Last Sunday, a local artist group that I meet with had an open studio with a teacher from the Shambhala Center.  We had an introduction to meditation including practice, an introduction to the art of Miksang (contemplative photography), and we met with some Miksang students who shared their work with us. As soon as I saw some of the photos that were taken, I realized that I have taken this approach to photography. I just never knew it had a name.  The Shambhala Center in Madison doesn’t offer their class on Miksang during the winter because of the unpredictablity and coldness of the weather. Since the class goes out and does a lot of photography in nature, it is understandable that most people don’t want to take the chance of sub-zero wind chills during the weekend long class. Hopefully, we will have a short winter (or at least one with less than 100+ inches of snow like last year). I am planning to take advantage of the nice day that is predicted for tomorrow and taking some photos. We’ll see how I do in capturing the spirit of Miksang.  For now I will leave you with my second collage piece in my series created on vintage barn boards.

I admit I wimped out on actually going to Camp Randall to watch the football game. It was just too bloody cold to sit in the stands when I could watch the game on our big screen TV in the cozy comfort of my house. It was an amazing game to watch. A huge defensive battle. The Tigers ended up winning the game when they intercepted a pass in the Wildcats end zone with less than a minute left in the game. The final score was Stratford – 7, Edgar – 3. Edgar may have won the conference title but Stratford has now won SIX Division 6 State Titles. WooHoo!!!!

And now for a little art talk… I mentioned that I was working on a series of pieces using some wood pieces that my friend, Deb gave me. The first one is shown at the left. It combines a painted background and foreground elements and multiple image transfers, including the music which is the title for the piece. Stay tuned for additional pieces from the series.

I won’t say that I’m a huge football fan but I do enjoy watching my favorite teams. It has been years since I went to a high school football game but I find myself looking forward to Thursday. That is the day my hometown high school’s football team will play for their sixth consecutive state title. Since they will be playing at Camp Randall in Madison, I can’t resist the urge to go cheer them on. I only hope they can beat our rival, the Edgar Wildcats. They were the one team that beat the Tigers during the regular season. Stay tuned because I will definitely be posting the results of the game.

What I’ve been working on lately is a series of pieces that are on old barn board that my friend, Deb gave me a couple of weeks ago. Because each piece of wood is about one and a half inches thick, they can stand on a shelf or table. I’m still working on them so I’m not going to share them now. Instead, I have my recently completed “Precious Jewels” canvas to share. The main image is a vintage photo of Russian man. When I first saw this photo, I was immediately smitten with it. I think it’s because things like this remind me of my semester in Poland, which was before the Berlin Wall came down. Because it was an old photo, my mind went back in history and I couldn’t stop thinking about the last Russian czar and his family. I decided to combine all my thoughts into one piece. The ghost like images surrounding the Russian man are the four daughters of Czar Nicholas, who where murdered during the revolution. The Russian text translates to “Precious Jewels Forever Lost”.

I’m sure that many of you may be wondering if I’ve fallen off the face of the earth since I haven’t posted anything for so long. Well, yes I did (just kidding) and have now found my way back on and to my computer. The past few months have been ones of transition for me. I realized over the summer that I was having problems again with depression. I have now gotten it back under control and have been more dedicated to my art than ever before. So even though I haven’t been posting. I have been working on various things related to my art. It has been over a year and a half since I decided I wanted to have a website to showcase my artwork. It has only been recently that I’ve made significant strides in making it a reality. With the help of my internet-savvy brother, I have moved my blog to be part of my website and developed an integrated design for all of it. There is still much to do with the website, but at least I’m on my way.
What I have been really excited about is my recent work with image transfers. I have been working on several pieces that incorporate multiple layers of images. One of the first ones I did began as a very different vision than the final result. I love working with vintage images and text but I never thought I would create something with such a strong Victorian feel. I guess you just never know what may be the end result when adding layers upon layers. Stay tuned for more work with layers of images and text.