Open House II, 44" x 60" by Diane Tesler

I love old houses.  I’m not a big fan of literal realism in paintings but I love old houses and magic realism – and while this isn’t magic realism, it feels that way.  Diane Tesler paints the interiors of houses that are falling apart intriguingly.  (And, well, I find the realism here draws me into the interior of the house without getting in the way of my imagination.)  I want to know the stories that are hiding in the rooms that she is painting.  Since I could spend a great deal of time interacting with her paintings, I’d love to live with them – my definition of art.  Go see more of her art on her ArtOMatic page or run yourself on up to ArtOMatic and visit room R6A06.  On her ArtOMatic page she notes:  "Painting  is a way to construct a world where opposing forces – light/shadow, order/disintegration, what is lost and what remains – are held in eternal balance. "  If there aren’t stories hiding in that energy, they don’t hide anywhere!

Here’s another realist painting that leaves room for imagination:  Patricia Di Bella’s Big Red Jacket.  I wish I could deconstruct my own reaction to Tesler’s paintings and this one.  I think the original impetus of attention in this one comes from the red, which I love – but it is more than color that keeps me lingering here to see what secrets this painting wants to whisper to me.  Perhaps it is the intimacy of the setting – someone’s closet.  And we all know about closets.  And bogeymen.  And skeletons.  Perhaps it’s that other people hang multiple things on their hangers like I do (okay, do not tell me that this is simply to make the painting interesting.  I know I am not the only one who does it because I don’t have enough room or because I have to drape the arms over the hanger head to keep the piece from sliding to the floor).  At any rate, here is another painting I could live with for a very long time and love every time I interacted with it.  Her ArtOMatic page notes that her exhibit shows "some of those portraits and selections from her series, "Raiment," which features compositions of objects taken from her work in theatre."  (Oh.  Theater.  Hmmm.  I don’t care, other people do hang multiple things in their own personal closets).   You can see her work in room Red6C03.

Finding Water Update:  Artist dates this week:  ArtOMatic opening night and Arts Council of Calvert County Spring in London fundraiser.  Morning pages:  I think 4 – still settling into my new part-time position with Port Tobacco River Conservancy and finding the rhythm of a new niche for everything has not yet happened.  Something I think is missing in check in:  art.  Are we doing our art?  Well yes.  I am currently working on a full body torso in my studio.  This is a first.  Am hoping it will go well.  Last night it was starting to crack at the shoulders (weight I’ll just bet) so I had to swath it in plastic again.  I have to not let it get too hard to get off the armature, and not be too soft to stand on its own once I do get it off the armature, and then hope I can get it all back together in some form or another (it will have to be cut off and worked back together.  Very dicey).  Walks in my yard enjoying my flowers.  I have decided this counts.  I have been making the walks too big and therefore too hard to complete.  Oh yes, and walks out with the dog into the back yard at night where I can stand and drink in the stars.

Thinking Blogger Tag.  Thanks Tinker.  Really.  There’s nothing I want more than to have to pare down all these wonderful blogs I read to only 5, having already done that for Blogtipping (well, no I didn’t.  I tipped 5 and then mentioned more because, well, because I had to).  Rules:  List 5 blogs that make you think; link back to the original, pin your Thinking Blogger badge on your sidebar (I hope this is easy.  I’m not good at this technical stuff).  Okay, so here goes:

1.  Jana’s Journey: because she is wise beyond her years and runs great weekly contests with quotes that I can never answer.  Her posts are open, and fresh and energetic and remind me to remember who I want to be and how I got to where I am.

2. Woolgathering:  I have no idea if she does things like this, but I love her blog.  It makes me think as an artist.  She presents herself to the page every day and every day she posts a new painting.  Every single day.  I love the way she positions her drawings and paintings on the page:  sometimes spare, sometimes lush, always wonderful.

3.  Old Woman: Here’s another blog I’m not sure about tagging in that it might not be passed on.  But I love this blog because it is a listing of writers – often writers I’ve already read and very much enjoyed so that when a new post comes up with a book I haven’t yet read I know I can add it to my wish pile.  This is helpful – sorting through everything there is out there to read. 

4.  Christine Kane:  her blog seems to be down, and/but I’m sure it is only temporary.  She is a singer/songwriter and retreat leader and led the retreat I traveled to Asheville NC to attend.  Her music is storytelling at its best with most excellent information woven in if you listen closely (being very good at her craft, she shows through the story, doesn’t tell through directives).  I’m sure she won’t pass this along since I can’t leave her a comment that she’s been tagged, but you should keep an eye on her space for when it comes back up and browse through the backlog.

5.  One Hand Typing:  This is a new favorite and not one I always keep up with, but beautifully written so I’m tagging her and invite you to go read and see yourself.  Also, I love the title.  In my early 20s I was a production typist.  And then I broke a finger joint on my left hand and was in a cast for 6 weeks; work, however, had to go on.  So I was literally a one-handed typist – and could knock out about 50 wpm that way.  Not bad, huh?  go read.

Ok gang, that’s enough for today.  Surely you have enough to think about without a final thought so I won’t post one.