TIME

I can't believe it's the 19th of January already. Time seems to be evaporating. The older I get, time picks up speed.

The Gunns around 1960 Augsburg, Germany
me, mom, turtle, dad, andi

This is a picture of us taken 50 years ago. 50 YEARS!!!! That's Mom and Dad, me and my two sisters, me on the left. Check out that big hair. I would walk with my girlfriends every Friday to a nearby village to get my hair done for one German mark, which translated to 25 cents a pop! Those were the days. Where did all that time go?

A clock I have in my living room

made by the great artist, Sandy Mastroni

This month, much of our time has been spent caring for our mothers. Watching them age and needing more of our care has me a bit melancholy and reflective. I spent last week, along with my sisters, in a hospital, watching over our 82 year old mom who has pneumonia. She came home on Saturday accompanied by an oxygen machine. She is in good spirits and slowly recovering.

Our moms (mine on the right, Joe's on the left) at our house on Thanksgiving.

No, not that goofy guy on the left.

Joe and I gave this (see below) to each other for Christmas. We found it in an antique shop in St. Marys on Christmas Eve. We hung it on a nail in the back of a closet to give it a test, excited to see if it worked and to wait for the cuckoo to pop out.
It became a ritual by Christmas Day. As the top of the hour approached, Joe would yell through the house, "It's CUCKOO TIME!" Then we'd run to the closet to watch with great ceremony and delight as the cuckoo popped out to announce the new hour. A celebration.
I need to properly hang that clock today. Perhaps in the living room near the other two clocks. It's time to celebrate again.

CUCKOO!!!!!

Love and all good things,
Ronnie
the cuckoo time keeper

Power to the Poppet!

Skye Poppet

by Mercy

Blogging takes you places and connects you with people you would never expect in your three dimensional life. Take Mercy for instance. She is one of the most courageous people I've ever met. She appeared on my radar screen back in February 2009...

Mercy said...

Hi, i just randomly stumbled across your blog from my own.
your art is so inspiering, everything you have created that i can see makes me happy.
what are your influences?
i want a studio like yours and just wanted to let you know im gonna be your online stalker from now on.... peculiar of stalkers to introduce themselves but i thought it would be polite.
you have an eye for a differnt kind of beauty.

February 25, 2009 7:10 PM

The stalker line got me!

So I clicked to see what Mercy, this little duckie, was all about.

Here's a hint...

And Boy did she talk.
I read and I read and I read about things I'd never heard anyone express. What she wrote was startling and sad and brilliant and harsh and hopeful and she stole my heart.
I've been following Mercy's blog for nearly a year now. It has been an uphill climb for her. I am amazed at her progress and I find myself feeling so proud of this girl who lives thousands of miles away.

Self Portrait at 20
by Mercy

She stole my heart again this week, when she showed me Skye (see the poppet above).
"I made a poppet", she said.
"What's a poppet?", I asked.
"It's like a Voodoo doll, but good", she said, "You send hugs through him."

Do a Google search and you'll find lots of poppet info, but none as good, in my opinion, as Mercy's idea.

Skye is a real guy. He has leukemia.
Mercy's response to the news of his illness was to make a poppet version of Skye to send to his mother.
Skye's mom is too far away and unable to be with her son.
Thanks to Mercy, Skye's mom can now hug her poppet son and send immediate hugs his way.

I LOVE Mercy's idea.

What do you think?
I want to know!

POWER TO THE POPPETS!

Love and all good things,
Ronnie

Get Going!

Let Go Go On

by Mary Engelbreit

As the new year begins I always find myself inspired. A clean slate! That OLD YEAR is GONE!

G-O-N-E gone!

Out comes the legal pad and pen and the list begins. At the top...

Fitness:

Dust off the Elliptical trainer,

the Yoga mat,

and set the Tivo to record Gilad and his merry band of skinny Hawaiian girls sweatlessly exerting themselves on the beaches of Oahu!

It's January 4th.

So far, I have Tivoed several installments of "Total Body Sculpt with Gilad", moved the suitcases (left there after our Summer trip to Hawaii) which blocked my path to the Elliptical trainer, and literally (cough) blew off the dust from my Yoga mat.

All righty then!

As soon as I finish my first blog post of 2010, I will turn on the Food Network and do 30 minutes on the Elliptical. I'll let you know how it goes.

Happy New Year Everybody!

Love and all good things,

Ronnie

aka Joe's stove operator

Mother-In-Law

There were rumblings for quite a while.

"Keep an eye on that", I said to myself.

