Mr. Pig is ready for winter

It has been cold and blustery for several days now. Every time I pull into the garage I find Mr. Pig frantically cycling on the road to nowhere. He looked very cold, so I knitted him a scarf. Now I feel better, and I'm sure he does, too. We've had some unusually cold days somewhat earlier this year. I've had to get out my warmest coat and scarf. I hate it when I have to zip up my coat before New Year's. I've been struggling with sacroiliitis for several weeks and finally have it under control. I'm sure the cold hasn't helped. I think it's over now and I'm ready to take on the holidays.

It never rains...

But it pours. I know, I know. Terrible cliche, but true. Here I am working diligently on my book and over the past month, the following: Visit from Colorado son, who didn't make it home for Christmas because of the Denver bizzard. Visit from Durango son and wife who ditto (the good news). Visit to husband from a Health Monster (to be continued). Receipt of slides for judging a watercolor exhibition (Slides upside down in the carousel and my projector on the fritz). Visit to doctor for biopsy on skin lesions (results pending). I look like I got the worst of a fist fight. Nevertheless, the book is progressing, the weather has been fantastic and I will survive, although I may not blog much (the least of my worries).

Beggars can be choosers

Friday I was having my hair trimmed. The hairdresser in the next booth was cleaning up her station and pitched a hair dryer in the trash. I said, "Is that thing broken?" She said it wasn't, but it was an ion-diffusion dryer that didn't blow much air--I forget the name of it--and she didn't like it. She gave it to me to dry my watercolors. I figure it might be worth a try if it doesn't blow the paint around like most hair dryers. Then she pulled out some smocks she was going to throw away and I took those and washed them to give to my class tomorrow. Got quite a haul at the beauty shop, big surprise. All you have to do is ask.

Keeping track of your books

I recently found Library Thing, a clever way to keep online records of books you've read or those you own. I have a pretty complete inventory of my books on Microsoft Access, but I don't record the "escape reading." As a consequence, I can never remember if I've already read that Harlen Coben or Patricia Cornwell when I see it at the library. You can list up to 200 books free, then there's a membership fee. The site has some interesting features for Bookaholics and a free tour shows how it works.

Have slides, will travel

Have had a very busy week without much computer time. I've been on the go since a week ago Friday when I got back from the Dallas workshop. Still don't have the workshop web page made. That Friday night we went to a concert of the Poulenc Trio, a wonderful new group out of Baltimore that plays unusual music for piano, oboe and bassoon. Apparently the signature piece for that ensemble is by Poulenc. All the music in the program was wonderful, with the oboe and bassoon ranging from witty to somber. Worth rushing back from Dallas to hear it.

Following the usual weekend madness after a workshop--laundry, email, post office, shipping--I went to Monday watercolor class and we discussed their project I had prepared for them for last week while I was away. I had coated part of a sheet of Saunders Waterford paper with acrylic gloss medium for them to experiment on. Most of them didn't like it. It was interesting, because the class in Dallas loved the unusual appearance of the surface, which resists watercolor and has random texture very different from the watercolor paper itself. Fun to try and you may have some specific subject or style that it would work with. You can coat the sheet uniformly or with random big brushstrokes.

I got a call Monday night that the speaker for my Otterbein College Women's Club, which I'm president of this year, wouldn't be able to make it. I said I'd do a slide program, as I expected my slides to be delivered by UPS on Tuesday along with my other workshop materials. Oops. Next day I tracked my UPS packages and they had been rescheduled for delivery on Wednesday. So I pulled a chair up to my bookcase and searched among the slide programs for one that would work for a group of non-artists who are interested in everything. "The History of Color in Painting" was the one I decided and it seemed to go well. One gentleman had a nice nap, but the rest were attentive and a few asked questions.

Wednesday I had an appointment with the opthalmologist to check the status of my cataracts, which aren't yet a real nuisance. So I got a new prescription for my glasses to sharpen things up, I hope. The macular degeneration that runs in my family is evident but so far very slight. Not much I can do about that, I guess.

Thursday I met with my editor and designer at North Light Books about the new book I'm working on. The book is due at the publishers in September, 2007 for publication in August or September 2008. More on that at another time.

