Hope Springs Eternal

While I am pondering where my time evaporates to, and where this blog is going, I have some suggestions for you to consider as very fine reading indeed. I have mentioned Soul Aperture in the past and I am mentioning it again because this week there is a link to an interview with the author Christina. The interview itself is done by Erin Faith Allen of one girl + one camera, another good read in itself. You will find photography at its finest and words to stir your heart and soul at both blogs.
Over at the Necessary Room you will find the musings of Se’Lah, a true woman of the world and fierce champion of the underdog. Here is place for reflecting as well, as well as history to marvel at. There is poetry inspired by the circle of life, and occasionally a video to soak in.
On the lighter side, you will find Liz Owen and her faithful schnauzer sidekick Mabel over at Mabelshouse. Liz has aspirations to follow in the footsteps of Erma Bombeck. From what I’ve read she is a good contender. She is frequently laugh-out-loud funny; there is recent scientific evidence of health benefits derived from this sort of exercise. I follow her on twitter as well; you really can’t have too many laughs in a day. She has profound posts of her own now and again and has recently completed her first book.
Go now and enjoy the works of these multi-facted and inspirational women. Read their archives. Laugh. Cry. Wonder. Dream. And then come back here to visit. Maybe I’ll have my own thoughts collected by then.

To Quote or Not To Quote

There is a lot going on right now. I had a quote all picked out from my collection attributed to someone named John Gardner: 'Art has no laws, but it has a lot of complicated suggestions'. It was a really fitting description of all the different styles tried out in this blog. It also fit all the many different forms of art I am drawn to (no pun intended)

In order to share some of my discoveries, we've decided that we should join the 21st century and get WiFi for our household. We have to figure out what works best for the left brain/right brain salad on our plates.

All of this happening this weekend. We celebrate the 40th (!?) anniversary of Woodstock, the release of 'Ponyo', a beautiful anime film from Disney and Studio Ghibli (Hayao Miyazaki, Japan), and locally, Irish Fest, a tribute to all things Celtic in art, song, dance and toasts. I once believed myself to be of Irish descent, because my grandmother made a stop there in her European travels. Once the notion set in, I felt quite at home. It even helped inspire several entries to the early Irish Fest Poster Contests. I never won, but I made the top ten each time I entered. I was very flattered to be even considered with those other fine entries. It helped me to believe in myself as an artist, and for that I will be forever grateful.

Yes, art does indeed have a lot of complicated suggestions, but when I tried to verify the quote and author, I can find no record of the quote anywhere. There is an author named John Gardner, but he apparently never shared this little inkling. If anyone has heard of this quote or its author, do let me know.

I would be remiss, if I did not include in these artistic celebrations, the life's work of Les Paul. His contribution of the electric guitar has quickened the heartbeat of musicians and audiences worldwide. We may not have had Woodstock without him. He lived a good life for 94 years; if I may paraphrase the Irish toast: He made it to Heaven a good half hour 'fore the devil knew he passed.

Toys I Found at ArtPad and YouTube

I am getting very sleeeeepy…..even with a nap! I found out how this blog looks on another computer and the text was so very very small. Besides that, all the goodies on the right side of the page weren’t even there! (I must note, however, this computer had the neatest screensaver of tropical scenes. For me, this is WAY more hypnotic than swirly red stripes)
I feel like I gotta start all over. Well, maybe ‘start over’ is a little strong. Maybe I just make adjustments. a bit of remodeling. Is this font too Big?
The research I did tonight gave me several things. I found a beautiful song called ‘Silent Moon’ by Jia Peng Fang who is Chinese. When I heard the song, it reminded me of one of my favorite Japanese anime series ‘Inuyasha’. It is very soothing.

I also found a ‘toy’ I have played with before and forgot. You can go to Art.com where there is a link to ArtPad. There at ArtPad you can pick brushes and paint and make stuff like you did when you were knee-high-to-a-grasshopper. Since your tool is really your mouse, it’s like drawing with a bar of soap. The point (or lack thereof) is to have fun. Now, go play. If this link works, you can see MINE.

(Clicking on the LINKS will take you away from Pinkinklingz, so come back soon!)

Women in Art on Wednesday

As a kid, if it was ‘Anything Can Happen Day’, I always hoped it meant cartoons. To this day, I am drawn to anything animated (no pun intended). I guess I saw cartoons as drawings that had come to life. More than anything I loved to draw and hoped I would be able to make my own cartoons-or just draw anything I wanted to. My Mom gave me this little example for me to study. Two dots for eyes, two smaller dots for a nose. It was always in a sort of half oval shape, sort of like the letter U. So I would practice, and practice some more.
If things go as I hope to for today, there will be a YouTube video in this post. It is called Women In Art. If I am not able to embed it here, then just an example of my Mom’s little doodle U face will be here.