I Spent the Night in a Gallery Marinating in Art

As part of my membership to The Girdwood Center for The Visual Arts I am committed to spend a few days a year in the Gallery. To save on a hotel room I brought my air mattress and slept in the gallery. In the morning I went to the Aleyeska Prince Hotel and had a lovely therapeutic swim in the salt pool, had a whirlpool, a sauna and a beautiful walk. While working the gallery people from all over the world stop in to browse and buy I met people from Germany, Minnesota, Georgia, and Netherlands all over the world. They all say where is your art? And I am proud to show them!

I'm Squirrelly No Really

Was it this morning that I was gloating about my backyard and all the wildlife that comes to visit me? Yes I was saying how lucky I am to live among the wild creatures of the Great North. Well the damn squirrels must have been reading my mail!!! They have moved into my walls, it is a real creepy feeling to have creatures walking around in walls having a party while I'm trying to sleep. This arrangement is not going to work feelers. They are probably going to stay up all night since they are nocturnal animals. God, I think it is a whole family, noooooooooo pleeeeease tomorrow I will blast some hip hop into their room and see how they like it. This I cannot tolerate sorry little squirrels but I'm going to have to get midlevel on your little asses.

I'm Ready For My Closeup Mr. Demille

I am the most fortunate person alive to have swans, otters, ravens, loons, muskrats, turns and trout all in my backyard! This gorgeous red headed trumpeter swan was gracious enough to pose for a portrait and I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to paint his picture. The swan couple comes by several times a day my husband (Dr. Doolittle) can call them in from heaven knows where. We went to the pet store and bought them some special swan food so they love to stop by for a little snack and to converse with my husband. Benson (the brown lab) likes to jump into the lake and chase them it’s turned into a game.
If possible I will try to get a picture of the illusive muskrat that passes by every evening and morning.

Just Another Day In Paradise

The Swans are stopping by for a visit each morning. I sip my first cuppa coffee and just get up close and personal with these gorgeous creatures. It's awesome to have these wild creatures in my back yard. My Labrador jumped into the water after them, he swam as fast as he could and they just glided away, when he'd gone out far as could swim he turned around and came back. The swans turned around and chased him back. I don't know if Benson is intimidated by the swans or just knows he can't win either way we all live in harmony in our tiny slice of paradise on the lake.

Mona Lisa and the Da Vinci Code

This is my personal rendition of Mona Lisa. Shes cross eyed I know, maby that is what I get for plagerizing, shes a public icon so I can copy if I want. Whos going to sue?
Tonight is the big hoopla in Caines with the opening of the DaVinci Code. I read the book awhile ago. Every other person in the airports was reading it. It was a pretty good read full of action, mystery; sex all the things we love. It is a good book not a great book..
But since we are talking about it…I have always felt deep down inside that we are not given the full story about Jesus Christ and his time on earth. We have been handed a partial gospel the New Testament which was butchered along time ago and then told not to add to the teachings. I have a hard time accepting the Jesus that was not a man in every way, in my imagination and heart he did deeply love Mary Magdalene they had loving sexual relations perhaps they were not married. There is evidence enough in the gospels to suggest how close they were; she washed his feet, stayed at the cross to the end. Why this was all denied, distorted, and hidden? Why were the disciples jealous?
I am glad that the mystery of Jesus is coming alive again that there is a debate among people. I’m glad that the Catholic Church is pissed it’s about time that some of their closet doors are opened and the skeltons literally came marching out.
I created a requietory to Mary Magdalene years ago.

MARY MAGDALENE,
‘From whom seven devils had gone out’

Perhaps we have met this woman or seen her from a distance. Then as today a young woman who was rich, beautiful and fascinating could do anything that she pleased, with the assurance of being admired by well wishers attracted by her charms. Jesus accepted the homage of this sinful woman who kissed his feet in a surge of repentance, bathed them in her tears, anointed them with a precious perfume, and wiped them with her beautiful hair.
On Calvary she was among the tiny group of the faithful at the foot of the cross. She was present at the burial. She was the last to leave the tomb, and the first to run back to it on Easter morning. And the first apparition of the risen Christ was to her.
And so Mary Magdalene was made for love and never understood anything but love, trips through the pages of the gospel with a lively step, her hands laden with perfumes, running from banquets to gardens, even to the doors of Paradise, where she beckons to all as a messenger of love.

