Artist-in Residence Juneau, Alaska

August 10th, 2015.  Today Ken and I begin a new adventure.  I give great thanks to the State of Alaska for having the vision to share in the wealth of a government owned cabin.  Not just any cabin I might add. Territorial Governor Ernest Gruening (appointed by FDR in 1939) and his family had a cabin built overlooking the Lynn Canal between Almaga Harbor and Peterson Creek.  The  cabin is also known as Eaglerock due to the abundant eagle life as well as fish, whales and bear!  It is nestled in the moss laden spruce trees with the Canal out one side and a salt chuck on the other.  

Walking into the Ernest Gruening Cabin was like stepping back in time.  Give me a year in this sweet moment.  Reading family memoirs and the living history of Eaglerock I hear my words form as though someone has spoken them before me.  I can hear the laughter of the children visiting and running along the beach.  I sense Dorothy's (Ernest's wife) hospitality and adventurous spirit and feel that she is here with me.  Dorothy, being an artist herself and Ernest, a writer, their home fills me with a true sense of my creative spirit.  I can hear the peace from all the elect that came to visit including John F Kennedy.  I can almost hear his warm New England voice saying "Yes, this is the peace we fight for."

     Definite warm fuzzies despite the rain.

Painting, Day one.