Yesterday I went to a meeting of the Tri Art Club of Dayton, which is a very old artists' group for women. It's a wonderful group. I had hoped to see a demo on oil pastels, but that presenter, too, had to cancel, so they asked members to talk about their art careers. It was interesting to hear how many different paths have led to their lives in art.

In and around all this activity I've been transferring my image files to a 200G external hard drive. I never dreamed that I could fill my 60G internal drive. My computer was getting so slow and had only 7G of free space. I figured while I was at it, I mize-well install Photoshop Elements 5, since my PSE 3 was misbehaving. Everything is working great, but my PSE 5 can't find some of my files on the new drive. So I'm working through thousands of files and backup CDs to get everything reconnected. This may take awhile.

Our big family day will be Christmas this year, when our three boys come home. Our daughter, nearby in Wilmington, Ohio, is having Thanksgiving, so I'll be doing pumpkin pie and sticky buns. Not too much pressure this week, but if I'm not blogging it's because I'm Photoshopping.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Those of you in distant parts of the world--have a wonderful week, too.

Back home from Dallas

Had a great time playing with a wonderful group of artists. Right now I'm in that twilight zone between workshop and real life that has an element of burnout to it, no matter how good the experience was. Trying to catch up on mail, laundry, correspondence. Ack! Will post pix later.

What's wrong with this picture?

We have a regional art club, the Western Ohio Watercolor Society, which meets at the Springfield (OH) Art Museum. For several years the club has offered a $300 scholarship to an area high-school-senior art student, with an added bonus of $300 for the teacher who nominates the winning student. Artist Jim McCoy donated additional funds, which increased the award to $500 for both student and teacher, in memory of his wife, an accomplished artist who taught art for many years in the public schools. Several months ago I was asked to judge the awards pro bono, which I was delighted to do. The judging was to take place this afternoon at the museum. Yesterday I received a call from the man in charge of the scholarship award. Larry sat at the museum for four hours and not a single entry was brought in, so my services weren't needed today. Can you believe it? Why would teachers not encourage their students to submit their work for such an award, with such a generous monetary incentive for themselves? Even without that, teachers should be helping their students to build a portfolio and resume for their art careers. I just don't get it. I have been feeling very sad today to think of this opportunity lost for some deserving student--because of a lazy teacher? So, so sad.

Art questions by email

Or somebody's homework?

Every day I find a couple of emails requesting information on an art technique, a painting medium, paper storage or a particular artist. Yesterday somebody wanted a suggestion for inexpensive flat paper storage and someone else needed vertical storage for paintings. I usually go the Web and do a quick search for links, unless I happen to know the answer right off the bat. I'm happy to help.

But once in awhile I receive an email that is clearly a class assignment, for example, "List five examples of impressionist art. Give the artists' names and dates. Tell what medium each artist used." Sometimes the email looks like this:
"list 5 exsampls of impressnis art give artst names and dates tellwht medyum each artis uset."

I can't help myself--I respond with "I don't do other people's homework." I've had just one reply, from a woman whose emails weren't misspelled. She confessed it was her homework for an art-history class. She was a middle-aged woman going to college for the first time and hadn't a clue how to do research on the Web. Somehow she had found my web site. I gave her a short course on Google. She's doing her own research now. The others probably just sent their homework to someone else, hoping to find a sucker who'll answer the questions for them.

"A haze on the far horizon"

Definitely feeling fall-ish in Ohio. The nights and days have both turned cooler with lower humidity. We're falling asleep hearing insects eeeeping in the woods and waking up in the middle of the night to total silence. Lovely. I went to the grocery on Friday and as I walked through the parking lot on my way in, I saw a man loading a beautiful fall arrangement with sunflowers into his car. I vowed I had to have one, if there was another in the store. It was an extravagance I don't usually allow myself, but I've been enjoying them on my breakfast-room table all weekend. We could still have a warm Indian Summer, but I always enjoy the first preview of autumn.

Studio Clean-up

Sort of. I've been moving piles of stuff around, pretending that I'm getting organized. My first task is to find all my notes for a new book project, outline needed early next week. They're here somewhere, but where? The new stack is growing higher, so maybe I've collected most of it. I'll be laboring on Labor Day on the outline.

