Introspection

Today is the anniversary of the death of one of my artist mentor/friends. It has been several years since his death but I still think of him often...



Today, as I was driving to the chiropractor enjoying the sunshine, I suddenly became hyper-aware of where I was. I was driving by a building where one of my friend's sculptures resides and had to take a peek over at it. Up to that point I hadn't remembered the anniversary and it wasn't until that moment when I realized the significance of the day and of that moment.

It's funny how we seem to subconsciously be aware of these significant anniversaries in our lives. You never know when or how you will be reminded but it always seems to be just what you needed for that day. My friend was kind, intelligent, talented, funny and inspiring. He also suffered from depression and finally lost his battle with it. It's quite ironic that he took his life on April Fools Day... he did have a twisted sense of humor. It's also a chilling reminder to me that a few words he spoke to me almost 20 years ago became my mantra during my own battle with depression. When he took his life, I was just starting to come out of the darkest period of my depression. It was a very jarring wake up call for me.

Today I am happy to say that my depression is gone and I so appreciate being HERE and having THIS experience we call life. Remembering my friend on a beautiful sunny day reminds me of how far I have come and how thankful I am for it. I so wish that he didn't have to go through what he went through but I know we all have our own paths to walk during our journey here. Mine is definitely better for knowing him...and I have a feeling that this won't be the last time that I am reminded of what he has given me.

Sprouts...

Yeay!!! My herbs are sprouting!









I wonder how long it will take before they are mature enough to harvest? Does anyone know?

Mini Herb Garden

I just love plants. Doesn't matter what kind... flowering, non-flowering, succulent, cacti. As a result I have a small jungle in my house. My grammie and parents got me interested years ago. Grammie had lots of house plants and my parents had a large garden. The whole family was expected to plant and tend to the garden and we had many yummy meals from it. My parents have supported my continued interest in gardening and have given me all kinds of books on gardening and plants throughout the years. This year I got a mini herb garden in a box for Christmas from my mom and dad. Yeay!!! I have wanted to do an herb garden for years but never took the time. Now I can. It's perfect timing too as I am trying to cook more from scratch now.

I thought it was a pretty cool setup and wanted to share a few pics as I planted it this past week. It come with 5 different herbs: Basil, Parsley, Thyme, Chives, and Cilantro. The kit contained the seeds, the pots, stand, and soil "pucks". It was an easy project to do as everything I needed was right there. I just needed to add water!









The seeds are supposed to sprout between 10-15 days.
Oooooohhh... I can't wait!

A Portrait of Fear

Here is the piece that I did for the Fear show at the Work•Detroit Gallery. It is a mixed media collage: laser print, watercolor, pencil.

Fear Blog
The Detroiter.com
Work•Detroit

The Perfect Antidote...

for those winter blues.











The day that I made my last post, my husband brought me these tulips. There couldn't have been more perfect timing.

That's what I get for marrying my soul mate.

Snow, Ice and the Winter Blues

It's been hard lately to be motivated. It has been so cold and miserable here that all I want to do is stay curled up under a blanket. Doesn't matter if it is in bed or on the sofa. All that matters is the world is on hold as long as I have that blanket covering me.



Funny thing is I don't usually get the winter blues. It's usually in the fall when the days are getting shorter and the weather cooler that I get down. The signs that signal summer is over are sometimes too much for me to bear. This year though my fall blues were very brief. I guess I am making up for them now. Oh well... they will pass.



Today the sun was shining and it was slightly warmer so I decided to go outside to rake the roof. We have had so much snow that the ice is building up on the gutters and we have some good sized ice dams already. Don't want any damage from water coming in. Had that several years ago and it was a pain to get it fixed as we have plaster walls instead of drywall. There just aren't as many plaster artisans around as there used to be and good ones are even harder to come by. Hopefully I was able to clear the snow quick enough and the ice will melt.

The Collection

The Collection blog is finally up!

For the past couple of months I have been working like a mad woman editing photos, taking measurements, archiving info, and last but not least... uploading to blogger. Even though I haven't finished uploading all of my work I feel there is enough posted to make the announcement. It has been an enormous task but in the end worth it. This project came about as a result of being asked repeatedly if I have a website which I would always respond with a less than enthusiastic NO. I finally decided I needed to get my work on the internet and figured a blog was the best way to do that until I got my website up and running. The blog was conceived to be a catalog of most of my work and eventually will contain images of almost everything which I consider important to my growth as an artist. Unfortunately some of my pieces were sold before I could get good photos so they are either missing from the catalog or are represented by less than ideal photographs. Fortunately though, I was able to get many of my pieces re-shot by the very talented Paul Primeau whom I highly recommend if you are in need of a great photographer. In the end I hope this blog will shed some light on where I've been as an artist.

Enjoy!