....Or "What I did on my Summer vacation".
Yes, I realize it is the end of October but we are now in the stage of life where vacations are not dictated by the public school calendar. So, last week we headed up to Connecticut and Massachusetts to retrace steps in one of our former neighborhoods and to check out the Fall leaves. Yes, MD has colored leaves in the Fall, but the grass is always greener or the leaves always colorfuller...yadda, yadda.
We passed through Litchfield, CT and stopped to visit a college friend, meet her family and talk to the animals. Clarice is a beautiful llama, one of two, and queen of the farm. ( I won't mention what Louise's husband calls her. Not flattering but funny. ) Shy of hands, she welcomes you with warm fuzzy kisses. Love is a warm fuzzy llama kiss.
We continued on, (in the snow ) to Stockbridge, MA our base for the week. One of our day trip destinations was the Norman Rockwell Museum, just outside of town. Now, Norman gets a bad rap for being a self professed illustrator and too American quaint, but I like his work. Call me sappy but I do. And it was a thrill to see one of his studios that had been moved to the museum location. With the use of older photos the staff had arranged the studio as it was when he used it, including the order of the placement of the books on the shelves. One photo reveled a napping Rockwell curled up on the green sofa perhaps recharging after a morning of painting. Another reason to like him, justifiable naps !
I of course sent the link to this blog to my friend and her response follows. I thought others would enjoy it ! One obviously needs a sense of humor with a llama.
.... the pic is lovely, and the words capture the essence of llama. One loves the llama for just being a llama.... nothing more. How simple life is when you break it down that far! Dogs demand (sun connures, I guess, take demand to a whole new level....) kids expect,
and so it goes. The llama just enjoys life for the moment, spits when the need arises to resolve conflicts and arguements, then goes back to relazing and enjoying life. They do pause for "tea" daily at 3, retreating to their shed for an hour of quiet(er) reflection, then back out by 4:30 to await dinner service. Queen though she is, Clair is a benevolent dictator. And yes,the only thing better than a soft llama kiss is one followed by the sweet scent of grassy-burp right in your face.
I made a special trip to Borders yesterday looking for the latest American Artist magazine because a friend of a couple friends on Face Book whose friends I friended ( or they friended me, anyway we're all just super best friends now even though none of us have probably ever met ) is on the front cover ! ( Nancy Guzik ) But of course they didn't have the issue yet so I bought three other magazines instead. One is the Frederick magazine from Frederick, Maryland. I picked it up and started thumbing through it looking for something I hadn't seen before. But something jumped out with which I was very familiar . There was a spot publicizing The Artists' Gallery show for this month. A group show . A VERY nice group show and one I recommend seeing if you are in town. What did they use but a detail of my painting "Bat Wings & Twirrly Things".
Sorry to say this painting is not in the show. So if you do make a trip , you won't see this one. Last month I decided to resign from TAG. It's all a long borring story that I won't go into. Just to say there were numerous reasons none of which was the "straw". I'm not stopping painting. I have promised myself to keep at it. The past two years have brought successes I wouldn't have imagined before and I have other goals I hope are not too far out of reach. But I wonder too if such a thing as the Peterson principle pertains to the art world as well. Here's to never finding out ! It may not be the cover of American Artist, but hey, I'll take it. Even if it did come a little late.
