My blog has moved!

While the full site is still in process, my blog has just moved to www.marylizingramart.com! be sure to subscribe and join my new site!

A PAINTING!?

Savannah Summer, 20x24 Oil on Canvas...There was a day awhile back when I didn't feel like getting my fingers dirty with pastels. The kids were squirrelly, the baby wasn't "self-entertained," shall we say, but I wanted to do some art. I like working in most art media...except for oil paints. I steer clear of the slow drying, "have to wait" kind of stuff, and jump right to "I can finish fast if I want to" type of stuff (i.e. pastels!!!) But on this particular day, I thought, "What the heck, let's paint!" I sat on the floor with my canvas propped up, and started painting one of the beautiful trees near my sister's home in Savannah, using my pretty much unopened tubes of oil paint. Given the nature of that day, I ended up completing the piece more quickly than intended, with a baby on my lap (angled AWAY from wet paint!) and my son busily creating his own art on the floor next to me (a little too close to the painting for my comfort!). So it may not have been the most reflective, or the most tranquil painting experience, but hey, I PAINTED! IN OILS! This painting will be at the BAA Juried Show this weekend! Join us tonight for the reception, 5:00-8:00, at Christopher House Antiques near Pepper Place, downtown Birmingham.

Ready to go...

All set up and ready to go for the Annual Mountain Brook Art Association Holiday Show. Join me this Friday, 4:00-8:00 for the opening reception at Brookwood Mall, hosted by Cocina! There are 80 artists with a huge variety of art for sale. My panels are towards the back next to the work of my great friend and awesome artist, Cecily Hill Lowe!

Upcoming Events

There are two great art events this week!

Join me at Christopher House Antiques this Thursday, Nov. 15th, 5:00-8:00 for the opening reception of the Birmingham Art Association 2012 Juried Show (3205 2nd Ave South, Birmingham, AL 35233) Christopher House will be open Friday and Sat. 10-5. There is plenty of parking across the street from Christopher House

This Friday opens the Annual Mountain Brook Art Association Holiday Show at Brookwood Village. November 16th come join us for the Opening Reception 4:00-8:00pm hosted my Cocina Superior. November 30th join us for our Grand Finale Party 5:00 - 8:00 pm hosted by Brio. The show will be open for the rest of November, and is a great place to shop for some unique Christmas gifts! I will have 2 panels with large and small pastel paintings.

My current website www.marylizingramart.com is still on the fritz! I am building a brand new site that will also include my blog, so stay tuned. Also, join my Facebook page for news and updates at Mary Liz Ingram Art !

Layers of Life

Ah, the complexities of life. We all have a story, layered with triumphs, tears, mistakes, redemption, tragedies, success, joy and pain. Most of our stories are hidden behind our personas, whether they be smiling faces or bitter scowls; woven so tightly together that the layers are unseen, making up one image. These thoughts were on my mind as I created my newest piece, a 16x20 cotton boll in soft pastel. I begin my pieces with under layers of dark black followed by bright colors: turquoise, fuchsia, purple, bright green, gold:

I finish the piece with a unifying neutral, in this case white, bringing the layers together into a single image; no longer separate pieces of the story, but a complex whole...very much like the layers of life.

We cannot separate our stories into separate pieces, discarding some and clinging to others. All of our experiences unite to make us who we are, individuals with layers of story. To me, this is a good and beautiful part of living life; also, something to remember when we daily encounter our fellow human beings, with our myriad of emotions and reactions. We are all living a story. "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

MaryLizIngramArt.com

So...my website is still not functioning due to a server change. I am in process of building a brand new website centering on my new "POV" (see my earlier post!), "Pieces of the South." It should be up and running soon! It will include my blog on the homepage, so it will be nice and tidy, all in one place! Ah, technology...

Mini Picasso

My husband just returned from Richmond and, as usual, brought the kids a "prize" from his trip. This time, I got a prize too! A magnetic Picasso finger puppet. Words can't describe how hilarious and amazing I think this little thing is. It cracks me up, and he is already my friend. I'm trying to decide if I should take him to work, to give me inspiration and a good laugh, or to leave him in my art room to watch me draw. I have to ask, "Who makes these things?!" but the thought that follows is, "This is AWESOME!!!" A few Picasso quotes to stir your thoughts: Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life... Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up... Action is the foundational key to all success... Computers are useless. They can only give you answers... Art is a lie that makes us realize truth... I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it... I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them... Never permit a dichotomy to rule your life, a dichotomy in which you hate what you do so you can have pleasure in your spare time. Look for a situation in which your work will give you as much happiness as your spare time... The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web... Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working... One must act in painting as in life, directly... Everything is a miracle. It is a miracle that one does not dissolve in one's bath like a lump of sugar... The hidden harmony is better than the obvious... The older you get the stronger the wind gets - and it's always in your face... Painting is just another way of keeping a diary... The people who make art their business are mostly imposters...

