The First Day of the Rest of My Life

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
                                                                                           ~ George Bernard Shaw

Creative Play #1

Okay, so it's kind of a cheesy title for this post and not terribly original. There's a song, there's a movie, and who knows what else. But somehow it also felt appropriate for this post. Yesterday was my birthday, and it happens to be the year before the big mid-century mark. I had expected next year's birthday to be a bit of a cage-rattler, but turns out I got a preview this year. Woke up with a headache and it went downhill from there*. You know: the whole questioning what I've done with my life thus far thing.

I've been continuing to ruminate over what I talked about in my last post, and all of your comments have given me lots more food for thought. (Thank you so much!) Last week I also had an idea floating around in my head about wanting to have more creativity in my life. Not the serious "must paint something worthy" type of creativity, but more the kind I seemed to have an endless supply of when I was 13 or 14, before it became buried under the chaos of growing up. Remember creative play? Creating for the sheer joy of it? (artist Belinda Del Pasco just happened to talk about creative play in a very timely, beautifully articulated post last week on her blog here) Seems that we have to give ourselves permission to play as adults. So I'm giving myself permission. Every day. And I will be posting the results on the blog, perhaps not every single day, but certainly more often than I've been posting lately.

Detail

So this first play session, completed today, was simply a matter of asking "What if?". What if I put watercolor on Bristol paper instead of watercolor paper? What if I add some india ink? What if I scribble the paper with some clear wax first? What if I blow on the ink and watercolor before it dries? Some may say that it's a waste of time to play and this piece will never be fine art, but through playing and exploring I found effects I really like that I could recreate in a "serious" piece later. Plus, and much more importantly, I had fun and the world could sure use more fun.

Another detail

Hopefully after a year of play, when the big Five-O rolls around, I'll wake up that morning thinking 49 was the best year yet, and eager for more.

*I should note that my birthday was not a complete let-down. My husband took me out for dinner to one of my favorite restaurants and we tried their chocolate layer cake for the first time and oh wow! Gooey, chocolaty and huge; this thing should be illegal! I felt much better after that.

Bison Color Study and Thoughts About Blogging

I never met a color I didn't like.
                          ~ Dale Chihuly

Bridger Mountains as seen from Bozeman, MT at dusk

Oh dear, I have been neglecting my blog. Partly it is Life zooming along at breakneck speed, but also partly feeling less than inspired about what to post. Back in late April I attended a fantastic 4-day color workshop for oil painters in my beloved Montana, so you'd think that would give me some blog-worthy material to share with you, but the writer's block has remained stubbornly in place. We also moved across town to a new home, which has provided endless excuses for me to procrastinate.

My new studio space is clearly a work in progress.
Can you spot the cat sleeping peacefully amongst the chaos?

I've been feeling very restless artistically, and went through a couple of months of wondering what my artistic purpose/direction was. I don't know that I've really sorted that out yet, but at least I'm feeling more energized about art again. However, I'm still not clear on my focus for blogging. 

Back in 2006, I started a blog to be able to participate in Illustration Friday, and then in 2009 I used the blog to track the 100 Painting Challenge I undertook with support from Laure Ferlita over at Painted Thoughts. At that point the blog became the "Inner Artist", to reflect my journey in reclaiming my long-buried artistic soul. However, 6 years later and "Inner Artist" doesn't seem to fit me any more. I'm certainly not saying that I don't still struggle with self-confidence and fear, or that I've "made it" as an artist, but I think I've moved beyond the original intent of this blog. So now what?

Workshop color study with blue-violet and yellow-orange as my main colors. The middle column of color
is made up of the neutral shades that were mixed from those two complementary colors.

Blogging experts say that you should figure out your niche, what makes you unique amongst other bloggers and focus on that. I'm not sure exactly what my niche is, but one place to start is to consider what in this blog has been successful. What is it that people come to my blog for? Looking over my blog statistics, the most popular post of all time was about a weird rock formation I saw on the Oregon Coast. Had nothing to do with art.The other most popular posts were of some daily sketches early on and a few posts from the 100 Painting Challenge. Looking these over, I am not finding any clear cut niche that these posts reflect.

