ahhhhhhh, that art show feeling!

Grand Rapids, Ohio has become my local "little favorite-downtown-scene-town." It's got that little shops scattered about downtown thing going on...plus just behind main street flows "the muddy Maumee" (the maumee river) as its referred to around here.

Ahhhh. I miss being near bodies of water...especially mountain rivers. So, the maumee will have to do in a pinch. But I digress.

There's an art gallery located amongst the shops along Main Street there in Grand Rapids called Angelwood Gallery. Chris and I stumbled upon this little gallery last year while walking from shop to shop one afternoon...which then led us to attend an art opening which since has led us to attend Saturday evenings art opening there at Angelwood.

It's SUCH a joy for me to be around art in the art-opening-sort-of-setting. The buzz and hub-bub that goes along with art shows is unmatchable. Like a shot of art energy right into the arm! And to experience this buzz with Chris is even more enjoyable for me...as I think she now has caught the art appreciation bug too.

Julie Beutler, owner of Angelwood is a potter. So naturally her work is on display and for sale at the gallery along with other local artists. But Saturday night was a show celebrating 20 years. (The celebration was actually two-fold....20 year anniversary or gallery and also of Julie creating pottery). In gallery years...THAT is a BIG DEAL! 20 years?? You know you're doing something right if you can make it 5 years let alone 20.
It was a joy to join in the celebration and attend Saturday night. And Chris and I also added to our personal art collection a similar piece of what's shown in the image above, a "homey". (Thought it's cute that Julie named this series of clay houses, "Homeys".) We now have a one-of-a-kind Julie Homey in our art collection!

Which I will just go ahead here and say...there's just nothing more fun than collecting art from favorite places and sharing in that experience with your life-partner. It truly is a pleasure to mutually appreciate art!
And a big high-five to all of you who have discovered this joy.
Go, be, buy art!!

A walk in the woods...taking the paintings for a hike and other fun adventures

I might be just a little bit crazy...(have been called worse things) but it seemed to me that a few of the finished paintings hanging in the studio were BEGGING to get out! And if you know me...I'm always up for an adventure...trying out something new.  So, I carefully put them into my backpack and off we went into the woods.

Each piece truly seemed to appreciate getting out! After all...who says paintings don't experience "cabin-fever" too? And the nearby wildlife was like..."Hi, there! Welcome to the woods."

Mr. Cardinal and Mr. Owl smiled a lot...as the warm breeze and sunshine smiled down on them.  Was only about a 2 hour adventure...but they seemed super-appreciative! And now hang again in the studio awaiting their new home.

OH!! and one OTHER really cool thing!! I TOTALLY ran into Equality while I was in the woods! Yet another reason I LOVE to get outside and wander amongst the trees.

Thank you nature for your blessings!

To learn more about these art pieces visit http://www.RachelDickson.com/rachels_art.htm

A Most Useless Place (an excerpt from my June 2012 newsletter)

I tend to ponder a lot. And my most recent ponderable topic...is that of (as Dr. Seuss says in his book "Oh, the Places You'll Go") "a most useless place. The waiting place." Here's Dr. Seuss' full description of the waiting place.

"The Waiting Place......for people just waiting. Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or the waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow.

Everyone is just waiting. Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for the wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance. 

Everyone is just waiting. NO! That's not for you! Somehow you'll escape all that waiting and staying. You'll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing." (an excerpt from Oh, the Places You'll Go)

As I pondered this topic, my thoughts morphed more into holding on to things of our past. Memories, experiences, standards of various sorts, daily routines, etc, etc. A different type of waiting I suppose...waiting for it to happen again?

I'm reminded of a couple I met once. They each described their lives previously being about international travel and career related encounters...and they described it in a manner of "that's who we were...and we're feeling a bit out of place right now because we are retired and we aren't those people any more." Which of course screams of a yearning for the past, a sort of holding on and unwillingness to move forward. Attachment to external experiences in a "who we were" sort of manner. I wondered if I would ever feel that way. Is this feeling maybe more to do with being proud of who we were in those instances? Those instances of feelings of belonging?

I have since found myself pondering this topic because I have arrived at what I'll call life's crossroads...or life changes. It certainly takes some adjusting and some allowing and some embracing. It also takes trust. Trusting in yourself to not falter or waiver from the deeper part of yourself...of who you really are. For the sails of your sailboat to catch wind like they're made to do.

I'm coming to learn that lingering in "the waiting place" for very long can be debilitating. Which is why we MUST keep moving forward! Don't linger for long. You might miss your next greatest thing while clutching to that last greatest thing. Let go and allow.

This same phenomena occurs during painting too! I often reach a place in a painting and it doesn't feel quite right, doesn't look right. The colors aren't working together, or the canvas feels out-of-balance. Sometimes I walk away and return later to segway right into the next needed brush stroke. Other times I stand determined to push through, moving forward and soon a new finished work of art appears out of the mist.

