Catching up

(Copyright Anne Huskey-Lockard, 2009, all rights reserved)

On just about everything today. The house, the laundry, the piles of *stuff* that have collected mysteriously everywhere. I'm sure there must be some evil Pixie that comes in every night and distributes these little non-treasures that I then have to contend with.

I have been quite lax on anything that has not been health related or art related and it has caught up. I'm at the "Oh cr*p" stage, wishing it would all go away, along with the rain and the gloom and the soreness and limping.

I want to run away and walk through the woods, take photos of flowers, mushroom hunt, breathe in the smell of the earth coming back awake from a too-long winter's sleep. I want to take my camera and wander through town, finding the remnants of old buildings that speak to me and need recording before time and age take them. I want to sit quietly at the Cafe and have a latte and just zone out.

Instead, I get to listen to the roar of the sweeper, smell floor cleaner and try and figure which pile of laundry requires attention first. These are not the priorities of life I excel at. I'd rather be trying out the new rubber stamps I bought, or mounting some u.m.s I've had FOR EVER, or looking though some books for some verbal inspiration for a piece taking shape in my minds eye. (in Latin, no less!)

Surprisingly, when I get out the John Deere and do the acre, that is good creative time. I just listen to the hum (or rattle, depending if I have had it tuned up) and soon I am off elsewhere in Artland, thinking or rehashing an idea. It's odd, but it works.

Alas, when you're pretty sure you could grow potatoes in the corners of your rooms due to build up of dust, art gets set on the back burner. You know, where things simmer. And maybe that's okay. Those five fresh canvasses in the wet studio need thought before diving in.

Simmering is good.

I need to remember that.........

Now go simmer your creative brew; let me know what you've come up with!

Morning Coffee

(Copyright Anne M. Huskey-Lockard, 2008)

For those of us totally caffeine addicted, there is nothing like that first cup of the day. The aroma of the coffee brewing, the dark rich liquor being poured into the cup, and then the first taste!

AH! Life is GOOD!!! (and the internal organs begin their daily functioning; heart, lungs, liver, etc....)

This is a painting I did for Cafe Du Cirque owner Chris Arrick after the move into their present location. It is a combination of paint and collage, bright, cheerful---actually, under the right light it positively glows due to the color choices and the minor addition of some super fine glitter. The cup is a fair approximation of the cups used at the cafe. Nothing can approximate the taste of the coffee served there.....wonderful.

I live for the Lattes; delicious, heady-rich, smooth on the tongue and sinful.

So how do you capture these feelings and smells in a painting?

It took some thought; I'm not sure I did. But I must admit that it was hard to part with-----I would love it in my kitchen, which is mostly red. It looks great, though, on the cafe walls which are a soft sunshine yellow.

And is it an accident that the steam from the cup comes up, almost creating the flame of a Sacred Heart???? ;)

Hey, coffee is serious business for some of us. It's our communion.

Now go get yourself javaed up and make something creative today---I am!