One more

Continuing with Appreciating Other People's Art Weekend (see below!), I want to include this one. Any sculpture I can stand inside of is alright in my book. This was a good way to end the day yesterday.

Other people's art

I am declaring this weekend to be "Appreciating Other People's Art Weekend". Truthfully, for me, every day is appreciating other people's art day - whether it be their painting or their shoe/sock combination. But, for this weekend I am more fully struck by all the good stuff that has been created.

This idea was kicked off yesterday when I was at Borders Books and I accidently came across The Paper Doll Primer by Emily Martin. Such a delight!

While in D.C. over Christmas, I had rewarding visits to the National Gallery and the Museum of the American Indian. I like Rothko's black paintings better than I thought I would, and if I could think of another good reason to go to Houston, I would love to go to the Rothko Chapel there. My picture above is a study of his painting "No. 2". And the functional art of American Indians - beaded clothing, woven blankets, shoes from a single piece of leather, carved instruments, painted pottery, arrowheads for specific animals, house posts, and spirit masks - always knock my socks off.

I used the proceeds from the selling of my two sheep paintings to buy myself some art...specifically a gorgeous painting of three feathers by Holly Ward Bimba.

A short movie has been made about the Sartorialist (see his January 6 posting). His photos make think that maybe I should start wearing clothes that fit. I like that he says he "feels very lucky to get to have part of my day leading a visual life." Lucky indeed.

And you can make fun of the 80s all you want, but that era gave us both Dire Straits' Making Movies and Paul Simon's Graceland. Two flawless albums that for more than 25 years (holy crap!) I've been happy to put right back on the turntable as soon as they are over.

Who or what have you been appreciating lately?

Clean plates and clean slates

I like when a New Year starts. I get that back-to-school feeling which makes me want to line up my pencils and get a new notebook. The coldness and short days promote being more cerebral than physical, so it's a perfect time to organize, reflect, and choose a Word for the Year* to guide my choices and actions over the course of 2011.

I had a word all picked out, but it still felt a little off. I even announced it at the gathering of friends on New Year's Eve. Then I heard P's brilliant word and instantly knew it was right for me too. So, we will share the word Ownership. It captures a lot of things well, and makes me simultaneously uncomfortable and hopeful, which is probably a good sign. I am curious to see how it will go for both of us.

* If you want to learn about picking your Word for the Year, some good places to visit are Christine Kane's site here and Susannah Conway's site here.)

Let me know what you will choose for yourself in 2011!

1.1.11

Happy 2011! I hope your year is filled with peace and joy.

Goodbye 2010!!!

Time to say goodbye to 2010. I have a drainting (that's what I call my cross between drawings and paintings) that I am working on and that I intended to post for my final post of the year today. But, it's only half done. That pretty much captures a good portion of the year - often rushing, usually behind, and rarely getting things done the way I had imagined. But, that's alright. There were some really good pauses in the midst of it all.

I heard on the radio that there was an intense tornado in Cincinnati, Arkansas today. A man was pulled out of his bed and carried across the street by the force of the storm. He said he kept his eyes open the whole way because he wanted to see the end coming.

Are your eyes opened?

It's snowing, it's snowing!

At last!

Slow going

Yikes. It's been almost a month since I posted. And what do I have to show for it? Not much. The good news is that I sold two of the sheep - and the Badger Face Welsh Mountain sheep is headed for New Zealand! That made me feel better about letting him go, since he is my favorite. I also have a few new followers to this blog, a couple of whom I am not sure who they are. Welcome one and all!

R. and I spent Sunday afternoon working on our holiday cards. I managed to cut out about two pieces of paper in the time that she made seven cards. It turns out that making good pictures out of cut paper is a lot harder than it looks. It's also not true that adults can concentrate longer than kids can. I think ADD is the new 40.