Facing facebook

Urged into facebook for networking...just started a page there for my silks if you want to see more.

Energies

Only a week has passed...seems like a long week and I have had to use several of my hats. One day so cold I wore several outdoors at once...shoveling, shoveling. I am preparing for the snow sculpture contest I am part of tomorrow. Georgia Landau is captain and the other founders of SPA will be her team mates. We will be carving a cube of compacted snow 6 feet in all measurements. Georgia has found a beautiful crosscut saw to help us round out our form. I am gathering tools from around the house---an artist does have tools. I have purchased new boots but the gloves I still need to acquire. More on this tale for later.

Now I want to report that I have been painting which is always a help to my sanity. I gave myself Wed while the snow kept falling. That's when the red painting 20x20, got refreshed, and for me, improved, but amazing thing about paintings...when one paints over, it is painted over. There is no undo button. When I reenter a painting, it has to be with a commitment to acceptance of change. And when I get the paints mixed and the tools prep, watch out, because any painting could fall under the change effect. It can be dizzying and exhilarating.

• Lovely quote surfaced for me today "The matter isn't to paint life, but to make a painting live."

(Pierre Bonnard)

Gaza Relief

Gaza has been on my mind and in my heart these days. I did some journaling work to relieve my anxiety...can this really be so? Though it helped. Michael Arnowitt is doing a benefit concert at Langdon Street Cafe this sat 3-5. His music is always a treat. More info www.MApiano.com/gaza.htm

Recovering

Some of my work in January is to recover from the past year. I find I sort and sieve through my piles and paintings. Some of the paintings recover from the past by donning a new layer...a recovering, a recovery, perhaps, to something healed and secure. I've also been doing some journaling as part of this process of recovery. In my processing, I realized that for a moment last August, I let go of being careful, and, with rain-washed feet, I fell on entering my kitchen door and broke my arm. The arm recovered but my soul/spirit is still in recovery and it is in this January down time-semi-hibernation that I can get to that realization. I am working on my recovery as I sort, sieve, and recover the work of last year. This piece was painted for the red show at SPA and now it is becoming part of my thinking for the Green show which will be hung the end of April. For more information on this and to apply please check the website for SPA.

Remaking of America--Change

We have a new president! Took in the procedings at City Hall with a large gathering of cheering folks. There was even a couple of moments of hissing and booing like we were watching an old silent movie with a villian. President Barack Hussien Obama took the serious turn as he admitted that he had quite a job ahead of him, but he spoke, without referring to notes, with confidence and assurance. Hooray for our new leader! I have been quite captured by his book Dreams from My Father and his ability to turn a phrase. He is searching for his roots and wondering about his father who has slipped away from him. I'm at the point in his life where he is wandering the streets of NYC trying to find his people, his place, very low incomed, but still dedicated to education and trying to understand. And to think that this humble interracial man has just taken the honorable oath of highest office! I am proud to have witnessed this change in the course of America and am excited to see what he brings forth in preserving this nation for his children and mine.

Oaxaca Times

well, with so few new comments, I haven't been inspired to post here. Having too much fun posting to Flickr and getting some real responses for my work from artists around the world...guess I am looking for response. Isn't that why an artist puts her work out? This is a trip into photoshop with an image from Oaxaca Mexico. What do you think?

The cold seems to be letting up some and I could enjoy a walk in all the whiteness. My eye was intrigued by the tracks which crossed our path...tracks of all sizes and patterns left in the snow. The world was more active in the whiteness than I had been imagining. Feel energized from the walk. Now to approach my new paintings begun these past days. Red was my color yesterday, but Green is the color for the show at SPA I am curating in April "Show Us the Green" environmental, economy, abstract, jealousy, or even golf. Looking for some variety. Looking for some new adventurers in the art of Barre's SPA...More on this later.

