MY FAVORITE BOOK and What it has Taught Me.

I remember exactly where I was when listening to this book on tape, laughing and crying out loud.  Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning" was listened to as I painted on a low water bridge off Hwy 281 in South Texas.
  He lost every one in the four Nazi camps he was in:  his parents, siblings, and pregnant wife.  The inspiration for me was that while he had no choice over these happenings of life, he had the choice of his reaction to them.  He could not avoid the awful suffering, but he could choose how to deal with it.
  MY POINT:  We as artists also have the ability to choose how to deal with what life throws at us.
    Rejection from a show-how do we handle it?
    Selling?  Actually better to have less stuff to have to insure, repair and maintain.  Nice to simplify life.  Have a Son and Daughter in Law who have just "downsized" because daughters are leaving or left nest.  More "stuff" does not make us happy. You make you happy.
    Responsibility?  Once again I bring up the discipline of taking responsibility for our actions and not blaming any other person, school, government, church, entity.
    Actually know what happiness is for you.  Be grateful for things we often take for granted.


Here is a part of life that makes me happy, the act of getting to paint and then interact with people with those paintings.

Brunch for the Swans

Have a group of women that have met for approximately 27 years each month to celebrate birthdays that fall in that month.  I had the lunch here and worked hard to have a varied menu. Could not have made the day without the serving prowess of Jean.  She was invaluable.
     Made up a cold soup that I want to share with you.  It was wonderful (I thought).  Will title it "Cold Creamy Tomato Soup"

Cooked in a pan with 3 T of olive oil-two large onions chopped, 2 carrots chopped, and 6 cloves of garlic chopped, 10 leaves of basil, until onions became translucent.  In my Blend Tek I blended two pounds of tomatoes and a couple of 8 oz cans of spicy tomato juice with the mixture of onions, garlic, carrots, and basil.  Then combined and blended with a pint of heavy cream.  Salt and pepper to taste.
Topped with a dab of sour cream mixed with who knows what, and a basil leaf.

One of our group of Swans, Sally, brought a couple of hand outs from my show in Granbury, and acted as my marketing director.  Should hire her.  Here is one of the paintings from the show that I have not referred to before:

What Could Be More Fun

than some of the teasing and jokes we pull on each other in the college classroom.
Someone had put this Care Bear in one of the schools outdoor sculptures.  For some reason they thought it was me.  I'll accept the responsibility, but it really was not me.  Had fun with one of my professors giving CB painting pointers.  Posed the two of them and did a three hour study of the two.  Battles is the profs name.