Gratitude Friday

5 Things I am thankful for....
1. my big project ending soon
2. all the work we have been getting - something I am always grateful for when having our own business
3. good conversations with family
4. the librarys website - to get books put on hold so all I have to do is pick them up at the counter so much easier then searching them down in the library
5. that the libraries throughout the state loaning with each other as I am getting to read quite a few books I wouldn't have been able to if they didn't loan them out

All-in-one Website Design/Hosting

Recently I came upon several artists we are acquainted with that got their website at an all-in-one place. It is a place where you can get hosting, domain, and then you can "design" your own site by simple selecting colors, layout and such but not actually design it. Which of course means most of the sites there end up looking very similar because there isn't any design to it. Those kind of sites also really limit what you can do to them. You can't have add-ons that might enhance your website. You can only go with what they allow. But really that isn't my problem with them even though I don't like it as it doesn't really express anything unique about the artist. But my main problem is that the company owns the domain. And yes I read their faq saying they will "happily" transfer it over but I wonder how hard it is actually. And their faq answer to why you should just let them handle the domain is VERY misleading. It is basically scaring the customer into just leaving it to them. If any of those artists want to move their site so that they can design something different or add on anything, the all-in-one site might fight or not relinquish the artist's website. So they are trapped in it. And that bothers me a great deal.

And just to note I am not upset that the artists didn't go with us to design their website - yes it would be great if they did but I do understand why people go with the all-in-one. It is quick, inexpensive and easy way to get yourself on the web. I would rather them choose any designer over places like the all-in-one because of all the problems that can come up with an all-in-one type site.

Memorial Day

With today being Memorial Day, it of course made me think of family and friends that have passed. It is normally a tradition to go and put flowers on the graves of those loved ones you have lost. But I haven't really ever been able to do that as I have lived so far away. I did give brief thought of what will happen - how will I fill when my parents pass and I can't visit their graves because I am so far away. It made me sad which is usual when I think of being so far from my family. But I really don't need to think about losing my parents anytime soon as they are both young. In fact it is my Mom's birthday tomorrow and she is very young for having a daughter who is 40.

Today though I really thought of both my Grandpa's - my Mom's Dad and my Dad's Dad. Both of them passed away quite a long time ago but I miss them. I did think of good happy memories of my Grandpas. I thought of playing cards with my paternal Grandpa as a little girl. He taught me how to play many card games and it is something I enjoy to this day. I remember riding with my Grandpa to pick up my Grandma from work and sitting real close to him because I just always wanted to be near him as he was my hero. He brought me to get ice cream cones and always liked the same ice cream -- anything with nuts but usually butter pecan or black walnut.

(photo of my Grandpa and I - 1968)









And I think of my maternal Grandpa working on the farm. I don't have as many memories of him because he died when I was fairly young - I think 6 years old. But I remember watching him work on the farm. I see him saying grace at the head of the table. And I remember the feel his overalls against my skin when he held me on his lap. He had that smell of farm...it was the smell of grass and earth. (photo of my Grandpa when he was in the Army)

So today I kept them in my thoughts as well as other family and friends. And remembered good memories associated with each of them.

Gratitude Friday

5 Things I am thankful for....
1. Cool weather the last few days
2. A simple pleasure - peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
3. The mail love I got from friends this week!
4. The kitty cats -- they are our babies and we love them
5. Michael -- He is an amazing man who I love very much.

Too Busy to Play

I am doing lots of graphic art business right now. But it is so much work that I haven't been able to sit down at my work table in such a long time that things are getting piled on top of it instead of being used. And I hate when that happens. I miss it so much and I know some of my restlessness comes from the fact that I haven't been able to create - I haven't felt the paintbrush in my hand, I haven't been able to use my exacto-knife to cut out that perfect collage element, I haven't been able to get messy and play.

Gratitude Friday

5 Things I am thankful for....
1. Ice packs for migraines
2. Homemade Steak Sandwiches & Fries - it tasted so good
3. Enjoying the words of Eat Pray Love again
4. Project I am working on is going pretty good - accomplishing a lot
5. And a very silly thing but we are getting a Dollar Tree. And I love Dollar Tree. Little things that make me smile or inspire me (often use things from Dollar Tree in my art).

I recognize that I have much more to be thankful for in my life.

Green Bowl

This is a bowl by Damian Radice that we picked up a little over a week ago at the studio tours.