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/p/pablo_picasso.html#6UM5u8RiYAQ5Rd4c.99

Eclectic Cool was a Success!

This past Friday was "The Eclectic Art Social Club's" second group show: "Eclectic Cool: the Colors of Calm." Let me pause and give you a little insight/explanation into our name...we are a group of 7 "young women," shall we say, who are serious about art, but we don't take ourselves to seriously. We began meeting several years ago to help each other in our art careers, but mostly ended up brunching, drinking coffee and having a good time together at each other's homes (hence "social club). We all have very different styles, from thoughtful and careful collage, to intricate and meaningful acrylic "drawings," to abstract acrylics, realistic and reflective oils, jewelry, pastels...you get the idea. We dubbed our interesting mix "eclectic." For this show, we chose to link our styles with cool, calming colors. The show was upstairs at Parkside Bar in Avondale and it was amazing. We had a packed house from 4:30-9:00 and had a blast together, selling and enjoying art and community! Here are some images as our show began...

The crew: (left to right) Dariana Dervis, Mary Liz Ingram, Erin Hardin, Cecily Hill Lowe, Chi Roach

Cecily's large installation

Guests enjoying Chi's art

Dariana and Chi happy to open the show

Dariana's collage and jewelry, always soothing

Erin's beautiful oil paintings

Mary Liz's pastels, apologies for the bad lighting!

Eclectic Cool: The Colors of Calm

Birmingham area locals, come out to Parkside Bar in downtown Birmingham next Friday, October 19 for this great one night art show, featuring new works by Mary Liz Ingram, Dariana Dervis, Cecily Hill Lowe, Erin Hardin and Chi Roach. Our different subjects, styles and media will be unified by cool colors...the colors of calm: blues, greens, grays, purples. It will be a fun night, so bring your friends! Eclectic Cool: The Colors of Calm October 19 from 4:30-9:00pm Parkside Cafe & Bar, upstairs 4036 5th Avenue South Birmingham, AL 35222

The Old Water Tower, 15X21 Soft Pastel on card...Here's a peek into some of the new work for our show.

The avoidance of narcissism

Reflection, Quick Graphite Sketch... I gave a speech today. I dont like public speaking...not one bit. In seminary, I took all the classes but the preaching classes. I love teaching; I can lead a pastel demonstration for hours and actually get energy from "speaking while doing." But at a podium with a microphone? No thank you. I'll do it, I'll try my best, but I don't like it. Who does like public speaking anyway? Oh right, my HUSBAND, who happens to be really great at it. And there he sat, listening to my speech. He said I did well, but all day I've thought about it and made a mental fuss over all the things I wish I'd done better, things I meant to say. Then it hit me: its ok. It was a short 20 minutes in the lives of a few people, and it's not a big deal. I'm the only one even thinking about it anymore. Then the word "narcissism" drifted into my mind, and my great desire to avoid it. I let go of my speech-obsessing and realized the insignificance of me...in a GOOD way. I know I can make a difference and my life matters...really, I mean it. But when it comes down to me eating pancakes for breakfast, if my toenails are painted, what I wore yesterday, or what I said in my little preschool welcome speech? Not a big deal. And to obsess over it is a shallow narcissism. Life is rich...spend time focusing on what matters...

