View from the Top

--Top of the mast, that is! Sometimes a woman has to do what a woman has to do; in this case, go up to the top of the mast of my Catalina 27 to see what kind of hardware manages the halyards, so that I can replace them.  That's Jim below, pulling me up in the bosun's chair with the jib halyard. Jim was my boat partner on another boat.

So how does a woman handle all this? I'm sole owner of an older sailboat in need of maintenance, developing my business as an artist, creating a new committed relationship with a true hearted man (Rifaat), and trying to be available for an aging parent and injured brother. How DOES one manage all this? Darned if I know. If you have any ideas, let me know!

Solstice Visit with an Owl

Appocolypsis, says Michael Mead, embodies both the breaking down of the old and the birth of the new--simultaneously. I think I'm still in the breaking down stage, with pieces of hope here and there. Or breaking open.

Last night I celebrated "the end of the world" with a family whose grief spiraled into such negativity that I felt completely broken open. I was shaking by the time I left. I felt devastated! Walking out onto the city street at night, I HAD to have some nature. I clung to the nearest green leaves on someone's fence trying to bring some life back into myself.

My Love took me to his prayer place, a place of 5 cedars. As we stood under the boughs trying to make sense of the experience, an owl landed just above us. I always feel so honored when wild folk come near!

After a bit, we moved on to another tree--and the owl followed!  We moved again, and the owl called, "Hoo  Hoo-hoo-hooo! ("Who cooks for you?")  It was a Bard (Barred) Owl!  I answered him, echoing his accent and pauses as well as I could. Three times we spoke this way, then the owl came to sit above us again. What joy!! The owl washed away my emotional exhaustion and renewed my spirit!

I have since learned that the Bard (Barred) owl is the most vocal of owls, and the might symbolize using one's voice more. All over the world, owls are connected with wisdom, intuition, seeing that which is hidden, knowing the Truth. Perhaps the owl is asking me to speak my truth more openly?

This visit with the owl made me feel honored, and connected to Life/Spirit in a new and deeper way.

Why do I paint? I am pretty darn value driven, and if I don't feel I am doing someone some good with what I am doing, I lose interest pretty fast. So why do I paint, and why on silk?

I paint because I am in love with this island, where the orca play, where purple starfish cling to the rocks at low tide, and where one might stumble across an octopus, or a red jellyfish as big as a platter, while walking on the beach.
I'm in love with the the way the evening sun lights up the orange/gold madrona trees, on this island where the great blue heron waits patiently for his supper to swim by at the tides edge, where the black bear visits in autumn, where eagles circle and seals come to watch us doing qi gung on the sand. I paint because I want to capture this magic.

I paint on silk because the luscious shine, the fluid colors, and soft feel best express the wonder and joy I feel when I walk on the beach or in the woods,  or sail over the waves.

I open my studio for the Studio Tour and I show up for Saturday Market because I want to share this magic with you!  Tomorrow is the last day of the Vashon Island Artist Studio Tour; my studio will be open from 11:30 until 4:00 pm. Next Saturday, December 15th,  I plan to be at Saturday Market at McMurry Middle School on Vashon.

If you have a request for a scarf, pillow, or curtain in particular colors or an image for a loved one, I can take orders through October 15th and have it finished for you by Friday Dec 20th.

Contact me at leigh.suzanna@gmail.com
206 463 5255

Our Bodies

I love this video by Melanie Wiedner:




Her art is amazing, and her spirit feels like a sister to mine.

Taking Flight--The Power of Community

Flying Lessons is available as a print on my esty shop

Only two years ago, a community of artists formed out of Kelly Rae's online class, Flying Lessons. I am proud to be one of these artists, and very proud and delighted to be included in a show of paintings by fellow flyers at the Lede Studio and Gallery!

Sail Away is available as a print on my etsy shop

Lede Gallery is in Wake Forest, North Carolina, so some some of my work is all the way across the country being viewed by people thousands of miles away!

