Playing Tag

Our Open Studios was a resounding success. We had major articles in 3 of the local papers and have come back strong after our traumatic ousting from the Codman Building in late summer of 2007, and subsequent relocation to two buildings instead of the one. It was great! Here's a shot of my studio after hours. It's very similar to my former studio which is interesting and comforting at the same time. I feel at home here now. Tagging is a way of directing traffic to the blogs you might find interesting or amusing or relevant or.... well you choose. I was tagged by Elizabeth Floyd, Paula Villanova & Marian Fortunati recently, and I am going to pass on the, "you're it" to 7 others. Didn't it used to be five? Check out their blogs for the 'rules'.

Anyway, it's all in good fun and tonight I cruised around trying to find some really interesting, amusing or relevant blogs to share. Here they are. Rob Carey an amazing artist from California, living and teaching grade 5 in Kandern, Germany. His work is unique. Clive Powsey, A master of atmospheric perspective whose watercolors are as well done as I've ever seen. Stunning, really. The Vintage Kitten. This woman is hilarious. That's all I can say. Heidi Malott whose loose landscapes sing with juicy color harmony. Jean Victory a wonderful painter from Maine. The unusual things? Not really. I'm crazy about my cat,Wendell. I love to drive anywhere with my husband, I'm a Diet Coke junkie, I'm a master procrastinator. I believe in the Spirit world. I love to sleep.

Open Studios Weekend

Come and visit me if you are in the neighborhood. Our 17th Annual open house is Saturday and Sunday 11-6. For directions and information about the artists go to 4thfloorartists.org

Side Swiped 6x6

Click to Bid These new brushes are really nice. Very soft but firm. I have to apply the paint a bit more carefully because these boards are really slippery and I don't want to wipe out passages that are complete. My refrigerator is filled with plates of peppers varying in size and stage of decay ;) If you want to see awesome pepper paintings, visit the Queen of Peppers, Carol Marine. She has painted and posted daily for several years. Rarely misses a day or nailing the painting! Amazing.

Red Riot

Click to bid I am running out of pepper inspired names, but that isn't going to stop me. These paintings are going up for sale at the annual North River Arts Society's Holiday Sale, along with some recent watercolors that you can see here on this blog. Most works are priced under $100 (these). My Open Studios is also happening that weekend so I will divide up the available works between the Sale and the Studio.

Artists in Residence

I am back in the saddle, so to speak, and already thinking about adopting a shelter cat to keep Wendell, company. Well, us too. It just so happens that a good friend of mine is volunteering at the MSPCA Shelter which seems like a sign to me. I've already visited the website and picked out a couple of candidates and I'm looking forward to meeting them. Nizzy was never sick a day in her life and I was so lucky to have her for such a long time. Today, Sally Dean Mello, Kelley MacDonald and I painted for 4 hours in the lobby of the Furnace Brook Middle School as "Artists in Residence", a program organized by the parents through Parent Teacher Organization. The kids are so into it and the Art teachers there are teaching skills such as 2 and 3 point perspective, color and values. The displays of the students' work were fabulous and the coordinator thanked us and told us how much they "value" the artists. Very gratifying. This was followed by a nice lunch with the girlfriends. Life is good.

Nizzy

Nizzy October 11, 1993 - November 1, 2008

I call this blog Just Painting because it isn't meant to be a diary of my life, but here I make an exception to honor my 15 year old female cat, Nizzy, who has lived with us since she was 7 weeks old. Back then, I had called a newspaper ad for free kittens and the lady said, 'you got lucky, they were all gone but, the guy who took her also took one of her litter mates and was forced to return one." That was Nizzy. She got lucky too. I can't even tell you what fools Don and I are over these cats.

She has not been herself for a week or so and yesterday she was diagnosed with chronic renal failure kidney damage, typical in older cats. She just hit 15 on October 11th.

To make a long story short, after spending an overnight trying to force water and food on her, I knew in my heart, that I had to let her go, and I did. She passed peacefully. I had the vet come to the house. I had her in my arms, my head right against hers, and I never felt her go. I tucked her into a beautiful Oriental themed box with fleece and a beautiful pillowcase and she looked asleep. The last thing she heard was my voice. I buried her in my small backyard and when I put the sod back, My dear friend Suzie , who witnessed this with me, noticed that there was clearly a heart shape in the moss. I placed a heart shaped rock there. It went way better than I would have thought, and I am gratefully at peace with my decision. One thing we seem to all have in common is deep love for our animal friends. Thanks all, for your support. It was a long day.