Odditerrarium
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Perceptions, a poem, art projects and hearing
My Gallery owner Amy at Caplan Art Designs had the idea to pair photos of the pets that inspired my Odditerrarium series portraits alongside my paintings! I swear I am so grateful to have her expertise! Two heads really are better than one sometimes. The gallery has started doing posts like this. Isn’t this nice?!…
A Creative Life, art exhibit, art gallery, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, books, children’s book, dog portrait, fine art, gift books, illustrated poem, illustrated recipe, Kim Cooks Sue Draws, kitchen art, mental health, Odditerrarium, poetry, reading, sketchbook, words and pictures, Writing And Illustrating -

Odditerrarium and the week
The week started with a whoosh! Vintage Books asked for more copies of Dr Bob’s Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit and asked me to sign them!! Of course I did a drawing too because I’m me and that’s what I do – in these copies I did a small self portrait. These can be…
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Odditerrarium opens this week and other projects
My Odditerrarium fine art exhibit opens this Thursday Oct 6 from 6 to 8 pm at Caplan Art Designs! It’s been fun to think so much about what dogs and cats might think about! I hope others are amused too. I’ve enjoyed titling paintings in ways that refer to aspects of mental life. Sometimes, like…
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My adopted Mom’s quilt and a searcher
This week the Aurora Gallery finished framing my adopted Mom’s quilt that I told you about in a prior post. Doesn’t the frame look great? We went right home and hung it in a special place! As you see in the photo above – included in the frame is a piece of handmade paper on…
A Creative Life, art exhibit, art gallery, art prints, art supplies, art techniques, author illustrator, books, dog portrait, Dogs in Art, fine art, household surrealism, illustration, mental health, Odditerrarium, publications – publishing, published art, reading, sketchbook, whimsical art, words and picturesart exhibits, art supplies, art techniques, artist/author, bookstore, Canal District Wines, Caplan Art Designs Gallery, dogs, Dogs in Art, Dr Bobs Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit, Dr. Bob Hoke, fine art, household surrealism, illustrator, independent bookstore, local bookstore, NIL-TECH, Odditerrarium, Penny Hoke, quilt, sketchbook, Vintage Books, whimsical art -

The good things of this life
A fun creative exercise is to list the good things in my life. As the saying goes here’s “a few of my favorite things”. Items on my list are in bold type. Painting. Basset Hounds. Flowers. I combined these favorites in a mixed media painting titled “The Goods Of This Life”. It’s 8 x 11…
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Mom, Odditerrarium, A.M. Sketching and rulings IRL
My adopted Mom has passed and is no longer in pain. I wrote in a prior post about her illness. For more than 20 years and before JL and I moved to Washington 12 years ago, Mom and I met for lunch at least once a month sometimes more. Lunch was either at a restaurant…
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Odditerrarium on the winery walls
Last Wednesday when I delivered 20 paintings from my Odditerrarium series to Burnt Bridge Cellars 4 had already sold and before Friday 2 more sold via Caplan Art Designs! Many nice comments have been said about the exhibit too! Thank you all! Here’s a photo of some of my art spread out on a table…
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Unwearied fancie, the flowers, the books and the stew
Unlike ball obsessed dogs I get tired and need a break even from my most favorite activity in the world: making art. In my last post I talked of finishing most of the prep for my upcoming Odditerrarium exhibit a week or so early in order to give myself time to rest and recharge before…
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Teacher, the creative path and seeing beauty
As I alluded in my last post life and art are correlated. In the comments Sherri said it’s like a braid. That’s certainly true for me; life, creative projects and self-care weave together. It’s not a work slash life balance so much as it is what can I do that makes both life and creativity…
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Wonders, my adopted Mom and real cheese
My adopted Mom’s favorite flower is the orchid. Both Dad and Mom enjoyed cats – even though sometimes the cats knocked over plants or books. So I thought those thoughts while creating a portrait of a friends cat. I’ve titled the finished painting “Wonders”. It joins the rest of my Odditerrarium series and is also…