Copycats

War Helicopter, oil pastel by my son, 4 years old...I love my kids. They crack my husband and I up with their schemes, and they love to copy us. One day it might be our little boy walking in with his chin tucked back, his chest puffed out, holding a pretend cup of coffee, saying in a deep voice "Hmph, I'm Dad. I'm going to work now." Or our daughter popping out of her room ("Ta da!") dressed exactly like me in jeans, blue T-shirt, bandana head band and flip flops, proclaiming herself "Mini Mom." Its funny and scary at the same time, watching these little copycats. Some of the things we do, I hope they don't copy: like when I have a meltdown after a long day, or when we get too busy to enjoy what is happening around us. Good and bad, children will absorb the way their parents live, interact and behave. They watch us, even when we don't know it. By watching me create art, my kids have learned to draw from life and from pictures. My son likes to use our iPhones and google "helicopters" and "garbage trucks" and draw the pictures he likes (I always have to "preview" the pictures first...it is sadly amazing what images will pop up for something so simple!). Above is his "war helicopter," drawn from an image he found on Google. Below is our daughter's rendition of our back porch, with our bird feeders and sleeping dogs.

Back Porch, pencil sketch by my daughter, 6 years old

Website Malfunction

Sadly, my website is having some issues... the drop down menus are uncooperative and will be repaired soon! If you have any questions about my artwork, feel free to email me at MaryLizIngramArt@me.com

A Wash

A Wash, watercolor...Today I had many goals. From the beginning, things didn't start out well. At some point, between a dead car battery and three puny kids, I gave up. As I stood in the kitchen, staring out the window in realistic defeat, I thought "Today is a wash." Better to just say it, than let frustration build...nothing productive would easily be done. I thought of the storm earlier today, and felt like painting. Very rarely do I draw or paint something that doesn't look like something. But today was a day to watch the paint drip, to think of rain and just let the color run down the paper. As Dr. Seuss so aptly said in My Many Colored Days, "Gray Day...Everything is gray. I watch, but nothing moves today." Just a slow trickle of blue gray water. I found peace in recognizing the state of my day, and had no trouble pepping things up with some ice cream cones, because the threat of stress had been erased by being honest. Today was a wash, but it ended sweetly.

Tidy Up

Shoes, Graphite Sketch... Sunday, a day of rest and renewal; a time to reset. Sundays have become a mental health day for me...I tidy up, listen to music, drink slow cups of coffee, think about life. I shake off the stress and rediscover the joy. I clean up the grime, and unearth the shine of love and life; breathe in fresh air, notice my surroundings, find peace in my place. It keeps me going, week after week. Today I drew my little boy's line of shoes: the epitome of tidiness in our house, since his room is always the messiest. "We are not afraid to look under the bed, or to wash the sheets; we know that life is messy. We know that somebody has to clean it up, and that only if it is cleaned up can we hope to start over, and get better." -Marsha Norman, quoted in Real Simple, May 2012

The Pursuit of Perfection

Sky, Hipstamatic photo... Its frustrating, being human. I hate messing up, missing an important detail, dropping one of the many balls I am juggling, not being able to "do it all." I want to do everything perfectly. This is obviously unrealistic and impossible, yet I continue trying: Semper Reformata, the cry of the Protestant Reformation, "always reforming." I've been watching the Olympics everyday, marveling at the abilities of my fellow human beings. These people are intense. They aim for perfection. They break world records over and over, always improving, always running faster, jumping higher, lasting longer. Today was a day of defeat; instead of seeing my imperfections as opportunities to try harder, I saw them as failure. I'm only human. But as humans, we can be better. We can keep improving, rejoicing in our progress and the lessons learned along the way, rather than sitting unmoving in defeat. We will not be perfect, but we can be always reforming.

Memories

Shepherd, Soft Pastel... On my twelfth birthday, my grandfather gave me a collection of my first "real" art supplies. Never doing anything halfway, he went to a local art store to have a professional choose the best materials: a selection of nice brushes, a set of watercolors in tubes and in a pan, acrylic paint, oil paint, canvases, papers, a set of drawing pencils, erasers, and a large box of pastels. With that gift, I moved from the childhood world of drawing cartoon characters with a #2 pencil to exploring the world of fine art. Years later, after I had painted and sketched the days away, I finally picked up the untouched box of pastels. But what to draw? It was my sophomore year of college, and I had recently returned from a Jan-term trip to Jordan and Syria (where, incidentally, I met my husband, a fellow student). There were so many new memories forever burned into my mind, but one stood out, and still does to this day: standing atop a golden ridge, looking out as the amber sun set over the Dead Sea, viewing the Bedouin caves from above, and spotting a flock of goats and sheep with their robed shepherd in the valley below. It was a beautiful moment, rich in color, that became the subject of my first pastel drawing with my first set of pastels. I have drawn it several times since, and it has become a repeated special request from my grandmother. The image has been altered as my hand has gathered new techniques and greater knowledge over the years, but here is a version from today, commissioned as a gift, sitting atop the greatest treasures of my much-expanded collection of art supplies: my Sennelier Soft Pastels.

