An Award! WOW!

Today really is a day to party!

This comes from Anita Davies in England at Art by Anita Blogspot

AND

from Kathleen in Oklahoma at My Creative Spot Blog

What a double fun surprise to receive today!

Thank both you so very much!

The rules of acceptance are:

1. Put the logo on your blog.

2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.

3. Nominate 7 other blogs.

4. Add links to those blogs on yours.

5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

So, here are seven of the many, many sites that I really enjoy:

Teri-Teri's Painted Daisies

(Wow! Looks like you are getting a second one Teri!)

Serena-Serena Lewis blogspot

Jennifer-Jennifer Lawson

Karen-Karen Blados Art and Design

Stephanie-Deliberately Creative

Angie-Artvisionz

Margaret-MaggieArt

Participation is totally optional...but definitely a lot of fun! :)

"Celebrate Good Times..Come On!"

My 100th...BLOG POSTING!

"Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul.

Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal."

-Ralph Vaull Starr

My deepest appreciation and gratitude goes this day

to all my wonderful art loving visitors and friends

from all over the world...

who "pop in" every "now and again" for a blog visit.

You have excited my artistic spirit and touched my heart.

You have energized my imagination with your comments.

You have become a welcome part of my every-day.

Together may we continue to "reach high"

and "dream deeply"...

For, the best "100" is yet to come! :)

And last, but certainly, not least...

I send, with love, my happiest birthday wishes ever on this day

to my brother Mark...

and to my sister Susan,

Born this date exactly two years apart!

I Love You both! Happy, Happy Birthday!

My oh, my! It really IS a Wonderful Day! :)

So...

Let's Celebrate...Come on...! :)

"A Drawing is Born..."

I have always been intrigued by the complexity and beauty of mandalas. There is something about their intricate designs, their spiritual "vibes", their links to the past that really appeals to me as an artist. Although my free form floral-inspired "mini mandala" drawings posted here lack the geometric precision and size of their professional relatives...the overall feel of each one to me is still very pleasing and soothing .

Believe it or not , when I put my pen to paper I had no plan for this piece...not a clue whatsoever of what I would draw. It all just happened-grew, if you will, one shape after another after another. My pen just freely flowed over my moleskine-IT, my pen, seemed to control the art... not me! I truly felt I witnessed a project be born out of artistic energy. Have you ever had that feeling?

"JOURNEY...On Tour Now..."

...with Nina Johansson...in SWEDEN...

travelling out and about the countryside north of Stockholm...

Ahh...Sooo Sweet!

Read all about the

Awesome Artistic Adventures and Antics of
Anita Davies, Nina Johansson, Jennifer Lawson, and myself

in this summer's

Maruman International Sketchbook Exchange
here.

Posted below are the full views of my 10 pages in

my little Maruman "Journey."

CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE :)

"I'm a Lonely Little Saguaro...

...in a bougainvillea patch...

a bougainvillea patch,

a bougainvillea patch.

I'm a lonely little saguaro

in a bougainvillea patch...

...Oh,

won't you come and play with me?"

Have a Happy Cactus Monday All...

...And don't forget to set aside some time to

PLAY! :)

Happy 91st Birthday Ollie!

and

Happy 1st Birthday Austin!

We Love You Both!

"Queen of the Night..."

Meet our Night Blooming Cereus!

She currently is laden with close to 100 buds

in various stages of bloom.

Our cactus beauty stands gracefully tall and proud

watching over the front of our house by day

and

wishing us the sweetest of dreams by night.

For the last several nights now

she has "tucked us in" with one spectacular show

after another.

Magically, each night multiple

saucer-sized snowy white blooms, tipped in crimson and green,

slowly open wide to face the black, inky sky,

dazzling the stars and other creatures of the night.

Then, like "fairytale Cinderellas",

they bid a hasty adieu before the light of the coming of dawn

takes a peek of their spectacular glory...

They simply and silently curl up in the light of the new day

their starlit escapade fading to fond memories.

Happy Cactus Monday to each of you...

And the sweetest of dreams to all!

"A Picture...

... is Worth A Thousand Words."

How True! :)

I can't wait to get started in this beautiful book of Anita's

which arrived here in the desert of Arizona this very morning

after only 6 days travel from the Fens in England.

Four of us are participating in a

Maruman international sketchbook exchange.

Participating artists are:

Anita Davies-England,

Nina Johansson-Sweden

Jennifer Lawson and

Myself -USA

So,

sit back, get a "cuppa", and just enjoy!

"A Line..."

...is a dot ...that went for a walk." -Paul Klee

So, inspired
I decided to go for a bit of a
"walk about town"
myself...just me and my friendly Pitt Pen!

"A Negative Impression..."

...Of A Fanciful Floral Mandala...

Flipped ...
Over to the "Dark Side."

Hmmm...How colorfully wicked!:)

"She's..."

GONE!
"Gone like a freight-train, gone like yesterday,
Gone like a soldier in the civil war, bang bang!
Gone like a '59 Cadillac...
Like all the good things
that ain't never coming back,
She's gone...! "

But...unlike the song... my "Journey" will eventually return home.
Nina now anxiously awaits her in Sweden,
and I sit here in the desert night
just reflecting and thinking
about how wonderful this all is!
Ah-h-h-h.
My artspace sits calmly now, awaiting the possibilities of a new day
and the arrival of a very special package from England.

"Gone" by Montgomery Gentry from the You Do Your Thing Album

"Remembering Summer..."

...Back in Illinois.

...And all the happy golden tufts of this

wondrously winsome

but

wickedly weedy wildflower

dancing happily in soft summer zephyrs

before

bursting into puffs of silken down anxious to fly

at the slightest breath of a breeze

across the grassy prairie to start new families.

