Time Marches On.......

Have you heard of the wonderful 'Painting A Day' idea, where one creates and completes a small painting, on as regular a basis as possible?  Very beneficial for honing skills and focus, besides a fun
concept!  This year, it feels as though I'm on the 'Painting A Quarter' program, due to family focus....
ah well....at least everything's there ready and waiting when time allows, and I refuse to get frustrated!!
An excellent local Idaho 'Painter A Day' is Mary Maxam, and her website and blog are well worth a visit.

Coming in April: 
    
   -  Friday, 1 April and Saturday 2 April I will be performing traditional Scottish tunes with drummer Todd
      Neel and fiddler Lorna Woelfel at Unity Church's Mardi Gras Variety Show, 7pm both nights. 

   -  Friday, 8 April, noon-7:30pm and Saturday 9 April 10am - 7pm.....I will be exhibiting current paintings
      (and talking about Scotland with anyone interested!!), along with cards and prints in the 11th Annual  Artist Showcase by the Coeur d'Alene Art Association.  We will be at the CDA Resort Plaza Shops, 2nd and Sherman downtown.  Forty two artists are participating, and it's always a lovely event, and a great opportunity to meet interesting, creative people, who might happen to be your neighbour!  I will be demonstrating part of the day on Saturday.

  -  22 April - 31 May.....I will be on holiday in Scotland - gathering inspiration, and hopefully dipping into some of the inviting tubes of paint that are sitting around the studio saying 'squeeze me!'.....

Loch Duich - Did Robert Burns Stay There Too??

An additional bright spot in this very gray, frosty winter week: my recent painting “Loch Duich from Kintail Hotel” (discussed in an earlier post) ,was voted by members in attendance at the monthly Coeur d’Alene Art Association meeting to hang for a month in a strategic spot at North Idaho College. Not being an enthusiastic “joiner” of anything, I bit the bullet, becoming a member over a year ago to have an activity to share with my 87-year-old mother, who (I’m jealous!) paints a minimum of 30 hours a week! Joining has benefitted us both in many unexpected ways, and I for one actually look forward to attending meetings!

Another ‘meeting,’ Scots oriented of course, that should be experienced at least once in one’s lifetime, is the Burns Supper, held (normally) on or around January 25, Rabbie Burns’ birthday, 250 years ago. Here in Idaho though, we do get a bit creative. The Scottish contingent in Kellogg 40 miles away held it’s Burns Supper in May a couple years ago – a hilarious event offering haggis and pepperoni pizza, scratchy recorded Burns poetry in an accent so thick no one understood and soon gave off trying, and some rather individualistic attendees, shall we say, who ate, drank, and interrupted the poor organizer endlessly. A priceless experience.

Having limited knowledge of one R. Burns, except for a fascinating visit to the Writer’s Museum in Lady Stair's Close off the Royal Mile in Edinburgh and observing of a good number of “Rabbie Burns Slept Here” brass plaques” scattered throughout the north of Scotland on my own wanderings, it must be said that I’m heartily intrigued. His life and works have been elevated to such a degree, while he exhibited such human frailties. All in a time when church reigned supreme and would hardly condone his activities and behavior. An entire country which chooses to honour a fascinating albeit dubious character such as Burns…..well…..just one more reason why I love Scotland!