HANGIN' BY A THREAD

Have you ever felt like you were just hanging by a thread? I woke up feeling like this these past few days.... just clinging to a shred of my dignity.

I then observed a spider outside my bedroom door, after a rain shower, mending her damaged web diligently. I watched her for quite a few moments then decided this had to be recorded so I could remember and also share. how a spider, tiny and fragile, just kept mending away and creating, no matter what. And she always knew the correct pattern. It was inbred. It was instinct. It was survival. I loved it. I love this spider.

She is still outside my bedroom door, hanging in there, and her beautiful web is larger and quite intact. I will not harm her. She is a symbol.,,,, An artist...... and a pretty good one at that..... Meanwhile,
I discovered the music of Death Cab For Cutie - Here's the video. Great music to spin by.

JULY FOURTH "KISMET"

It was very evidently all meant to be...

I had traveled to Scotland on a return trip (I spent my childhood in Edinburgh) to visit some friends and soak up that gorgeous atmosphere of purple heather, great pubs and the Castle on Princess Street.

I stayed for all too few days at the Caledonia Hotel - waking up to Sunshine in a room with an excellent view overlooking Princess Street and Edinburgh Castle,with kippers and poached eggs in bed, marmalade and toast burnt on one side only, served on a tray with fine linen napkins,and really,really good china and silverware.....
That was truly heavenly.

But the reason for this July 4th post is the celebration of the connection between all of us and particularly with me and my connection to America, and quite coincidentally with a fantastic artist named Duane Hanson.

After the marvelous breakfast that day,I decided to go to the Museum where I grew up- the National Galleries of Scotland and took a cab there. I saw, much to my amazement, as soon as I walked in the door, "Mr & Mrs Miami Beach Tourist" a life size sculpture by artist Duane Hanson, standing there for all they were worth looking as if they had stepped from a tourist bus and wandered into this gallery across the pond.

Now, I lived then and do now, in Florida. And Mr. Hanson lived and worked in cowboy territory, Davie, Florida. I had met Mr. Hanson after this quite powerful, to me, coincidence and he is one of the most amazing and real people, as an artist, that I have ever met. A quiet, reserved, attractive man who looked quite human and frail, it was hard to believe that he had staged a riot in the street, and caused the police to come a number of times in 1971 to North Miami, with his installed sculptures "Race Riot", Life size, mixed mediums. Mr Hansen had also done a sculpture of my painting professor, Robert Thealey, sitting on his helmet when he was a player for the Canes,my school,the University of Miami's football team. This sculpture is still in the Lowe Gallery, I do believe.

The other connection to me of Florida and America, is that when I was growing up in Edinburgh, I lived opposite the National Gallery of Scotland and visited there many times, in the National Park of Scotland. There I discovered hot houses, huge glass domes built to house exotic plants, where I saw my first palm trees and hibiscus flowers. Quite amazing to experience the extreme cold of Scottish winters and visit in warm, enclosed, womb-like, moist environments, to see then flowers and trees which surround me now in my beloved Florida. Happy July 4th!!!******

A FATHER'S DAY MESSAGE ON SUMMER SOLTICE

I choose to honor my father, who had passed away over ten years ago...... today, on the day Summer officially begins and also, coincidentally, Father's Day. The above photo spread of my fine art oil paintings appeared in ART IN AMERICA magazine,2009. The top painting, a diptych, is entitled "My Father At Work In His Paisley Tie" Oil on Canvas, 4ft x 3ft and to be found in the Fine Art section of my web.

Our fathers are also men......

There can be issues between Fathers and Daughters. Some of them epic in scope. I have found gratitude to be the great healer, and that my issues were NOT epic and that I am grateful to love my Dad.

Dad was forced to serve in the Polish army in Poland, against his will, for many years after his contract was up. Ever since, Dad loved his freedom and after meeting my birth mother in Scotland, traveled to his beloved America and proudly became a naturalized citizen.

I chose the pattern of the painting honoring my father to be the Black-Watch Tartan, worn by the guards in Scotland as they watched over the sleeping city. My fathers name was Michael, and I am also especially attracted to the Archangel Michael for protection on my sacred journey here on planet earth.