The phone call came the day before Halloween...

"COME AND GET ME!", she said.

So we did.

It happens to folks our age. Our parents, once strong and capable, are unable to go it alone.

I called for reinforcement to help move all of our belongings upstairs to Andrew's old room.

Then we prepared our downstairs bedroom and the downstairs in general. Joe's mom has severe Scoliosis and requires a walker to get around.

Back in May we visited Senior living communities at her request. I'm so glad we did, which put us ahead of the game.

She lived with us for the past 7 weeks. We pulled out all the stops and literally put our lives on hold to get her transitioned.

On Monday we officially moved her into a beautiful Senior community, furnishing her new one bedroom apartment from head to toe.

Mission Accomplished!

Christmas is just around the corner. Have a merry one dear bloggers!

Love and all good things,

Ronnie

Remind me that I Have The Power

I Have the Power!

I made homemade biscuits last night to go with a fresh kale and bean soup. Good way to ring in the Fall weather. Just a tad cooler here and the poplars are juuuust beginning to turn that beautiful golden yellow. I took this picture from my backporch in mid November last year. It won't be long.


I'm licking honey from my chin as I type. Finishing off the next to the last biscuit. Hey, I can multitask with the best of them!
Multitasking with a husband who is suddenly, after a lifetime, always home, is another thing. YES, LET THE WHINING BEGIN! AGAIN!
You should know by now, this is how I problem solve. Whine....process....regroup....start NEW!
I LOVE this man I call JOe. But as another fellow artist once told me of her experience trying to create with a husband in the house...."the air just feels different. He doesn't even have to be in the same room."
I'm gettin' there! It gets easier and better everyday. Susan is right. It takes time. And I've got time.

Other News: "Art After Dark" was great fun. Here I am waiting to be fed. The City of Locust Grove provided wine and shopkeepers provided the goodies.

Great turn out!
Especially nice to get person to person feedback and see what people gravitated to.

People love the Big Biddies and this makes me happy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tomorrow I'm off to St. Marys. Fall gardening and housework, but I'll be taking the paints and brushes. I have a few orders to fill and a few new ideas to try. I'm looking forward to it.

I've got to go get that last biscuit before Joe does. I'll catch up with you soon. Some fresh apple cider would be good with that biscuit. Good Grief! My body must be preparing for hibernation.
I'm hungry.
Love and all good things,
Ronnie
aka Joe's stove operator

Summer aka BLOG KILLER!

My new favorite t-shirt
"I live in my own world, but it's OK... they like me here."

Hey Lovely Bloggers!
It has been 42 days since my last blog post! This was certainly not intentional, but Summer grabbed me with the tenacity of a gator on a terrier!
A quick refresher: Joe has retired. Life as I have known it for decades is gone, vanished, kaput.
We have no trouble filling up our days, but now, every day seems like a weekend. If asked what day it is, Joe and I both glaze over... "Saturday?"
It has been fun, but I have sorely missed my art. There have been so many moments when I have been stopped in my tracks by pure inspiration, images conjured that I KNEW were destined for solid form. Dozens of ideas have simply floated away... stolen away by a cluttered mind and too much activity.
Where do lost ideas go!? I don't know, but I'm on a mission to find them!
I keep telling myself, "You need to create a notebook necklace". When inspiration hits, paper and pencil are RIGHT THERE! Scribble it down quick. Grab it while ya got it.
Today, I find myself blissfully alone. WEEEEEEEEEEE! As I type, Joe is headed for a race in Virginia (VIR for you race fans). I begged off with a kiss and a wave-goodbye from the driveway.

Here's Joe, happy as a clam, in the pits with APR Motorsports

Wasting no time, I headed off to the nearby village of Locust Grove to meet with Brenda, the owner of Old South Ceramics. She will host me as "her artist" at a local art event called "Art After Dark". I have until Oct 9th to get it together, interrupted only by jury duty on the 5th. Wish me luck that it's not a long drawn out horrible trial. I just don't have time for justice these days!

Locust Grove, Georgia
site of Art After Dark, October 10th

It's good to be back. I'll be posting pictures of two more Hawaiian artists I met during our August trip and of course all the goings on around here! See you then.
Is there a chill in the air? Are the leaves beginning to fall where you live?
Love and all good things,
Ronnie

There's Art in Them There Islands!

Huge painting by Brigitte D'Anniabale, Kaua'i artist
That's a piece of copper across the top!


