Today being Thursday, it’s once again Time Out for Art Day! I thought I’d throw in a little abstract painting I did a couple of years ago. Maybe I’m trying to inspire myself to keep painting, or maybe it’s an attempt to get some of you to paint abstractly. Abstract painting is fun, and it finds its own way….
Sunshine of the Lake
Time Out for Art has been inspired by Zebra Designs & Destinations, I know you’ll find them as inspiring as I do!
Frances Louise
My mother was an only child, raised by her mother and grandmother.
During the depression, money was tight, my grandma, and my great-grandmother had to work long hours to make ends meet.
Mom being a latchkey kid, and spending so much time alone, developed an amazing imagination. That and her dry sense of humor made us always question…fact or fiction!
When mother graduated from high school, she worked in a department store. This helped pay for clothes , and anything else she had to have s a young girl spreading her wings.
Mom, and dad met at a dance, and slowly the romance began. It was a match made in heaven. Dad a business man with General Motors, mom a beautiful young woman dreaming of her prince charming. Some say she made a great Trophy Wife! I’m not sure that was a compliment, but I’m going to take it that way!
They married on Friday the 13th, in December of 1941, and always insisted it was good luck for them. Their marriage was a good one, and they accomplished many things during their fifty-two years. Dad always told me he hoped my kids would bring me every bit as much happiness as we had brought him. As I looked back, I don’t think he meant that in a good way. We did give them grief from time to time, and both of them being only children, they didn’t always handle it well!
Mother was much more calm about things even though she didn’t have any siblings herself. She wanted a family and I have to say she handled all the chaos quite well.
Mom had stories, many stories, and we could never tell if they were true or her imagination. I always encouraged her to write, but she didn’t have any interest in putting anything into words on paper, so her stories go untold.
Except for this one…
My grandmother remarried when Mother was around fifteen, and during the reception someone needed to go to the market to get something for the party so Mother rode along. On this day it was raining, and on the way home the Model T she was riding in skidded off the road, and down an embankment landing upside down in the middle of a stream. This sounded terrifying to us as kids, but it gets better! The stream was reportedly not just full of water, and moving fast, but Mother could hear the rescuers shouting to get them out of the water quickly as there were snakes in the stream. A terrifying thing to have happen, and one would have thought both Mom and the driver would have ended up in the hospital, but not so. They were retrieved out of the water and sent home. Mom said she was covered in blood as she had hit her mouth on the dashboard. Her mother was horrified, but after checking her over, left on her honeymoon anyway.
Fack or Fiction?
This is how I know Mom!
We’ll never know, but my kids were told the same story without deviation, so collectively we agreed it must have been true. We just can’t even imagine something like that happening, and not going to emergency. I guess we’ve come quite for in the last seventy-five years or so… It was a good story, and there were lots of them,one of these days I’ll remember some more.
Thank you for stopping to read my story, see you soon……
Sad Dusty
Dusty had a little surgery recently. Nothing too serious, but I’m sure Dusty might have a different opinion about the whole thing.
You see, Dusty was neutered! Since Dusty belongs to Sage, my granddaughter, it was necessary for him to be sweet, and gentle. When male rabbits are not neutered they can become aggressive, and nasty. During mating, males have been known to bite, and even tear ears off the female.
Dusty is still sad, so sad that his ear has flopped over. His people are worried about him, and even took him back to his doctor to make sure he was ok. Dusty is ok, he’s just a little unhappy about the whole traumatic experience. He never wants to go through that again!
Since it’s so hot where Dusty and Bubbles live, they have a nice cool place in the house to rest. Late in the afternoon when it cools down, they both are taken outside to hop around and play in their large beautiful yard.
Thank you for hip-pity hopping by to see how Dusty is, see you soon!
Colorful planters in Santa Fe
Wow, I can hardly believe that I was once again in this magical place! Sure I was here for an art workshop, and I got to show my husband Les all the wonderful things I had previously found. I also got to explore with him new things, and places.
Since my day included 8 hours of art, I really didn’t have much energy, or time left to explore the galleries. I was exhausted by the end of the day, and Les wanted to explore. So we explored restaurants, music, a few galleries, and even a few retail shops! Isn’t it funny how you have to check out places like Costco, Wal-Mart, or even TJMax when going to a new place…..just to see if the stuff is the same? Well, we did check out TJMax, and Ross. Actually I didn’t think they were as good as here, but you know how you have to hit them at the right time, I guess we didn’t!
The first painting.
The workshop was given by Cathy Carey, and was the best workshop I think I’ve ever taken. I say this because Cathy is a master of color, and this was the beginning of her classes. Now, I know color, I love color, but not like Cathy, and my feeling is it never hurts to hear color theory, or any other theory even one more time. I learned a lot, had a lot of fun, and met some incredible women in the workshop.
Since I haven’t painted in a very long time, my first painting was stiff, and unsatisfying. By the time the second painting rolled around, it started out stiff, and soon I was able to loosen up and have fun with color.
Magic Trees
After finishing my second painting of trees, it was time to try something really new, so impasto here I come! Inspired by a clay rabbit sitting on the hearth in the living room, I created this very interesting “Magic Rabbit.” I have to make some adjustments since I thought his nose looked more like a rat than a rabbit, but here is the abstract, rather colorful, impastoed rabbit.
Strange and Unusual
While the impasto on the rabbit dried enough to work on it, I decided to try something really different….