Okay, so maybe figuring out my niche is going to take some time. Perhaps I could think about this from another angle and consider why I blog. Certainly one of the reasons I blog and read other artists' blogs is to be inspired by and connect with other artists. Blogging is a wonderful way to participate in an artistic community for people like me who live far away from cultural centers and resources. I definitely want to continue to have an artistic community. However, with more and more demands on my artistic time, it is becoming very challenging to make a regular habit of commenting on other artists' blogs. This seems to be a common problem that a lot of artists are running into, so at least I don't feel like I'm the only one dropping the ball, but it is unfair and unrealistic to expect people to comment on my blog if I'm not commenting on theirs.

Workshop final project - Bison painting using new color knowledge

Ideally I also want to blog as a way to reach potential customers and direct them to my website or an internet shop where they can purchase my work. Again, living far away from cultural centers and resources means I have very limited options for trying to sell my work. The internet could be a lifeline for me, but again, what's my niche? What would make me stand out amongst the thousands and thousands of other artists out there? It gives me a headache to think about.

So if you are still with me on this long rambling post, thank you, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on all this. What brings you to my blog? What kinds of posts have been the most interesting or helpful here? If you are also a blogging artist, what have been your challenges with blogging? Did you figure out your niche and if yes, how? If you leave a comment to this post, I promise to be more conscientious and leave one on your blog, too.*

*Obviously obscene, mean, or spamming comments will be ignored.

Upcoming Adventures

"It's easy to get bogged down in the circumstantial and mundane, but if we connect to our passion, that in itself will be regenerative."
                                                                                                                      ~ Nina Simons

The arrowleaf balsamroot is blooming in the foothills, at last

How is it the end of April already? I've been burning the candle at both ends, that's for sure. After attending my second mind-blowingly inspiring Susan K. Black artist workshop last Fall, I made a pledge to myself that I would stop making excuses, stop worrying what people think, and focus on developing my art into a full-fledged career this year. I haven't been particularly productive in terms of creating art (or blogging!), but I've been busy with a number of other art-related activities.

I've been teaching art classes and workshops in area art centers this Spring. One of my favorite classes that I've developed is a beginning drawing class. It is so wonderful to see people who swore they could never draw producing really lovely drawings in a matter of weeks. I love to teach, and apparently the participants actually like my teaching, because I already have requests for more classes in the Fall.

I'm working on a total overhaul of my website. I bet you didn't even know I had a website. That's because it's so old and clunky that I've been embarrassed to even admit I have one. Time to fix that!

A few months ago, I dropped off my business card at a local coffee shop that I really like. They feature local artists during the monthly downtown art walk. Last month they contacted me when their scheduled art show fell through and I was able to pull together a substitute show for them at the last minute. I made some sales during that show and now they want to carry some of my work in their shop.

As if all that wasn't enough, I've been planning and coordinating a series of adventures that will start over the next few months. Here are a few hints as to what I'll be doing:

 Adventure 1:

Hint: The building on the left is home to the oldest one of these in the US.
The sculpture in the middle and the building on the right are new additions to this.
I'll be most involved in the building on the right.

 Adventure 2:

Hint: That wall looks awfully blank...

And if these clues haven't been enough to inspire you to stay tuned, I'll post a cute photo of our cat in a shameless bid to keep you coming back because there's plenty more cute where that came from.

She needs her 16 hours of sleep a day.
How do I get in on that racket???

Random Things

"Life is painful. It has thorns, like the stem of a rose. Culture and art are the roses that bloom on the stem. The flower is yourself, your humanity. Art is the liberation of the humanity inside yourself."
                                                                                                                                  - Daisaku Ikeda

Finished or not finished? That is the question!

A friend recently complained that my blog posts have become rather sporadic. She's got a point, for sure. I've been painting a lot, but I don't seem to end up with anything interesting to share.

