Newport Beach at Negative Low Tide...-2.8!

Ranger Guy lived above the beach (a difficult climb, but he'd climbed down the rocky face to view the negative low tide) and we were lucky to run into him at a tide pool. He pointed out some of the varied critters to us and named the seabirds (orange billed cormorant was one I'd never seen) and generally made me think that he and my brother Roger would have been great friends if they had met. These pix are of Guy naming the creatures normally hidden from view; a mix of creatures attached to rocks - starfish and anemone to name two; the operable one of two lighthouses at Newport Beach; and another view of the starfish clinging to rocks.


Crabs, crabs, we got crabs! Actually, I snapped shots of three types of crab on Newport Beach. Ranger Guy is holding a tiny hermit crab in one shot, the pretty peachy colored one is a dungeness crab and the dark one is unknown to me...I thought it was a horseshoe crab, but Roger said it's not...and I trust his knowledge. Guy was gone when I saw this critter.

Couldn't not show Patrick...the pretty solo starfish.

What a treat it was to see the Pacific Ocean at Newport Beach OR at a negative low tide of -2.8. I had never even heard of a negative low tide, but I knew it was something special!

June = Graduation & Family Times

If I don't stop taking new photos I won't have time to view the 1000 from vacation! Here are some new ones from Natalie's graduation and party. Never one to sit still, Natalie plans to begin with a course at JCC next week!
And here's a cute one of Natalie and her friend Kerry making their getaway from the oldies at graduation.
Celeste, Natalie, Kerry and Remmel enjoying conversation at the party last night.

Below, a photo of Roger, Wanda, Celeste and Marcia.

Here's one of Mom (Angie) with Celeste, one of Mom (Marcia) with Natalie and Kerry, and one of Dad Steve with the real MOM, and Marcia at the graduation.

THANKS to my ArtKerfuffle friend Pat for tutoring me on how to compose photos and text in my blog.

Here a Chick, There a Chick Portland Pix 1

I cannot begin to tell the saga of my Portland trip in words. It was unbelievable. I will attempt instead to tell it in photo images. First up is a photo of Beth and Andrea at the first winery we toured, J K Carriere in Newburgh OR. Next is a photo of the soulmate artist and new friend we made, Kathy Forster - who very appropriately lives near the Lawrence Gallery, home to some fabulous pieces of art by regional artists. Kathy's spectacular Golden Chain tree, her rooster (I call him "Mr. Big Stuff") and his hens, her lovely little potting shed and the fantastic field of white clover (looking like a snow covered field) that she told us she'd only seen this year on our route to the coast round out this first batch of photos. If a picture is really worth a thousand words, you can consider this 7000+.

Art Kerfuffle

I have lots of cool, sweet, fun and interesting art friends. One is Pat Pleacher, who is always doing something fun and creative. She sent me the link to her newish blog and I've added its link to my links section and include it here for you to enjoy her quirky, fun art and clever writing. www.artkerfuffle.blogspot.com I'll have to ask her 'what's an artkerfuffle'?

The graduation party for my niece Natalie is this evening. I learned last night that my cousin's son Geoff graduates in Dayton today and the local cousins are traveling there for his graduation and party. Congratulations, Geoff!!!!

For my Portland trip-sharers, I passed three of those things Thursday morning! Hopefully, that's the end of that! I'll be posting trip pics beginning today, I hope. There are at least 1000 to go through, so it will be a slow process...but fun to revisit. My friends and family have been enjoying my stories and laughing with me at some of the events of that week and a half. Now - on to see if the negative low tide pics turned out well.

Ann VT - I am thinking of you and hope you are feeling better! Big cyber hugs!

Congratulations, Graduates! Hats off!

My niece Natalie graduated from Eastern High School last night. Though I just returned from Portland OR late the previous night, I couldn't not attend her graduation at 8PM last night. Here's a photo of the happy grads throwing their caps. I will post various photos of my vacation over the next several days. I took over 1000...thank God for digital!

Friend Laura came over tonight. It was good to visit with her and catch up on recent events. Hats off to friendship!

Glory Days and Squirrel

Two photos today (of 104!) One of the squirrel who met me this morning for breakfast. He was satisfied with peanut butter on cracker. I settled for one of my omelets. The day started with no power. My alarm system cranking out an annoying beep every few seconds woke me up. That beep was to tell me there was no power. I went downstairs and the squirrel previously mentioned tried to get into the house when I turned the alarm off and opened the door for light. He was hungry! Power was restored within an hour or so, thankfully.

