it's so like Americans who are made up of so many different ethnic origins and traditions. How good it is that we can enjoy one another's differences in brotherly/sisterly love and God must smile on us when we do!