Work on the flamingo painting continues sporadically as well. I can't decide if it's done or not. I hope to enter it into a show in May, so getting it finished sometime in the near future would be a good thing. I don't want to end up overworking it. Somebody please make me put the paintbrush down!

Speaking of paintbrushes, you may remember my bout with tendonitis last year. I'm doing fine now, but if I hold my paintbrush or pencil too tightly for too long, I get little warning signs in my wrist. I noticed that the thicker the handle of the paintbrush, the less I have this problem, so I wrapped the handles of my smaller brushes and my pencils with sports tape to build up the grip area and it seems to help. I got the idea from the artist Andrew Denman. He has a series of videos on YouTube documenting his impressive work on a special commission. I noticed in one of the videos that his paintbrush handles were wrapped. I thought it was a great idea. Even if you don't already have wrist issues, it's probably a good move to wrap your paintbrush handles if you paint a lot to prevent repetitive motion problems in the future.

The birds are starting to return to our area from their winter vacation, so hopefully I'll have more frequent and interesting posts soon. Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Musings On Artist Statements

"Too much self-analysis lets the air out of your creative balloon."
                                                                                - Edward Betts

My initial quick watercolor sketch to get my ideas down.

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. About life. About art. About my life and my art in particular. I'm working on completely revamping my website, because what's the point of having a website if you're embarrassed to show it to people. Part of that revamping is considering whether I need the dreaded Artist Statement or not. In its essence, an Artist Statement is designed to give people insight into you as the artist and/or to your work. They are often required by galleries, museums and with grant applications, but many artists use them as a general marketing tool as well. I've read some wonderful articles and advice on the subject, but still haven't settled on what to write for myself, if anything. Here are some thoughts I jotted down when I was brainstorming ideas:

"I don’t paint things for any reason other than they inspire me to paint them; sometimes it’s the way the light strikes an object, sometimes it’s just a favorite type of bird. There’s no deeper meaning or hidden symbolism in my work. I simply enjoy the challenge of seeing if I can paint something. There’s an amazing feeling in finding the right colors or the right technique to paint a likeness. Even if the rest of a piece is a disaster, getting some aspect of a painting right is immensely satisfying to me."

Although this all rings true to me, I feel like I ought to be saying something a bit more profound. But how?

First strokes of paint on the canvas. Love where this is going.

Take a look at this new piece I'm working on, for example. Why am I painting it? Because a particular photograph of a flamingo that I took at the Philadelphia Zoo decades ago keeps inspiring me to paint it. I've already done this bird in pen & ink, and watercolor, and now I want to paint it in acrylic. This time I want to play with mood and lighting; see if I can add a bit of mystery to my work. Does the subject have any significant meaning to me? No. Am I incorporating any symbolism into the piece? No. It's just me fooling around with a reference photo that appeals to me.

Next layer - body still fresh and full of movement. Hmm, head is losing that wonderful spontaneity and light.

While my motivation for creating art is pretty basic and straightforward, I certainly don't want to go the other way and make up things that are not there and have my Statement end up sounding pretentious, like so many of them do. I'm also making a conscious decision to avoid the whole overused "I've been making art ever since I was a little kid" statement this time because, let's face it, most people made lots of art as little kids whether they ended up being artists as adults or not. The phrase seems almost de rigueur, but it doesn't add anything unique or insightful to the Statement and I'm not proud of the fact that I've used that phrase in the past in other art-related writing.

Oh dear, the head is starting to look way too smooth.

I know that nearly all artists who write an Artist Statement find it a frustrating and bewildering process. If you've tackled or tried to tackle this task, what was your experience?

When you've read an artist's Artist Statement, either on their website or at a exhibit or gallery, have you found it helpful? Did it actually give you more insight into the artist or their work, as it is meant to do? Let me know what you think in the comments section.

Interesting articles on the subject:
Art Biz Blog
The Abundant Artist 

One art critic's viewpoint:
Huffington Post

Another artist who writes about this subject rather more skillfully than I:
The Art of Making

and just for fun:
The Instant Artist Statement Generator

Art and Fear

"The difficulties artmakers face are not remote and heroic, but universal and familiar."

