Hangies

No, not that kind.

This kind.

Walking through the house the other day, I realized how many things I have hanging from the ceiling or door posts.  I don't know what this says about me, but they make me happy.

This last bad boy will stay up through the 50 days of Eastertide.

Eating More Fruits and Vegetables

No, I'm not a vegetarian, but I do love my plant stuffs.  This was Friday night's meal after painting in the studio.  I think I was in a green and yellow mood.

It was great.

Fabulous Friday Find

Have I mentioned I love the textile arts?  How do I love the textile arts?  Why do I love them?  Let me count the ways (some other day).

Today, I found a link to the work of this creative soul.  I could spend hours on his site. 

Here's one of his stitched portraits.  As he writes:

Stitched Portraits: Kasturba Gandhi

Unsung heroine, wife to a man of peace, a woman of peace herself who taught Mahatma the ways of non-violent protest. She gave up a life of wealth for poverty and died while interred in a prison.

For her sacrifice and solace, she was the necessary choice for yesterday's birthday portrait.
She would have been 143.

Green(ish) Thumb

It's been my long desire to grow herbs indoors.  I've tried several times.  I've failed several times.  But since the beginning of the year, things are looking up.

I think I've discovered the secret.  Although this window doesn't have the best light, it is right next to my chair at the table in the kitchen.  I see it every day and I check the moisture content daily too.  That's the up side.  The down side is that the plants are so close to the window and in the winter, the babies get cold.  And there is a heat/AC register just below them.

So what to do?  I made (a loose use of the word) little fleece blankets that keep out the drafts and the blasts.  Someday (maybe), I will sew little blankets that actually fit the baskets.  But until then, the double fleece is working fine.  The plants are growing and turning to the light.  I have three kinds of basil, two types of thyme, a rosemary plant, sage and cilantro, plus an old bonsai plant I bought 10 years ago and a beautiful orchid my parents bought for my birthday. 

Keep up the good work guys and gals.

Jiminy Cricket

A new toy has landed on my desk.  She already has lots of friends.

Public Art

Public art fascinates me: the inventiveness, the sense of community it fosters.  It marks a time and a place either to remember or to celebrate.  In this case, it was for fun (ok, and maybe a little advertising).

We found this funny guy near the Blue Bird Bistro in Kansas City last week.  Both the bistro and the art are worth checking out.

My Painting Process

In the five and a half years that I've been painting, I think I've learned a few things.  If I'm paying attention, sometimes I remember those things when I'm painting.  A lot of the time, I remember them when I'm driving home from the studio, after having struggled a bit. 

One of the things I've learned is that painting is about decisions and choices.  If you stick around and read this entry, I hope you'll see what I mean.

Perhaps you can tell from this photo, the painting started out with a different version.  Version 1.1 was a disaster.  What to do?  What to do?  Paint it over of course and start afresh.  Primarily, the composition was ho-hum and I took an experimental approach that just wasn't working.

I wanted to make a bolder statement, so I re-drew the major shapes and tried a different color scheme.

Liking the color choices, I felt as if the highlights were too garish and stark so I tried to knock them back a bit.  If you hang with me, you'll see that they change several times over the course of the painting.

Time to flesh out the painting some more...those weren't just spheres in space, but shapes in relationship with other objects.

And time to start thinking about the background....

And how the objects relate to one another.



I thought I might be getting close to the finish line, but I wasn't.  Did the upper right hand corner look empty and unconsidered? Yes.  And yes.

I (creatively) cheated a little bit in thinking about how to resolve this question.  I could move and remove the leaf templates without having to make a painting commitment. 

I believe I'm moving towards resolution, but the upper right hand leaves are too light and don't add as much weight to the composition as I had hoped.

Happy with the composition, I made some final adjustments to the colors.  And stopped.

For now.  





Celtic Prayer

The joy of God be in thy face,
Joy to all who see thee.
The circling of God be keeping thee
Angels of God be shielding thee.
   -- Carmina Gadelica

A Blessed Easter Weekend

Dyeing eggs at church on a cool, cloudy, wonderful day.

 

Playing "Statue" in the church garden.

This photograph of the swirling, fallen dogwood petals makes me dizzy!

Oldies, but Goodies

A close up of the rock formattions at Carnac.

Beautiful Hawaiian flowers in the complementary colors of red and green.

Good Friday

"No matter how deep our darkness, He is deeper still."

-- Corrie ten Boom, from a Nazi death camp

Day by Day

Mom and Daughter