Animal Wednesday

It has been a while since I did an animal Wednesday post, so I am doing 3 at once :-).

Tip top is a friend's dog Finn, he is a doll.

Then a humming bird, we all know how hard they are to catch with our cameras, but I was lucky.

And bottom photo is Max and Zoe (I am down to having just two cats ). Can you even recognize Zoe? She has gained weight since living with me.

Happy Animal Wednesday! XOXO

What is Tumblr and Why am I in Love with it?

I know I have been missing from my blog and that I am not a very good blogger lately, but with work and painting with almost all my free time I just don't find I have the time and then I went and found Tumblr! Tumblr is a place where dreams are and images and words of inspiration and beauty. I started my Tumblr blog as a place to keep all the wonderful images I was finding on other Tumblr blogs, but then I realized it was a place to share that beauty too. Robyn, my new lovely friend over at the most wonderful blog Art Propelled and my sweet friend Angela were the first people who alerted me to this new form of blogging. Some people I have shared Tumblr with don't get it and some do. Basically I find an image of a painting, photo or poem and quickly post it (Tumblr makes it quick and easy) and if I see an image or poem or quote on another Tumblr blog all I have to do it hit this niffty little button called reblog, and there it is with links and everything. There are no comments, just notes, there is a heart button that says you like the post or it shows you who reblogged the post. I can do 10-20 posts in ten minutes! For me it is like when I am reading an art magazine or a really good book and I want to mark something wonderful in it so when a friend comes over I can share it with them, only this is easier and faster. And I always have a place to go to see really great art, better art I might add then what I see in the art magazines, which seems tired and old in comparison. Do you see that yummy painting on my side bar, at the top? That is a link to my Tumblr blog. You can visit anytime and see what I am loving and get inspired and if you click on archive you will see all the images in thumbnail form, just click on one to enlarge and if you want to see more from an artist, just click on the image in the post and it will take you to their site, this is where I tend to get lost late at night looking at beautiful art.
Please let me know what you think of the blog and if it makes you smile like it does me.
Happy Saturday. XOXO

Good News

If you recall this post, long ago I told you of an art show here in Taos called the Taos Arts Selects, it is a yearly Taos Fall Art show. It is a juried show and Taos is tough because they like landscapes and cowboys and Indians for the most part. Abstract is not usually what they go for. I entered one of my new abstracts (and not the flowers and vase painting) so I knew it was a long shot, but today I got the news that my painting was accepted. This is the first juried show in Taos that I have entered in 14 years that I have ever been accepted into. They took this painting:

I told myself when I entered the show that if I got in it did not mean I was good and if I did not get in it did not mean I was a bad artist, I believe in my work no matter what others think and I stand by that. I do feel blessed to be included though. Have a happy weekend. XOXO

P.S. No matter what I do blogger spaces this post goofy.

Yet, Another New painting

This one is small, 10"x 10" and the title is "Connecting Link"

venetian plaster, acrylic paint, pastel, graphite and varnish. Enlarge to really "see" it.

I have also been working on a large 47"x 47" and two small paintings. The big one is really different for me and I am not sure about it yet, it will likely take me a month or two before you

see that one finished.

I have had an exciting day so far, a mouse came in the open door and my mad Max caught it, killed it and ate it! And it was HUGE!!! Yuck is all I can say. He is very proud of himself :-).

Hopefully the rest of this glorious Sunday will be quiet and I will get much painting done.

Happy mouse less Sunday to you! xoxo

Another New Painting

Let me keep my mind on what matters

Which is my work

Which is mostly standing still and

Learning to be astonished

Mary Oliver

This is my favorite painting so far, I wish you could see it in person because the photos cannot capture it properly. I did take a side view and close ups to help show you what is going on, but please enlarge if you have time.

I call this one "The Path" and decided to title the other painting "Finding My Way Through".

12"x 12", venetian plaster and pastels, acrylics, graphite and varnish. I am also working on two smaller paintings and one 47"x 47", having great fun! Please share your thoughts. Happy Monday! XOXO

New painting

"Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it"-Buddha

This is my newest painting and many detail shots of it so you can really see it. No title yet. Again, it has a zillion layers, Venetian plaster, acrylic, pastel, graphite, varnish and collage. I am really loving doing these paintings. I have 3 more in various stages and hope to finish another one soon. Please share your thoughts. Happy Saturday! XOXO

More on Lightness

I think I need to clarify a few things from my last post.
When I talk about being in the light, I am not saying to avoid pain or sadness.
I myself have been deep in both the last year. Dealing with 3 sick and old animals, having to put them down, the loss of a favorite cousin and a dear older friend, my mom's stroke. That is a lot of pain and loss in 1 year. I know that many around the world have had to deal with much more than I, but in my world that is what has been happening. I have not avoided the pain, nor looked away. I have sit with it and cried. I tend to do that on my own, I do not share my pain very often, but that does not mean I don't feel it. I feel it deep. It makes me more alive and makes my soul richer. I don't fear it as life is and will always be full of it. What I am talking about is not getting immersed and stuck in the pain, but looking at it and shining a big, bright light on it. I believe that things are not good and bad, they just are and they are for a reason. Things are complicated and very simple at the same time. I cannot answer all the mysteries of the Universe, but what I know for me is that GRACE abides and it has helped me weather the storms. Worry, complaining, and fear are human, we all do it, but my spiritual practice is to shine light instead, because NOTHING else changes anything, it only makes it worse. Okay, go shine your lights!
XOXO

Light

Lately I have felt like I am full of light. Even though I am grieving for my pets who passed, I have found that sadness can reside beside joy, sometimes in the same minute. I have felt buoyed up and very happy. Yesterday, I received very dark news about someone I love very much.
My feeling is that it will be okay in the end, but until then we have to live everyday and see. I thought, " I can respond with fear and more darkness or I can respond by pouring light into the situation. I choose light." In the end I think it is the only thing that can help and change it.
Darkness just makes things more dark and why would I want to add to that?
I am just thinking out loud here and thought it may be worth sharing. Have a light filled Thursday! XOXO