writing
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Figures Of Speech and writing artist statements
The exercise of writing an art statement for my upcoming art exhibit “Figures Of Speech” has me reaching for essays by Wendell Berry and thinking of the ways poetry can evoke many thoughts and feelings in a few lines. My upcoming art exhibit is titled Figures Of Speech and the title is itself a description…
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The elephant in the room and we run outside
I asked my friends recently for ugly wallpaper suggestions that I could use for a painting I was working on. My friends are awesome and helped so much! The 1970’s avocado, orange and yellow combination was mentioned. So were weird rooster and chicken patterns and prickly cactus patterns. One friend talked about her pet peeve…
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Sweet peppers, prose, poetry and pens
My spouse’s sweet pepper plants are doing well in the heat! I stuffed the just picked peppers with cheese and roasted them with black beans, corn, zucchini and red onion. Tasted yummy! The heat inspired me, as I’ve illustrated recently with a drawing demo, to stay in a cool place and finish reading a wonderful…
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Self-Published Spotlight: “How The Cow Went Over The Moon and Tiny Notes To The Sun” by Sue Clancy
Self-published Spotlight, my new feature, is booming! This is my effort to help self-published/indie authors share their books with others. Next in the spotlight, Sue Clancy! Check out cover art, descriptions, and more for her children’s books “How the Cow Went Over the Moon and “Tiny Notes to the Sun.” ABOUT THE BOOK A cow…
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Our current times, tuning in to awe and books
This week war began and for a second being an artist felt frivolous. But in difficult times we need art more than ever. We need things and people that feed our spirits and remind us of why we’re glad to be alive. We need hope. That’s how we fight for democracy and win. When the…
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Professional dog, the box project, encouragement, a chat and gnocchi
My childrens book “The Professional Dog” has moved into color! Over the last week I’ve inked more than 12 of the illustrations just so I could see where I was going. Now I’m doing the same testing with colors. I’m using my butterfly palette (a post about that here) – it’s a fun challenge to…
A Creative Life, animals in art, art exhibit, art gallery, art prints, art techniques, artist book, artistic inspirations, books, children’s book, Creativity Chats, Dogs in Art, fine art, greeting cards, illustration, life of the mind, mental health, pet portraits, sketchbook, Sustainable creativity, visual thinking, whimsical art, words and pictures, writing, Writing And Illustrating -

Crocodile to dragon transition
My crocodile became a dragon as I’ve been working on a new childrens book. I’ve been alternating work in both my poetry sketchbook, the orange book on the left, and my black visual sketchbook on the right. Below is a look at my handwritten poem text in my poetry sketchbook. I also have a 3…
A Creative Life, Alphapets, Alphapets Too, animals in art, art exhibit, art gallery, art techniques, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, book design and layout, creative thinking, drawing as thinking, illustrated poem, Numpurrs, poetry, Sustainable creativity, words and pictures, writing, Writing And Illustrating -

On Looking at Odditorium
To my awareness there aren’t many books for children that talk about looking at an artist’s exhibit whether the fine art is in a book or on walls. I think looking at a book of fine art is similar to looking at a wordless picture book. Looking at one artist’s series of paintings on a…
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Odditorium exhibit, lots of books and a sandwich technique
Last week I took 3 boxes containing all of my Odditorium fineart into Burnt Bridge Cellars where it will be through the end of July. Everything I’ve done over the last year is now in the capable hands of the winery and the Caplan Art Designs art gallery! My spouse took this photo as I…
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Flamingos enjoying life in the Odditorium
Frankly, I’m tired. But it’s the I’ve-played-hard good kind of tired. So more pictures and less text in this post and you get a special peek … I’ve been thinking about Kurt Vonnegut’s book If this isn’t nice what is? Here’s an article I enjoyed about this Vonnegut book. Here’s a photo of the book…
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