Ron Findley: Guerrila Gardener

                   Ron says gardening is his graffiti and his art.   His inner city gardens transform the lives of neighbors on multiple levels.  "Food is the problem and the solution."  "If kids plant kale, they eat kale."

Outdoor painting experiment

           So, I thought I'd try painting outdoors like people in books or movies about artists.  Had 5 canvases to fill for a children's classroom.  The nice thing about being outside was catching some rare late February sunshine and not worrying about dripping paint.  Less appealing was discovering how many bugs like wet paint.  Especially black for some reason.  Camouflage?

Gallery class

     My youngest and I checked out a free family art class at a local gallery this past weekend.  A staff person told kids and parents about a few famous landscape artists, showing digital images of their work.  Then she walked us through this gallery's current display with its regional mountain/wilderness theme.  Finally we got to make a 3 D project as family teams or individually, using cardboard boxes, pre-made cardboard "mountains", masking tape, scissors and paints.
    This is mine.  It has 4 small pink mountains with snow-caps and a cascading stream that is sunk lower than the box top.  I liked adding pieces of cardboard with the smooth top ripped off to show the corrugation.  (See blog entry called Triptych for another corrugated project)  Fun to have to create something in about an hour.

Advent Painting 2012

           

                                 

                             
                        An Advent painting I did for this past year.  About 8 x 5 feet.  The idea emerged on an unpremeditated sketch as if it was waiting for me to start drawing so it could appear.  I was really pleased with the multiple layers of events and meaning that entered this picture and am still seeing new things in it.  One person came up to me after it was hung and asked me if I intended the meaning they saw in it.  Yes, I said! One out of comment-less crowds.  But it meant a lot and reminded me how important it is to tell other artists what I appreciate about their work.

Winter Trees

                         A couple pictures I did for a foyer for this past December.  Painting still doesn't flow as easily as sketching for me.  It felt awkward "drawing" on such a big scale with a brush instead of my humble but favorite tool, a black ball point pen.  

Mark Applebaum: Mad Scientist of Music

Mark starts by asking: Is it Music?  Through his witty, far fetched  and provocative presentation he brings the audience to the fact that the question for him instead has to be: Is it interesting?  He challenges listeners to reconsider the fundamental questions they ask about their discipline and where it might cross over to other realms.

Supporting Role

    This morning I'm thinking about people who support artists.  My husband is one of them.  He's not artistic  and has very little interest in creative things.  He won't be found reading books called "Imagine" or listening to pod casts about people who make things.  He does, however, value and enable those who are artists, especially in his immediate family.

   For my many music practices and events he has always been open to releasing me to do what I love the most.  When I've covered the dining table and kitchen island  in paints, fabric or pieces of plants or if I'm hammering nails into walls for decorative experiments he is blissfully tolerant.  When it's drama season for daughter number one he patiently works later to be there for her practice pick ups and attends as many performances as he can, even of the same show.

   To be honest there are times I envy artists who are married to creative people.  Just this weekend I sang with a music team that included 3 other couples who do music together.  But though I feel creatively alone at home,  I'm starting to think that maybe there's purpose. That maybe these are the circumstances I've needed to develop my artistic backbone and my own creative identity.  And without these circumstances maybe I wouldn't have gone as far to collaborate with other creative people who enrich my artistic world and my life.