Violinist in Metro-WDC

Sent as forward with too much crap/address stuff, but felt it worth sending on to a few select souls. Worth reading.
m

*Violinist in the Metro--- Wash, DC

> A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to
> play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played
> six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time,
> since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of
> people went through the station, most of them on their way
> to work. Three minutes went by and a middle aged man
> noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and
> stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his
> schedule. A minute later, the violinist received his first
> dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without
> stopping continued to walk. A few minutes later, someone
> leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked
> at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late
> for work.

> The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy.
> His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to
> look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and
> the child continued to walk turning his head all the time.
> This action was repeated by several other children. All the
> parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

> In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped
> and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but
> continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When
> he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed
> it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

> No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of
> the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most
> intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5
> million dollars.

> Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold
out at $100 a seat.

> This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the
> metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part
> of a social experiment about perception, taste and
> priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace
> environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty?
> Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in
> an unexpected context?

> One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:
> If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the
> best musicians in the world playing the best music ever
> written, how many other things are we missing?

---

Hubcap art

These days I am inspecting, considering, and living with my hubcap, sent to me from PA as part of an international project. The raw hubcap is a thing of beauty to me, so it is taking some time to figure out my artistic contribution. This request came to me directly following the ornament publicity and really takes a similar avenue for art making, though fortunately for me, this does not have the difficult stipulation of being "red, white, and blue". Ken who heads this project is looking for other artists to contribute. Check out his website at landfillart.org to find out more and speak to him of your interest. Janet's hubcap is equally intriguing and I'm sure she will be posting it when finished on her blog.

Boys stay boys

Delightful how my boys can be boys when around each other and their
mother. We do have fun together.

BlogThis!

Why not have a Secretary of the Arts in this new administration? Here's a petition awaiting signatures.
http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.g?t&u=http://www.petitiononline.com/esnyc/petition.html&n=Secretary+of+the+Arts+Petition&pli=1

Correspond Dance...flickr slide show

Been working on uploading to flickr which seems to be full of interesting folks' work. This painting is called Correspond Dance. I'd like to make a correspond dance with this site and others, as well as making correspond dances with some other creative sorts. Anyone else interested? Don't be shy to make a comment right here on this blog. It's 2009, after all!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/colormuse/

Want to Art Talk

What an curious thing to write out some words and open these up to the public, or rather whoever should happen to wander here or wonder here. So, it is a new year...one full of possibilities and hope for change. I have seen in the past 2 years Art galleries closing because of not making enough money. Well, perhaps we have to all figure out our lives with less money. My life has always been thrifty and creative because I have chosen to live as an artist in a country which doesn't consider that art is essential to a full life and that artists might need support....no bail out for struggling artists or art galleries...no, no, no, we have to shrink our lives into a shrinking budget, or we could be those who believe that abundance is with us and all we have to do is believe it abundance. I wish I could feel the abundance almost within my reach and all I have to do is believe in it. Oh, wandering wondering mind scooping up some words when I really ought to be working on the about to be renovated website.
This image is a detail from a silk chiffon scarf which I have just put up for sale on Artisans Hand's website. The colors are cheerful on a winter day and really the silk chiffon is remarkably warm for the lightness. Amazing fabric--silk, and to think it made from fibers spun by a silkworm...so many many threads in each silk inch. Anyone have anything you might want to add to silk talk or color energy talk?

Back deck painting memories

As I was going through some images to make a selection for Artisans Hand's site, I came across an image from last summer of scarves drying on the back deck. Oh, brought back the memories of painting free under the sun with the breezes and the other sounds of nature about me. That is some of what my scarves are about. Somehow the thought of painting in my small space inside doesn't pull me into a creative realm. Yet it is many months in this north land before I can think of outdoor painting. How the seasons of Vermont affect my art! I was painting with acrylics and wanted to work outside but they dried too fast, so I went back to oils which were wonderful when I painted in Mexico but they dried too slowly so there I added beeswax and copal to speed the drying. Glad I can be adaptable and with that adaptability, I will soon be using my tight indoor space again...but it makes me wish for a studio once more...a big loft space with French doors so I can easily move from the interior to the outside light and air. How will I bring this into my life? Anyone have any ideas or a studio you could loan to me for a while?