janet st. john

Lion Sleeping. Antoine-Louis Barye (French, Paris 1796–1875 Paris). 1810–75. Watercolor on wove paper, lined sheet: 9 3/16 x 11 5/8 in. (23.3 x 29.5cm). Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art open access. Animal Time Present in the presence of self, here-now. Breathe in, out. Supine rest. Head on paws Dirt bed. Desert vista. Wind prickles fur. A warm spot, here and here. Sun pokes through clouds like stick through foliage-dense forest. Stop. Listen. Change here happens im

Winter Scene in Moonlight. Henry Farrer (American, London 1844–1903 New York). 1869 Watercolor and gouache on white wove paper. 11 7/8 x 15 3/16 in. (30.2 x 38.6 cm). Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art open access. Grateful It’s risky meeting on a full moon winter night, Max thinks. Frigid. Half past one. The man he waits for is almost fifteen minutes late. But Max is sure he’ll show up. He has to, if he wants his money. He did a job. He deserves it. Max wonders if th

Clouds at Dawn. James Hamilton Shegogue (American, 1806 – 1872). Watercolor over graphite. 6.3 × 12.5 cm (2 1/2 × 4 15/16 in.). National Gallery of Art open access. Cloud, Me Cloud-spine elongates, and vertebrae, ribby knuckles, separate, form a gap before the vaporous pelvis. Sky flexes and stretches. Clouds form and float, wisping into shapes that reflect the body, remind me I am that. That sky missing half a side of ribs. Whole back now missing sky. My cloud self. Sky miss

Tree. Arthur Dove (American, Canandaigua, New York 1880–1946 Huntington, New York) 1935. Watercolor, tempera, and ink on paper. 5 x 7 in. (12.7 x 17.8 cm). Alfred Stieglitz Courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art open access. Growing Blue There is the growing up and the growing down. Trees do. We do. There is also a growing out and growing in. A tree is nourished by, and holds, unseen forces. Taken in. Drawn upward. Feeding, storing, restoring. Its foliage unfurls from spring

Henri-Joseph Harpignies. French, 1819 - 1916 A Landscape with Figures Walking along a Path Blue watercolor with gray and black wash on wove paper Drawing. 11.2 x 7.5 cm (4 7/16 x 2 15/16 in.)t Joseph F. McCrindle Collection Open Access Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington Pilgrimage A dirt-floored church chamber, said to gift miracles, called us. Figures on life’s path. Some with neighbors, family, friends. Me, accompanied only by small hope. We walked a long road. La