OPENING & CLOSING

GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN!

OPENING: My above named painting arrived this morning, having had a sojourn in New York at the Salmagundi Art Club May 11- 29, 2009. As a juried member of the National Association of Women Artists since 2007, I have shown in the NAWA New York gallery and in the Salmagundi Club,which originated in 1871 as a sketch class in Johnathan Scott Hartley's studio and is now housed in a mid nineteen century brownstone. The club adopted its present name a hundred years ago after Washington Irving published his potpourri of wit and wisdom called "The Salmagundi Papers" which name also serves as the club dining room's famous "Salmagundi Stew". For the past 137 years, fine artists throughout the US and around the world may display their works here in an atmosphere of conviviality.

Through the years the club has been the gathering place for such great artists as Childe Hassam, William Merrit Chase, Howard Pyle, N.C. Wyeth, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Ogden Pleisner and many others. Honorary members have included such luminaries as Sir Winston Churchill, Buckminister Fuller, Paul Cadmus, Al Hirschfeld, Thomas Hoving and Schuyler Chapin....... I have been humbly touched by such luminary company......

CLOSING: I have taken a closer step to my place in American History, but the time seems very short and all too soon the show is over. I have to call it a day, be grateful, and prepare for the next adventure. Sometimes, I try to remember, the fun is in the journey!

EARTH DAY

Today is the day to celebrate our beautiful Mother Earth! It is so beautiful today that I just had to honor the environmental consciousness of all of those who are trying so very hard to make it possible for us to change for the better all of the mistakes made in ignorance in the past.
Thank you! I remember when I lived in New York and visited a friend's family for dinner when they shamed him for being so selflessly involved in correcting and solving problems of our environment. (He was ahead of his time) He was making so little money at this and was so dedicated! He opened my eyes when at the time I was modeling for a living and only living for and thinking about being physically beautiful. Now I know it is important to live beautifully. And for me, that means taking care of my beautiful planet in every small way I can, as the microcosm so the macrocosm. Thank you so much Buckminster Fuller!

One of the most informative websites I have found on the subject of environmental responsibility is www.climatecrisis.org
Peace.

LOVE

I was watching the birds this morning feeding from the bird feeder I hung in my garden, in front of the kitchen window. I especially love the red cardinals, who mate for life. The male watches over the female as she feeds,from his hideaway in the ficus hedge. He is patient and willingly lets her feed for a long time before he claims his own. I love that! How wonderful, I thought, to experience this kind of unselfishness and generous patient love. I desire to have that in my own life also and will accept no substitute! (And so shouldn't you).

I am sharing this story with you, because there are also less unselfish and actually very greedy birds that I feed. Such as the morning doves, who also mate for live. They fight over their territory and only allow certain birds to share in their stash. Sometimes they get so rowdy, they smash into things by accident (no casualties as of yet)

The difference is that we are human, and can change our behavior through our decisions. It is not ever too late to experience unselfish and unconditional love. It starts with us. We can rise above our base instincts and transcend into freedom.

Valentine's day is the day set aside for love, "a perfect day to go within and glance back with affection and understanding at your real life journey so far...... we'll need courage to retrace our steps. But 'courage is the price that Life extracts for granting peace', the pilot Amelia Earhart reminds us... Today is the day for being. Be with those you love, be kind to yourself. Be quiet and call forth the dream you buried long ago. The ember is still glowing in your soul. See it in your mind, hold it tenderly in your heart" advises Sarah Ban Breathnach, author of Simple Abundance, A Daybook of Comfort and Joy. www.simpleabundance.com

Today is the day to just be, be in the moment the only one we have, the perfection of now. Be with the ones you love and be grateful. www.cheriebender.com

POVERTY IS A DISEASE - GIVING IS THE CURE

This the time, people, NOW.

Allowing ourselves to be grateful for all that we have. Joy in the small things of life and noticing.... being generous also to ourselves as we can do no good without abundance in our own lives.


I will donate 50% of all sales from my website: Visit My Website October 15, 2008 - November 15, 2008, AND 10% thereafter until THE ENDING OF POVERTY; YEAR 2015.
















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