How a Bad Situation Got Better or a Plane Ride That Didn't Suck

When I was waiting to make my connection at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport and I fell asleep in the wrong terminal. Suddenly I woke up and asked for the time it was 4:10 and my plane was leaving at 4:18 so I hurried to the 1-minute transport train and rushed to the correct terminal. American Airlines would not let me board as they had already shut the doors and had apparently paged me. This young woman came rushing up and when she heard that she missed the flight she had a complete melt down. I dealt with the counter people they gave me a connection in LAX then to Anchorage...then I turned my attention to her and she was sitting on the floor in a fetal position crying. A couple of ticket agents were hovering over her saying over and over what do you want to do; it was obvious that she was incapable of making a decision. So my helping the strays’ codependent nature kicked in. I began to talk to her and offer to see her to her destination. So she took the ticket. Turns out she farmed out her kids, horses, dogs and cats to meet her boyfriend for 2 weeks at Elmendorf Air Force Base. We went to get something to eat she took a bite of bagel and seemed to revive her. She took out her lap top went on line and found another faster way to get to Anchorage.
We changed out tickets and got on a plane to Seattle. We boarded the plane, Jade in the window seat I am in the middle and an older woman named Margaret in the isle seat. The first thing Margaret told me is that she had just got back from taking her 101 year old aunt to the town in Tennessee where she grew up so she could see where shed grown up once more before she died. Margaret told me she purchased her own headstone and put everything she wanted to say so her family could not write on her stone. I think to myself that this is going to be an interesting flight. The three of us three generations of women had a great time laughing and telling stories. Jade could not sit still and she showed us her tattoos even ones below the belt. Margaret after her real Bloody Mary began to flirt with older make flight attendant and said she will turn him over her knee, she was a real hoot. The time flew by as we laughed and told stories showed each other out photos.
When we landed I noticed the people in back of us were very irritated this lady kept shaking her head to show me her annoyance. Whatever, I enjoyed my flight. Who often can we say that?

The next connection was Continental Airlines to Anchorage bigger seats no one in the middle pillows, free snacks and a blanket ahhhhh.
Jades boyfriend was waiting for her despite being 4 hours late and my hubby was there to pick me up also.
Blessings to the two crazy, eccentric, women I met in the Dallas airport

I've Been In Charlotte N.C.

I have been in Charlotte N.C. visiting my daughter, son in law and my beautiful extra special granddaughter. Here we are:
If there are any slums I did not see it, Charlotte is a very prosperous city the banking industry dominates. I was very impressed by all the big and small churches the old brick buildings, magnolia trees and friendly folk (I was mam-ed to death). I went to the Mint Museum my favorite painting was the Black Madonna of Lima, which was on loan from the museum in New Orleans. Because no photography was allowed I spent about 45 minutes sketching her.

I got a new hair do, saw Paula Poundstone, tasted some Charlotte "Uptown" night life, saw street performers brake dance(cool),went to a meeting, bought tons of stuff for everyone epically me, visited a cemetary, got lost... My daughter would not let me pay for anything!!! And I'm not complaining either. It was a good vacation and it was wonderful to see my daughters little family and see her being a wonderful mom doing it all so well family, friends, and career. Yes I'm proud...

Picasso - Sorry you're not alive to see this

Ok, Is it blasphemeous of me to say I just don't like Picasso or am I just showing my cards? But seriously....

A portrait by Pablo Picasso of the woman who influenced him in the late 1930s and early 1940s sold for $95.2 million, the second-highest amount ever paid for a painting at auction, the auction house Sotheby's said.