I worked in the yard a little after church. I took this photo of a full-blown yellow rose. Magnificent! Lots of buds on that bush too. I'm excited. I planted her last year. This reminds me of my glory days. One day at my former place of employment - when I was very shy and easily embarrassed - I went to the cafeteria. I was wearing a soft mohair sweater and matching slim wool skirt - all in a soft yellow. A table-full of men stood up and sang "The Yellow Rose of Texas". I was mortified. It took me a long time to go into that cafeteria again. But the memory remains as a pleasant one nonetheless. I was probably 20 years old, long brown hair, and great figure - yes, those were the days. I'm not from Texas, but that song became special to me, regardless of the mortification that was involved at the time. I couldn't look at the men, but I'm sure they were all friendly to me after that. I also learned before too long to get over my shyness.

Puerto Vallarta no, Portland yes

Sadly, I have learned that my trip to Puerto Vallarta is not to be. I have never been to Mexico and I've heard that PV is wonderful, so I am a bit disappointed. First the drug wars threatened the trip, and everyone advised me not to go. Then swine flu and the government's no-unnecessary travel to Mexico warning gave it the coup de grace. The friend who had organized it lives in Portland, OR and has invited us there instead. That's another place I've always wanted to visit, and staying with Beth and meeting her friend Andrea will make it a good trip, I'm sure. My brother said one week won't be enough, so that makes it sound really promising. I have to totally re-think the planned wardrobe though. No tanning booth necessary since I won't be risking getting a sunburn now.

It's Mother's Day. Saw my Mom yesterday and decided to stay home today. Having a quiet and restful day. Church and the newspaper, some calligraphy, carry-out ribs from Mark's, tv movies and some card-making. Photo is from my November birthday. Many cards last year, including many hand made and gorgeous ones! I don't think I posted the photo then. -- Back to a busy work-week tomorrow. I am not ready!

Four Leaf Clovers

I'm good at it. Sometimes it seems as though I've planted 4 leaf clover seed. I find them all the time. But I have found them just walking along a public path - not looking for them. They sometimes seem to be standing up and waving for me to notice them. I don't understand it, but I like it. When I was a little girl my brother and our friends were finding 4 leafed clovers. I was mad. I couldn't spot one. Stubborn me, I sat in a patch of clover in our backyard and looked and looked. I didn't go inside the house until I had found my very first four leafed clver. I don't know if that experience trained my eye to find them or not, but now they are my good luck charms. Not superstitiously, more divinely. I ask for guidance and look for my response...finding a four leafed clover = YES. "Lord, am I doing the right thing?" "Am I going to be okay?" Almost always I can get my 'yes' in the form of a four leafed clover. If I go a few days without finding one in the spring/summer I fear that I've lost my touch (or my eye.) Sometimes I go into my backyard - certain areas are richer than others - and find two or three or more in less than five minutes. Yeah. I like finding four leafed clovers. Now you know this 'secret' about me. Here's the one I found today. The large one is today's...the smaller one is old. Today's 'Yes' was important - and it made me a smidge late to work. (Terrible photo - it's behind plastic in my wallet. For better photo of my backyard patch of lucky, see June 13, 2008 post.) The "Yes" felt good...but then, most yeses do, don't they.

and now for the bad news

My news of my article having been accepted was great for me. Today the wake up call came in the mail...tax forms for the payout money involved! Ha!

Did I mention that I'm heading to Puerto Vallarta? Last week of May. Sure hope there's no swine flu to be had then. Looking forward to going to a new (to me) place with a childhood friend!

There will be photos!

Artwork and a bit of news

I'm just posting some photos of recent artwork, calligraphy, greeting cards, a 'scrapbook' wall, and body lotion. (!) The pink one was for a friend who saw something similar in Savannah. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember what that one looked like so I kept altering mine (shown are an in-progress and the final piece) and didn't come very close, I'm thinking. Actually, seeing the two photos together, I think I liked the looser, lighter in-progress piece better, finished one in comparison is overworked. Such was my life then. The finished piece is better in person though, I think. (I hope!) The multi-colored one began as a total abstract with blotches of color everywhere. I should post my in-progress photo of it...no comparison...it was awful! It now looks something like a field of flowers, I think. A few small calligraphy pieces (pencil on paper) are shown and a few birthday cards I made a month or so ago. One photo is of an outside wall of a shop in Brown County, IN where we went with friends in March to celebrate a birthday and an anniversary. Another is of my room during my most recent stay in Charleston...lovely place! One photo is of four bottles of hand and body lotion - one is practically empty, one is half empty and two full ones are of different fragrances. A friend (Doris!) gave me a bottle for Christmas and I loved it so much I bought more and wrote a paean to it and submitted it to the local newspaper. I learned last night that it will be published on July 25th!