Besides the painting "Flying Lessons", I am also showing "Sail Away", "Golden Pathway", and "Walking on Water".

I have a confession to make, though. I was scared to send my original paintings on silk, priced at $450 to $900, to a gallery I had never heard of so far away. So I sent archival prints, matted and framed.

I Am So in Love with Alder Leaves!

I am so in love with alder leaves! Each one so perfect and no two quite alike! Some of them I printed on silk.

I'm In! Countryside Online Art Exhhibit!

Golden Pathway is available as art prints and cards in my etsy shop

My very first online art competition, and I'm in! 140 artists from all over the world entered 455 pieces this show, "Countryside", curated by the online gallery Light Space and Time. "Golden Pathway was one of 80 selected in the category "painting and other".

"Golden Pathway" is one of my favorite pieces, inspired by a summer walk with my beloved in a magical madrona forest on D'Çourcy Island in BC. It was a time of complete love, sailing in the sun, being exactly where I wanted to be. When my beloved died before the following summer, this image helped carry me through the grief. It has come to represent doing the work I am meant to do and that I love, being where I want to be, and being loved and in love.

May you experience walking the Golden Pathway in your life!

Archival art prints and cards of this image are available in my etsy shop.

The Quaker Lady and the Sufi Man

Want to know why I am so happy lately? Here he is!

Who knew that this Christian Quaker mama would fall in love with a Muslim Sufi man? Or that we would find the same God, the same values, the same vision of the Divine at the core of our Spiritual practices?

p.s. He's wearing a hat I made just for him, of raw silk.

The Storm Inside

Today feels like a lost day. Tropical Storm/Hurricane/cyclone Sandy is battering the East Coast, and a part of me is hunkered down with the millions of people without power being battered by the wind and water. Here it is only raining, for the 8th straight day, and the storm inside me is not life threatening. It just feels that way.

It's because I am starting something new. It has to do with my soul/business mission which emerged during Kelly Rae's ecourse "Hello Soul, Hello Business".

It seemed so easy at the time: celebrate the good that ordinary people are doing by featuring them on my blog, wearing one of my scarves. I tell their story and link to their online presence and to my etsy shop where my scarves are for sale. Win-win, right? And lots of fun to do.

So why am I so scared all of a sudden? On the way to do my first photo shoot, I almost backed out. My first model is a good friend and someone I admire for her commitment to making a life centered on love and spirit, some one with a story worth telling--and suddenly I have writer's block. I am battered with doubts and fears and don't know how to proceed.

Well, when in doubt, ride it out. Things will come clear soon enough. As Tama Kieves tells us:

"Don’t EVER give up on your gift dear one. There’s a reason you have the dream you have. It’s a bright commandment, a certified treasure map, the ticket to the rest of your life. "

Exploring silk painting techniques: Itajime with soy resist

Maple leaf image over itajime pattern

This piece made it into the show at the Blue Heron Gallery! The background was done with a Japanese technique called itajime; for the foreground I used a real maple leaf, a tjanting tool, and soy wax resist. With Itajime, one folds the cloth in various ways and sandwiches it between blocks or clamps before immersing it in the dye. The blocks or clamps resist the dye, creating a pattern.
 

tjanting tools from Dharma Trading Co

The tjanting tool is a tool for drawing lines of resist onto cloth. The copper bowl holds the melted wax resist, keeping it warm enough to flow out of the narrow spout like ink from a pen. The wax prevents the dye from meeting the cloth, creating effects such as the lines defining the maple leaf in the image above.

You can do some wonderful things with Itajime and with tjanting tools! If you take my class on Nov 11, I will teach you some tricks.

 Check out some of these web sites for what you can do with itajime:

Kaizen Journey
Entwinements
Dye Candy
Dye Smithy

Making a Dream Come True

I bought a boat. It's a Catalina 27, a 27' sailboat that fits me! It's a dream come true--and a huge learning experience.
So here I am, a single woman in my 60's, an artist living on social security trying to make a business of my art--and I have the gall to buy a sailboat!? Hey, making art and developing a business are full time activities in themselves, and now I have a boat?! Who do I think I am?? AND I plan to go to Thailand in February?