"Dora Maar au chat," which depicts Picasso's mistress, went to an anonymous buyer in the room who was competing with telephone bidders during Wednesday's auction in New York.

Its selling price ranked second only to another Picasso piece, "Garcon a la pipe," which sold at Sotheby's for more than $104 million in May 2004, the auction house said

There are 3 Million Lakes in Alaska

and I got me one Beverly Lake is the name of mine. This morning I woke up to the sound of ducks out side my window. Sometimes I get reminded just how fortunate I am to live in such a great place and to have in my backyard a beautiful pristine 40 acre lake. The ice is quickly melting and the loons will be back soon. They are very territorial and will chase the ducks and swans off. Their calls are so haunting and beautiful it gives me goosebumps.

The Alaska's Visitors Guide

Hey!My artworks been photographed for the Alaska Visitors Guide 2006.
You will find me on page 60 lower left hand corner my Salmon and Ravens are featured, with some pottery below. Someboby out there likes me (and don't it make me feel good.) So come and see me and the rest of the fine artists at the Girdwood Center for the Visual Arts Olympic Circle near the Bake Shop in Gridwood, Alaska. I am going to be gallery sitting May 27th and 28th.

This is Bull S_ _T or Is'nt It Beautiful

This is my back yard this morning....

This is my front yard this morning....

Today I have got to paint signs for my bread and butter.

Talkeetna, Alaska

Today I went to Su-Valley High to substitute for a science class 50 miles up the road when I got there they had a mixup and already had one, what a bother. I went the extra 12 miles for a cup of coffee and visited Talkeetna. This great little town is the starting place for all the mountain climbers doing Denali. Also a great place to fish.

There I met Josh and asked him if I could have a picture of him. He laughed and said he should charge $50 for all the people who want his picture, mostly Korean mountain climbers he said. Josh told me he lived in a tent all winter in his sub-zero sleeping bag, that he experienced snow blindness, frost bite, hallucinations, his stove being frozen. I didn't think it was possible to survive in a tent in the winter. Josh is leaving in a couple of weeks for his summer job in Denali park cooking. His needs are simple, hot coffee, food, and some good gear.

This is Josh with Stubs the mayor of Talkeetna. The friendly town cat with a stubby tail, he is welcome is any business, and home.

I said you're going in my blog, and they both seemed happy about that.

WO IS MONEY

Today it started with a comment my dear husband made.

Judy: I think I'll make another abstract painting today.
Peter: Yea, if you think it will sell......
Judy: I don't create what I think what other people will like. I create to please myself.
Peter: Your own words were you want to make a living from your painting. So why don't you paint what you know people will buy..............yata, yata, yata.
Judy: (I stick my fingers in my ears) Blah, blah, blah, I can't hear you.
Peter: You're acting like a big a baby.
Judy: And you're a great big @#$%^&* ass hole. (and I stomp upstairs to take a shower).
Thus goes the argument we've had at least 100 times.

It is so frustrating to get into these no win debates. I'm mad that so much of our/my success or feeling of being successful is quantified by the almighty dollar.
I want to just stop, take it easy, get inspiration and paint what I love and paint from my heart and soul. I am taking a risk putting it out there for all to see and judge. So putting some arbitrary number on one of my creations is one the hardest thing I do. Lately I've just said 75 cents per square inch and you make an offer.......
Men anyway they are just so left brained.

Earth Day

The other day my daughter forewarded me an e-mail from her half sister who is a hippy. Right Now she is living in a small town in Mexico with her new husband and her two boys. I wanted to repeat a part her letter because I feel like she is an awesome young lady you go girl...Just be careful.

so, i am here in a tiny mexican town. there was a music festival here. it is over. we have hiked for hours into the steep mounatins to the rushing river...where people shit in the water, and on the trail.....where it is custom to throw your trash on the ground and wash yer clothes directly in the river......these things makes cold shivers shoot in my body. i am angry....so what can i do. every time i talk to someone and they dont like what i say they tell me to go back to the states pinche gringa....well, i am going to take a different approach. i am going to write a letter to all them....and give it to all the pueblos that i pass through.....about all their songbirds that are being sold in the cities to make company for the lonely women working day after day without water, because there are so many people consuming rapidly....i cannot free the world of our consumer ways. but i can free my heart of the feeling that i did nothing. i can do somehting. give the tools freely....so much in life has to be paid for. food, healing, clothes shelter.....all this i question. and walk against....this is my life. to be an example for truth and freedom....many laugh. especially in the family at my seemingly wily ways.

