Artistic Voyage: News from Mickey

August, 2010

We take on so many roles and it gets complicated and crowded. My life has always been full. I have kept it that way because that is what I thought was “normal.” It has become abundantly clear to me how important to my creativity it is to be quiet and listen to all that life has to offer. The more quiet time I allow myself, the calmer my life becomes. The little things have more importance.

I find that I paint because I must. It is an important part of making my life worthwhile. No doubt about it painting is the best way I know to express what is important to me. When we paint, write, cook, sew, etc. I believe we leave an essence of our love and passion for what we do. I love sharing the abundance I see in nature. Painting is a visual statement of my celebration of life.

It is not always the interpretation of a flower, a landscape or a still life that brings me joy when I paint. Sometimes it is the interaction of watercolors. When  painting each pigment makes its own contribution to the whole – each color can change. Yellow with blue becomes green, red with blue creates purple and yellow and red meld together as orange. By adding cool, clear water they are transformed into delicate translucent tints of those colors. A vibrant red can become a delicate pink, a glorious purple can be a soft lavender. So many combinations, so little time.

When your painting emerges, like magic, consider for a moment the difference between creating a painting, giving it life, planting flowers and watching them bloom, preparing a healthy meal to share with family and friends or nurturing your soul by doing each. Is there a difference really? Doesn’t each nurture your soul?

Here are a few of my color fusions that will probably find there way in to my next series of fine art note cards. I stuck with four colors, the three primary colors red, blue and yellow and a color I call buff which I find subtle but elegant. It’s lovely accented with white.

Bella’s Insights

Guess what! I had a birthday last week! I’m a great big four years old. Mom took  me to the groomer in the morning . . . that didn’t thrill me. Tracy and Lucy are  really nice to me but getting groomed is not my choice of fun outings.

After my monthly professional rub  down, trim and all around tidying up, to include my new red bow, mom and I met my old buddy Baily and her mom for lunch at a cool restaurant in Old Colorado City, Pizzeria Rustica. They had outside dinning so Baily and I got to see what a “girl’s luncheon” was all about. It sure smelled good and mom  seemed to like it a lot. Mom brought  my favorite treat, chicken jerky, and I shared with Baily.

Baily and I pretty much stayed under the table and everyone thought we  were very well behaved. If they only new I was just protecting my “tail feathers.” There were a lot of people walking around and not all of them are looking out for small dogs.

Oh yeh, pinochle was at our house this week because my good friend Clara is out of town. It was so nice of everybody to come and see me. To top it all off another buddy of mine visited from Florida this week. It was a great birthday week with lots of pats and belly rubs, who could ask for more?!?

Ta ta for now,

~Bella

“Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.”

— Danny Kaye