It's all about who I want to be in the world and what I want to do with my life and with my art. The bottom line is, I want to share with everyone I meet the Joy of living. I want to open my heart to the Divine Awareness and to every person I come in contact with, listening for opportunities to express the Joy, the Love, the Compassion that have been given to me. And I want boating to be a part of that vision.

son Jeremy and River

When I was in Port Townsend (the best boating town I know) this summer for the Edge Program for Visual Artists, I got back in touch with my love for sailing and for cruising. It was time for me to get a boat. When this little Catalina 27 came available for $3000, I jumped on it. I tell you, I could TASTE how much I wanted this boat. I borrowed $ from my son (It is nice to have hardworking good earning sons!) and put money down on it within 15 minutes of checking it out.

grand daughter River on the boat

And it has opened up my life! The joy of sailing and working on the boat with my sons is--dare I say it?--even greater than sailing with my soul mate was when he was living. The friendships I have made and renewed are already accumulating. What I need for the boat comes easily; the right person to help and advise just shows up when I need them most!

And I am learning to do new things, like make the right mixture of gas and oil for the outboard motor (Ugh! I hate...I mean, I am not comfortable with small engines). Fixing the leaks now that the rain has come. Figuring out how to put in reefing lines (to make the sail smaller when the wind is stronger).

Colorhue dyes vrs Jaquard dyes

Colorhue dyes on the left; Blue on the right is Jaquard.

I've been experimenting with dyes and with a shibori technique called Itajime. Well, the Jaquard dyes don't work for itajime! No matter how tightly I screw down the clamps, the dye follows the silk threads under the block, and no pattern emerges. I do like the Jaquard for a lot of applications; I can get smooth transitions of color, painting on the dyes with a brush, while the colorhue dyes always want to show the brush strokes. Or I can get some wonderful effects when I let one Jaquard color dry before applying the next.

detail of "Maple Leaves"

Soy wax makes an excellent resist for Colorhue dyes; the Jaquard dyes tend to jump over the soy wax. "Maple Leaves" was done with Colorhue dyes; the background was done with itajime technique.

"Maple leaves" scarf

I'm back at the market!!

This little one loved the feel and the colors of my silks! What a joy to watch her!





I'm back at Saturday Market after a month and a half hiatus--and it is so good to be back! My booth is next to the music, and I love watching the children dance to it.

I plan to continue at Saturday Market--unless it pours-- through the 3rd Saturday in December, with these exceptions:
 Holly Daze Bazaar on Nov 17th
Dec 1st and 8th, when I will be on the Studio Tour.

If you are in the Seattle area, hop on a ferry over to Vashon and enjoy the market with me. Hope to see you there!

The Right Brained Business Plan: Action Plans

Magazines and books--I always start at the back. So of course I started filling in my Right Brained Business Plan at the back, with an Action Plan. Well, once I got the core in place, the Values, Vision, and Mission.

First plan: "Tramp Harbor" installation at a public place such as the Seattle Convention Center.

I used Kelly Rae's technique for planning, from her ecourse Flying Lessons.

1. Start with seeing the project completed. What will it look like, sound like, etc.

It looks like this: there are 14 panels of silk hanging from a 12 foot ceiling. The panels are 6'-10' long, painted with dyes.
 They sway gently as people walk through them and with the ambient movement of air. They depict a beach scene, with many birds, sunlight through clouds, seaweed and sand.

Here's what people are saying: "Mary, come look at this!" "OOOH, I just want to wrap myself in that one and go to the opera." "Look how the birds seem to fly as the silk moves!" "Remember when we were children playing on the beach?" "I fish from the beach sometimes. It is SO peaceful!" "We need to keep our beaches and waters clean so that our children and grandchildren can do that."

