sadness.

Hey readers, I am usually not on this blog to talk about personal stuff other than art. But today I am very sad and am bringing it here. I am not sure why, but here it is...our very special friend committed suicide last night. There is so much going on in my head as well as with my husband. We have lots of what ifs, I should have...., if only we... and this list just keeps looping in my head over and over. We knew that our friend was deeply deeply depressed. We knew. I heard my husband on the phone this morning and without even hearing the name mentioned I knew. I actually hoped that it was a heart attack, but I knew that it wasn't without being told.

Now it is just sadness.

Something New

So, I have not been up to much by way of painting lately. But I did happen to find a beautiful print by an artist named Yellena James. There were many to pick from, in the end I just enny-meeny-miney-mowed it. ;) I wished I could buy originals, but I will say that this print is quite stunning. I loved it online and I love it even more in person. I might even have to go back for a second one very soon.

Just Play

Hi all! I had an art coaching session with Mystele last week. I said that I get "stuck" easily and she told me to "just play". So, I did. She gave me a bit of homework. Pick three things and play with them. I picked acrylic paint, pencils, embellishments. And if you wonder why my girls always have weird hair, I wonder this too. They just do. ;)

This is another "pulled" piece. This time I could only see the outline of her face and her hair so I added the rest. It was very fun play time. And I feel like I made a bit of my own emotions work for me on this. I hear that artists say this a lot and I am hoping to get that more as I move along in this hobby.
This little project still needs it's birthday wishes written in the circle. It is a little bday card for my mother-in-law. I was trying out some color blocking which was something I often did when scrapbooking. I got this entire idea from Mati Rose.

Check this out...

Look at Paulette Insall's recent blog post showing her newest painting and newest style:

I love this!

Hmmm? Do you think it is that pink hair? Something about hair that is not in the "normal" color range seems to attract me and pink is my very very favorite! I really could stare at Paulette's painting all day!

I am learning in my class with Mystele that I can and do have my own voice. But sometimes when I see paintings like this I think I would rather have THAT voice. There is a list (much is found right here to the right) of voices that I think I want to have and would rather have than my own. It is hard for me to see that some day I am going to love my voice as much as theirs. But that is my goal. I said it at the start of this blog and I will keep right on saying it until I feel I am there!

The 350 event!!

Today was the 350 art show that I have talked about here. The art was displayed for a few days and today at 3:50 the purchasing began. We walked in at about 4:00 and most of my things were already purchased. How weird. Really, really, really. Weird. So, I had hoped to show some pictures of my things, but I didn't even take pictures before I gave them to the event! You can see a couple several posts back, but I had several others too. Oh well. I am sure they are happy with their new owners! And this was fun to participate in, especially as it was for a good cause. If you happened to be in New York at Time's Square, you might have even got to see some of the pictures of the event on the BIG screen! Also, stories about the event have been on the news all day. Very cool. Here's a picture and also a letter written by the organizer of this global event. You can click on the links to see more of the event that took place from Africa to Barcelona, to Mexico, and of course, to Pasadena! (Don't know why everything here is underlined, must have clicked something...???? Whatever, sorry it is annoying!)

Dear Friends,

Today in New York was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

As I stood in Times Square and watched images flood in from every corner of the world on the big screens, I finally saw what a climate movement looked like -- and it looked diverse and creative and beautiful.

Please head to www.350.org and spend a few minutes watching the pictures. We need you to feel the strength of this movement, and to see how creative and committed this movement is, all across the planet.

It was so sweet to watch the day move around the globe, with thousands upon thousands of pictures appearing, sometimes a dozen a minute! There were photos of climbers high on the glaciers of Switzerland holding 350 banners, of bicycle parades from Copenhagen to San Francisco, of organizers in Papua New Guinea beating their church gong 350 times while churches in Barcelona rang their bells 350 times. Photos of activists protesting coal plants and celebrating wind farms, of students in 350 shirts repairing their flooded homes in Manila, and of thousands of people marching in the streets of Bogota and Kathmandu. Photos of people from different races and classes, religions and nationalities, coming together around a simple and powerful number to save our planet. Thousands took to the streets in Addis Ababa and Mexico City; we had huge parades in places like Togo and Seattle.

You were by far the biggest news story on Google, on CNN, on the front pages of newspapers around the planet. And these pictures were seen around the world, in newspapers from Beijing to Boston, on TV stations from New Delhi to New York, and on blogs, social networks, and websites across the internet.

Together, we've shown the world that a global climate movement is possible and set a bold new agenda for the upcoming United Nations Climate Meetings in Copenhagen this December. The 350 target is the new bottom line for climate action and world leaders must now meet that target.

We thought we would be tired after many sleepless nights planning this day, but in fact we're more energized than ever. We're preparing to deliver the photos and messages from your events to every national delegation to the United Nations on Monday, and planning to hand the photos to high-level ministers at upcoming climate negotiations in Barcelona and Copenhagen. So if you haven't uploaded your best pictures from the event yet, please do so right away by sending us an e-mail to photos@350.org with your photos attached, with your City, Country as the subject and the body as the action description.

Thank you more than we can possibly say. We'll (of course) be asking you to do lots more in the weeks ahead -- but today, lean back, relax, look through pictures at 350.org, and savor your accomplishment. You were part of what many journalists called "the most widespread day of political action the world has ever seen."

Together with millions around the world, you made a real difference already -- get ready to make much more in the days, weeks and months to come.

With hope,

Bill McKibben and the whole 350.org Team

350

So, here is a peek into the prep for this art show I am participating in. Hard to see my pieces, but look for the girls, some in the bottom row, one with blue hair, others scattered within and too hard to point out in these pictures.

CLICK HERE TO SEE

Newest from Mystele's class

This is another piece that was "pulled" from the background. This was done on recycled newspapers, something that is fun, but a bit too time-consuming. I might try cardboard next.

I am not completely crazy about this, but I do like the colors and the background. There was a snippet of a book page on my art table and I found the words I used on that. Funny how that can work out so perfectly sometimes. This is in my art journal, so just playing really. Nothing serious.