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| 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. |
 |
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. |
 |
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 |
| 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. |
| 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. |
 |
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! |
 |
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.
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