- David Bayles & Ted Orland, Art & Fear

Take the plunge!

Tomorrow I turn in my pelican piece for our local art center's February show. This will be the first time I've shown my work in our new community. Paul and I have been mentioning the show to everyone we know and suddenly I'm getting cold feet. Ugh, here we go again. Enter Fear.

When people ask me what I do I say I am an artist or a painter. And that is indeed what I do. But sometimes I'm not sure my work is of the caliber that people imagine should go along with the title. I have this nightmarish thought that all these people that Paul and I know will come to the show and be let down by my work. They'll say "Oh very nice" to my face in that same tone of voice an adult uses with a small child, and then they'll whisper "She said she was an artist" to each other, shaking their heads sadly at my delusion as they walk away from my piece. 


On my strong days, I can accept that not everyone will like what I do. I can accept that I should make art first and foremost because I am driven to do it. And I also can see how very far I've come with my work over the decades, and I am proud of that. I just have yet to master putting my work on public display and not caring what people think.

I certainly know that these feelings and conflicts are not unique to me. Anyone whose work is seen or heard by the public deals with this in one form or another. I suppose that I shouldn't let it bother me that I have doubts. (Perhaps, in some strange way, these doubts should be proof to me that I am an artist!) I share them here in the hopes that someone else reading this will feel reassured that they are not alone in this process either.

And come Friday, I will stand next to my work and try to greet all the visitors with confidence. Who knows, I may be too busy worrying about my crooked teeth or whether my outfit makes me look fat to care about their reactions to my painting (but that could be a whole separate post...).

Do you have any favorite quotes dealing with art and fear? Do you have any stories about art and fear from your life? Please share them with us in the comments. I'd love to hear about them!

My Life at the Moment

 

This is my life at the moment. Oh how I detest packing and moving! But once the actual move is over, I love the adventure of exploring new places and setting up a new home.

 

Our new apartment has a finished basement and this will be my art studio. Not ideal light, but I can make it work. I am just so happy to have my own art space at last!

Keeping Busy

Life is a funny thing, I've noticed. One minute you're despairing of ever creating a new group of friends or of breaking into the graphic design circles in your new town and the next minute you're swamped with freelance work, friends and opportunities. Not that I'm complaining.

I've found a couple of artists who hold an open studio night once a week and I've been painting with them. It's truly the highlight of my week. Their influence is helping me to continue my efforts to loosen up, not be so detail-oriented, and experiment.

I see that while I've been away, Blogger changed their formatting. I'm sure I'll get used to it but things aren't working very smoothly this first time round. Getting images exactly where I want them in the text is still challenging. What does everyone else think of the new Blogger? 

Work In Progress on another toucan. The eye's not painted yet, so it looks a little freaky. My new mentors are threatening to hide all my small brushes so I'm forced to get over my aversion to the big ones.

Duck Season

There's a wonderful man-made pond in a park near our apartment that is fed by a warm spring. If conditions are just right, the rising steam freezes and makes beautiful crystals in the air.


The local mallard population and I take full advantage of this pond during the cold months. The mallards stay warm and fed, and I've gotten a lifetime's supply of mallard duck reference photos and sketches.


I hope to share some of those sketches with you soon but I've injured my shoulder and typing on the computer aggravates it. No, no, no sympathy please; the injury is my own fault and I should've known better. I've been a little overzealous after finally finding an affordable and welcoming yoga studio here in town. I started getting warning signs but I wrote them off as simply being out of shape and now I'm paying for not listening to my body! I am thankful that it was my left shoulder though, since I am right-handed. I hope to be able to return to writing more posts and leaving comments on your blogs soon.

Keeping Myself Accountable

Please finish me. I'm a nice spoonbill.