I was inspired by an artist by the name of Egon Schiele, who impressed me with his strange and quirky style, so I shamelessly made an attempt at copying one of his paintings.
By Friday when the workshop was over, I was on overload. There is so much to think about, maybe that’s my problem, I over think so much! I loved the workshop, the magical place I was fortunate enough to be able to paint in, and the music and wonderful restaurants.
What could be better?
Until next time, have a great week!
Wisdom in Old Books
While reading my email the other morning, it occurred to me that as we forge into the electronic age, we are also leaving the age of good old paper books, and we seem to be doing that at warp speed. Call me ancient, but I still love the feel and smell of a book in my hand.
My iPad has seen it’s share of downloaded books, and while they may be easier to read with the ability to change font size, and brightness, they still aren’t quite the same as holding a real book with delicate pages, and an embossed cover. As an artist I’m tactile, I love the feel of things like fabric, handmade papers, and yes books! When one can’t feel the pages, or the slight imprint of embossed text, there becomes a loss of romanticism, and mystery. Touching the pages, or thumbing through the chapters seems to be the missing link to a world on imagination, and creativity.
While nosing through a thrift store, there seems to be a huge selection of outdated, previously loved books, maybe even some books one might find can’t be lived without, or even finding a rare and valuable edition. This is a treasure trove for a mixed media artist, but a sad day for the books, who sit bitterly on an old plank made to hold other books like themselves.
One of my artist friends looks for large, thick, old books so she can alter them, taking the insides out, embellishing them, and making boxes out of them. Her creations are to die for, and those large, thick discarded books are just what she looks for. I guess she might say that this would be her lucky day to find such books on a dusty old shelf just waiting to be found, and brought back to life.
How do the books feel about all this?
On the other hand I pick one up, and immediately my thoughts go to the life it has had, and the stories they could tell if only they had a voice. Sometimes there are little notes, or messages written inside that tell a story. But, mostly we only need to use our imagination, and off we go on a merry-go-round of thoughts, and ideas! If only those gloriously old books could reveal their stories about where they lived, who they lived with, and what kind of shelf they resided on throughout their glory days. Did they have more than one home, or were they given away each and every time someone was finished with them? Had they been tossed around, or gently handled and cared for?
How did they end up on a shabby shelf in a musty old thrift shop where the chances of ever finding a forever home again are all but lost. Had their owner died, leaving them homeless, or were they discarded like an old shoe? I can almost feel their pain! I can feel how rejected most of them must feel at the loss of clean crisp pages, or a undented or undamaged cover. My heart goes out to them, and I want to bring them all home only to reassure each of them that they are loved, and as long as I’m alive they will never again be mistreated, or thrown around. They would now have a place on a shelf that isn’t dusty, or crowded. Their own place to be proud of…
Sadly I have always longed for a home with a large library, floor to ceiling – with a big rolling ladder enabling me to get way up at the top to retrieve one of my most cherished books to read. I say sadly because, I have never been fortunate enough to have such a fabulous library, and now we have downsized our home to a small bookshelf in our office that barely holds the books we use each day. My dream is sincere, and if I was able those books would have their forever homes.
I know we have libraries, but as with puppies and kittens, there simply isn’t enough space for everyone to live side by side peacefully. Would the answer lie with each of us building a large private library of our own to help out? This I can not say, but I am saddened by the direction we are going, and the lack of those beautiful books of days past!
Thank you for stopping by to read my post, see you next time…
On our last day of our Baltic Sea cruise, we found ourselves in Riga, Latvia. Funny, I really never heard of Latvia let alone realizing it was once part of Russia, and now a country all on its own. The idea that we were vacationing in Russia, a part of the world that when I was growing up, was a very bad and dangerous place. Much has changed, and much has yet to change.
A variety of architecture.
By this time it was the fifth day of touring, and I’m not going to lie…I was exhausted. I knew I’d be over it by the end of the week, but I wanted to learn and see everything I could if we were going to take a trip to the Baltic.
Riga, Latvia
The architecture in the newer area of Riga was a mix of Soviet Blocks, and Art Deco. There were beautiful parks, and lots of traffic! The people were friendly, and seemed happy. I’d be happy too if I had recently gained independence from Russia! They’re still struggling to build their economy, but it looked like they were winning the battle.
Riga, Latvia
The older part of town, or the Mediaeval part was spectacular, and fun to see. I’m sure part of that for tourist sake, but people actually lived there in many areas, and of course there were many business focused on tourism, and the money we could bring to their economy.
Cajon
As we walked the streets while others in our group shopped for Amber jewelry, we were taken by a group of three young musicians. A bass guitar, an electric guitar, and a cajon. They played for it seemed an hour, or more, and it was interesting to hear the same music our youth plays here in the states.
We were on our vacation when my son had his birthday, and he asked for donations for a Cajon. When we returned he had found what he wanted and everyone was happy!
The history of Cajons goes way back to the 16th century Peru. I’ve read that Paco de Lucia brought the idea of the cajon back from Peru to use with his flamenco Guitar.
After a long day in Riga, with many things to see, we literally hobbled back to our ship, and finish our journey back to Stockholm, Sweden.
Thank you for stopping by to read about our vacation to the Baltic sea, I loved sharing our journey with you, and have to admit some of the pictures I wanted to show didn’t turn out, or I had inadvertently erased them from my phone. Silly me!
Old as Dirt and Proud of it! 
You must be logged in to post a comment.