Happy Mother's Day

I love you Mom! Happy Mother's Day to you and all the other Moms!

(photo of my Mom and I shortly after I was born)

Gratitude Friday

5 Things I am thankful for....

1. Being able to have the windows open on a cool spring night
2. The smell of rain
3. The beautiful art we got last weekend that I hope to hang up and take pictures of this weekend
4. The possibility of going to the Art and Jazz Festival this weekend
5. Keeping busy with work

I recognize that I have much more to be thankful for in my life.

Artful Weekend

We had a really good weekend. Artspace was having the Open Art Studio Tour. It is where you can tour local artists studios. See them work, see their work hanging in their studio and of course buy their beautiful art work. We usually go to two places because one place has several artists. It is a Bed and Breakfast with a gallery and it has out buildings with studios on the property for artists. The people there are lovely. We have worked with many of them too so know them fairly well. The other artist we go to is a good friend. But this time around she decided to go over and share some space at the Bed and Breakfast. So we were able to see 8 artists there. The feel of the place is just so serene but with this funky fun side too. This year they did a postcard project - decorating postcards. They then hung them up on a clothesline and then people could bid on them. The postcards were AMAZING. I told the organizer that if she does this next year I would be interested in participating.

We ended up buying a 2-tone pottery bowl from Damian Rice. And then a small acrylic piece by our friend. We don't have anything by her because well although her pieces are breath-taking we just can't afford her bigger pieces. She told us she was going to do some smaller pieces for those that can't afford the big pieces. Well she did and they were just as great as her large pieces. It is kind of a different style then she usually does but still amazing and of course we found one we really liked (okay several but picked one). Then the artist she was sharing her space with -- I just love to pieces. She has this energy that is contagious. Have you been around those people that are just up beat,excited and full of goodness/kindness -- and you start to feel everything they give off just by being around them....she is exactly like that. We got a piece of hers last year but I was looking for a piece of hers to give as a gift. And I found a little print but I really want to keep it! When we asked how much it was, she was very sweet and told us to take it. The other day she had been scolding me about not wanting to charge for something and then she was wanting to give us the print free. Michael has a bill for her for some website work for around the same price so he is going to rip it up.

We would have loved to buy from another artist there that we really enjoy. Her work really feels so earthy and warm to me. There was one piece I really fell in love with but we just couldn't afford it at this time. Her postcards she did were so beautiful too. One postcard by Dianna Fritzler was called Hanging Barbie Out to Dry. It was all about the the dislike of barbie because of the image she gives off to young girls about being perfect. But the title and the just look of the piece -- Michael LOVED. After he asked her about it and she explained why she did the piece -- he loved it even more.

There was also another little pottery wall hanging that was done in this technique that I can't remember the name for but you pull it from the kiln while it is on fire. And stuff it in a metal garbage can with lots of newspaper, put the lid on and the fire from the kiln sets the paper on fire burning around the piece. It creates this really interesting affect with the glaze. Michael really like one of those so when we went back on Sunday (to discuss something with Dianna about a project we are doing for her), I urged Michael to stop and see if it was still there. And it was so he picked that up too!

I hope to take pictures of everything soon. I really love filling our house with art.

Gratitude Friday

I am thankful for....
1. Seedless red grapes...they taste so refreshing and sweet
2. Burts Bee lip balm...my lips have been very chapped lately and it has helped so much!
3. Hitting really good sale at Safeway....in this day and age when everything seems to cost so much - it was great to find some really good sales and stock up and save 50%
4. the Earth Children series....I read the first 4 books long ago and have been rereading those so that I can move on the the 5th book. I forgot how much I enjoyed that series the first time around.
5. Quality time with Michael...although we have been pretty busy with work we have managed to get in quite a lot of quality time this week. Our Sunday morning brunch tradition (making brunch together while singing to the Across the Universe soundtrack), shopping (including going to my favorite store - TARGET!), watching a softball game while enjoying cool refreshing drinks, rewatching our favorite tv show on DVD (West Wing) together, dinner out last night and tomorrow we are enjoying an art event going on where you can tour artist's studios.

I recognize that I have much more to be thankful for in my life.

(thumbnail image from a round robin altered book project I participated in)

What Would You Do?

