Award time

Yay!! My first award. Shayla has gifted me the "I heart you blog award". How cool is that? She found my blog through Seth at The Altered Page. Thanks Shayla.

My task now is to pass this award on to others.

I think what I will do is to pass along blogs that I adore by people that I know personally and enjoy spending time with.

I never miss Courtney at her Quiet Girl Gallery blog. I love her heart, soul, and artwork. I also love her Healing Nest blog.

I took a class from Mary Beth Shaw at Artfest last year. It was a great class. For those of you going this year I highly reccomend it if you are into abstracts at all.

Meredith is a superb artist and mentor to many.

Gwen is another healer whose blog I enjoy. She is in the group I meet up with about monthly to talk artfest and work on whatever we are doing at the moment. I am always listening to people instead of working.

Celeste is new to the area. I met her right after she moved to Washington. She is also a new mama.

My good friend Karon and I work together when we can. She teaches printing at her studio but is moving to Arizona soon. We will be showing together at Local Color for the month of September. It's a very cool coffeeshop and gallery in the heart of the Pike Place Market of Seattle. I am right now procrastinating rather than finishing up paintings for that show.

Nudes., Love 'em or leave 'em?

My posts have been all over the place lately so I thought I'd share a painting with you. After all, this is an art blog. This is a small , 11X14" encaustic piece. I hope it does not turn any of you off to see a nude. I love doing them and have nowhere really to show them other than the odd figure show.

It suprises me how many venues do not allow nudes because they don't want to scare off customers. I can't imagine anything prettier than a well done, tasteful figure painting. The problem is where we draw the line on "tasteful". I've seen many pieces that in my estimation go beyond the tasteful. Each and every one of us has a different line.

What do you think? Should I leave them off the blog? I really want to know.

Finger on The Pulse

Seth over at The Altered Page has done a great job of compiling answers to art questions from about 80 artists. Go over and check it out. It's fun to get into the minds of the aritsts you watch and some you don't know.
It's also nice to see that others have the same thoughts racing through thier heads.

Fathers and Daughters

A friend lost her father yesterday. Before I got up to write this I lay in bed for two hours thinking about her and the devastating blow she has been dealt.

To girls, our fathers are invincible. We think they will be with us forever. Fathers teach us to swim the water and the world. They determine what sort of partner we will choose when we grow up. It’s their strong shoulders we ride on as a child, looking out over the top of the crowd to see the world as it will be later. Fathers are our protectors, our guardians. We can fly free because Daddy is there to catch us when we fall.

At some point we notice the super powers fading in our father. We might see the chinks in his armor but we don't look too closely at those chinks. We don’t want to see the weaknesses. We want to hang on to the strengths with white knuckles.

When Dad’s last chapter is complete, we need to find our own way in the world without a life jacket but with many years of memories and experiences that can't be taken away. No matter how old we are, our father's death leaves a huge vacancy in our heart and chest. That emptiness is palpable. It aches. No words or deeds can soften the blow for us.

This is my Dad. My friend's pain reminds me that I miss him terribly.

C, If you read this, know that my heart is with you.

Loving Summer

Well. we're midway through summer now and I am loving it.

I am shocked, however, that it has been so long since my last entry. The only saving grace is that other bloggers are out enjoying themselves also. I can tell because the entries are sparce.

This is the late afternoon view from my studio window. So perfect today. So serene. Even without creating art I love it here. But...I do have to get busy creating. I am showing with my friend Karon Leigh, http://karonleigh-stilldancing.blogspot.com at Local Color in the Pike Place Market next month and want to put out new, original stuff for it.

I guess I still need to get with her and figure out this links business too.

For now....toodle-ooh