My second task is to gather my materials for the New Jersey workshop and ship them off ASAP. I used to take them with me in a suitcase and a carryon, but I don't want to risk a hassle at the airport. I've been shipping ahead for a couple of years now and it has worked well so far. If my shipment goes out today, it probably won't ship until Tuesday, but it should still get there before the workshop starts on the following Tuesday. To be on the safe side I'll carry my class notes and copies of each handout with me.

My third task is to update my mailing list database. Ack! After almost four years of neglect, the stack of un-entered addresses has grown into a tower. While I haven't used the list for awhile, it is suddenly becoming necessary. It was hard to collect the names and addresses I needed for my book signing invitation (The New Creative Artist) and about a dozen were returned because I hadn't been updating the list. Yesterday I gritted my teeth and sorted through the stacks of receipts and class rosters to find the ones that need to be entered. My plan is to do a page or two each day. I've already made some headway--I'm up to 2004!

"No rest for the wicked!"

My mother used to say that. I must have been very bad. It has been such a busy week that I've missed my Curves workouts twice, something I never do. Our son is visiting from Colorado, so I'm trying to spend some time with him. However, I already had two classes scheduled and a meeting with my North Light editor in Cincinnati, so something had to go. I'm going to be baby-sitting for a couple of days, too, so not much time to catch up. Well, everything is happening pretty fast, so I guess it's true that time flies when you're having fun. (Nothing like a blog full of clichés.)

Started a new watercolor class on Monday with 25 students. Most of them are returnees from previous classes. Four of my beginners have joined the class and there are a couple of newbies. We talked about the continuum of design from realism to non-objective painting. I had found some good examples of abstract design artwork to show them. Then I taught them about making grids to get their drawings in the correct proportions on their paper. Critique was fun. They're getting more and more consistent with their finished paintings. They seem to be doing more paintings and are improving accordingly.

The beginner class wound up today. I feel bad about not taking them to the next level, but I can't do two classes per week on a regular basis. So this one just comes up during the summer for eight weeks. Four of the ten in the class have moved into the intermediate group and the others say they'll be working on their own until next time.

Our son leaves in the morning and I may have to spend the day gaining strength for the baby-sitting marathon. It isn't that long, but I'm not in the routine anymore and a three-and-a-half-year-old can be unpredictable. But, I'll manage. I just may not be able to blog for a couple of days.

Okay, okay, here are the Shoes!

By popular request, here is a detail photo of the shoes I bought for my book-signing. I'm surprised at how many people mentioned this in their emails about the photos. This is the only photo that shows the shoes. The shoes are cute with a wood-stack 2-inch heel--dressy, but very comfortable. I hope everyone is satisfied now!

High-school Reunion

Last night my husband and I went to our Fairview High School class of 1951 reunion. Do the math--that's fifty-five years. I can't believe it myself. There were a few more than forty graduates present, plus twenty or so spouses. Bob and I were "high-school sweethearts," so we fit into both categories. Our class numbered around three-hundred-plus students. Of those, sixty-six have passed away. Those who attended looked pretty good for a bunch of old people, none of whom seemed to notice that they're old. We had a good time, better actually than the fiftieth, which had a much bigger group of people crowded into a smaller space. Without the noise of a band, we were able to talk to each other and share memories. I reminded one of the class cut-ups about how he used to coo like a pigeon in study hall when we had a substitute teacher, who would embark on a search of the double-size classroom to find the bird. The floor in the room had an imperceptible slant to it, so he would start a marble rolling at one end of the room and you could hear its slow progress to the other end. He told me about the mouse he set loose in history class that made the teacher jump onto her desk--I had nearly forgotten that one. He got a two-day suspension. Nowadays he would probably be called into juvenile court, sued for teacher harassment, and enrolled in group therapy. In spite of all, he turned out to be a really nice guy.

Shopping's not my bag.

I spent an inordinate amount of time yesterday shopping for shoes to wear to my book-signing. Not that I don't have shoes, although I haven't bought any for years. I just thought it would be fun to have a new pair of kicky little slides that sort-of matched my teal-ish outfit. (Trying to sound fashion-aware here.) I was amazed at all the 6-inch heels I saw in the stores. Do women actually wear those things? Well, of course they do. I've seen them on American Idol. I can't begin to imagine what that does to your back and hips, not to mention your poor feet. Anyway, I found a pair I liked with a 2-inch heel that isn't clunky, color just-right, but had to drive to a second store to get them in my size. On sale, of course. I'm all set now. Won't have to go into a store until just before Christmas.