Funny, how much I hated them! LOL :)

EDM # 176

"Draw Something that Expresses Summer"

"Three Blue Agave..."

...All in a row!

These three little beauties are actually

"Task Tags"

that I made to accompany my

Maruman Watercolor Sketchbook "Journey"

as she travels around the world.

Although

they are not technically considered "cacti"

I thought this trio of desert agave

would still meet the mark of a Cactus Monday post!

Have a Happy Cactus Monday All! :)

P.S. Tequila is made from fermented agave leaves...

just in case you were wondering. :)

"A Few Peeks Before Packing.."

...up my little Maruman friend
"Journey."

The Maruman International Sketchbook Exchange

will be taking place between 4 artists :

Anita Davies in England,

Nina Johansson in Sweden,

and

Jennifer Lawson and myself

both here in the United States.

This week "Journey" begins her international travel adventures...
Flying
5,427 miles from her home in Arizona
and crossing the deep blue seas of the North Atlantic.
First stamp in her passport....Nina in Sweden.
Ahhh...
What joy and excitement "Journey" must feel!

Wish I could go with her! :)

AND... on this special day...

June 22, 2008...
A Big Happy Birthday Dad! Love You!

"Flying Solo..."

19th Annual Sketch Crawl Today!

However...

I was required to spend the morning in

defensive driving school for a photo radar enforcement

speeding "event"

which clocked me 1 mph over the "legal limit"

on the Loop 101 in Scottsdale

back in May.

Anyway...class was interesting...to say the least.

Hmmm...

So,

since the Phoenix sketch group had already met this morning

at the Heard Museum

I treated my happy little self to lunch at AJ's

"Purveyors of Fine Food."

My solo sketch crawl effort above documents my day

...of which one of the best parts

was a veal bratwurst (grilled outdoors)-yummy, yummy...

and a slice of Cherry Garcia chocolate crust cheesecake

which I am about to savor

directly

after

posting this!

Oh, I almost forgot...

the coconut macaroon was "delish" too...

but that was just a "wee little bit" of a

"snack"! :)

Uh...

Did I "mention" it was 115 degrees in Phoenix today?

That bratwurst wasn't the only thing cookin' out here! :)

"A Tisket...A Tasket..."

...Today...I sketched a basket!

EDM #175
"Draw a Basket and Its Contents"

"Day and Night...

...Night and Day!

Just

Having a little frolic with a few imaginative ideas

bouncing botanically around in my Maruman-X mind

lately.

Happy Cactus Monday All! :)

"And So I Begin..."

It has been said:

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
Lao-tzu 604 BC-531 BC

So in that light, my first step is

to introduce you to JOURNEY, my little Maruman friend,

born from and centered around the quote:

"I go to Nature to be soothed
and have my senses put in tune once again."-John Burroughs

Journey's theme or central focus will be zen-botanical...

keeping her open to historical, realistic or

imaginary floral/botanical journeys of the artistic spirit.

I hope you will each enjoy this new adventure of ours

and have your spirits renewed

as we journey together 17,566 miles across the seas

and

into our imaginations...Ahhh!

Follow our artistic adventures over the next four months at

out Maruman-X blogspot! :)

And,

last, but not least...

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

I love you!

"I Miss You..."

Gosh!

Lately, there are some things I have really been missing!

Like green grass, rain, summer flowers, black soil,

my beautiful columbine garden,

and drawing.

Well...

I am on a roll now...

the Maruman_X Project is underway

my fears about starting my book have been squelched

and I am now finding

TIME

to think about this beautiful summer season,

my midwest gardens of the past,

and NEW ART

to make and share with all of you!

This drawing was inspired by a photograph of one of my beautiful

red columbines

and is dedicated to my sister-in-law

Sue

who appreciates the serenity of quiet moments

and is awaiting with hope and courage the

blooming of summer in the beautiful mountains

of her Colorado home.

Sue, I miss you the most!

God Bless!

"A Vicious Teddy Bear..."

Cylindropuntia bigelovii

From a distance the stems of this cactus appear short and fuzzy,

giving it the name "teddy bear" cactus. HAH!

Well...this is the first "teddy bear" that ever "stuck" me!

And so, the story goes...Once upon a time...

...Some 20 years ago while on a vacation trip to Arizona we were out exploring the wonders of the Sonoran desert. After spotting a fairly good sized grouping of these beautiful cacti, backlit by the sun, we thought it would make a perfect setting for a photograph. As I knelt at the side of one of the cacti...a clump of the cactus broke off and actually embedded itself into my thigh..smack dab right through my JEANS! I did the "screamy frantic tourist dance" for a few minutes before I realized how serious it was. Then the long tedious effort of removing the spines began...and lasted well into the night. Long story short I have since learned to keep my distance!

Like its cousin the jumping cholla, the stems of this cactus detach easily. The ground around a mature plant is often littered with scattered cholla balls. Small plants start where these balls have rooted and a forest of cholla begins its life. When a piece of this cholla sticks to an unsuspecting person, a good method to remove the cactus is with a hair comb. (Wish I knew that then!) The spines are barbed, and hold on tightly. Desert pack rats gather these balls around their burrows, creating a defense against predators. Nature always finds a way, doesn't it?

I photographed

this particular cholla flower bud...

...keeping my distance...

while hiking in the White Tank Mountains,

a couple of miles from where I presently live in Arizona.

My advice for the day:

Live and Learn!

and have a

Happy Cactus Monday All! :)

"Have You Ever Seen A..."

...Opuntia zactanglia imaginnia...?

...A unique species of cacti-born of a prickly pear and a zentangled pen.

Shown during the Day...

bathing in warm sunlight, just soaking in life,

and at Night...

...With sweet moonlight coloring her dreams

And setting her edges aglow! :)

Have a Happy Cactus Monday ...and a glowing Night! :)