2. What did I do just before this scene?

Well, I hung the silks. What did I need in order to do that? How did I prepare the silks for hanging?
What materials did I need, and how long did it take? I figured all this out.

3. Before that?

Painted the silks and steamed them. What did I need for materials for that? How long did that take?

And so I went through the process backwards through finding the place to hang them, writing a grant to get the funds, FINDING the grants to apply for, etc.

Now I know what it will take to do this, how long it will take, what materials I will need, how much it will cost. Now I know I can do this, when I am ready.

Business Landscape--Identifying my "Target Market"

I've never been able to figure out my target market, not really. How do I know who will like my work? It's not like a service with a specific clientel, a specific problem to solve--unless I kind of make one up.

Well, I showed Jane Valencia my ring binder all set up for my Right Brain Business Plan. She inspired me to start each section with a prayer, a prayer of thanks. So when I started the section of my business plan Jennifer Lee calls "Business Landscape" (aka "Competition"), I listed all the things I am thankful for, things like my education, travel, friends and family, home, interesting people, sailing.

And I realized that all these things, which are resources I draw from to create, are connection points, ways I can connect with people who might buy my work. In art, particularly, people buy from people they feel a connection with. Knowing the connection points helps me to figure out what they might like, as well as how to reach them!

Reading Jessica Brogan's blog post reminded me to be thankful for the not so fun things as well--the years of being a single mom, getting busted for my life partner's marijuana,  seeing my beloved die of lung cancer. All these experiences have made me wiser, less judgemental,  and given me more places of connection with people.

Connecting with people not only fuels my creativity and feeds my business; it makes me happy!

The Right Brain Business Plan: The Heart

Value, Vision, and Mission are the Heart of my business--the heart of my life! I did the work to unearth and craft these things in Kelly Rae's Hello Soul Hello Business class. So this thing, this Business plan thing, is very much aligned with my purpose for living.

Um, I think I need to be a little careful about that. My business can't be my whole purpose for living; if  anything bad happens to my business--I'll be in pretty bad shape. I guess it's like any intimate relationship; one needs to keep a part of oneself separate and free.

So now that I've made these beautiful pages for my business plan, perhaps I need to look at what part of me stays separate, what part of me will be there to fall back on no matter what happens with my business.

The Right Brain Business Plan

I don't think this would have meant much without spending the past two years trying to figure it all out. I enrolled in WACASH to learn a very left brained traditional model. Kelly Rae's Flying Lessons and Soul Business gave me lots and lots of good information on creating a business that flows from my heart and soul. Mark Silver gave me tools to keep spiritually focused in my business and life. The Edge program gave me a whole new perspective on being an artist, and lots of people and tools for another approach to art as a business.

Now I'm ready to put it all together.

Rebuilding the Stairs to Heaven

Watch that first step!

Rethinking my art business and rebuilding my stairs somehow go together. OK, so that's a stretch. Just bear with me for a bit.

 I'm alternating working on my business plan, painting wood for the new stairs, writing a grant proposal, painting wood for the new stairs, putting together my portfolio, and painting wood for the new stairs. I'm nearly done painting wood for the stairs.

I'm not even close to done with my business plan.

I'm working with Right Brain Business Plan by Jennifer Lee. Yeah, yeah, I had a business plan I did with WACASH. It was on a spread sheet and I hated even looking at it. So I didn't. Look at it, I mean.

It didn't seem to relate to art, to one of a kind beautifully hand made things. Or to my purpose in making art. And all those corporate sounding labels, just meant nothing.

Even working with Flying Lessons and Soul Business didn't give me all the answers, though they gave me lots and lots of understanding.  The Edge Program gave me more answers, but still only glimpses of a structure to fit them into. It was like all these programs gave me the wood to build with, and some description of a plan,  but I still couldn't figure out the blueprint.

Then I found Right Brain Business Plan. I think this will do it.  By renaming all the pieces of a business plan, Jennifer has finally given me a way to think about business nitty gritty in terms I can relate to. For example, "Competitive Analysis" becomes knowing the "Business Landscape", and "Marketing Plan" becomes "Getting the Word out".

