Art Show!

At the beginning of summer, I came across an Artist Call for small works, 12 x 12 and under, at an art studio on Main St, downtown. I had finished a piece that I thought would be a good choice and put it on a CD, addressed it and sent it in. This was a juried show, and since this was the first time I had ever taken this step, I tried not to get my hopes up too high. We have a large community of artists in this area and it is hard for me not to be able to participate in any of the shows and festivals because of my illness. So I thought, well, this is a good way to begin.

Here's the painting, you may have seen it posted here before:

The Coming Storm

And today, I received notice that it had been chosen to be among the 75 pieces to be displayed! To say I was excited would be an understatement, in fact I was very fatigued this afternoon because the excitement drained me very quickly. I called my husband, who is on a business trip and he was the first person who knew. Then I posted it everywhere I have a social connection, and congratulations began coming in. 

My next concern is that the Opening Reception and Award Ceremony is being held the evening of Oct. 4th, and evening is the worst time of day for me, but I am praying that I can go, if I bring my wheelchair and have my husband by my side. I may have a relapse for a week or more, but I think it would be worth it. The show will run the entire month of October.

Oh yes, and it will be for sale too!

So, I had to share this with my readers and now I will go to bed with a smile on my face!

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Come see my latest postcards I've received on Postcards Buffet!

No We Will Not Forget; I Hope The Politicians Don't.

A Day Trimmed In Black 

I wrote this story in 2011 and I am publishing it again today. It was written on a Story Day which preceded 9/11, but I think it is a good one to run again. I still have difficulty when viewing a large plane at a lower level, making a turn in the air. The scars run deep.

I hope that we never forget as a nation the horror of that time. 

A Day Trimmed In Black

31st in the Tuesday Story Series (Reprint)

My maternal grandmother was born on September 11, 1897, so while growing up that was the important fact to me about that date. After she died in October 1991, I sent flowers to my mother on what would have been my grandmother's birthday the following year. After 2001, however, I unfortunately had a different reason to remember the 11th of September.

As the tenth year comes up next week marking that tragic time, all of us who are American citizens, (and many who aren't) remember where we were when the events unfolded. It was a difficult day for all of us. Personally, for several hours that day, fear camped out beside me on the sofa because my husband had been in New York and was flying out that morning.

When a friend called me about 9:30 to tell me to turn on the news, I sat there in shock, and all that was being said at the time was that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. What plane? From where? No one knew. I quickly called my husband's assistant and asked her what time John's flight was supposed to leave New York and she told me that it had just left and that some of the men in the group who had been scheduled for an upcoming flight had told her that they were just informed that there would be no more planes out. Knowing that I could not get a hold of John while he was in flight, I was very afraid that the plane was his which had hit the building and then when it came out that the flight was from Boston, I had a such sense of relief which almost made me feel guilty.

John had been in the Financial District, right in the area of the World Trade Center, for a business meeting all day on Monday, September 10th, with several other businessmen from Charleston. He told me later that when his plane took off, it circled back around to fly over New York City on its way south. They passed the tower from a short distance away, and could see the black smoke billowing out. The pilot spoke to the passengers and told them that a small plane had accidentally flown into the building, but John and several others realized that no small plane would have caused the amount of smoke and flames they saw. There was no other word from the pilots until about a half hour later, when it was announced that the plane would be landing at Norfolk VA because of an emergency. No one on the plane knew what had happened until they came into the airport terminal.

He called me right away, knowing I'd be very concerned about his whereabouts. I don't think I was ever so relived to hear his voice! He sounded somewhat in shock, and there was so much confusion and noise in the terminal I could hardly hear him. He said that the pilot had told them they were the last plane out of the New York airport. We also realized later that the second plane to hit the towers had been in the same air space his plane was in, several miles behind. That gave us both chills.

His group was trying to find a rental car for the trip home, while the other part of the traveling contingency was now stuck in New York and would not arrive home for several more days. About midday, John's group finally found a minivan and started the long drive home. Traffic on I-95 was almost bumper to bumper the entire way, and they spent the trip listening to the radio and getting calls from their family members with updates as the day progressed. When I finally heard the van pull up about 10 pm, I rushed out the door and threw my arms around him. Even though I knew he was all right, watching the news programs all day made his absence much more acute and being with him was the only thing I really wanted!

Next week on September 11, there will be many speeches and events marking the decade since this tragedy happened. We will remember and pray for those families whose lives were directly impacted by the fall of the Towers. Life in this world has no certainty, but life in the next does and that understanding gives us the grace to go forward each day. Love the people in your life and let them know it with hugs and smiles. And let them love you and tell you how important you are to them!

September Already!

And it feels like summer is suddenly trying to squeeze itself into the few days we have left. It has been a mild summer up until last week, when overnight the humidity shot up and made it miserable to go outside! Well, it doesn't have too much longer to do that - things will be changing soon.

In a post a few days back, I showed a few pieces which were WIP (works in progress) and today I have a finshed one to show you.

This .........

                      

....... beame this - a little Pear Whimsey!

Canvas and Giclee prints are available through BelleSouth Studio.

Also, I am running a short Promo on Canvas Prints for 3 paintings:

LOOKING THROUGH

BUTTONS ON COLOR

PURPLE PROSE

The special lasts only a couple more days, go to my Bellesouth Studio Fan Page

and click on the one you like. Your beautiful print will be delivered right to your door - no shipping charge! Think early Christmas gift!

Click on any photo you would like to see closer!

Come see my latest postcards I've received on Postcards Buffet!

Two Sunsets

I have added photography to my art works at Fine Art America, and am sharing two with you tonight. Since it's evening, it seems appropriate to show you a couple of sunsets!

This one is from my front porch. If you enlarge it, you can see details of the pasture across the road.

This is from our trip to Guernsey. Guernsey is one of the Channel Islands off of the coast of France, and a part of the United Kingdom. We spent almost 2 weeks there in 2003 and it is a lovely, quiet, non-commercial place.

Both of these are available as prints or posters!

Click on any photo you would like to see closer!

Come see my latest postcards I've received on Postcards Buffet!

Been A While

Which I'm sure is not news to anyone, if I have any readers left. This past month has been a difficult one, as I have had to learn how to balance trying to promote my artwork, within the confines of this illness. I have been adding photographs, and older pieces of art to my galleries at FineArtAmerica.com and trying to keep up with the different groups I've joined to promote within the site itself, and I have also run myself into a flare/crash, so I have also been spending a lot of time on the bed. I will go sort of backwards here, and show you what I am working on now, then in the upcoming days, show what I have added to the site. (And you can always just go there and see it by yourself!)

Remember, these are all unfinished.

A few whimsical pears .....

An abstract with OPEN paints .....

And a collage.

I'm very tired, so I will leave you to ponder on how these will turn out and hope that you will come back to see!

Click on any photo you would like to see closer!

Come see my latest postcards I've received on Postcards Buffet!