The letter goes on to rail against our disfunctional family so I won't post it all of her tirade.

Yet Another one - I'm On Fire!

AHHH - RED, RED, RED, SO PASSIONATE, SO ENEGERIZING, SO GEORGEOUS, SO HARD TO PHOTOGRAPH.

I know you've heard it before my monitor just can't capture the color accurately, my camera, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.

You've heard all the excuses; it's true! This photograph was taken in natural light and still....

It is a deep Chineese red and as always with encaustic art it's depth, luminosity and etheral quality

can't be captured with a mere camera you must see and touch with your own 5 sences.

My Latest Creations

Let There Be Light
Lately I have been creating a piece of art every day. Teaching seems to have inspired me and given me a million ideas. Encaustic wax is so great it dries instantly and you can pile up layers and layers of paint. The possibilities are endless. One of the adults that came to the class was frustrated with the wax not doing exactly what she wanted. The wax ultimately does what it wants. I said: "encaustic wax is not for perfectionists."
YAY I am not a perfectionist.

Geometric Patterns
Here are some of my creations. I put them on E-Bay yesterday, but my photographs are getting harder and harder to get. My Gateway 5.0 megapixel camera is being held together with ducktape. How Alaskan is that we use ducktape for everything.

Serenity Prayer
They are all different. Which remimds me of a critique which a judge gave me while I was applying for a grant. "She is all over the map" I just can't seem to help myself I LOVE IT ALL someone suggested that I take ritlin to focus my art. Yeh right maby I just take ritlin and paint in neverending circles. However,I do plan to make more impressionistic work which is perfect for encaustic wax.

I’m Hooome

Since last night I have been processing my experience teaching encaustic wax techniques and all the impressions that I brought back from Whittier.

I was in the company of other great artists Gail Baker from Homer,Alaska
She did mask making. The students made some awesome, frightening masks from leather.

Ronna Lopisich from Anchorage taught watercolor painting. She rode up with me and is my newest best friend, funny and warm and loves the Lord.


Movie Making – Media Arts – Mike Jipping The teens were given a lot of information and they set out to make 3 short movies. A Day In The Life of a Whittier Kid, that was a very interesting and telling commentary on what it is like for a kid in Whittier….It shows various kids sitting around some room they gather at the BTI (thats what they call the building where everyone lives) just hanging out in various positions of boredom mauling about the furniture, some playing some video games. Another movie showed two kids putting another kid into a straight jacket and dumping him in the tunnel, scary and weird.

Megan Reichart – Theatre, She was an interesting young lady who lives in Anchorage but went to graduate school in New York City studying theatre arts she had the full on New York City - Broadway experience. Lucky Girl.

It seems that all the things that I heard about Whittier are true. There are no single family homes they all live in Begich Towers BTI for short a WWII 15 story structure the government gave to Whittier after the war. The janitor at the school; Karen tattled on the town. She said some people stay there all winter and do not come out. One man stayed there for 19 years. There is an underground tunnel from the BTI to the school so no need to go out.

The weather is mostly windy, rainy, and snowy with a few nice days. The population is 100 to 200 in the winter and triples in the summer. People do come out in the summer and enjoy the awesome beauty of the place. My room was on the sound looking out at the water and harbor. Two huge eagles that hang around on top of the widow’s watch flew so close to my window I couldn’t believe it. I watched otters playing and fishing. Whales come down breaching all the way. The inlet is so deep 400’ the huge cruse ships come to the station the tourists get on the train and leave. I watched 15 fishing boats and trawlers coming back at the end of the day. There are 5 glaciers within view of the village. When the snow melts there are many pretty waterfalls.

