This is for my Mom....

Holding little Emilia was pretty amazing, her perfection, innocence, and warmth radiating, and watching Jamie hold her was pretty special as well. Although I don't want one soon, I can see a baby in my future. There is hope Mom :)

Encaustic for Claire

I knew before I got too far on this piece that it was for my best friend Claire. The red, the smiling little girl, the playfulness....it had Dibble written all over it. 

Encaustic is a medium that is made up of beeswax and damar resin.  You can add pigment to it and use it like a paint or you can keep it clear and use it to seal collages and found objects to boards and paper. The later is what we did in the encaustic workshop with Judith Hoyt. I found myself much more engaged with the wax when it is used as a layer, not as a paint. 

I have ordered supplies and my friend Babs and I are going to set up an encaustic station in her studio. A heat gun, for fusing the layers of wax, and good ventilation are the most important necessities for this type of art-making....

Agility

We were moving very quickly. 

Or rather, Olive was moving quickly and I was trying to keep up. Therefore, Jamie's photo is quite blurry but does show how fast this little dog of ours is. She was moving so rapidly that on the teeter-totter she took a flying leap off of the end, a big deduction of points and slightly dangerous for her. 

It is hard slowing a fast dog down. 

Agility has introduced me to people that I probably would never have otherwise met, a population brought together because we all really love our dogs, love working with them. I look forward to going to the arena, the smell of horses strong in the air, and setting up obstacles that challenge Olive's mind. 

She is my little champion, even when she goes flying off of the teeter totter.

Being an Artist

It feels good to be an artist. It feels good to spend hours, watching pieces evolve and grow, putting paint to paper. It feels good to put up a body of work and see how hard you have worked, how much time you have spent on an act so precious and unique to you.

I was part of the Art Association's local art fair, Takin' It to the Streets, this September. It is a wonderful, small fair, with good people and an appreciative crowd.  It was a gorgeous day, although chilly setting up, and I was nestled in between my good friends Kate and Todd and Micah, an acquaintance-turned-friend. 

This is what I want my reality to be. I want to be an artist forever.

A long day deserves some Grateful's

It was a long day today, starting in a sluggish run and ending in a headache. So I thought it was more than appropriate to finish the day with five grateful's.

1. Waking from a really deep sleep, refreshed and full of dreams.

2. Speaking with Del Ray the Jackson Hole Radio DJ who always gets me smiling.

3. The bank teller giving my little doggie dog treats when I did my deposit.

4. Hearing Claire's voice and knowing she was safe and alright after kayaking.

5.  Being able to buy good food while supporting our hard-working local supermarket.

Okay six...

6. Climbing with Jamie and feeling my muscles work to get me up the walls.

Tomorrow will be a more peaceful day.

Painting Again

After days of rain, all one can do is paint....It has been a great excuse to stay inside and be productive with the paints.  When you live in an active town like Jackson it is sometimes hard to remember that down time is good time, healthy for the body and the mind. And during that down time I am going to try to do more art and keep this blog more alive and colorful. 

I just got back from seeing The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and feel so happy, even though most of the movie was incredibly sad. Eliah and I sat transfixed in the theater. Even the sounds of ice in a cup and the crunching of popcorn did not distract as the beautifully filmed movie evolved on the screen.

Based on a true story and created from the book by the same title, this movie chronicles the trials of a once fashionable and handsome man, Jean-Dominique Bauby, who has been stricken by a stroke and completely paralyzed save for one eye. Through this eye we experience Jean-Do's environment and see his new world from his perspective. He can hear but cannot speak and over the course of time establishes communication through blinking. Many shots are like paintings, colorful and compositionally comforting. The movie concludes with Jean-Do having written a book about his experience, all with the help of a translator, who dutifully repeated letters until he blinked a "yes".

This movie was a powerful portrayal of the strength of life; how even what seems impossible can be overcome and become a thing of beauty.

A recommendation for sure.