Helga Rocks - and so does Lisa!

Take a look at this! Helga Strauss, one of my instructors at Art and Soul (and a starred attraction) has posted a photo of her favorite trades at Art and Soul (mine is the little orange one with the bird in the lower right corner) AND a photo of us together on her blog. To read the entire post and see the photos, click here. Because Helga is so cool, you are gonna want to look at her website, too: ARTchix Studio. . . . .I just had to take a time out from my travel blogs to share this unexpected blessing! . . . and then I checked out the blog of another artist I took a class from at Art and Soul, the amazing Lisa Kaus, and she gave a nod to my blog and posted a photo of the two of us. Check out Lisa's blog here and her website here.

I Won a Drawing (Again)!

First off, it you aren’t familiar with DIY Alert and you live in the Portland area, then reading this blog right now is a great introduction to an important art resource in the Pacific Northwest! Sister Diane, the creative force behind the DIY Alert, sends out weekly messages alerting everyone about all things crafty in the Portland area: classes, artists, stores, web sites . . . Diane is also the local organizer of the Church of Craft (among many other things). So be sure and check out both of these two websites (and follow the various links for a journey through crafty Portland). Oh, back to the point of my post. Diane occasionally has drawings for gifts related to art making and a couple of weeks ago she offered up an issue of Indie Arts, a DVD magazine. The magazine includes an art gallery, featured artists, interviews, and artist ideas. I have considered subscribing in the past, but didn’t follow through, sort of wondering what the format was like before plunking down the money. Along comes Diane, who offers a free issue of the DVD magazine. I submitted my name (gotta submit to win, right?). Well, yesterday I received word from Sister Diane that my name had been selected! Today she put my copy of this art DVD in the mail – I can hardly wait to receive it and pop it into the DVD player.

Peace and Joy

One of my favorite blogs, Pomegranates and Paper, is hosted by the talented artist, Loretta. A short while ago, Loretta had a little contest where all you had to do was post a comment at her site. That was easy enough because I love her blog and it was my pleasure to post a comment telling her so.

Well, during a recent family emergency and in the midst of a lot of stress, I received an e-mail from Loretta informing me that I had been chosen as winner #3, which meant I was to receive an original watercolor from Loretta! It arrived in the mail yesterday. I ripped off the mailing envelope to discover a little square wrapped in old world atlas tissue paper. Yesterday was a kinda busy day as I was preparing for a workshop I was to conduct in the evening, so instead of just tearing away the paper, I put the little wrapped package on a chair in my den to be savored until the time was right to open it. That time came this morning when Amy, one of my daughter's, made an unexpected visit. Since she is a great lover of art (and supporter of me), I chose this morning to open my gift. As I gently tore away the tissue, we both sucked in our breath and collectively exhaled while saying, "Oh, it's beautiful!"

Thank you, Loretta, I love my little angel of Peace and Joy.