Tagged

This small watercolor is of the Japanese Bridge at Janesville's Rotary Botanical Gardens, painted as an EDM challenge for "something cold", and an example of architecture. The source is a photo I took at the garden, which you can see in the previous post. I experimented with using a birthday candle as a wax resist, and the colors are all from Derwent's Graphitint watercolor pencils.

One of the most rewarding things about writing a blog is how it leads to meeting other people whose share my enthusiasms. It began last spring when I searched online for information on planning a spa day with my sister. I found someone who had done the same thing, and she was an artist who led me to the Everyday Matters Group. This diverse group of people is a marvelous resource about making art, and a tremendous source of personal inspiration and encouragement. Sharon (from both Shelfari and Everyday Matters) , http://flatsoundofwoodenclogs.blogspot.com/ sent me this "I Love You This Much Award," and I am sending it on to five more bloggers. Thanks and a big hug to each of you!

Karen's blog http://www.karensblog.com/ is the place I like to go this winter to see oil and acrylic paintings set in California. A skillful plein air painter, she is very generous with help to occasional whiners like me. I appreciate her dedication, and the fact she organizes weekly challenges for the EDM group.

Andrea's blog http://andreajoseph24.blogspot.com/ caught me eye early. Her distinctive style, often employing meticulous sepia pen work, always makes me catch my breath. Her artwork has a sly humor that I admire.

Anita's blog http://artbyanita.blogspot.com is one I always like to browse. She does lovely pencil sketches, but paintings and monoprints as well. She specializes in portraits.

Colleen's blog http://cedarraven.weebly.com is one I discovered recently. She draws, paints with watercolor and acrylic and is able to create marvelously intricate views of nature.

Lin's blog viewfromtheoak.blogspot.com is where you can go to see her watercolors celebrating nature. Lin specializes in landscapes of her native North Carolina and places she has traveled. I admire her for her dedication to daily painting, and for her unflagging support of other artists.

The participation rules are simple:
1. If you get tagged (and want to play along), write a post with links to blogs that you love
2. 2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme, created by Emila.

I've Been Tagged

Sharon has Tagged me, so it is my turn to reveal seven random things about myself, then pass it on to seven other bloggers. I’m game, but here’s the thing. I don’t know how to add links to other bloggers. Further more, I’m too lazy to figure it out! Or at least I already have plans to work out, read and paint today. Plus all the blogs I regularly read have already been tagged (I think). I know, excuses, excuses. Anyway, thanks to Sharon for thinking of me. If anyone wants to email me and tell me how to add links, I would be grateful.

Here goes:

1. I grew up on a Wisconsin dairy farm, where my family kept a menagerie of pets. Besides the usual multiple dogs and cats, at various times we had a mean Welsh pony, a mean parakeet, turtles, tropical fish, a crow, a raccoon, and foxes.

2. I recently retired after thirty-two years of teaching middle school and high school English and Speech. I also coached forensics, not the kind on CSI, rather competitive public speaking. I enjoyed teaching, but am also enjoying this new phase of my life. That was then; this is now.

3. I am married to a lovely man whom I met in a college class, History of the English Language. The first time I spoke to him I called him by the wrong name, but he neglected to correct me for several dates. We’ve been together since 1975. He retired the same day I did, and it worked out fine. No children, one cat.

4. Starting in 1961 I had an English pen pal. I sent 25 cents in to a magazine for a name and address, and started writing to a young man in London. We wrote a few times, then he lost interest, and his mother picked up the correspondence. I visited them in London many times, until her death in 2004, only two days after my own mother’s death. I miss both of my moms.

5. I still have a baby tooth.

6. I am beginning to think that taking art classes is an excuse not to paint on my own. I hate it when my painting suddenly looks like somebody else’s style. The trouble is, I’m not sure what my style is, except that it involves a love of color.

7. I want to find a way to combine my various enthusiasms, reading, painting, travel, collecting old dolls, and researching family history. Right now my blog is the only way I seem to be able to do that, but the search continues.