Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Different Strokes Portrait Challenge


This month I emailed a pic of myself to Karin Jurick of Different Strokes for Different Folks fame. She is an amazing "daily painter" who has a new image about every two or three weeks posted on her blog for artists anywhere to work on. It is really great to see how other people interpret the same image. I have challenged myself with her images in the past, but never posted them or emailed her to put them on her website because I was not very pleased with my attempts. This time, since I submitted my photograph to be painted, and in turn got another photograph of another artist in return, I feel obligated to try and make my attempt not only somewhat well done, but also get it in, because I am, (as I am sure other artists are too) scanning the beautiful portraits on her post. There are amazing artists out there!

So, thanks to Karin for organizing all of this, I love feeling like I am a part of an artist community!

Friday, December 4, 2009

Best of 2009: Favorite Trip



I like a challenge, and reflecting back on my year, so I have decided to try this new blog challenge, hosted by Gwen Bell at "The Best of 2009 Blog Challenge". Already I am behind schedule (oh, whoops, it is December 4th already...got some catch up to do!), but that is okay, I am going to be kind to myself and not worry about it! Perhaps this is a life lesson I am finally learning!

Over the last 6 years, my family and I have been incredibly fortunate to visit many crazy exotic amazing locations. Thailand, South Africa, Egypt, Italy, France, Ghana, Zanzibar, and on, and on, and on. We are, however, no longer living the expat lifestyle of traveling every three to five months, and we do not have cash left to spare extravagant trips any longer.

This year we did, however, go ahead and take an amazing trip to Washington D.C. It was a cultural experience. It was a learning opportunity. It allowed our family to reconnect and have fun traveling and learning and seeing many new, crazy cool things all week long.

Cherry Blossoms, The White House, Annapolis, Baltimore, Mt. Vernon, The Smithsonian collections....wow, really great stuff!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Yukon Cornellus


I'm off to get my life-sustaining supplies...cornmeal, gunpowder, ham hocks and guitar strings!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Inhumanely Sensitive

"The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this:

A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive.

To him... a touch is a blow,
a sound is a noise,
a misfortune is a tragedy,
a joy is an ecstasy,
a friend is a lover,
a lover is a god,
and failure is death.

Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create - - - so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut off from him. He must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency he is not really alive unless he is creating.
"
— Pearl S. Buck



I cannot tell you just how much this quote touches me. The fact that I am currently reading Pearl Buck, and hear her words echoing inside my brain....is this coincidence? Sometimes it does seem as if a higher source, creator, goddess, (name your deity) is there...

Everyone always tells me how overly sensitive I am. How I just take things too personally. I have always, always, always viewed this as yet one more of my many failures, the fact that I am "inhumanly sensitive". But, this quote almost, in the tiniest way, encourages me...says "hey, yes, you are sensitive, and that is just part of who you are", and not so much, that is a part of your failures! Wow. Thanks Ms. Buck! I needed that!