Gallery Juana - photography & art

And I am bringing my Cat, Sputnik, as I'm not sure how long I will be staying. Hopefully, the trip will go as smoothly as the last time we travelled together.

The other day a woman and her son knocked on my door to see if I'd like to buy any of their items.  I had been wanting a tortilla warmer so I bought that.  It's like a tupperware with lid but woven.  Once you've heated your tortillas you pop them in there wrapped in a cloth and they stay warm. She also had this adorable painted bird which has a magnet on the bottom.  It's about 3cm long by 2cm high (about an inch). So in true Mum and the Rose fashion, I took my little birdie around the house to find some evening sunlight for this photo. This shadow meme is hosted by HeyHarriet.blogspot.com

While having my morning cup of coffee, I found some links and articles that are good resources and inspiring stories for the Artist. It started off with my visit to BlogHer's article on " 10 Blogs to help you become and thrive as a Freelancer ."  Have you heard of "The Boss of You" book by Lauren Bacon and Emira Mears?   Well, the article has a link to their blog.   Their blog led me to an interview with Lauren Bacon at Womanzworld . I also checked my Facebook page and discovered this powerful and moving article about Tim Lowly's drawings . While trying to enjoy my morning routine, my kitty was fussing the entire time.  She refused to sit on my lap as she usually does, and everything I tried to console her didn't work:  clean litter box, clean water, fresh dry food, fresh canned food, playing every 20 minutes, opening the curtain in the bedroom for her favorite sunning spot and on and on. So what could it be?  It's been hot, so I have had

”You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.” -- Rabindranath Tagore. "As practice makes perfect, I cannot but make progress; each drawing one makes, each study one paints, is a step forward."
 --Vincent Van Gogh, in a letter to Theo van Gogh, c.29 October 1883 ”Beginning with audacity is a very great part of the art of painting.” -- Winston Churchill. “If you hear a voice within you saying, 'You are not a painter,' then by all means paint ... and that voice will be silenced, but only by working.” -- Vincent Van Gogh, in a letter to Theo van Gogh, 28 October 1883 “To escape criticism – do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.” -- Elbert Hubbard “Creativity takes courage.” -- Henri Matisse ”Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you'll be criticized anyway .” -- Eleanor Roosevelt ”Each one of us, in his timidity, has a limit beyond which he is outraged. It is inevitable that he who by concentrated application has exte

Male Nude Figure Abstract II I continue to explore patterns found in Ukiyo-e woodblock prints as the abstract background to my figure paintings. Common themes that I'm interested in are sakura-cherry blossoms, lotus flowers, abstract line patterns, and Koi.

Ants amaze me.  According to Wikipedia , colonies formed by ants are sometimes described as superorganisms because they seem to function as one entity, working together to support the colony. My husband loves apples.  Evidently, he'd left an apple crumb behind and the ants found it.  I caught this photo and  time-lapse of them carrying it from his desk up to the hole in the ceiling (five feet in distance).  The music is by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole . Visit Hey Harriet to see more shadows.

I wrote these poems years ago, and they both fit my mood right now.  Neither one has a title. 2001 Frozen Floating Ice blue My thoughts struggle to reach the surface. 2002 I'm tired. Tired of climbing. Tired of gripping for the next piece of the puzzle that holds this wall in place.