Artistic Voyage: News from Mickey

September, 2010

Happy colorful, glistening fall!

There is a bitter-sweetness to this time of year. The thought of waning summer days could make me a bit melancholy if it weren’t for the anticipation of the stunning fall foliage and crisp cool evenings of autumn. Living in the foothills of Pikes Peak I am inspired by the dramatic light, especially the high contrast between the deep greens of the pine covered mountains and the copses of aspens with their nearly white bark and glittery golden fall foliage interspersed.

We expect the blossoming of flowers in the spring but fall has it’s own freshness. Chrysanthemums, nasturtiums and asters to name a few. Flowers unfold with such newness with paint as well, freshness that never fades, perhaps this is another reason flora are one of my favorite subjects for my paintings.

Four more new cards from last month’s new series:

Nurturing yourself continued . . .

Continuing with my newly found, soon to be “tradition” of nurturing myself on a more regular basis I  decided to do something totally out of character “for me”. One August evening while dining at the Broadmoor Resort my friend Jo and I were chatting about movies and discovered that we both liked several of Meg Ryan’s movies. This started the wheels in my head turning. Jo has been helping me one day a week with packaging, shipping and organizing those things left undone from my move. Bella and I delight in her visits. Since I wanted to continue my new tradition I thought I would surprise her.

We finished working about 12:30 PM and I asked if she could stay for lunch and she said she could. Then I asked if she could stay a couple of hours longer and she said she would have to call home to ask her husband if she had anything on her calendar. She was free until 4:30 PM. She said, “What’s up, more work?” I said, “No, we’re going to watch a movie. She busted out laughing and said,
“Wonderful!”

We took our lunch to my little loft area and popped in the movie, French Kiss, with Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline – check out this little preview. We laughed so hard! Now that is what I call making the most of my day, getting lots of work done and taking time to lunch and laugh with a friend. If you haven’t seen the
movie, rent it for a fun little “get-away-from-everything” kind of afternoon. I so enjoy movies that uplift and celebrate the human spirit.

A couple of weeks later Jo and I had our dinner and dance evening at the Broadmoor. Two dancers joined us and during our conversation Jo mentioned the little movie get away we had had. Isn’t that what special memories are made of? When was the last time you did something totally out of character for you? I’d
love to hear about it. More fodder for my new tradition!

On a different note . . .

One of Bella and my dearest friends passed on August 10th. Clare hosted our weekly pinochle club for over 16 years, long before I joined. On the occasions that I needed someone to watch Bella
while I was out of town, Clare always insisted on watching her. On Tuesday evening, August 10th we gave a toast to Clare.  At 79 years old she was a woman
full of life and spunky to the end according to her family. She lived life to the fullest.

Bella and I stopped at Clare’s house to visit this week. Bella walked though the entire main level and proceeded downstairs going from room to room. When we returned to the main level she continued to pace until we left. Clare is missed by many.

Bella’s Insights

Wow, you know I really hate to complain but the wind has been ferocious! I hear it whistle and it makes me shake all over, I just can’t stop. Mom and I still go for our walks but I pick up the pace quite a bit. Mom made me sit by these flowers because they matched my bow, duh, it was SO WINDY!

My buddy Bailey and her Mom stopped by to see me last month. Since it was the first time Bailey had come to my new diggs there was a lot of sniffing going on.

I also met some new friends on my morning neighborhood walk, Gizmo and Rambo.

That little Gizmo is pretty feisty and Rambo doesn’t let anybody get close to his
mom. (They were two tough little cookies.

~Wind-blown Bella