Renewed

As I've said before, there are five of us, plus two cats, living in a small house. When we were house hunting, we wanted something small but with the requirement of one extra space for my art room. The "one extra room" we found is a long skinny room with lots of light, and as an artist, I have a lot of stuff to cram in there: acrylic paint, oil paint, watercolors, soft pastels, oil pastels, graphite sticks, brushes, papers, boards, easels, frames...you get the idea. The tricky part is storing it all in the small space in a way that keeps kids out of it, and making it clear enough to actually enjoy being in there! To make this space livable, there is a constant cycle of cluttering and cleaning. I purge the room (and the house!) fairly often, but this time, more was needed. My art room needed a renewal, just as my art and my outlook has been renewed. I took out curtains, junk, and reorganized to make it brighter, fresher and CLEANER. The good news for those interested in exploring pastels and fearful of what I half-jokingly call "pastel lung," is that there was remarkably little pastel dust after 5 years of not wiping my window sills and top molding (gross, I know...sorry!). So, ta-da! I'm ready to work, the room as cleared out as its going to get.

I even cleaned off the kids' art area. My trusty sidekicks got right to work messing it up, as expected. But what else is an art room for, if not to get messy?!

My POV

Hay Bale, Graphite Sketch...My husband and I have a ritual; it helps us decompress after our busy days, and is a routine time to relax and enjoy being together. Each night once the kids are tucked in bed, we sit on the couch, each with a glass of milk and two freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, to watch one of our recorded shows. Last night we watched the Next Food Network Star. Each Star hopeful must have a "POV," a "Point of View" that would make their own Food Network show unique. Two weeks of my daily drawings are now complete, and over morning coffee, I reflected upon my "POV"...my own point of view around which my art revolves. I know art doesn't have to have a "point" or a "meaning," that it can be art for art's sake, but my organized self loves to have everything in its place, categorized and grouped. I want my art to fit together and have a meaning, a purpose, a POV. When I reflect upon my daily drawings, I see the common thread of my own human experience: family, relationships, love, warmth, what surrounds me in my place, what is important to me in my life. Linking the theme of my sketches with my current pastels and paintings, my POV emerges as, in my husband's words, "Southern eclectic": a mixture of rural and city, objects and figures, past and present...the story of my place. I find warmth, family, richness and beauty in the South, in its porches and fields, its trees and marshes, its people and history, its rust and wood. A representation of the story of humanity, the South is a tightly woven tapestry of good and bad, hospitality and hatred, comfort and pain, smiles and sorrow. Despite its dark threads, my South triumphs with beauty, with color, with life, with strength; in my place and through my art, I hope to reveal and foster greater peace, honest love, and a warm, genuine reality of Southern hospitality, a welcoming with open arms.

Daddy's Home

Daddy's Home, graphite sketch...Today's big event is that "Daddy is home!" My kids have been counting down to this day all week. Just as my dad did for my sister and I when he travelled, my husband always brings our kids a "prize." This week he was in rural Alabama, not a place very conducive to buying souvenirs, but he nonetheless came home with some very interesting treasures! Cue the knitted Spiderman finger puppet made in Ecuador. It makes me laugh (it's so odd!), and it made our son very excited. So here's a fuzzy little Spidey: a celebration of homecoming, family and the funny things in life!

Homage to Degas

Nora, 3 months, Graphite Sketch...Today is the birthday of Edgar Degas, the French Impressionist famous for his figures of ballerinas, bathers, and other turn-of-the-century subjects. He also happens to be my favorite artist and major influence on my own art. I especially love Degas' pastels...the vibrant contrasts, the intense markings, the vivid colors. His preparatory sketches are often a combination of strong, dark shadows mixed with precise, yet loose, lines. I like to study his work and absorb what I can into my own way of seeing color and interpreting subjects. In homage to Degas, I chose a figure drawing for my daily sketch, drawing my sleeping baby girl (who was a bit squirmier than I expected, once drawing commenced!) I used my darkest pencil, marking in the shadows, contemplating the art of Degas as I recorded this day in my baby's young life.