Waiting can be show-stopping. Holding-on can be crippling. Allow, breath, embrace. All will be well. Vita et Fiducia!

What do you think?

Peace to you,

Rachel

To Read the entire June newsletter click here.

DIY and projecting...repeat.

GoodNESS I've been on such a projecting path of "re-use, re-purpose and re-organize" of late. I make myself laugh some days because I add to my own "honey-do list" WAY more than my honey does.
And thanks to the BEST Christmas gift EVER (kudos to Chris and yes I DID ask for one)...a Dewalt cordless drill...I'm a projecting mo-fo! Amazing to me how having the right tools to complete a task makes life SO much easier!
I absolutely LOVE creating new things...and projecting is kinda-sorta creating depending upon the project. Some of my most favorite things involve decoring in the house such as painting, hanging shelves, hanging artwork, rearranging furniture and the like.
Although sometimes these things may have a price if we don't take the necessary precautions to do things safely and in a common-sense-sorta-manner (pointing finger back at myself).
It's been FOREVER since I've have to visit the E.R. so I guess I was due a trip. Needless to say, cutting plastic shelf-bracket-housing with smith-and-wesson pocket knife and slicing big gouge into left hand, dumb. And yes, much trucker-like-language poured forth from the closet where I was attempting to hang that shelf. A visit to the E.R. and four stitches later...Ouch! Yep, I do dumb things. But as we say...so long as we LEARN from said dumb things...hopefully we won't repeat them. And now, along with the scar on my left hand, shelf is hanging all purposeful and new.
Yet another DIY project I'm very excited about is re-constructing the layout of the inside of our animal barn to house our new flock of laying hens. Chickens yeah! Chris and I had loads of fun wacking away at the previous wood stall fencing with the sledgehammer and now we're working on re-building new stall fencing more functional for small animals.
I'm sure you'll see me writing much more about our chicken adventures here in the near future as these feathered friends do some of the most hilarious things in the barnyard. (Barnyard politics are alive and well too...which I'm SURE there is MUCH to learn from there.)
In the mean time, I'm confident that many of you are jumping into spring and re-organizing and cleaning and freshening up your space in preparation for summer! What DIY projects are you into? I'd love to hear about them.

Peace.

I think this might be typical behavior

It's February and this isn't any really big news.  However, maybe it can be better described as "cabin-fever-season"...or "PLEASE bring on Summer already season".

So I thought it appropriate (and Chris suggested this actually) to paint a robin. And WoW what fun this Male American Robin turned out to be! I swear I could smell cut-grass the whole time I was painting this piece! (all the while it was freezing rain outside. hah)

Check this out in full array. Just click here.

In the mean time, stay warm...and bring on Summer!

Sites and Sounds of Owls!

Shown here to the left...the Eastern Screech Owl. Also the most recent wild bird that I've opted to paint.

Let's face it...owls are cool! They're like "the Fonz" of the bird world. Well respected in nature (probably because they can do some serious damage to rodents and other birds) these mysterious birds are worth researching.

Take a listen to my most recent audio blog where you can hear sound bites of the Great Horned Owl, the Barred Owl and the Eastern Screech Owl.

To view and purchase "Patient in the Woods (Eastern Screech Owl) click here.

To learn more about artist Rachel Dickson visit racheldickson.com

To listen to Rachel's audio blog click here.

who Who WHO!

It's often the things we haven't seen before, or something that we rarely see that excite us! As if the world has smiled down upon us and hand-picked us to be the one to witness something. Like a deer approaching us in the woods and gets so close we can actually reach out and touch it. Or like a flock of birds that swarm some pattern in the sky but only for a split second.

I've had the pleasure of witnessing the wild in ways that made me feel like I was the only one on earth who had seen such.  (And then of course you want to tell the whole world what you just saw!!)

Owls fall into this category for me. I've only seen or heard a few in my lifetime, and I cherish each and every memory of owl encounters. These birds are amazingly quiet and to actually SEE one with your own eyes is rare.  To HEAR one is the most amazing experience too!

For me, owls carry a sort of mystique in the woods. Probably why they have a reputation as depicted in the entertainment industry as wise, (you know...the wise-old-owl theory) as if they hold some secret knowledge of the world we live in.

Not until I began to research the various species of owls did I learn that there are a LOT more versions of these birds than I ever imagined!  (Painting material for a very long long time!)

For my first owl painting I selected the Eastern Screech Owl primarily for its size and color.
Titled, "Patient in the Woods" this original acrylic on wood painting measures 6 inches by 4.75 inches by 1 inch (just slightly smaller than a dvd case) and is affordably priced at only $37.00.

Click here to learn more about this painting.

And what does an eastern screech owl SOUND like? Well...I'll save that for my next audio blog posting.
Until then...get out in the woods and keep your eyes open! You might just see an owl.

to learn more about Rachel Dickson visit http://www.racheldickson.com