Washington-Centerville Library

It's no wonder our library is ranked the best library in the nation, based on area population. I stopped by this afternoon to pick up some casual reading, but didn't have much time. The place is always busy, so I wasn't surprised to have to stand in line. But I was surprised when a librarian asked me if I would like to use the Express Checkout. She showed me how it works--slick as a whistle. Scan your library card, scan each book and scan the card again. The machine prints out a receipt listing your books and the due date. You're done. I love technology.

Still, the library hasn't lost that warm-and-cozy feel it had when I first started taking our kids there more than forty years ago. The library was housed in a small building near the old Centerville High School. It had no parking to speak of. But we visited regularly for years, especially in the summer when the kids participated in the summer reading program. Eventually, the system grew and a new library, called "Woodbourne" (for the area in which it stood), was built just five minutes from our house. We stopped going to the Centerville library. Apparently, they didn't miss us. As the community grew, a huge new library was built just south of town. Most of the libraries' events are held there. The libraries operate as Washington/Centerville Library, Washington being the township area surrounding Centerville.

Libraries have been magic places to me since I was a child. We couldn't afford to buy many books, but a library card was free. Our father took us often until we were old enough to ride the bus and go by ourselves. I made a great many bus trips to the Dayton View Library through the years. Now it seems that the library is one of our Little Artist's favorite places to go. It must be in the DNA.

Time flies

I didn't realize I hadn't blogged since Thursday until I checked in this morning. Time flies when you're having fun, or when you're working your tail off, whichever. I've been giving my house a thorough cleaning. I don't do this often. We don't clutter, so the place looks pretty good most of the time, if you don't mind the dust accumulating. Since I was an almost-obsessive house cleaner in my younger years, this is a huge change for me. I can't say it's a bad one. I decided a few years ago that I didn't want my epitaph to read, "She had the cleanest floors in town." So I phased out of my cleaning ritual and spent more time playing with the kids, learning to paint and writing books for artists, all of which are far more satisfying than dusting and mopping. Still, it feels good to have a shine on the place once in awhile.

Prioritizing in my art studio

Now that the books are shipped, I need to get my studio in order. I'm trying to figure out what to tackle next. First on the list is a looming deadline for an article for "Watercolour Gazette," a Canadian publication. The article is mostly written and I'm getting some art together for the illustrations. I still haven't cleared out the boxes of books from my used-art-book sale. They must go, and soon. I'm tired of looking at them and they take up too much floor space. Hithergreen Center, where I teach my watercolor classes, has a small library, so I may donate the books to them if they want them. There are two unfinished watercolors on my drafting table, one of which is the poured painting I blogged about a few weeks ago. My desk is covered with miscellany, I have bills to pay, and on and on. However, when our daughter showed up unexpectedly with the Little Artist this afternoon, I gladly gave up my afternoon in the studio to play ball, read stories, and field hugs for a couple of hours. I've been smiling broadly ever since they were here. They made my day.

Watercolor homework and pet peeves

My small class of beginners is doing their homework. I was pleased yesterday to see so many had been practicing between classes. They'll progress rapidly that way. They're getting the washes and brushstrokes very well. The biggest problem is getting enough paint on the paper to make dark values without the paint being too opaque. One student, who missed the first two classes, showed up this week. Since I review basics every week at the start of the course for beginners, I figure she can pick up some of what she missed from that. It's hard to start in the middle with a new student. An instructor can't take time from the rest of the class to re-teach two weeks of lessons. Please, folks, if you sign up for a class, at least try to make it for the first few classes. Oh...and be on time. For every class. Now you know a couple of my pet peeves.