The Tub, Edgar Degas, Pastel

Two Dancers Resting, Edgar Degas

Prosperity

Prosperity, Graphite Sketch...The glass Maori fish hook hangs on the wall adjacent our front door. A gift from dear friends, brought from New Zealand, the stylized hook symbolizes Prosperity: a successful, flourishing, or thriving condition; good fortune. Images of my life swirl in my mind's eye...the colors are warm, the faces friendly, the love palpable. I sit in prosperity, a flourishing, thriving condition. I haven't always been here; I've visited some hopeless places on my journey to this warm, vibrant reality. I know hard times will come again. But the prosperity I am living cannot be taken from me, because it is not a thing, nor a person, but experience. This prosperity is a thriving condition that cannot be held. My good fortune is that life brings second chances, that intentional choices towards the good are often rewarded, that I am surrounded by love in my family and friends, that I am a part of this world with all its joy and its faults.

Waste Not

Waste Not, graphite sketch... "Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in an eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand and melting like a snowflake." -Sir Francis Bacon. Somehow I came across this quote last night and it was on my mind in the morning as I contemplated the subject of my drawing. I thought of my children's hands, small and smooth and dimpled; about their lives which are just beginning, that are flying by in what seems an instant. I thought of holding my husband's hand, and how we have taken successful risks in our ten years together, doing what we love and building our family with intention. With those small hands incapable of holding still long enough, and my husband's out of reach, I looked at my own hand. I thought of my own life, my own sparkling star, my own melting snowflake, and I am grateful for today. I will try not to waste it.

Watching the Clock

Watching the Clock, Graphite Sketch...Today is one of those days. Tightly scheduled, I have to get up and go: a certain amount of time here, get home by then, meet my mom for the childcare trade off, out the door with a hamburger, make it there on time, zip by the store, back in time for baby, dinner is approaching, bedtime right behind. My creativity is sapped, my energy depleting, all I can draw today is a clock. It looks like something I would've drawn in high school art class, but the image of my bedside clock usurped all others. Like Alice's White Rabbit, I've been watching the clock and running all day. Time can rule our life, can slip through our fingers, can wear us down with its rhythmic ticking. Time to take a deep pause and breathe in the moment, exhale the stress that schedule imposed; remember that life is for living, and seeing and being, not just leaping from one place to the next in a busy blur.

No Place Like Home

No Place Like Home, Graphite Sketch...As I lay in bed last night, snuggled in and ready to sleep, I thought about what I would draw in the morning: What do I feel like? What comes first to mind? The answers were simple: I feel content, happy and grateful; safe and warm. I am thinking of my family, my home, everyone asleep and together as we should be. We've lived another day, done the things we had to do, and here we are, at rest, at peace, back home together. We work, we do laundry, we cook, eat and clean; but what matters most to me is when all that is done and we are at rest together. There's no place like home.

Favorite Things

Favorite Things, Graphite Sketch...Saturday morning, time for moving slowly, staying in pjs, watching cartoons, and drinking an un-rushed cup of coffee. I had more time for a morning sketch today, so I sat for awhile thinking about the essence of our Saturday mornings. As I watched my pajama-clad children playing, a conversation from yesterday about childhood comforts drifted into my mind. My children all have a "favorite thing," even my infant. The three well-loved objects speak of cozy comfort, of security and warmth. They snuggle them in sleeping, they hold them in sadness, they carry them in play. So here are "Uni," "Babo" and my baby girl's lovey. Just looking at them fills me with comfort and love...

Uni

Babo

Lovey

Celebrate

Celebrate, Ink Sketch...Today is my tenth wedding anniversary, so for my daily sketch I was drawn to a big bowl of corks sitting in our kitchen, reminders of celebrations past. Some corks are from New Year's, some from anniversaries, some from dinners with friends. A few are from those nights when the day had been hard, when money was tight, or stresses were high; when my husband and I would thumb our nose at hard times and celebrate life with some cheap champagne. We have much to celebrate, in good times and in bad. Dave Matthews' "Two Step" plays in my mind, "Celebrate we will, Because life is short but sweet for certain..."