Everyone seems to have stories of moving and not unpacking things for months, even years afterwards. I'm certainly no stranger to the phenomenon. I am rather ashamed to have just discovered this unfinished painting amongst my still-packed stuff, though. I started this waaaay back last spring and it got put on hold and then forgotten when we moved over the summer. What a shame! I see so much potential in this piece. My subject is from Myakka River State Park in Sarasota, Florida. It was sunning itself up in a tree in beautiful morning light. (I found it amazing to see a whole flock of spoonbills perched in the trees!) So I am posting this piece here to keep myself accountable. You all are my witnesses that I am making a commitment to finish this poor forgotten painting, agreed?

In other art news, for years I've wanted to have cards of my paintings available at my shows, or to send as thank you notes to anyone who buys my art, but the price and large inventory involved kept me from doing it. With the advent of online printing-on-demand, getting cards has now become quite manageable so I got a few made of some of my best work. I just ordered another two sets from Zazzle.com, being very pleased with the price and quality of the first two. There are a couple of shops here in town that carry local artists' cards, so I may approach them with my new cards. I've toyed with the idea of selling on Etsy or someplace like that, but I have to admit to being a little intimidated by internet selling. (Cue chicken noises in the background.)

The beginning of my note card collection

I guess this will be my last post in 2011. Thanks for following my blog thus far. Happy New Year to you all!

Photo of the Day - Biting Off More Than You Can Chew

Ever have a day like this?

We spotted this perplexed gull on a ferry pier in Seattle, WA this summer. It was trying to eat a starfish, but the starfish was too large and kept getting stuck in the bird's throat. The gull would try to swallow the starfish for a while, then it would cough it up and patiently try a different angle. At one point you could clearly see the jutting outline of one of the starfish's arms in the gull's throat. I have a distant memory of hearing about this sort of thing happening. I consider myself (but not the gull) lucky to have witnessed it. Unfortunately the ferry we were on left the pier before we got to see how this situation resolved itself. I suspect the starfish won, but the victory was likely short-lived as other birds probably came and pecked away at it, or it eventually dried out and died. A starfish version of "from the frying pan into the fire"? Ah, the trials of life...

Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.

Our new home comes complete with complimentary Richardson's ground squirrels.
We named this one "Hawkbait", but our ground squirrel-watching was short lived.
They are now already in their burrows for hibernation.

It was 33F this morning when we got up; frost on the car windshields. It's only September 15th!!!! Our new home will take a little getting used to.

We've moved 1,600 feet up in elevation and 30,000 people down in population from our previous home and we're noticing the differences. I haven't tried baking any cakes yet to see if 4,800 feet above sea level is enough to affect them but during our first week here we certainly noticed the change in altitude on our daily walks. Even the slightest incline made us feel like we had been couch potatoes all summer. (Hardly the case, or I would've been blogging before this!)

So Paul is now officially a professor and loving it. We're living on campus in a nice little apartment and I'm enjoying this grace period for a few weeks and the opportunity to "nest" before I really start stressing out over finding a job. As I've been unpacking the mountains of boxes (mostly books - whoever says books are becoming a thing of the past needs to come to our home!), I've been doing a lot of reflecting as we enter this new phase of our lives and thinking about those times when I was the most artistically productive and I think I need more balance in my life again; a more active, people-oriented day job to even out the solitary and sedentary aspects of making art. Having spent the last four and a half years working full-time as a graphic designer, I'm also thinking that unless it is a dream job position (like doing graphics/exhibits for a museum) I should steer clear of any creative type jobs so that I can reserve my creative energy for my own art endeavors. We'll see how it goes.

As I said, it was a very busy summer with the move but I've been sketching and taking photos when I can. I'm eager to get back to it on a more regular basis. My studio area in the new apartment is mostly set up now (you know that was my first priority!), although I haven't unearthed all of my art supplies yet. We paid a visit to Ikea in Portland, Oregon over the summer and I finally got an Alex rolling storage cart (in black) - an item that I see in so many artists' studios and have wanted for years. I also got two of their basic desk combination packages (I chose plain white tops with black legs) and created a U-shaped workspace in my studio. It turned out to be a very efficient use of small space as I now have room for computer work, art work, and sewing with just a turn of my chair. The only thing I didn't have room for was something counter-height for cutting mats or other stand-up projects, but I can just go use the kitchen counters for that when needed. I love my new studio space!

