A Vermont Visit

 A Trip to Vermont

After a day of arduous work I decided to take a friend up on his offer to drive me to an all day art session in Vermont. Funny thing about about me and that state is that although I live a stone throw away I never visited it, my lost because I discovered is a laid back, and I'll use a Cinderella word, "enchanting" place (for the most part with a minute hint of urban economic social issues). Old barns, old Victorian houses, old farm lands, and old beautiful mountains that gathered clouds of mist reminiscent of carefully arranged post cards to allure travelers to send their friend back home.
       I met my friend in the morning at a Dunkin' Donuts and he drove from the out skirts of Connecticut to Vermont as we chatted about art, life work, and other things. About an hour later we finally arrived at Brattleboro, a small quiet hilly town, that he said hipsters went to die. The group there was mostly retired individuals and some who were younger mature artist. I discovered they were friendly and dedicated to art. They came from Vermont, Connecticut and as far away as Boston (about a two hour drive).
    The model there was a man from Thailand about fifty who worked as a professional house painter. He wore a necklace of pictures of deceased individuals, which some of whom were his parents, said to be a good luck charm in Thailand that also help him meditate. I drew all day with charcoals and later colored it with pastels. During the breaks a few close artist women friends broke into spontaneous dance. They dance to old Madonna songs and rock music and laughed about when they first heard "that song", about when they bought a certain album, and how thee parents reacted as the studio radio acted as a catalyst that triggered more memories

Below is my drawing/painting of Keo the Thailand painter.