November 2005
This is always a busy time of year for me with both family, gallery and my own work pulling at my attention. It's funny, but I still manage to paint on a regular basis. I guess we always make time for the things which are important to us. I've been very pleased with the results lately: oil painting, watercolor, and a pen and ink sketch. Like most artists, I work in such isolation that it's often difficult to judge my progress. However, I usually know when I'm in the groove, or in flow, or whatever the current term is being bandied about in popular culture. These days, I've been contemplating the term "arts advocacy." It's one of those phrases which most people think they understand, but if you ask, then you get a different answer from everyone. I'm not the kind of person who goes around banging a drum, shouting to the world, "arts are wonderful...and they'll make you beautiful, smart and get you the best date for the prom." In fact, most real artists I know would be happy as clams just to stay in our caves, creating our poems or paintings or musical scores. Unfortunately, there's always the matter of eating and helping children do home work and paying the orthodontist's bill. Sigh. So we are forced to come out of our dank little caves and talk arty stuff to people who love us and our work, or to cajole legislators that funding the arts is a neat thing to do and what a drab dull world this would be if there were no art. I will be expanding my thoughts about this subject in coming months on the IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) page. Meanwhile, please e-mail me your thoughts about this topic.
	I've been preparing all week for my annual Open Studio Sale. It's a lot of work but great fun when it finally arrives. I sold some paintings and enjoyed the company of my friends and patrons in the sunshine. All in all, a great day. Check out the photos.
Wow! What a scary ride last Saturday. As you may have heard, we had a tornado blow through this part of Southern Indiana. Although that was in Evansville, over an hour's drive away, we have been finding bits of house insulation in our fields, woods and trees. We even found someone's old telephone bill on our drive.

October 2005

The flat tire was fixed and I enjoyed some beautiful rides in the golden, warm autumn air. Some minor outpatient surgery has since sidelined me for a bit but I'm putting the time to good use with my other work. Catching up on commissions, hosting a French Art lecture at the Jasper Art Center, including creating some neat oil sketches after Mary Cassatt. Check them out on my other website. Also, follow the progress of a large and complex commission that I'm finishing up.

Grumble grumble grumble. I went for a ride today and when I took my bike out of the van, it had a flat tire. I had left my repair equipment at home.

September 2005

It's been an interesting Monday.

You know, a great way to start off your day is by cleaning out the chicken house. Yippee. Actually it needed to be done and my son has been neglecting this job since he found paying employment. I wanted to get the hen and her chick out of the doghouse and set her up in a special enclosure so I had to clean that out. Then I energetically tackled the coop and the surrounding area. Sometimes there is no way around a dirty job but to just dive right in and DO it! I did discover that the expensive and useless little set of patio gardening tools which my husband bought me a couple of years ago are perfect for raking out muck in these tight areas. Everyone has fresh straw and are hopefully, coyote-proofed. And I have some nice mulch for the tomatoes next year. All before breakfast. Nothing like getting an early start.

I went biking today and saw an eagle. That always makes my spirits soar.

New Baby Chick

Just working on a very large commission with a few more rolling in for Christmas. Life of the artiste is not always exciting, just nose to the grindstone. (Ouch! That hurts!)

It was a very sad week for our nation and fellow countrymen and women in the South. My heart goes out to you. I believe that everyone is as stunned and overwhelmed by the events as I am. I can only hope that anyone reading this who lives in the disaster area understands how the nation stands behind...and beside you. You have friends everywhere.

House Guest - Chicken Nesting in Dog House

On a more personal note, the day after Katrina did her damage on the coasts, the rains hit us in the Midwest. I swear, I could actually smell the ocean.

That evening, after a long day of pouring rain, just at dusk, I could hear the coyotes running the creek beds. The next day dawned beautiful with sparkling clear skies. I went out early to feed my chickens and discovered that the coyotes had broken into the pen and decimated most of this year's hatchlings. It's a paltry thing in the face of such national human devastation and loss, but it was a big thing to me. I'd raised many of these chicks from hatchlings after their mother abandoned them and they still nestled together as broodmates.

The only bright note is that I have another hen who is brooding...and living in the dog house...with my dog, a 90 pound German Shepard. (He also allows the cat to sleep with him on cold nights.)

House Guest

August 2005

It seems the weather is conspiring to hinder my bike ride and painting adventures this summer. Or maybe, I'm just a wuss. Ninety degree temps with humidity to match is too much to bike and paint in any kind of comfort. The month of August has been spent doing mostly studio work. Ah well, perhaps in September.

