No Longer Newlyweds

These are the bowls I painted at Tahoe. It is very decadent to eat a small portion of food in a large bowl. The insides are decorated also. Thank goodness I don't know where to do this locally as we would have painted ceramics every where. I want color in my kitchen but not overkill.

Yesterday was our one year Anniversary. Time flies, we have been out of town, busy and never got around to making plans. I decided since we spend all of our time together it would be fun to go out to dinner with a few friends. It was a very special evening. I no longer like large groups. A round table with 8 is the most I can take. Anyway some people that are very dear to us came and celebrated with us. It was a perfect day.

Lately I have been painting a lot and thinking about the creative people that inspire me. I spent a long time checking out creative blogs from people I know and being impressed with what they are doing. For now this is the longest painting streak I have been on for some time now and want to keep my blog simple and mainly a tool to keep me accountable.

Today is Memorial Day and I thought a lot about people I have lost. When I was younger it was just another three day week-end. Hope today was memorable to you.

Home Sweet Home

On my last entry I had a photo of a day at the beach. Here we are a few weeks later with snow at Tahoe. We read the weather report but still packed rollerblades, bikes, bathing suits. I found it to be the most relaxing vacation to date. Lots of fires and kisses. We stayed indoors most of the time but my sister-in-law Marci turned me on to painting ceramics. I made a few bowls for us and a plate as a gift. I was totally into it and it was pointed out that I get totally into anything creative.

We were without Internet for a week and believe me this was a challenge. I do have a blackberry but it has it's limitations like trying to type with 54 yr old eyes and adult size fingers. At least it kept us in the loop. We spent 3 hours one day using someone else's WiFi to catch up on business. Since we will never get Jetson flying cars then give us universal WiFi that works even as we are in motion.

I have been knitting and painting and happily doing lots of fun things lately. I am half finished with my masterpiece dress and 3/4 done with my current painting. Here are some fun baby hats I made for a friend expecting twins. I am grateful that there are not enough hours in a day for me.

Tomorrow is our one year Anniversary. We still have no plans which works for us. We spend all of our time together and have been spoiled with home cooking and other friends cooking. We had thought about reciting our vows at the beach but then we rented our beach house for the week-end. Now we think we want to spend it with friends instead of a romantic restaurant dinner. I will keep you posted on our plans.

We love to travel and so far haven't missed our international expeditions. The Dr. grounded us from leaving the country so we are trying road trips. We are going to the WA and MT in a few weeks, should be fun. For now we are glad to be home from the unexpected winter trip in our own bed with our clingy pets. Home Sweet Home.

Now that I have Internet access again I will try and post more often. It's that not enough hours in a day thing. Have a wonderful Memorial Day Week-end. We send out love and good thoughts for those we have all have lost.

I'm back

Writing my blog, painting and other creative outlets are like going to the gym. Once I get out of the habit it is hard to get back into it again but once I start again I can't believe I stopped. My hisband wishes I would get this about the gym, in good time.

I have been painting a lot the last few days and realize that painting has a very calming effect on me. Life has been a bit crazy lately with family. The newest family news is that my parents returned from Europe not as I had expected to see them, my father looked beat and my mother was in a wheelchair. Today they put her in the hospital for lung problems. I take things like health for granted which is odd since my husband has cancer. Denial, something I know a lot about.



Anyway back to a happy subject- Art. My friend (and Man of Honor) Bill and I went to see the new Oakland Museum last week. It was a fun outin but I'm not raving about the museum. There were some good abstracts which I appreciated as my current painting project is a large abstract. This is an interesting piece (see above). I will leave the subject alone as I am very opinionated about art and like politics will keep my thoughts to myself. My cousin thought my blog was political and had not looked at it. She now knows it is safe to read.

Again like the gym, we stayed at our beach house a few weeks ago and wondered why we never go there anymore. As most of you know we got married on this beach there almost a year ago. It was beautiful and there were baby seals on the beach until stupid people walked up to them and scared them away. We are going to Tahoe soon. I am grateful for all the natural beauty around us. Next month we are going to Seattle and Montana. Even more natural beauty.

I bought new rollerblades. A few years ago I bought blades with massive wheels for maximum speed. Unfortunately the large wheels positioned the brake so that I was never able to use it and haven't bladed much for a few years. I love my new blades and am excited to have a new physical activity just in time for the spring that may never happen.

I am happy to let you know that in my absence there has not been a lack of creativity. Starting this blog has helped keep me creatively active. Creating is a lot more important than I realize sometimes. For today I am remembering.

Various ramblings

Today I baked banana nut bread. I have a dream kitchen with gadgets to do most anything, my favorite being my pink KitchenAid mixer. I haven't been in much of a cooking mood lately so playing in my kitchen got me excited about all my tools. Good tools really do make a difference.








My favorite contemporary painter is Brian Rutenberg. Here is a link to his paintings: http://www.forumgallery.com/2005/e_rutenberg.html

Check them out and let me know what you think.
















