The Art Part

I thought it might be time to put some photos of my art up.  These are not the best pictures, but then again the art isn't exactly Picasso either!  I painted this after a photograph appeared in a local magazine about Love.  It showed a woman from Catskill Animal Sanctuary holding a pig.  The photograph was so filled with love and the piggy looked so happy I just had to paint something about it!

The one to the right is a painting I made a couple of years ago to enter into a contest.  It didn't win, but I had fun painting it.  It depicts my wedding to my first husband.  I made the sky look stormy and added a sharp picket fence pointing at me, because the marriage WAS stormy and there wasn't much in it for me that wasn't sharp and pointy, except for my three adorable kids.  As you can see, we were a hippie couple then.

I enjoy painting because it's kind of a meditation and it's also therapeutic at the same time.  I also made a couple for my husband to hang in his fancy office a few years ago.  He no longer has the job, but we still have the paintings.  It made me feel really good that he had them on his wall when he was there.

I haven't been doing as much painting or drawing for a while because I have an inner critic that is really very vicious.  I'm just beginning to realize just how much I bash my own efforts.  I would probably be a perfectly fine artist if I could just stop bashing myself.  I have a lot of work to do in that department.

Artistry and Magic

Recently I visited an adorable shop in my favorite town, Rhinebeck. It's called the Paper Trail and features lots of unique items such as kitchen kitsch, seasonal gifts, jewelry, and obviously paper things, like invites and these creations made entirely of paper. I have a picture of the wedding dress in the previous post, and when I visited I went through the store with my camera and snapped these other beautiful creations. This one is a gown made of crepe paper with roses for the skirt. Fit for the princess to wear to her ball, don'tcha think?

No wait! THIS is the gown the princess wore...all golden and fizzy.

This one is a more springey look and it has a ton of detail, which I tried to capture for you. Notice how the bodice and sleeves are made of cutout flowers and the skirt is made of leaf shapes. Incredible!

I loved this shiny paper raincoat...complete with raindrops! (See the butterfly mobile next to it? I now have it hanging in my office at home...irresistible!

Finally, this is one of several paper "paintings" hanging in the gallery at the shop. I'm sorry to say that I don't know who the artist is for any of these works, so if a reader does know, please leave me a comment with the name so proper credit can be given. 

All I can say is I am just blown away by these incredible works of art. If you're ever in Rhinebeck, NY be sure and stop in and visit the Paper Trail to see these delectables and more!

Ordinarily when the budget is tight, the first things to go are social programs, art and sports.  When looking at art like this, it's easy for me to see why this is a terrible, terrible idea.  Surviving and thriving in this world depends on creative solutions, now more than ever.  To stimulate ideas, we need creative peole to express themselves and for that expression to be valued in the most reverent and light-hearted way.  Being in the presence of these beautiful, painstaking creations just fills me with light and hope.  The way out of our troubles is not more technology to enhance social jabbering, but thinking people creating in all directions.