I wanted to catch more of a glimpse of the parents of these kids, but I don’t go into bars anymore. So I hoped they would show up for the art show. Everyone displayed their art projects and discussed them, there was a skit from the theatre group, the leather masks were on display. There was a slide show with the artists wearing the masks they made doing artful poses while Phantom of the Opera Music played. The movie making group showed three short films. Sadly very sadly I only saw a couple of new parents besides the ones that were helping all week. Common…....people, I don’t get it!!! This was what was happening in Whittier, or was Deal Or No Deal more important than your kids?

p.s.
My class went great my students loved it A few showed some great talent: Ian Angiak – Chenega Bay, Steven Geffe – Tatitlek, Daryl Haynes – Whittier, Casey Roberts - Whittier, Miranda Dye –Whittier, Brittany Saunders – Fairbanks, Shannon Sanders – Fairbanks, JJ Morice-Cannon – Anchorage, Desiree Englund – Fairbanks, Samantha Englund – Fairbanks. Thank you guys!

To be or not to be a Whittidiot. A Whittier, Alaska resident that is.

Ok, so I'm sorry to any of the good people that I am yet to meet in Whittier, Alaska.
If the Whitidiot is insulting that’s just what we call ya all.
Out here in the valley were called “Valley Trash” some folks were offended and others had tee shirts made that said VALLEY TRASH AND PROUD OF IT and wore them proudly. I, myself, would not want to wear something calling me trash lest anyone actually think I’m trashy. Oh NOOOOOOoooooo

I am so excited to see and visit Whittier and teach encaustic wax art(they are going to be new experiences for me)that I can hardly sleep.

These are the things that I've heard about Whittier, Alaska. That up until a couple of years ago the only way to get there was to take the train or take a cruse ship there. Now you have to wait until 8:30 am and you can drive though the tunnel straddling the railroad tracks with your car. God! don't let me meet a train in the tunnel. That is a reoccurring dream in my life.... Hummmmmmmm Dr. Freud Dr. Freud.
I've heard that the channel in 300 feet deep.
I've heard that most of the town lives in a 13 story barrack built there during WWII. They don't have buildings that tall in Anchor Town (Anchorage).
I've heard that there are 5 glaciers to see right from town.
I've heard there are no lawns just shale.
I’ve heard it rains all the time.
I've heard of people who go there and never get out.
So if I get out I will have stories of my own to tell and pictures to share.
So be on the look out, there's more to come, that is if I get out.

My Very Very Cruddy Week or just be happy to do nothing

After my fall through the ice I have been sick, sore throat, headache and body ache. I gargled with goldenseal yesterday; that stuff is so nasty it tasted like bile, yuck, yuck, yuck. I must get myself better by Sunday because that is when I leave for Whittier to teach my "Encaustic Workshop” This is a first time for me teaching teens how to paint with wax. I'm excited!

My painting "The Lost Lenore" is put on the shelf for the time being but I did make an encaustic piece on Sunday "The Rainbow Trout". Encaustic lends itself beautifully to an impressionistic style of painting

If anyone is reading my blog please give me your opinions.

Snow on April Fools Day

God certainly has a funny sense of humor, all week long the snow and ice was melting and the temperatures were approaching 40 degrees. The pesky squirrels that live in my attic came out of hibernation and I planted my annual spring tonic (wheat grass). And then snow, I decided to take the dogs for a walk in the woods. When hiking across the frozen lake my foot broke through the ice and I went in up to my knee, scary! So I lay down for awhile in the field of snow just to look up at the sky and say Thank You God for your April Fools jokes, first snow and then me almost buying the farm and going through the ice.

Today I went to substitute for an elementary school P.E. teacher in Willow, Alaska and on the way in the door my shoe went through the ice into a big wet hole and I got my shoe and sock and pant leg all wet. Enough already! It’s not funny anymore.