Art, family and birthdays

So much going on in the past two weeks that I've skipped the blog, missed an exhibition deadline and forgot to get my hair trimmed. Our son came from Boston for several days and we did a lot of family things with our Little Artist and her mommy and daddy, including celebrating my birthday. One evening I attended a picnic with the Otterbein College alumni association, a fun event every June called the "June Bug Jamboree." My birthday party was that evening at our daughter's with my sister and her husband coming from Columbus to Wilmington, Ohio. I firmly announced that there should be no birthday cake, but one appeared anyway. This is a tough time for watching weight at our house. Following my birthday by a week is our anniversary and then my husband's birthday comes along the next week. The scale is groaning.

But I digress. I missed a show opening and submission for a different show. Somehow these didn't make it into my top priority list while my son was here.

The day after he left I participated in a one-day workshop on analyzing your drawings to find out what's going on in your unconscious mind, an art therapy technique. Maybe you've done it. You draw several things in a specific sequence, starting with a river, then a mountain, a field, a road, a dwelling, people, etc., up to a dozen or more items. The interpretation is based on the location of your object on the paper and its size and direction, indicating past, present or future. I've been told this is similar to a game called Kokology that I'm not familiar with. I remember reading about this years ago but I don't recall the name of the book. It's interesting, but you can't really accomplish much in one day. It was fun to be with so many friends I haven't seen for awhile. About half the class were former or current students in my watercolor classes.

Last Thursday I drove to Michigan to visit my best friend, whom I hadn't seen since she came here last year to attend a watercolor workshop with me. Several months ago she began to gather on a weekly basis with six other women who have a diverse interest in art and fine crafts and they have been having an amazing experience. It was wonderful to spend the day with this energetic, funny, intelligent group of women. We created handmade paper using the equipment of one of the members who formerly had an art business making paper, stationery and cards. Here's a partial list of what some of the women do or have done in the past: painter, quilter, fiber artist, knitter, arts administrater, art teacher, papermaker, belly dancer, collage artist, art dollmaker, PhD. They launch a different project nearly every week and have several ongoing and group projects, as well. Every gathering starts with sharing what each has been doing since the last meeting and because they have become so close during their association, art and personal matters are both woven into the conversation. When they start to work on their projects, it's like an electric current is turned on and when it's finished, all hands turn to cleanup. The Seven Spirit Sisters begin buzzing about the next project, then they're off to the real world. Or maybe their world IS the real world. It's certainly a great place to be.

No watercolor class today. The students voted to take a long weekend over the 4th of July. On Wednesday I'm starting a beginners' class, so next week I'll be teaching two days a week. I'm getting really antsy about the new books coming in. I'll have about 150 to autograph and ship and that will keep me busy, for sure. Today I'll be happy if I can straighten out my calendar and bring my planner up-to-date. A planner is a great way to keep tabs on all your events and tasks, but guess what! You have to look at it once in awhile to stay on track!

Art on the side burner

Not much art going on last week. A week ago Sunday I picked up my rejected painting from the Dayton Society of Painters and Sculptors. Eighty pieces were hung and more than eighty were rejected. The rejects would have made a very good Salon des Refusés. Yesterday I collected my two paintings from the Fairborn Art Association show--I don't think I mentioned that I got a Judge's Merit Award for one of them. I'm finished with entering shows for awhile. This year I got into three out of five and received two awards, not a bad showing, but I don't have enough work and don't want to enter the same pieces too often. Haven't even had time to work on the pouring and I want to get that one off the drafting table.

I finished the last of my spring watercolor classes at Hithergreen Center on Monday and I'm on hiatus for four weeks so I can work on some new book ideas and catch up around the house and woods.

We took a two-day trip to northern Indiana and Chicago to visit family and search for family gravesites. We found what we were looking for--my husband's grandparents' graves and their old farmhouse near Plymouth, Indiana. Two years ago we couldn't find them, but had a few more clues this time.

I'll be concentrating on the release of The New Creative Artist over the next few weeks. Less than two months to go. My pre-publication offer has been well received and the orders are coming in. Yay! It looks like Amazon.com is taking quite a few orders, too. Last week I scored a book-signing at Books & Co. in Kettering on Thursday, August 17. They've hosted signings for all my books and always do it right.

In two weeks I'm having a studio open house and art book sale for my students. I've promised them this for a long time. So I'll be sorting and pricing books--I have at least five crates in the garage and bookcases all over the house filled with art books. I hope it isn't a mortal sin to have too many books.