I watched Oprah one day last week where she featured Primetime's What Would You Do? series with John Quinones. They set up actors to perform scenarios and see how people reacted to them. Such as they had teenagers in a park - one girl being picked on by a bunch of girls. And then they saw what people did. Men didn't respond and women did. Women would just start out trying to talk to the bully girls and then started acting like the teenagers. Calling the teenagers losers with the attitude of teenager.

Of course all the scenarios bothered me but there were a few that brought tears to my eyes as it just hurt to see others being treated so poorly and no one doing anything. One of the scenarios reminded me of a situation I encountered a month or two after 9/11.

One situation that brought tears was an African American couple arguing in a park - they were the actors. And many men that came up to them said take this out of the park. They didn't say this isn't right -- how the man was talking to the woman and how he was grabbing her. But said take it out of the park. And they would say things like..."these people" shouldn't be using the park like this. But they didn't really help the woman of the couple. It was amazing to me because the things the man was saying to the woman of couple were very offensive. He was grabbing her by the arm swinging him back to her saying don't walk away from me and he even slapped at her bottom a few times. And yet no one was stopping. But one woman finally stopped and wouldn't leave. She didn't have a cell phone and kept asking passersby for a cell phone to call 911 but wouldn't leave the woman alone. The actors did this for 5 hours before a woman that stopped. It makes me sick to think that so many people passed them by and didn't help her. When Primetime's John Quinones interviewed people after the men said they thought it would just escalate it and they might get hurt. That thought just boggles my mind. Then go to the nearest phone and call 911 - stop someone and say call 911 and then go over to the couple so you can get involved now to stop what was happening to her. Benjamin Franklin said, "He who gives up freedom for safety deserves neither." To me no man is free if they can really stand by and watch something like that.

The woman of actors/couple said after doing that for 5 hours having that kind of offensive language and behavior used on her - although she was an actor - it did affect her. She was feeling defeated and then finally that woman stopped and she said she felt like finally someone saw me. When she was asked why she stopped she said how could I not stop.

Then the other scenario that really got to me was a woman with a headcovering came into a bakery and the guy behind the counter was an actor and the woman in the headcovering was also. She said she had a question about the apple pastry and the guy behind the counter started saying he didn't serve her kind that she wasn't an American she was a terrorist. He said extremely offensive anti-Muslim and anti-Arab slurs. And most people just literally looked the other way by turning their faces to not look at her. Some even stepped in front of her to order. There was one man that thanked/commended the guy behind the counter and agreed she was a terrorist and not an American. She said I was born and raised here. That didn't matter to him. She asked people in line to buy her an apple pastry and they wouldn't. There were a few people that stopped and stuck up for her. One man had a son in Iraq and said that this woman shouldn't be treated that way. He said that he stopped in the bakery every time he passed by it and now he wouldn't again. Then there were two young women that really got angry and one said she wanted to see the manager right away that if anyone needed to leave was the guy behind the counter. That it wasn't right to treat anyone the way he was and so on - she was great!

It made me remember I was coming out of a grocery store maybe a month or just bit longer after 9/11 and there was a woman with a little kid and holding a couple sacks on the way her car a little ways in front of me. She was wearing a headcovering and also a long dress. She was basically covered - except for her face. And a man and what I assumed was his son went up to her and spit on her and knocked her groceries from her hands. They were telling her to go back home that she wasn't wanted here in the USA anymore. I ran over to her asked her if she was okay. I helped pick up her groceries. She had tears streaming down face. And the man told me I shouldn't be helping a terrorist. I was like she isn't a terrorist...and went on to say that she looked like a mom shopping for groceries to go home and make dinner just like I was and he probably was too. He just rolled his eyes at me. He told all of "them" are terrorist and he walked away. I helped her get to her car and asked if she wanted me to call 911. She said no. I felt so sorry for her. She thanked me several times. I told her that they should be apologizing and although it wasn't the same I was apologized for their behavior. She said that it was not necessary that it has been happening quite a bit -- but she can't hide out in her house for the rest of her life. I told her I hoped she wouldn't because not everyone was as ignorant as those two men. She said I proved that to her.

"Thou shalt not be a victim. Thou shalt not be a perpetrator. Above all, thou shalt not be a bystander." From the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C.

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out. (one version of the famous words by Martin Niemöller)

I will not be a bystander and I will not remain silent.


(image from a triptych I did on censorship)

Oh Look at the Pretties!