Over the Edge and into........

Relaxing during a class break (Virginia Wilcox in the background)

I saw 6 deer from my window!

I'm back from the Edge Program and deep into follow-ups. Already I have some work lined up to show at the Seattle Design Center, and I'm working on my portfolio to send to the Seattle Art Museum Rental Gallery--and today I was invited to show some miniatures at the Blue Heron Gallery in December!

Yes to life! Yes! Yes! Yes!

 My class mates were amazing! Every time I started to doubt myself, I looked around at all these wonderful artists and thought, "Hey, if Artist Trust thinks I belong with these artists, I must be OK!"


Do you remember seeing or hearing about the tree socks at Occidental Square or at Madison Park in Seattle? Their creator, Suzanne Tidwell was one of my classmates!

Do you remember seeing articles in the NY Times and in Time Magazine about Jennifer Loomis's photographs of the pregnant female body? Jenni was in my class!

And what about beautiful Vogue fashions made from....trash!? Their creator, Rebbecca Maxim, was in my class too!

And Philip Donahue, who did light shows for Jefferson Airplane in the late 60's is doing paintings inspired by that!

And that's just the beginning!

Suzanna Leigh, Dancing the Shaddish at 103!

Butterfly Dancer print available on etsy

Written about 1984

 Happy Birthday to Suzanna Leigh

Still Dancing the Shaddish at 103!

This amazing woman seems to grow younger every year, drawing on some infinite spring of vitality and full of more love than one would think her tiny frame could hold. 

... her fountains grace homes, offices, and public buildings all over the world. Her paintings, which so clearly express both the joy of living and a victory over and healing of pain, have been collected by many major museums and hang in healing centers and other public places.

Sailing out of old limitations into new possibilities
print available on etsy

I wrote this many years ago, as a vision for myself, about the time I finally got my BA from The Evergreen State College. I was a 30-ish single mom. 

I don't think I knew the word "installation" when I wrote this. When I revisited this vision recently, I thought, well, I guess I have to let go of some of these things, like creating healing spaces and having my art in public places.

This past week, I participated in the Edge , (an Artist Trust. program) an intense 8 days of learning the business side of art . Along with more information than I could hold (luckily there is a notebook) and many insights (I took copious notes!), I made two major break throughs:

• Not only is there still time to do the healing installations I want to do--I now have an understanding and some tools to do it! And lots of encouragement from classmates familiar with my work.
• It is OK--good even!-- to tell people I want my work to be a doorway into the divine.
  

A Prayer for Reverence by Chris Grahm

New Life in the Old forest

Every once in a while, one meets a friend who "gets" my deepest spiritual feelings. Chris Grahm is such a friend. Below is his version of the Lord's Prayer, so much richer than the one and only version one hears in every church.

Being Itself Prayer
Oh! Definite Indefinite Source of All,
deep and full beyond possibility of naming,
It is by Your Presence in all things
that we experience holiness.
Refresh us and our world with Your healing,
as You continuously unfold the universes from within Yourself.
Open us in each moment to the abundance You provide
of all that we need for essential well being,
And free us from clinging to past limitations,
as we help those around us to also be renewed.
Spare us from enticements that would distract from our closeness to You,
but uplift us out of absorbed ignorance and holding onto pain,
For Your Bliss powers the stars and all of life,
Your timeless Presence illuminates all that is in time.
Doubtless it is so, and immanently manifest
in this wondrous creative instant.

Painting Black Bamboo with Virginia Lloyd-Davies

I fell in love with Virginia Lloyd-Davies paintings, like this one, "Secrets Under the Lotus", although her lotus leaves are different from the ones I saw in China. Perhaps they are a different variety.
 I love her Po Mo paintings, as well; they are so spontaneous and free!
Virginia's video, Painting Black Bamboo is a wonderful lesson on Chinese brush painting. I still haven't figured out how to embed it here, but it is well worth checking out.



