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Cute:
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Dr. Jesse Jones (the composer whose music I painted to and won my award for) is such a talented composer and musician. I loved hearing him play his composition Tune In D Minor.
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Our sweet and most recent addition to our family of 3 doggies, Patsy, got yelled at for the first time by me just before Christmas. I heard her munching away in the breakfast room (dog food is in the laundry room) and investigated in time to see her swallow something. Then I looked in my art bag sitting next to her and realized in horror that the corner of my very expensive Arches paper had been completely chewed off. I will need to paint a bit smaller than planned now. I will also need to make sure I don't leave paper or paintings out ever again because I have a dog with expensive taste in art.
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On Sunday, December 21st, I got to sing a solo with out little UU choir (smaller than usual due to members being on vacation). The sweet anthem and 2 carols sung during the service helped to put me a bit more into the spirit of Christmas (as did finally getting our gifts wrapped and under the tree!) Since music is the art of my heart, and painting expresses it now, I thought I'd do a different kind of self promotion and share an iPhone recording of the event.
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I love the work of this watercolor artist and especially love what he wrote here. When I saw his comparison to music I knew it was something I wanted to share.
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My daughter took a beautiful photo of her fiance, Mitch, looking adoringly at their little dog, Digby. I decided I wanted to try and capture the emotion of the shot in a painting and then give it to him as part of his Christmas present from us. I nailed Digby but my initial painting of Mitch looked a great deal like MY husband, only with hair! There was no time to work on it further so there it was, in all of it's failed glory, on my easel when they arrived for the holidays. Mitch saw it and commented on how wonderful Digby looked. I told him I wasn't finished and, with my heart in my throat at the nerve of what I was going to say, promised I was going to lift and highlight and such and make it look more like him. The day before they were to leave I got my paints back out and went to work. Santa must have been with me because a face that looked much more like Mitch began to emerge. I encased it in a clear envelope, wrapped a ribbon around it and presented it to Mitch with great relief on the part of both of us!
And THAT, brings you all up to date. The New Year is upon us. We plan to see it in dozing in front of our TV with our doggies. January 5th I'm having surgery on my left eye again. This time it will be to remove the cataract that grew super fast as a result of the first surgery. I'm looking forward to seeing and painting a lot more color in 2015!
May the New Year be one of personal peace and happiness for you all. ...... I'll be in touch.