Good Things

Good Things, Ink Sketch...Sitting at the desk in our room is a collection of "good things": old books from my grandparents' house, a brass key from Romania, a piece of pottery made by my husband filled with Iona marble from Scotland, a Byzantine coin framed in a brass ring...an assortment of curious objects, a unique collection, simple objects that make me happy. I love collections. My family and I aspire to live more simply, with a small home consistently purged of excess. Still having too much, we try to keep taking steps in the direction of less. I find the words of William Morris drift to mind, "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." This sketch shows a small collection of things I believe to be beautiful; beautiful for the meanings they hold in my mind, for their age, for their history, for the memories. (The perfectionist in me is having a hard time with these sketches. I'm drawing with only a pen, so the pictures show every mark I make, whether I like them or not! )

Pizza Break

Pizza Break, Ink Sketch...Here are a few things about me: I try hard to eat healthy food and to feed my children well-balanced meals. I buy organic products when I can. In a small effort to "save the planet," I always use "real plates" to eat on, and we use fabric napkins. I have three kids and a pretty demanding job, along with being an artist. I try to keep my house tidy, my family happy, and all my neat little ducks in a row. I try to go an extra step, do a little more...but sometimes, you have to know when to give yourself a break. To order a pizza with no vegetables and eat on paper plates. Today was that sort of day; tonight, that sort of night. I woke up this morning with just enough time to get ready and out the door with my three side-kicks in tow...no time for a morning sketch. Part of this "artistic endeavor" is to be realistic about my place in life at this moment in time...and sticking to my own rules to the detriment of my sanity is something I can do without! So pizza night it was, and evening drawing it is!

Quiet House

Quiet House, Ink Sketch... On the third day of my "morning sketches," it is really hard to wake up. This morning my alarm was a hungry baby, and my house was softly lit with the morning light, cool, cozy and silent, except for the soft hum of a fan. I almost retreated back into my piles of blankets and pillows and caved for a little more sleep. Willpower won out, be it groggily, and I climbed out of bed and fumbled into a chair at my grandmother's sewing desk. This morning's drawing shows the only other somewhat-awake being in the house, my cat George. His own sleep disturbed by my clumsy movements, he stared at me awhile, an expression of sleepy questions as he stay nestled among the puffs and folds of my small down blanket. As I drew my layers of warm coverings (stubbornly odd, I know, in the 100 degree Alabama summer heat) and pillow, still with a sunken spot from where I rested just minutes earlier, I really wanted to put down my pen and go back to sleep. But it never hurts to push on, to give a bit more effort. And to drink some strong coffee.

Dancing in Clover

Dancing in clover, Ink sketch... My older kids in bed, last night I found myself alone in my quiet den with my baby girl, the songs of Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Armstrong filling the space. With her soft cheek and baby's breath on my face, I swayed to the music, flooded with love and gratitude for what matters most in my life. I remember seven years ago, dancing close to my husband, he dressed in a tux and I in a cranberry tea dress barely fitting over my pregnant stomach...happy and in love. I remember holding my first baby girl, dancing in my Georgia home, amazed that anything so beautiful could exist, baffled that I played such a part in her existence. Several years later, dancing gently to Etta James with my tiny son, desperately in love, my heart bursting and happy tears flowing as he grinned, so small and new. And last night, there I was again, holding an amazing gift, an unexpected joy, thinking of the immensity of love that encompasses my life. And I am grateful...my heart is wrapped in clover.

Back in the Game

"Tree of Life," Ink sketch All wrapped up close together in our little house, we've added a fifth person to our family. My sweet baby is just now old enough for me to steal some time away, to turn my thoughts, for at least a few moments, inward to the world of art. When I look inside and peruse my creative thoughts, I see a very different world. With so much time passed between my last stream of art and today, my life has changed. The birth of a child, the growth of a life, the changing tides of my life to a brighter, stronger place...what images stir within me, waiting to be formed with pen, pastel, paint and paper? It's time for a renewal, to reinvent once again. I find an eager peace in the cycle of my art, that over the past few years I have come to recognize-high times and low times, ever-changing, twisting and turning to the creation of something new. I'm starting slow, with my small bits of time. Searching for what lies within, to see what will surprise me when I use my hands and let my broken, unplanned thoughts take shape. Thanks to a friend and art colleague's recent art, Sunny Carvalho's morning drawings, I'm beginning my renewed journey with "Morning Sketches." Each morning for two weeks I plan to draw whatever comes to the forefront of my mind-no concrete plans, no restrictions-just to see where it leads me. And if this endeavor does not lead me to a new starting place, it still leads me to further exploration of this new, complex and wonderful phase of my life.