I've begun a campus birding list, of course. Here's what we've got so far:

Black-billed magpie
Brewer's blackbird
Mountain chickadee
Black-capped chickadee
American crow
White-breasted nuthatch
European starling
Rock dove (sounds so much better than "pigeon", doesn't it?)
Mallard duck

Considering I've had my head inside boxes ever since we got here, I'd say that's a pretty good start!

I'd like to put up a bird feeder by our apartment but there are very few trees on campus. I'm concerned that the birds I attract would just be sitting ducks for the local hawks without any available cover to give them a sporting chance but I doubt we'd be allowed to plant a tree or shrubs by our apartment. In the winter it regularly gets -10 or -20 F here so shrubs in containers probably wouldn't survive. Would a small pile of dead tree limbs on the ground near the feeder be enough cover? Does anyone know of a better creative (and inexpensive) solution?

This horse seems to have no trouble attracting birds, but a horse doesn't fit into our budget.

Hiatus

A little bird recently reminded me that it has been a long time since I posted. I have certainly been distracted from blogging lately. A blood test in late July showed that I was anemic and since I've gotten my iron levels back up to normal, I am truly a different person. (I have to wonder how long I had anemia without realizing it!) With all this new energy I seem to be more and more interested in doing what I really want to do rather than what I should or ought to do, and often blogging has fallen into the should/ought category. Not to say I'm giving up blogging completely. And not to say with six months of winter fast approaching that blogging won't suddenly jump back onto my want to do list. But for now, I guess I'm taking a hiatus. I hope you are having as wonderful a fall as I am!

Spring Sabbatical

A little bird reminded me today that I've been absent from the Blogosphere for a while now. We've been busy apartment-hunting, packing up our lives, getting our apartment ready for house showings, and trying to get outside and catch Spring as much as possible. It's been a colder than usual Spring, but the first brave wildflowers are blooming and the birds are slowly coming back.

The hooded mergansers are pairing up.

The osprey are back.

And my jacob's-ladder is blooming.

We were starting to panic, but we finally found an apartment...and it is walking distance from three bakeries, a Dairy Queen, a cafe with gelato, and a locally-made ice cream stand. Life can't get much better than that! We'll be downsizing a little in the main living areas, but I will have space for my own art studio with natural northern light so I'm not complaining about the tighter quarters. When you've been married for 21 years, you've seen it all anyway. We'll be moved in by June.

If I have time, I do want to share some before and after shots of the place as it is a diamond in the rough. Its low ceilings and small rooms could make for either a depressing and cluttered claustrophobic space (as with the previous tenants), or a simple and cozy retreat (my goal). If you love interior design challenges as much as I do, you should check out Apartment Therapy I stumbled onto the site while looking for design inspiration for small spaces and they just happened to be having a "Cool Small Space" contest. And they have a fabulous sister site called Re Nest that focuses on green design and DIY projects with recycled materials.

Given my to-do list for the next two months, I may be absent from the Blogosphere more often than not. But stay tuned - when the dust finally settles in July, I should have some exciting art, stories, and photos to share!

Third Time's The Charm

Can't help but sing!

You may remember waaaay back in November, that my beloved, academia-bound husband was supposed to have taken his oral exam as part of his PhD process, but on the day of his exam one of the professors on his committee came down with the flu. The exam was rescheduled for February, but in January another professor on his committee realized he had a conflict for that date and they rescheduled yet again for April. I am ecstatic to report that this time, finally, the exam went without a hitch and Paul passed and is now officially ABD (all but dissertation). Whew, we can breathe again!

A Break from Painting

After painting over 75 pieces in the last 11 months, I need a little break from the brushes! My Micron pens were calling out to me, so I dusted them off and found my Bristol paper and got to it. He's a work in progress (still needs many more black circles on his plumage yet) but critiques of this guy are most welcome.