Oh hey!! I got it to work!!
http://youtu.be/JcxYyXyzVPk

Art on the Edge

I'm on Edge about the Edge program! Spending my time packing, preparing my advance homework, and--YES!!--painting!

I've been doing some "plein aire" painting, something I've been doing since I started drawing at my mother's knee, and now it has become so popular! This one is the beach grass down by Tramp Harbor, where I do Qi Gung 3 mornings a week.

I HIGHLY recommend painting outside in the summer! It does wonders for the mood, as well as being a great mental discipline. As one carefully notes colors and forms, and notes the effect of distance and lighting, one learns to see and think in terms of what really is, not just in stereotypes. One learns to pick out what is important in the landscape--not just in the literal landscape before one, but also in the landscape of our lives. Also, I think my eyesight improves when I focus on the far landscape then the near paper.

A Human Becoming

I am grown up. It just hit me. I am grown up. No more "what shall I be when I grow up".

All my life I've been trying to figure  that out. I always feel as though I'm on the verge of something. About to become famous, do a great work, or finally get it all together.

At age 64--almost 65--I have still been waiting for that...that moment of knowing I am grown up, doing what I dream of doing, having it all together. Being at the top of the hill.

Is it my imagination, or is the hill getting steeper?

 Today I stopped to catch my breath and looked back. WOW! I'm a lot further up than I thought! In fact, some of my friends think I am successful!


I guess being grown up, being successful, is not a place you actually get to and stop. I'm not ready to stop, anyway!  I'm still on my way up, and plan to keep climbing until I die. I am always becoming more, doing new things, growing deeper, wiser, and more capable. I guess I am a human becoming.

Manifesto

Kelly Rae has a manifesto, a list of what she believes. I wonder what is mine? What do I believe?

*I believe in a Loving Divine Presence that I can experience directly and that transforms me.
*I believe that my purpose is to express that Divine Love in any way I can.
*I believe that my art is one way I can express that Love, and that can nourish others as well as myself.

Sheng zhen Qi Gong

Found this while going through old files

Awakening the Soul with Master Li
is a short video with--for me--a powerful impact. I felt so alive after doing these qucik Qi Gong exercises! It's called Sheng Zhen Qi Gong.
There is another short Qi Gong video you might enjoy here.

Maki's Honest Heart Helping Japan

Dear Makiko Hastings is raising money to help one of the towns in Japan that was washed nearly away last year. She visited the town of Minamisanriku-Cho and saw the devastation for herself. She talked with the people and found that they are incredibly resilient, still trusting the sea for their livelihood, intent on rebuilding better than ever, but it is a long hard road and they still have far to go.

Maki is making delightful little birds of hope and candle holders to raise money. She will deliver the funds she raises to the town in person next month, August. We have only until Tuesday, July 31st to order and contribute, so I want to encourage you to place your order right away if this is something you want to do. I wish I had placed my order much sooner so that it would be here already, and I could show you what I got!

Find information on how to order your birds or candle holder "Light of Hope" here.

I Had a Studio Sale Today...

 I spent hours and hours and days and days cleaning and organizing the studio to get ready for it. I looked through all my paintings and sketches for the past--almost 30 years--selecting the ones that weren't too awful to offer for sale. I put out even my favorites at very low prices, so that people could afford them. I sent out emails to everyone I knew. I gave away fliers at my booth at the Saturday Market. 

I made a sign, a beautiful sign, that said Suzanna's Studio, SALE, and put it out front.

Lots of people said they would come...

And no one came but one wonderful loyal supporter, who bought two paintings for a total of $30. Thank you, Jill for your support!!

I think I need to go cry.

*&;*&;*&;*&;

OK, Now I'm ready to move on.

What did I learn/gain from this experience?

• After months of putting up with a studio in chaos, my studio is now beautiful and organized! I am proud to invite people in.

