Many thanks to those who have been responding so well to my first few posts. I really appreciate being made to feel welcome. I thought I would use this post to tell you a little more about myself and what I have been up to lately. Jimmy also thought that posting a picture or two of me might be good, and it would help to dispel any lingering suspicion that I might resemble either a Star-Nosed Mole or the Visage of Elder Madness. The first picture is of me at Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum.
I am gesturing toward The Shepherdess, a masterpiece by William Bougereau, the first one of his I have ever seen in person. I could look at it all day.
The next pic is of one of my recent still life pieces that I currently have entered in a small regional competition. Is it O.K. to pray to win?? I have been really blessed this past year with good response to my art, even though I have only been painting full-time since last August. I have sold almost all of my first series of paintings, was accepted to my first regional show (a ten state area), and was also accepted into the Art Renewal Center’s (ARC) International Salon, which frankly surprised me. There were over 1500 entries from 30 countries, so I am really grateful to have been chosen. I operate a small art gallery in Rogers, Arkansas that I named Green Leaf Fine Art Gallery, influenced partly by Tolkien’s short story Leaf By Niggle, a great story for artists of all kinds to read. I also teach art lessons at my gallery and hope to be a small influence in reviving an aesthetic of beauty in cultural life. As Father Corapi has pointed out, Truth, Beauty, Unity and Life are all bound up together.