Work In Progress - Northern Flicker (red shafted) - Pen & Ink

Unlike most woodpeckers, flickers tend to forage for food on the ground a fair amount. One of their favorite snacks is ants. My subject here was settling down to munch on a tasty ant hill when I snapped the reference shot. I was trying to incorporate some of the grass into the scene but I don't feel that's a terribly successful part of the piece. The grass doesn't read as flat and thin to me, but more rounded. I will probably just darken the bottom of the piece enough to hide the grass. I want to further develop the gradation behind the bird as well.

You'd think that all of those little dots in the stippling would drive me crazy but aside from a crick in my neck and shoulders (which my wonderful husband voluntarily massages out for me) I find the process very soothing. In fact, my inner critic doesn't make much of an appearance with this type of work at all.

And soothing is exactly what I need right now. This apartment-hunting process is getting to Paul and I. I am trying to believe that a perfect apartment really is out there just waiting for us to find it, but this is a discouraging process that makes me think a little less of humanity. It blows my mind what people consider acceptable living conditions and how much they charge for the, um, er, honor. How can you call someplace a two bedroom apartment if one of the bedrooms has no source of heat? Why would you show an apartment that has trash in the front yard and broken windows? And what is it with landlords who set up a time for you to come and look at a prospective apartment and then don't show!? - This is what has happened with an apartment we really liked. We wanted to get in for a second look and then talk about signing a lease and the guy has blown us off twice! He apologized profusely the first time, but we haven't heard back from him the second time. If he does eventually call back, do we give him a third chance, given that we really like the apartment (private yard area, big windows and lots of storage, great neighborhood, and a sound barrier between the floors!) or is this a preview of what kind of landlord he's going to be? *Sigh*

On a happier note, both the osprey and the tree swallows are now back in town. I feel badly for them though - we've had snow squalls and wind gusts up to 50 mph. At one point last Thursday it was nearly white-out conditions. Welcome Spring!

More Signs of Spring

A robin joined the throngs of sun-starved people along the river this past Sunday.

Surviving
Where the winds of disappointment
dash my dream house to the ground
and anger, octopus-like, wraps its tentacles around my soul
I just stop myself. I stop in my tracks
and look for one thing that can
heal me.
- Maya Angelo

I found this inspirational poem by Maya Angelo on a blog* that I find very inspirational anyway, so it was a double-whammy of inspiration, which is A Good Thing because I've lost count of how many whammies we've had of the uninspirational kind lately. Our apartment saga took a major turn for the worse this past week and it is looking very probable that we will have to move. We spent the weekend looking at available apartments, except for a lovely one hour walk along the river on Sunday. However, that one hour walk did us a world of good. Firstly, every person in town that owned a cute dog was out walking, too. Secondly, the birds were amazing. Not a lot of diversity yet, but the few species present made up for it in sheer exuberance. The red-shafted flickers were dueling through their calls, as the song sparrows were dueling with their songs and we spotted a female common merganser floating down the river, her beautiful dark green head glistening in the sunlight.

I know that I have hardly posted any art lately. I've just been so distracted by things that it has affected the success of my paintings and I am loathe to post this particular set of paintings publicly. However I AM STILL PAINTING, regardless of the outcome of the pieces. Come hell or high water, I WILL complete the challenge - even if my art table is a packing box and I have to sit on the floor!

*If you or someone you know is dealing with post traumatic stress disorder, I highly recommend Parasites of the Mind: a Healing Blog http://healmyptsd.com/ptsd-blog It is so important for PTSD sufferers (and their loved ones) to know that they are not alone and that there is a way to heal!

Spring Cleaning

Female Hairy Woodpecker enjoying the sun

It was in the 50's and sunny this past weekend. Today it snowed. That's March in the northern Rockies for you. You may have noticed that I've switched out my Blog Header. It was high time for a change. The jury is still out as to whether I'm going to stick with this one or try another idea. It's been a long, dark, weird winter this year and I am ready for some serious revamping and rejuvenating this spring. I've got the restlessness of spring-fever for sure!