Bird in flight

Bird in flight

Watercolor and pencil

It is unbearable for me to watch what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico. Unbearable.

I lived within spitting distance of that most glorious jewel of the planet for nearly a decade and what I most loved was what lives in, on and by the water. I miss the Gulf and its wildlife every single day of my life away from there.

Recently, I've been making cartoons of birds and enjoying the songs and antics of my feathered backyard friends. As I recover from the writing and production of my new eBooks, I've been considering birds as subject matter.

As the shore birds and migrators now die at the height of their nesting season and the rest of the magnificent sea life is extinguished at the hands of greedy, sloppy industry, I'll concentrate on that life as a subject. More or less. I feel ill every time I think of how dependent upon oil I am for my daily life.

Bird in Flight is an old sketch I have not been able to throw away. I keep moving it from one spot to another in the studio. I may as well share it!
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Take some Basic Drawing Lessons

Take a hike!

Go outside and take a walk.

"If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk." —Raymond Inmon

It's easy, free and one of the best things you can do for yourself. If you're able, get off the beaten track. Leave your cell phone, ipod, and camera behind. Can you leave your watch behind, too? Listen to the birds. Notice where the sun is positioned in the sky.

See how long it takes you to become aware of - really present in your surroundings. Leaving your busy mind to fall in synch with ambulating. Notice how good it feels for your lungs to start pumping with your legs and for the oxygen to course through your system. Doesn't if feel great to look at the real world in all its depth and beauty and not at a computer screen?

"A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world." -Paul Dudley White

How close are you to a nice little walk in nature? Is the path right outside your door? Do you have to hop in a car and drive? Can you find nature in your immediate and everyday surroundings? It's there — you just have to start to notice it. The birds are singing, you just have to listen.

Even walking for twenty minutes can change your mood, your well being and point of view. It's true. Shut your computer down and go find out for yourself!

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The Sheltering Sky

On My Great Day blog, I had the off again, on again habit of posting music or videos on Fridays. It might be fun to pick that habit up again here.

Once upon a time, I had King Crimson all to myself. It was an afternoon in the early 80's on the ABC set of Fridays where the band was rehearsing for their TV performance. I was the only person in the audience stand.

After their performance, Fripp showed me his plastic Beatles rings, Tony Levin gave me one of his picks, Bruford hankered for pizza and I remember nothing about Belew.

If you're up for more, watch that televised performance.

What I do remember about Adrian Belew is the beautiful pink suit he wore all through that time period. I drove past him once on Sunset at the beginning of the strip. All I noticed was the suit. After, I realized it was Belew. What a great signature!

The Sheltering Sky is named for the Paul Bowles novel and appears on the King Crimson Discipline album. I came across this video by chance the other night, posted it on my facebook page and have been listening to it ever since. Discipline might be one of my desert island discs.

I'm definitely not a rocker but I was crazy over this iteration of King Crimson. My only favorite rock band. They were brilliant. I was so fortunate to see them in live performance on a number of occasions. I even went to a drum clinic that Bruford gave at Cal State Northridge which was spent mostly on managing different decay factors in synth and acoustic drums.

I have to thank my ex-husband for that command rehearsal performance. He was painting scenery on the set, got wind that the band was on their way and called to invite me. It was all good timing.

Enjoy!
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Just because

Library at Woburn, Mass.

Just because a book is finished does not mean that work is finished on a book!

This pen and ink was made from an early photo of the Library at Woburn, Massachusetts. I found it in a 1902 edition of the Text-Book of the History of Architecture. Of 423 pages, only 17 on architecture in the United States.

I think I performed at this library while I was touring with my program on the history of the Christmas Carol — Out Under the Sky.

This drawing illustrates one of the pages in my new eBook How To Throw A Big Draw in Your Neighborhood. That eBook is being offered with a bonus of my other new eBook Basic Drawing Lessons.

With all this work on getting other people to draw, I thought it was about time to post a drawing of my own up here. As many of you know, you can see other drawings of mine at Studies and Sketches.

I'm readjusting to a new web presence — and it's taking some tweaking (and considerable time) — but it'll all come out in the wash, as they say!

Back to work on the eBooks which is now getting them out into the world.

You can help by telling your friends and family!

How To Throw A Big Draw in Your Neighborhood
Basic Drawing Lessons
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Finally

Finally. A few moments to garden over the weekend. Cutting back lavender bushes — the fragrance makes life on earth heaven.

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Deadline

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I love meeting deadlines!

My new eBooks are officially released. They're beautiful. I'm delighted with them. You can read all about them by clicking on "New!" in the menu bar above.

Now it's time to whip this website into shape. My new blog will emerge when it's ready to crack its shell.

If you want to know when that happens, follow this blog (see sidebar to the right) or

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