What a great metaphor for self-determination.
Connie Reeves, riding instructor since 1936, taught more than 36,000 girls to ride and at 101 years old was still riding every day.
This was just sent to me by a friend. I found it moving, inspiring and wonderful.
Dedication and hard work... a life well lived... who could ask for more?

It's not so much egomania as intense focus- self absorbtion is not really the same as egomania.. I have no social life right now, but that's ok because I am excited and fulfilled by the work....
I am painting very, very intensely still getting work done for the Bellevue Artsfair show. which has to be shipped out to the west coast in three days. Success is about hard work and being in the right place at the right time. Andrew Russell Towl says that you make your own luck.

This painting of a black oyster catcher nest on a stony beach with remnants from a Haida sculpture is for the show. I've been immersing myself in north western Native imagery- reference material that I have had since writing This is Our Forest- the children's musical about ancient forests. Sigh. Another lifetime!

I did just take time to read an editorial by Nicholas Kristof about Three Cups of Tea.
It is of course, brilliant: both the editorial and the book. Kristof speaks to the success of Greg Mortenson's school building diplomacy, as contrasted with the Bush administration's policy of giving immense sums of money to governments. I had assumed fearfully that Mortenson's schools were being demolished by the Taliban along with other schools, but apparently they are not.
Did we learn nothing from our decades of continual tragic errors in Latin America?
Here is a link to the Kristof article.

It has been beyond busy.
I can't believe it's been more than a month since I blogged. Better to quickly post up a quick update than to lapse for so very long.
After mailing my work off to the Gopalan Gallery  show in Terre Haute IN, I started Summer Aartz 2008 in my studio, working with kids making art of all sorts: paste paper journals; "thinking outside the box" costumes for Brandon's
Fourth of July parade

& puzzle pieces of the Vermont Arts Council's Art Fits project. An intense day 9am-4pm.
In the middle of Summer Aartz I was part of this year's Brandon WCAX tv ad. I'll post the url as soon as they are done the editing. Here is last year's: http://brandon.org/images/I_Do/convert/i_do.html
That's Warren Kimble's voice telling us about all about his beloved Brandon.
July 5th was a banner day: marching in Vermont's largest 4rth of July parade; going to my opening at the Dorset Theater, and being a girl dog/dog diva for the band- the Sleeping Dogs- for a retirement party at Spring Lake Ranch.
Also my websites are finally recombined, although it's not done... Links don't work well between the two combined sites, but they will soon. One step at a time.
NOT TO MENTION that I've been fiendishly working on new work for the Bellevue Artsfair in Washington State.
I don't know if I'll bring Dawn Nest with me. It's pretty large for cross country shipping: 12" x 60" but I made it with either Dorset or Bellevue in mind. It has changed already since this photo... scrawled patterns on the eggs and darker shadows in the blossoms. It's so pretty that it doesn't work yet. Not enough mystery and challenge.
 
Just checked to see if the Art Access publication had been uploaded yet, and it has. You can find me at:
http://artaccess.com/galleries.cgi?m=1&g=136

The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.

Evening Song Sparrow Is this a Song Sparrow in the evening ora sparrow singing an evening song?

- Richard Bach

Well, I certainly call it work, but it is work I choose. And wanting to get it done is all about loving the process of exploration, discovery and creation.

One show is in Dorset, Vermont at the Dorset Playhouse, and one at the Bellevue Artsfair, in Bellevue, Washington. Both excellent opportunities.
The challenge is intense. I have my work cut out for me. 
I am having a lot of fun with these pours. It's somewhat like putting the glazed piece into the kiln, submitting it to the gods of fire. These pours are submissions to the forces of gravity and viscosity. It is can be controlled to a certain extent, but not entirely. It is a spontaneous process, but like a call and response song it only works if you are have learned the parts.

I am ever-so-lucky to have the good fortune of being in a serene studio.
Traveling to this distant land has opened up so much for me... The connection and contrast between  continents and culture is once again more clarified. For studio time it actually doesn't matter that it is in a distant land, but for me as an artist and human being this isolated mountain aerie studio is perfect. 
And my long soggy slogs through the rainy streets of Barcelona were an unanticipated source of energy and inspiration.
Adventure awakens the sleeping consciousness...
New horizons stimulate the mind dulled by the expected.

Removal from the on-going onslaught of committments and obligations is essential. My life is anything but boring, but to not have chaos intrude upon the creative process is essential.
I am ever-so grateful to the Vermont Arts Council and Castleton College for their support in this quest for quiet and a time and a space to work.

I am perennially hopeful. Not much for sacrifice. Certainly not on a grand scale. But it is increasingly important to think of these greater spirits in these times of chaotic, distracted self-indulgence.

Uninterrupted studio time in a spacious studio, with great natural light and an incredible view. Talk about self-indulgence. Focus and passion are essential. I begin with color pours, just trying to get my hands in the dirt... a feel for where I am and what I am doing... These little exercises seem pointless, but at least I am doing something with interesting (to me) results. Like push-ups. The struggle to get into gear in a new space.

Meanwhile, I am surrounded by astonishing vistas, amazing natural beauty. Raw earth on an immense scale. The sounds of spring bird call are everywhere, rushing snow melt and flowers in the the meadows.
Much rain, though. Mist and clouds.

There is a distance, other than time and culture between those two statements.

Despite the fact that I am steadfast and dogged in the studio, and have given my heart to it, I am absurdly vulnerable to distractions.
The internet is a huge enticement: the illusion of accomplishment in browsing news websites etc.
Piano; I can spend hours practicing, and I'm nearly up to the third grade level!
Reading; It can consume the entire day, even though I'm trying to stick to pin-pointedly relevant books.
Gardening; now that it's finally warm and the black flies are gone!
Writing on my blog; what does it all add up to anyway?
And other humans. That's not entirely about procrastination.
It's about community, genuine interest in others and the human core in all of us. Or at least in me.
A little bit about believing their needs are more valid than mine.
Did O'Keeffe think that? Definitely NOT.
Now I am headed to the easel.