Miss T (for Trouble)

Miss T came into my life for only a few days. She showed up hungry and skinny one stormy night. She stayed in my garage at nights and in my backyard garden in the daytime. She made herself quite at home and chased the birds and squirrels away. This was now HER domain! Unfortunately, though I had fallen in love with her sweet face and silky fur and enjoyed playing with her...I am allergic and had to find a different home for her. Yesterday, regretfully, she was given to the friend of a neighbor. She'll be living on a farm in New Haven, KY as an indoor pet. My loss, their gain. I miss her - but Nutsy the squirrel is glad she's gone.

Badminton, anyone?

On Thursday I took a two hour lunch break while waiting for my Southwest flight back to Louisville from Kansas City. I visited The Nelson-Adkins Museum of Art - an absolutely fantastic place in the heartland of the country. I saw the special exhibits which included 30 years of printmaking and "Sparks" - almost unremarkable except for a DuChamp assemblage but especially because of a 'quilt' made of liquor caps and labels, sewn together with copper wire. Absolutely phenomenal! In the sculpture garden is this pair of shuttlecocks...probably 12 - 18 feet tall. Got your racket? I used to know a man who was a badminton champion...he should see these. I also viewed the European galleries on the second floor. Rembrandt, Monet, Van Gogh, Pissaro, Seurat, Gauguin, Cezanne, Caravaggio - and many other favorites had works housed there. In the lower level were more modern pieces by Rauschenburg, de Kooning, Warhol, Calder, Pollock, Johns, etcetera...good stuff! I saved the third floor for a later visit. I had a plane to catch!

Weekend Warriors

I packed a lot into this weekend. My good friend Diana, recently back from wintering in Florida, came over on Saturday morning and we played. The watercolor "Red Hot Chilis" is a result. She'd done a similar (better) one in Florida and showed me how. Fun! I'll need a bit of practice to be as skilled with the medium as she is, but it was fun to do nonetheless.

This morning after church I sat in my garden watching the birds and the 'pet' squirrel, Nutsy. They did not disappoint. See the photo "Fighting Finches". I had my camera on high speed and was fortunate to catch them as they territorially scrapped over the fountain. Two other weekend warriors. This evening I am fine tuning a logo design that's dragged on for too long. I am almost pleased with it now...just fine tuning one letter in the second word. I'll share it soon.

I also wanted to share with Katherine Malmsten my tiny accordion book. I made the clay cover years ago when I took her clay workshop. She asked if that means that in a few years I'll do something with the ruling pen...hmmm, touché, my friend. I wrote an article - published in the Pendragons newsletter in May 2008 - about her ruling pen workshop earlier this year.

Party Time

It's been party-time here since late June. One niece turned 16 on June 22nd...party! All that driving I did with her will soon put her on the roads alone (if she can afford the gas!) Another niece turned 17 on the fourth of July - Miss Firecracker! A rain-soaked fireworks, but fun anyway. Yesterday a friend had a holiday party. Lots of fun and dancing and bean-bag tossing...harder than it looks.
I did finish a small book last week. I will post a photo soon. Travel will resume in a week.

The Artists Were IN

The Artists were IN this weekend! We took some photos after Friday night's dinner slightly off downtown in Louisville. The excursion helped us walk the wine off, and also made for some interesting photos. "IN" is one of them. Saturday afternoon we painted and grilled out on my new grill. Later, I sliced my hand apart while drying a sharp knife. Yeeeouch!!! Painful & not a pretty sight, but thankfully, it isn't my 'painting hand'.I painted a tiny still life last night while Donna worked on final touches on her two DJ Pettitt workshop paintings. Donna headed home early and I finished a second still life tonight. It's fun to feel the creativity again. Yes...the artists were in!

Lucky Me!

Today is Friday the thirteenth, but I'm feeling LUcKy! My good friend Donna is coming for a second weekend in a row. Tonight we're going to Artemesia for dinner and jazz, and tomorrow we will play with art stuff and shop at the fabric store. Maybe I'll have some new artwork to share by Sunday. (I took the photo of 4 leaf clovers in my backyard, where I can almost always find several of them.

There's a Man in My Makeup!

The other morning as I was putting on my makeup before work, I saw this man's face staring at me from the lid of my Bare Esscentuals eye liner jar. Nope...it was one day only. He hasn't been back.

Katherine Malmsten & D.J. Pettitt workshops

I'm coming back to my art, and I like it. Earlier this year my friend Kathy LaPorte and I drove to Kalamazoo, MI for a calligraphy workshop with another friend, Katherine Malmsten, a master of the ruling pen. We had a great time! Last weekend my friend Donna Hacker came up to stay with me and to attend the DJ Pettitt workshop in New Albany, IN.

DJ's ladies' faces are a signature style. I didn't want to copy and originally planned to paint something else. I'm glad I changed my mind. I learned a lot by sticking with the program and painting what everyone else was painting. Though we all (15 of us!) started with the same basic patterns, each of the finished pieces had the artists' individual flair. My Blue Lady is above in two phases of production...most everyone used earthtones. The other photo is of my friend Donna holding her near self-portrait with her Corgi pup Gwynneth.

HIGHS & LOWS

I love waking up as I did this morning...no alarm clock, just slowly coming to the awareness of being awake rather than dreaming. As I lay in bed with ideas gently gliding in and out of my consciousness, I thought of the happiest of times, and conversely the saddest times. And then I thought of an aunt - at 95, what would her answers to those questions be? Then I wished I'd asked another aunt those questions before she died - she always seemed so happy.

Only my blog has been inactive!

By the looks of this page, I have been inactive for nearly two years, but the converse is true. I have been VERY active. Super busy, and no thoughts of the blog I created in January 2005. I will catch up on events - two years in a paragraph - and then post my latest project.
CATCHING UP - 2005 was full of gardening, art shows, wrapping up my aunt's estate affairs, several small trips to some fabulous calligraphy workshops, some small and one large wedding calligraphy job, and taking a fulltime job again last October. Art shows, my own and family member health issues, three more big weddings in 2006, and a promotion at work in July...and another promotion last week! Yes - I have been BUSY!

I'd like to make this blog at least a weekly part of my life now, if not daily. A sort of journal of events and ideas. First big idea was born of a dreamtime awakening this morning, and is coming right up...

January is almost half over!

Time flies, time flies. I've been busy every day. Family stuff and art stuff. Have been creating some new digital collages, and am preparing for a bridal show on Sunday. Maybe after that's over I'll have a bit of time. Nope, probably not. Taxes, trolley hop art event, working at getting work. I may post some photos to this blog, but in the meantime my website will suffice. I joined a new online digital art group. The people in it are fantastic! Very talented. That spurs me to create. It's good for me, but time-consuming. Too many late nights. Right now I am making bookmark business cards with a LOVE quotation to hand out at the bridal show: R.W. Emerson - Give all to Love; obey thy heart. I was told that 600 brides have signed up. I hope they all come wanting calligraphy!

First Blog Entry!

Hello! My name is Jan and I am beginning 2005 firmly (shakily?) entrenched in the computer age. I am an artist/calligrapher who specializes in calligraphy, collage, mixed media paintings and digital collage. I am also a freelance writer and a former food microbiologist. Welcome to my blogsite. Please check back often. Throughout the next few weeks I plan to add several items to the site. To see the work I do, check out my website: www.PictureTrail.com/letterlady .
Happy New Year!