• I have a beautiful sign I can put out front to let people know my studio is open. I painted it yesterday after months of having the sandwich board ready but never "getting around to it". I finally realized that I have the materials and experience to do a nice job on paper but was feeling uncertain about painting directly on wood; so I painted on watercolor paper and sprayed it with a sealer. It might not work in a torrential raid, but it works fine in most weather.

• I looked through almost 30 years of my work and found some I still love. I got to practice letting go of pieces I've held onto for a looooong time!

• I got to nibble on chips and humus and cherries I had set out for guests, while reading an interesting book, sitting in a comfy chair, surrounded by my beautiful paintings.

• I learned that I need to plan my promotions strategicaly BEFORE I get immersed in preparing the work for a show. Like about a month ahead of time.

• I think real mailed invitations mailed about 1.5-2 weeks ahead would have been more effective than email sent a few days before the event. To accomplish this, I need to have them ready to send out about 3 weeks before the event. Plan ahead!!

• It would have been good to talk about some of the pieces or about the process of going through my work in preparation for the sale, in order to gather interest for it.

• Flyers around town, ads, and other ways of promotion would have supported a better turnout.

 

Bethamay, Art for Your Spirit

"Art for your spirit"--I LOVE that! That's Beth Reiter's tag line for her Bethamay Arts.

Happy Buddha Shrine by Bethamay

I really love her little shrines, especially this one from Beth's etsy shop!
Beth and I shared a pot of genmai tea at the local tea shop, while we looked at our etsy shops on her laptop.  etsy has been such a ...mystery to me...how to use it effectively, I mean. Beth enlightened me on how to word my descriptions and titles better and how to list items more effectively.

I have a lot of work ahead of me to fix my listings and get up to speed, but I think it will be worth it!

The Road Leads Ever On; Two loves

The road leads ever on and on....!

I'm in the middle of another life change. New Love, rethinking my work, saying Aloha (not goodbye) to past lives and loves.

Yesterday I visited the sailboat I used to own with my beloved soul mate. He is gone, a victim of lung cancer--no, not a victim. He refused to be a victim.

I fixed Bob a cup of coffee, just for rememberence sake. The smell reminded me of the mornings he would fix me breakfast and himself a cup of strong coffee, as we lay at anchor.

I will always love Bob. And now I have a new love. I have accepted the love of another True Hearted man. Bob's Love taught me so much I will use to enrich this new relationship!

The View from my Window--on Silk!

I knew it would happen. When I moved into this house, I could watch the moon rise over the harbor and the ducks swim in the neighbor's pond. But alders grow fast, and now all I can see is trees. Knowing it would happen, I sketched the scene, and years later painted it on silk--silk curtains. The bear who crossed my lot while the house was being built, the deer who sleep under my apple trees, the racoon who steals my garbage cans, and many of the other wild animals who have visited this island home found their way into the painting.

The curtain, in three panels, was on display all of June at Common Thread, a shop collectively run by about a dozen fiber artists. Cards from this painting are available at my booth at the Vashon Saturday Market, and prints are available on my esty shop.

Port Townsend, Here I Come!!

I am so thrilled! I just found out that My painting on silk, Golden Pathway, has been accepted into a prestigious show, the Port Townsend/Expressions Northwest!! The show runs from August 3rd to August 26th (my birthday!) and will be up during the time I will be in Port Townsend participating in the Edge program.   The Edge program is a professional development program for visual artists  through Artist Trust!

Halleluiah!!

It seems so appropriate that this piece, which has become a symbol for me of having and being the best in life, of walking a road of loving and creating and doing right work, is the one accepted of the three I submitted.

 This painting was inspired by a walk with my beloved in a magical madrona forest on a small island east of Vancouver Island, Canada. We had been sailing all day, and anchored down in Pirate's Cove, De Courcey Island. It was July, when the madrona turn some of their leaves yellow and drop them. The path was covered with golden madrona leaves, the ravens were singing, the sun was shining......  It was a perfect moment, one that has colored my life beautiful since then, even through the death of my beloved almost exactly a year later.