i've been completely unmotivated about blogging this week. not sick or too busy, just blah and uncreative. maybe i just didn't have anything new to say. smile! so it was karma when i visited willow's blog this evening and saw she had participated in a literary quartet meme. oh ho this was just what i was looking for . . . something to sink my teeth into and get my creative juices flowing. what better thing for me to write about than BOOKS???!!! if you've been following my blog since the early days (march this year) you'll know that i've had a love affair going with books since childhood. i love to read books, buy books, collect books, talk about books, recommend books, revisit books, check books out of the library, well you get the picture.
so, i'm being my typical rebellious self and renaming this meme "stack of books". pick one fiction book, one autobiography, one non-fiction book and one book of your choice from any genre. tell why it's on your favorites list. the only other rule i imposed on myself was that the book had to be a resident of my artroom book case. there are dozens of favorites which i no longer own but i wanted to post of photos of my picks. so, here goes:
panther in the sky by james alexander thom is historical fiction at its best. it chronicles the life of tecumseh, starting in 1768 when he was born thru 1809 when his tribal homelands were taken over by the white man. i was intrigued by the indian customs when i first read it and am always empathetic to the indians' plight when i revisit this book. i've read all of thom's books (long knife, follow the river, from sea to shining sea, etc.) but this one still stands out as my favorite.
i've never been a huge fan of autobiographies but thoroughly enjoyed born standing up by steve martin when i read it earlier this year. nostalgic and touching, his recounting of how he carved out a name for himself as a stand up comedian was most endearing to me.
i received a copy of the prophet by kahill gibran as a gift in 1973. a country-girl/college student wearing rose-colored glasses and carrying a fervent belief that i would change the world, i was being exposed to a whole new world of ideas and cultures. kibran's writings had a big impact on my idealistically youthful self. (btw, i just noticed that my hardback copy of this book carried a retail price of $4.50; that was the srp, not the sale price!!)
the stack of books i photographed features j.k. rowling's final harry potter book because i love the colors of the book jacket, but my final free choice selection is actually the entire set of 7 harry potter books. i was completely enamored by this series of books from the very first word. not only have i read each book multiple times, but have spent many contented hours discussing the characters, plots, ideology and utter creativity of each one (mostly with my daughter). was i sad when the final book was read and laid aside? yes. will i be sad when i leave the theater after seeing the final movie? yes. will the heart of a poor orphan boy who awakened the world to the joy reading live on in my heart forever. absolutely!
if you love books and would like to play along, please consider yourself tagged!
dreamy town
after several weeks of rumors and speculation, the company i work for laid off 47 people on friday morning -- 20% of our salaried employees. what a scary and disheartening day it was. i am safe for now and feel so grateful to have a job! my heart goes out to all who now face unemployment and finding a new job. i was there in april of this year and know how tough it is. please keep these and all the other unemployed people across our country in your thoughts and prayers.
we were running errands yesterday morning when i said to bill can we run home and get my camera? the pear tree immediately above had caught my eye and i just had to photograph it. so we did and then being the wonderful trooper that he is, bill drove around for a while stopping when i spied something that caught my eye. it was windy and cold and overcast but my heart was singing with joy! looks like another cold, windy, overcast day today. a good day for soup and a movie. i'm voting for you've got mail!
my latest commission is done on a 12" x 18" piece of solid aspen. the picture doesn't do justice to all the textures and layers of this piece. i used lots of crinkled up tissue paper under the body of the crane and for the reeds at the bottom. plus the acrylic paint flowers are built up in layers as well. it was a fun piece and has gotten rave reviews from my client and all my co-workers.
so i let myself wallow in self-pity for a bit and then kicked myself in the patootey with an admonishment to make the best of it. so, we threw on sweat pants and heavy sweatshirts and spent the day on the beach anyway. i decided to practice my photography skills and once i forgot about the wind had a delightful time. and, who says shells have to be perfect and big? i concentrated on the tiny imperfect ones and came home with a treasure trove of nature's beauty.
bill was also great about playing along when i wanted to take some artsy shot. once i sat not far from a flock of sea gulls and said ok when i'm ready flap your arms and holler so they fly. what fun it was to shoot, shoot, shoot as they flew away. the photo in my header above is one of the ones i took during this escapade.
it made me wonder if we shouldn't all do the same thing each afternoon. big bunches of us standing united, facing west and saying a prayer of thanks for another wonderful day. standing one one foot optional.
although i'm sure my hubbie would not admit it, he had expectations on this vacation of spending time alone with me away from my art room. his expectations were met. no alterations needed. we spent 24/7 together breathing in the sea air, riding our bikes and relaxing together. what he may not know is that i was composing blog posts in my head and envisioning works of beach-inspired art at least part of the time. he had 100% of my company but my mind was still brewing up all those creative thoughts.
so vacation taught me a few lessons about living and creating life rather than expecting life to hand me my expectations on a silver platter. and, it was so much richer for the lesson!!!
