May is my birthday month. This May was a different kind of May. I was going solo.
Because of the pandemic, I’d sent my daughter, Jenkins, and two of her roommates to quarantine at a friend’s lake house in S.C. (thank you Anne Bauknight – who makes the most amazing tasting, beautiful cookies at SodaCitySweets…message her if you’d like to buy some!)
My husband, Mark, was still stuck in D.C., getting the house ready to sell or rent. I was stuck in NYC alone for my birthday, with only the five quarantine cats to talk to (I’d taken my daughter’s cat and all of her roommates’ cats under wing – adding to our already 2-cat house).
The worst part of the first wave of the pandemic had eased up a wee bit – enough for me to feel okay about going for a long walk.
My father, Thomas Franklin Gilbert, is considered to be the founder of the field of Human Performance Technology (he coined the term Performance Engineering). He used to work in the West Village, so I decided I’d make my destination his old office. Of course, when I arrived, all I saw was an old building that looked like all the other old building on the same block. But nearby was the Jefferson Market Garden, so I went to sit on a bench and admire the red geraniums and sketch out my next painting.
The garden is so well maintained, but over in a corner were some brave dandelions poking their sweet little yellow heads out. After walking back the 4 miles to the Upper West Side, I went up to my terrace and painted them.
To learn more about this painting – or to view other paintings by Sarah Gilbert Fox, visit her gallery store.
This is a Contemporary Abstract Expressionism with Mark Making from an original art postcard series made with acrylic paints, oil pastels and charcoal on canvas – it is a painting that tells a story.
Copyright © 2020 Sarah Gilbert Fox
All rights reserved
