My Life in China....and now living in the U.S...

Last Friday night, the River Rats Dueling Pianos showed up at Sidelines - my neighbor's bar and grill in town. It was a fun night out and the piano players were great. Not much goes on in a town of Cambridge's size. All night they took requests and played most of them!

One of the piano players is heading to Shanghai for a visit. His first time there. The piano players will be back in Cambridge the middle of July for two days. Hopefully, I will be in town to see them again. Definitely worth it.

This week I am going to attend an art workshop put on by an artist in Stillwater, MN. It should be fun and hopefully, I will learn something.

Check out my new website...I switched servers again. I wanted something easy to update and hopefully, I will now. I also plan on sending out a newsletter on a regular basis. I looked into several ways of doing this and finally, I think that I will use one constant contact. It looks professional and I can also keep track of my list. If you want to get in on the first one, sign up for it at my website or I am going to try to put a widget on my space here.

Montana next week!!!! I will take lots of pics. I really do miss the mountains something terribly and the big blue skies of Montana. Most important though, I will get to see my grandkids!!!

Love ~ M

Arizona desert flowers in March


Teagan, my little granddaughter in AZ


a sunset in AZ

Well, I have another email address on hotmail and it seems that I just posted to a blog there....duh. I thought that I was posting here!

Anyway, I am a grandmother again. This makes three grandkids so far. Little Annabelle was born on April 3rd. She has a big brother, Nico, who is her protector. My daughter tells me that when they are in their car seats, he reaches out and touches her hand or seat. He is just a wee one himself at 18 months.

This week I find myself in Arizona enjoying the sunshine and getting to know my beautiful and sweet granddaughter, Teagan. What a delight! She is four months old now and full of personality and vitality. She is a shaker and a mover ~ constantly on the go for one so small.

I am also enjoying the gorgeous sunshine after spending neverending days of winter in Minnesota! I really am beginning to wonder if summer is ever going to get there, let alone spring. The day that I left a major storm was thundering through the Minnesota area and getting ready to drop a foot of the fluffy white stuff. After that the temps were also supposed to plummet to a -6 degreeF. Sunshine in Arizona could not have come at a better time.

While I am here, I am also looking for the possibility of employment since my life savings seem to have taken a major dive as many others also find themselves in a similar predictament. I also continue to work on my artwork, but it will still take some time to gain momentum. The economy certainly has not helped that situation either, but I believe in myself...hopefully others will too.

The wildflowers are blooming here...gorgeous. And the sun is shining every day...wonderful. All of this certainly has helped with eliminating the dreadful winter blues and cabin fever!!

On October 27th, I became a grandmother to a beautiful baby girl, Teagan. My son and his wife live in Arizona so it will be a month or so before I can get down and see them. She is beautiful though and I have heard her voice (really crying) over the phone. My son also did a video tape of her! What joy!

Teagan Rylie ~ one day old

My grandson, Nico, also is a year old now. He is a little charmer and I was blest to have him and his parents come for a visit in September. The kids helped with doing some work on the outside of the house and I got to spend time with my grandson. He is such a good baby and so mellow and easy going. My daughter made a Halloween costume for him and it is so cute and so different.

Nico in his Halloween costume

A lot has been going on since the last time that I posted. I have taken a workshop, attended a plein air competition and was part of an arts and crafts fair.  All were wonderful learning experiences. As far as what's to come, my daughter, grandson and her partner will be coming for a visit in a week!! I can hardly wait.

First about the workshop. It was given by Marc Hanson of Taylors Falls, MN, who is an accomplished plein air artist. The workshop was for a week and intense. We painted or watched a demo of Marc painting every day for a week. We even did a nocturne one evening. I had to drive back home which was about 40 minutes away so I opted to leave instead of staying up until the wee hours of the night painting in the dark. I did learn so much from the experience and I was so glad that I attended.

The next adventure was in Grand Marais, MN where I spent a week painting outdoors along the North shore of Lake Superior. The Art Colony there had a competition for plein air painting. It lasted a week and I enjoyed every moment of it. I painted the rocks along the shoreline, hiked and painted waterfalls, and did not win anything, but I did sell a painting almost immediately when the show opened. That is the best honor for me. The woman who purchased the painting lives in Thunder Bay, Canada.

And finally, I attended the Little Falls Arts and Crafts Festival along with 650 other vendors. I did not get to see much as I had a booth at the show. Most folks who sold kitschy stuff did very well. Needless to say, my stuff is not "kitschy". It was fun and I did make a lot of contacts. It does take time to build a reputation and clients who are willing to invest in your artwork. I also read an article recently that stated that this year is one of the worst for art and craft shows....go figure. I decide that I want to do this and the economy goes to heck. Election years are like that.

Next week my grandson will be here. He will be a year old tomorrow and my daughter actually is having a birthday today. Happy Birthday Julie!!!

Well, here are a few pics of my adventures of the past few weeks. I will try to put up a couple of albums as well. Also, my blog (Spirit River Studio) for my art is updated on a more consistent basis so feel free to stop by and leave a comment or two there. This week I am trying to finish up all the small paintings that I committed to giving away for the 29-day giving challenge. To be a part of that, one must leave a comment on my painting blog - so that is another reason to check it out.

Grand Marais, MN

I really enjoyed Grand Marais and I would move there if I could afford to do so. It is a very artsy community and the views are spectacular. Lake Superior is absolutely beautiful.

Grand Marais, MN

My booth at the Arts and Crafts Fair in Little Falls, MN that was held the weekend after Labor Day. All of this fits into my little Honda Accord!

Paintings from the workshop in Taylors Falls, MN. We had to paint one scene with our backs to it and getting to look for 5 minutes every 15 minutes and then we repainted it with looking. In almost all the cases, the one where we had our backs to the scene was a better painting. It is amazing how one gets hung up on details and simplicity is so much better to look at ;-).