Years ago my friend Andy gave me a custom pink radio flyer. I would pull it a block from my home to my gallery with odd contents and wearing 4" heels. When I moved back to CA I did not have a need to pull a wagon so I decided to plant in it. It was over a month ago that I planted and now this rain and never ending winter makes it hard to remember the actual planting.














Yesterday my parents and another couple left for Europe. They travel a lot so it was no big deal but today I felt their absence. This has never happened before so it was a bit eerie. Could just be that I am a lot more sensitive since Gary got sick. They actually were adorable, all dressed up, pulling their own luggage. They are 80 ish but look and act a lot younger. Yesterday they seemed like a combo of 70 and 5. I hope they are having a great time.



Tomorrow is chemo day. Say a prayer for Gary. He is excited to go kill some more cancer cells.



I am done with my crochet lessons. I have been knitting for about 35 years but never learned to crochet so typical of Laurie I pick a very hard first project. I have mastered the pattern so now it is practice time. Practice is something I rarely do, I am more of a jump in without much thought and GO. It will take practice to practice.

Warm, Wonderful Sunday

Today has been a special day for me. I got to hang out with a friend I have known most of my life but don't see too often. I realize we have even more in common now in our 50's than we did at 7, 13, 40. It warms my heart like today's 80 degree sun. Also, someone new to show off my wonderful husband to.

Even though I have been absent from my blog for a while, I am still creating. I had a lot of real life things to do this week like support Gary through a bone scan and meet his new Oncologist. (Yuck.) I thought that when I started my blog, admitted I has painting etc. that I would be able to create away to my heart's content. I dislike being an adult at times and yet I am proud of myself for having a positive impact on someone else's life.

Wednesday was so cold and rainy that it really affected me. Hard to believe I lived in Seattle for so long. I have had enough winter so I really appreciate the summer like weather, being outside, getting some exercise. I've had a pot of spaghetti sauce cooking for 24 hours. My timing looks a little off.

I mentioned that my current painting looks like my old knitting. These are examples of both. Knitting needles in my hands feel so natural, surrounding myself with paint uplifts me in a way that my other creative outlets do not. I am looking forward to finishing this painting and seeing what comes next.

April 20th

This sweater on my handsome husband Gary is a finished project! It is knitted in a yarn called Lima that I heard and read about but had no idea how amazing it felt until I worked with it. It is

leaving to go to my father tomorrow before it is too late as someone is already attached to it. (He will get his own soon.)

Today I spent a lot of time painting. I even left for a meeting in my paint clothes and a bit of yellow paint in my hair. Gary told me just to put on a few diamonds and I would look fine.

He likes me messy from paint.

My signature color has been pink for as long as I can remember. Wake up in a pink room sometime and you will understand it's beauty. My 50th birthday theme was pink poodles, our wedding was pretty much planned around a pair of hot pink Christian Louboutin shoes. We were married on the beach so it took some planning. Lately I have been very attracted to green. (I apologize for the fuzzy photo.) I have more tubes of green paint than any other color. We painted our living room a wonderful shade of green.

A little knitting and crocheting and I am done for the day.

Day Two

In being honest about my projects yesterday, I came across a few more. One is an ongoing illustration book I started writing to show my husband exactly what I love about him. I move it from my desk to his when I have made an entry in it. I draw with my favorite watercolor pencils. Probably not often enough considering what a wonder guy he is.


The other is the children's book I wrote about 10 years ago. After I finished the story,I decided to do the illustrating myself (see below). I got about 75% of the drawings finished and then on the shelf it went with it's group of unfinished friends.


Our friend Alexis from LA (we have two) was even kind enough to send me information on how to publish a children's book. Both of them are super creative and an inspiration to me. Add the blog, which my friend Bob lovingly pointed out was a project and I think that makes six major projects. One thing I can say about this is I am never bored.



This morning I painted for about three hours. It felt great. I also realized that my current painting looks like my old knitting. (I will upload a picture of both as my painting gets closer to being finished). I was feeling great and afterwards I was getting adult things done ,then we went to met the new Oncologist. I am not too happy about him and all my creative energy went away. I didn't even want to write and it's only day two. I feel better already.


In 1998 I did Julia Cameron's "The Artist Way". I would recommend this to anyone whether you think you are creative or not. It was a life changing experience even though I took it too far and went into the Art business. Lesson learned. I wasn't a fan of abstract painting until I came to realize that painting abstracts is much harder than representational. When Gary went through his first round of radiation, I was devastated and decided to take an abstraction class to do something for myself. It was frustrating and challenging and when the class was over I quit painting but I am up on the horse again.



I plan to work on a few things each day. I am looking forward to some knitting tonight and then seeing what I am passionate about tomorrow. One thing I am not passionate about is discovering more projects but I doubt there are too many hiding in there now.