Louisville at Derby-time

Well, chalk up an exciting Derby for 2009! Who ever heard of Mine That Bird? Thorobred horses are often named with nods to their sires and mares, and this one is no different. His sire was Birdstone, and his mother was Mining My Own. Someone turned that into Mine That Bird. The winning jockey, Calvin Borel, made everyone happy about the win. His excitement was infectious - in a much better way than the swine flu. Those who had bets on the horse were even happier, because the payoff was over $100 for a two dollar bet! Churchill Downs' track is seldom muddy. It doesn't hold water. At least that's what they always say. Today proved that wrong. Heavy rains early and no sunshine to dry it out left the track sloppy today. All horses, whether black, grey or roan looked taupe at the end of the races - and so did the jockeys!

I watched from home, celebrating Steve's birthday doing what he wanted to do. Omelettes for breakfast, T-bones for dinner, chocolate birthday cake, and watching the horses run on my big screen.

I've been doing some art lately. We went to Cherokee Triangle Art Fair last weekend - saw some old art show friends and met an artist I've corresponded with but had never met. Good day - and hot for April! I'm glad I didn't do the show, but I'm glad we went. People were reporting good sales, but I didn't see many people walking around with purchases unless you count beverages. We did our share. Steve bought me a pair of earrings. I took some photos including the ones here of street musicians and green-spiked hair guy, the rooftop (spied while walking to my car afterward) and the little girl painting (a Derby chapeau.)

I also went to a Derby Festival event - the balloon glimmer. Hot air balloons lit up and aired up along the riverfront. Music, chow wagon food, friendship...good night. Photos of balloons against the city backdrop and the river and the menacing looking 'policeman'.

Two Rough Weeks Come to an End

Friends and I went out after work last Friday night and saw a fun side of Louisville. A light dinner at Carly Rae's began a great night of talking and fun - even a bit of singing by my friends. A relaxing end to a very rough couple of weeks. I enjoyed my friends' company very much. Friends can definitely make bad days better.

Good friend Diana is home from Florida until Spring break when she will take her grandson back to FL for the week. Hopefully we will get together before she goes back. She described her new art studio and it's drool-inducing. I can hardly wait until I can see it and the new work she will produce.

I haven't done a lot of art lately, but did those tiny love quotes in little golden frames and a large piece for a friend - the Credo in Romanian. It turned out pretty well. I did three full-sized versions and gave her two of them - the first one had spelling errors...sorry, but I am not used to three "i"s in a row. The detail photo above is pretty close to life size. These were LARGE pieces.

I have not returned to the portrait of my niece - finished until I decided the skin tone wasn't right. She's much more peaches and cream than I had her pretty face. She saw it and loved it though, so I do need to complete it. And, as I predicted, she has totally changed her 'look' since I started it. Her hair is more her natural blonde again instead of the dark color she had in it May when I took the photo I based it on. The image posted here is after I'd 'undone' her highlights and shadows, so it needs some real fine-tuning as well as a lightening of the whole face and neck. It's not going to be easy. It's my first portrait - not quite ready. It was supposed to be her Christmas gift. It's a good thing she liked her jewelry armoire. Maybe I'll have this finished for her July 4th birthday!

This weekend I may try to do a few small quotations for an art show I may do late this summer. Mostly, however, I have to prepare to be away from home for a solid week, when I'll be traveling in MO and Kansas. Charleston will be the destination the following week for a couple of days. Too much to do. Have to check the weather and plan my travel wardrobe. The internet is such a help!

I began a painting recently - all pink! - for a friend who saw one in Savannah that he loved (I didn't.) I thought I'd try to make him something in that vein, but I hate it so much that I'm having trouble with it. Moral of this story - stay true to yourself...your art should be your own, not a flimsy representation of someone else's. I predict that unless the muse rests solidly upon my shoulders, this pink will be painted over.