A friend is having a sale on her beautiful jewlery until the end of April.

Buy 1 get 1 half price!

Toffee and Caramel Cheesecake

Cooking is a form of expression for me....last night we were going to dinner at friends so we volunteer to bring dessert. I made Toffee and Caramel Cheesecake. Recipe over on my cooking blog.

Gratitude Friday

5 things I am thankful for....

1. A fantastic meal and wonderful conversation with friends tonight
2. That the cheesecake was a hit (because I always worry about these things ya know)
3. A trip down memory lane - looking through a box full of old letters, diaries and other odds-n-ends
4. Seeing some incredible art this week that has really given me the itch to create
5. hair dye....I dyed my hair this week and it is amazing what a bottle of hair dye can do for a girls self-image.

I recognize that I have much more to be thankful for in my life.

(image just took scraps of paintchip paper to create a collage)

Packrat

I did another 100 Things about me over on my other blog about being a packrat. The reason I decided to do that as 100 Things about me post is because I had been cleaning up my studio - hoping that in doing so I would be inspired and break the block I am having....

Here is a little section from that post...

I am also a pack rat when it comes to art supplies. I have so much ephemera in my studio that I know I can't use it all in my life time. But I keep it for a just in case I might need it. Granted I do go through stuff and mail out some stuff to artist friends at times but still not enough obviously by the looks of my studio. I just was cleaning it and trying to reorganize it and label all my containers so I could find things easier. And it really opened my eyes of how much "stuff" I have sitting in here.

Magazines are another thing that I hang on to forever. I finally went through quite a lot of them during spring cleaning this year. But I still have quite a bit in my studio but the magazine I had the bedroom and the living room were filtered down quite a lot. I ended up throwing out 2 heavy duty trash bags of magazines (they probably could have fit in one but I couldn't have lifted it to get it to the trash.) I went through and cut out recipes and things I thought I might use in art. So I still have a pile of stuff but instead of have stacks and stacks of magazines I have a fairly small pile of things tore out of the magazines.

Gratitude Friday

5 Things I am Thankful for/that...

1. the dishwasher isn't really broken - at least it seems that way now.
2. clean sheets...always smell so good and just feels nice to slip into a freshly made bed
3. simple pleasures - Jelly Beans
4. the package I received this week from my family.
5. Michael is HOME! I always miss him when he is gone but this time it seemed harder so I am very glad he is home.

I recognize that I have much more to be thankful for in my life.

(image from a calender I made)

Camping Oh Joy!

My family sent me a package and there were 2 Ann Taintor button pins as well as a few others things. One pin says "born to be wild" and the other says, "I love not camping." I think my lovely family was trying to tell me they fit me. Okay so maybe they do fit me especially the camping trip. We had a family camping trip we took in 1982 that was quite a memory maker. It is a memory we recalled for my parent's 40th Wedding Anniversary video and I remember us all laughing quite a lot while filming the story.

Anyway Thank you guys! You are the best!

Photoshop

Michael updated my photoshop recently. I had been nervous to go to CS because well I am just so used to version 6.0 and didn't see the "need" to update. But recently I have found all sorts of actions and brushes to use for CS that I wanted so I finally took advantage of the offer Michael gave me to upgrade. Well of course I am thrilled I did now. It has so many useful features that I always wanted in the older version.

I hate those moments when I had something better in front of me all this time and refused to do because I was scared of the change. Silly me.

Gratitude Friday (on Saturday)

5 things I am thankful in my life....

1. Michael....He is just always so good to me. This week I had a really bad migraine and was just not feeling well at all and he took care of me. He spoils me with cherry limeades, books and jelly beans. He is there always just to share with...I am sure he is getting sick of all the Eat Pray Love talk but he still goes with the conversation. There are so many amazing things I could say about him....I am just very lucky to be with such a wonderful man. I love you very much Michael!

2. Eat Pray Love....I was resisting reading it but so thankful I finally decided to read it. It is a very good book full of humor, good stories and insightful dialogs that touched me.

3. Prescriptions by mail....I get one of my prescriptions by mail and it is always so nice to have it delivered right to my door after just picking phone and calling in the refill.

4. Sandals....it is spring now and I can wear sandals all the time. It is close to being barefoot which I enjoy.

5. Simple pleasures....such as eating chocolate chips straight from the bag.