Still hot but storms on Saturday and Sunday nights cooled things down a bit. I'll be back biking this week for sure. I finished a painting of the canoe house in Milltown and will have that up as soon as I can take a photo of it.

The weather is still HOT HOT HOT! This is not too surprising. It is August, after all. But there has been no relief for weeks. I'm trying to do studio work, but even that is difficult without air conditioning. Silly me. I sold my window unit because it made too much noise. Sigh. Oh well, live and learn. I am actually working on a large portrait commission and just completed another watercolor of Milltown and the canoes. It is on the Little Blue River had has a couple of interesting canoe outfitters. However, I think the water might be too low in this drought even for that kind of refreshing activity.

July 2005

The weather here is stifling, remnants of hurricane Dennis. No long biking treks, just studio work. I took some new work by Mark McConnell's Jackson Street Gallery in Jasper.

I gave a presentation on biking and art at the Crawford County Public Library today, Saturday, 7-16-05. It was exciting to share my year-long project with local residents. I also presented a painting of Horseshoe Bend Farm to director, Catherine Ramsey. I believe that she is going to give it to Jerry Breeden, a benefactor of both of the Crawford County Libraries. Check out the photos.

Now, for the good news. I received a surprise request today from the Indiana Arts Commission to use two of my paintings on their newly designed marketing materials. This will be for postcards, e-mail headers, etc. What a pleasant surprise and an honor! I'll put up some samples when it is official.

It's been a week of ups and downs. After I put up this newly designed website, I was testing the links and couldn't figure out why the e-mail wasn't arriving in my in-box. I have it redirected to my AOL account since I check that more frequently. After many frustrating phone calls, I discovered that AOL had blocked the e-mail from the server where this site is parked. My other site is parked on another server with the same host and that e-mail works fine. This was apparently due to another website which was SPAMMING, nothing to do with me or mine, but I was the innocent victim. I now have my e-mail for this site redirected to a different account but there is no telling how much business I've lost. So...any of you out there who are following this blog, if you haven't been able to get through, please try again.

Haying, Crawford County, oil 8 x 10 - Mini-Miracle

This has been a very busy month. I've been biking and trying to complete paintings for my grant. I've updated my other website, kgmiracle.com, and have totally redesigned this one. I've added some new paintings and new items as well. Check out my Min-Miracles and Pen & Ink Hand-colored Prints. I'll be giving a free kiddie class and talk to adults at the Crawford County Library on Saturday, July 16th. I've also been very busy wearing my other hat as gallery director for the Jasper Arts Center. I took down the June show by photographer, John Bower, hung the Patoka Valley Quilters Exhibit and hosted John Streetman, Director of the Evansville Museum, who was our judge for our annual juried show in September. PLUS, here on the farm, the garden is coming in and the chickens are hatching. Whew!

June 2005

Well, I'm pretty embarrassed to find in a Google search of myself, that my very outdated blog was mentioned in the Perry County online journal. Sorry folks. I actually have been very busy painting and biking, conducting a free biking and art workshop at the Patoka Lake Nature Center, attending the presentation of awards at Arts Alliance Indiana and trying to finish up the obligations for my grant to bike and paint in Crawford County. This spring has found me mostly biking and painting at Milltown, Leavenworth, Alton and around Patoka Lake. I'm also doing more oil paintings which are presenting some interesting challenges but I like the results. If you would like to see some of the results of this project so far, I will be giving a free art lecture at the Crawford County Public Library at 1 p.m. on July 16th to the general public. At 10:30 that day, I'll be giving a free art lesson to children ages 10 - 14. Call the Library directly for more information.

My online friend, The Cycling Dude: Kiril Kundurazieff,has a wonderful bicycling website with links to many blogs, including his own. He has encouraged me to keep an online journal and it's probably a good idea for those of you who might wish to follow my progress. This is not a true blog as you will only be able to respond to me by e-mail, kit@fromthebackofabike.com.

Also, like most women today, I'm juggling many things - wife, mother of two teenagers, part-time gallery director, and artist. The biking and art isn't the only kind of art that I do, in fact, most of my creative art work is involved in other areas, including many commissions. See my other website, www.kgmiracle.com, for a more comprehensive view of what I do. However, this journal will highlight some of my rides, what I saw or encountered, and some photos or scans of my paintings.

Online Journal from 2004

This page was last updated on October 25, 2009