Thank you Purple Pixie Sue - for nominating me for a blog award! I am not worthy, but I appreciate you so much!

What I Did Yesterday - thoughts of love and valentines

Here are six little pieces I made yesterday for Valentines Day. Pressurized Romans in pencil on saran-wrap backgrounds in mini frames. Frame openings are only 1 1/4" x 1 1/2". These are for a small art show later this week. My part will be VERY small. No time to do more than these, and I have no more frames. They'll make nice valentines.

Ice, Ice, Baby!

This area was hit by a powerful ice storm with many power outages this week. We did a happy dance when power came back on at my house last night. THANKS, Duke Energy workers!

Catching up with several photos here. One is of ornaments I painted for Christmas gifts. Not as easy as I'd thought it would be! One is of sweet and special niece Celeste with her beau Irvin on Christmas day. Two more are of dancers at Rob and Laura's New Year's Eve party...I didn't ask permission, so am only using un-recognizable photos. What a fun night! Laura's friend later posted a clip of Laura singing Autumn Leaves to You Tube...Google that (Laura Dorman + Autumn Leaves should do it.) Fabulous!!!! Other photos are of my room on recent travels - quite lovely. This one was a gem of a place with only three guest rooms in Ripley, MS - Inn on the Square. And one is of tree limbs downed by ice in Mom's front yard. This is actually a very minor scene in Kentuckiana. Damage from downed trees and power lines was everywhere and lingers several days later.

Have some art to do this weekend to prepare for a mini art show + social event I've been invited to participate in at 21C, a new Louisville hotel. Will post photos of my results later.

Looking forward to SuperBowl Sunday - not for the football, which - alas - I do not understand. Looking forward to spending time with friends, playing games (Cranium, anyone?), and watching those commercials. And the expected thaw! Unfortunately, there is more snow in the future - another storm coming next week.

Ending a bad year starting a hopeful new one

Come on 2009...hope springs eternal.

I went to a wonderful New Year's Eve party - very international, very much fun. Thanks, Laura and Rob! Your friends are so much fun!

I packed up Christmas 2008 New Year's Day and today. On to 2009! I am planning to work on only art I want to do in 2009. Tomorrow I will try to letter Credo in Romanian for Laura. I have four portraits to do - my three nieces and one's boyfriend. That should keep me busy for a long time. Thanks to DJ Pettit I am not too afraid to take on the challenge. The first one I started - Natalie's - looks so exactly like her it's amazing. I had the skin color wrong so it didn't get finished for Christmas, but it will. She looked so pretty on Christmas day - and so different from the photo I took of her in May that I was basing the portrait on - that I see that I may have to do more than one. These girls today are always changing their looks.

The Christmas commission I did was satisfying in the end. The 'commissioner' literally jumped up and down in joy when she saw it. That pretty much made my day. Very sweet.

I finished the Twilight series of books. Number 4 was not very satisfying. It seemed quite contrived. Nonetheless, the series was great and it's still hard for me to believe I became hooked on a vampire series. I studiously avoided Anne Rice's books many years ago. No - I don't believe in vampires. But Twilight made me want to. Crazy - I know.

Celeste saw the Natalie portrait and loved it and is excited that I plan to do hers as well. She cut my hair in a punky-messy way and it looks great. Lots of fun and very easy to keep up.

Happy New Year!

Twilight - by the reluctant reader

A friend loaned me - no, pushed on me is more accurate - Twilight just about a month ago. I'm addicted. It's a series of 4 books and I have bought the others and have read 2 & 3 now. Christmas time is NOT a good time to be so involved with a reading addiction. I think I may begin the 4th one tonight.

Went to a wonderful party Friday night. Friends decided to have a wine dinner, matching foods to the wines. They did a wonderful job! We had some excellent wines, excellent foods, and an excellent time. That says 'honor roll' to me! I loved the soup so much (Thai coconut milk and chicken...yum, yum!)that I went to a Thai restaurant they recommended last night and ordered that soup. Laura's was better, but the restaurant's was a very close second. The owner is so sweet. I may take her cooking class next month. She shuts the restaurant down for the weekend and has a large buffet and teaches how to make various items on the buffet.

I wrapped gifts this weekend and worked on a commission that I shouldn't have taken on so close to Christmas. It's finished now and is the picture posted here...almost as wide as my card table.