We are home! It was a great trip and I took lots of pictures. Hawaii is as beautiful as I remember, IF YOU KNOW WHERE to GO!
H-I and H-2 (Hawaii's interstate highways??!!HA!) are NOT the place to go.
It wasn't in 1993 and it certainly isn't now. So, we hit our old haunts and tried our best to stay off the very busy Oahu highways.

This post is about Hawaiian art!
After all, this is an ART BLOG. ; )
If you want to see our other pics (Joe in the old C-130 he once flew and pictures of Waikiki beach surfers and the site of our house that is now washed into the sea) go to my Facebook page (over there in the right column) and peruse the "Return to Hawaii" photo album.

Now, on to the art!
I fell in love with Hawaii artist Brigitte D'Anniabale.
Find her here at http://abc.eznettools.net/taboragallery/Brigitte.html
Here's another example of her work...
One dimension just doesn't do her work justice. She nails and glues stuff all over!


I found Brigitte's art one cool evening while walking with JOe, doing a little window shopping in Honolulu. I spotted this huge painting in a gallery window!


I was smitten!
Joe knew it was all over once I grabbed his arm and pulled him inside.
From the first gallery, I found my way to two more galleries in Waikiki (I was kind enough to leave Joe snorkeling during these expeditions) where Brigitte has work displayed.
Brigette works with salvaged architectural pieces from old sugar plantation buildings...tin, copper, vintage moldings, fabric, pieces of wood with chipping paint. It gives her work texture and depth, but also a REAL tactile bit of Hawaiian history.
I was so sad to see SUGAR disappearing in Hawaii. In the 90's, we lived a few miles from vast sugar cane fields and the sugar mill in old Waipahu. Not there now. But that's another story.

Next post! Two more Hawaii artists!
See you then,
Ronnie (who is very glad to be home in her nest again.)

*And a little plug for a friend...For a really good time visit PJ at PJHornberger.com

No ka oi

Happy Monday!
Another painting complete. I'm really pleased with this one. JUST BEE. It's in my Etsy shop . But I'll be away for a weeks vacation. Back on August 12th.
In other news, My Swamp Hibiscus are blooming! These flowers are the size of salad plates!
They remind me of a place I lived a long time ago, where it never snowed, always summer...
Tuesday, Joe and I are taking a trip. We'll be up at the crack of dawn.
We're leaving the grass,
the weeds,
and the pile of mulch,
and all those blank canvases at home.
This trip was quite unexpected, but something we've wanted to do for years.
When half price airfare popped up, it became a NO BRAINER! We are packed and ready to go!
Where?


In the early nineties we were stationed in Barbers Point, Hawaii. We're going back tomorrow.
I guess we'll see how things have changed in 16 years. We lived in a Navy neighborhood on the beach, at the entrance to Pearl Harbor. We sat in our backyard and watched as the navy ships and submarines sailed into the harbor with Diamondhead and the Ko'olau Mountains as the backdrop. Amazingly beautiful. I loved every day of it.
Upon doing a Googlemap satellite search just now, curious to see the rooftop of the house we lived in, I find it's still there!
5375 Edgewater Drive Ewa Beach, HI. where it's always Summer.
I'll take lots of pictures.
We'll be back at home this time next week!
For easy listening Hawaiian radio KINE 105 click HERE!
Love and all good things,
Ronnie

Honey, Spiders and Chicks! Oh my!

I'm back at it this week. Joe is running errands and picking up some of the new Skecher's walking shoes for me. I'm sitting WAY too much! House is quiet. Started painting this JUST BEE thing. Will show you the results soon.
This was pretty spectacular. A big iron sculpture at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham. We went to watch APR www.goapr.com/race/ race last Saturday. Click the pic and you'll see the baby spiders ready to attack the army of Porsches!
Andrew has a VW TDI cup race in Chicago this weekend. I sewed on this big patch which sewed up the zipper on one side. Decided this wouldn't work too well. Wish him luck! Race #5!
I painted this for the APR team last week! It was fun to do and I even added a screw! A bit of Checkered flag stuff on the side you can't see here.
Got the living room painted too. What a chore. Like moving. But it's done and looks GREAT!
Amazingly enough, I got this done while they were here. It's in the Etsy shop. JOe likes this one.
Thanks for all the great advice and sweet comments for me this week. I was tearing my hair out for a while! Have a great weekend y'all! I plan to.
Love,
Ronnie

THIS is an art blog???

An Art Blog.
You've seen them...a piece of art or two posted each day, a bit of talk about art history and how to market your work.

Lately, saying this is an Art Blog is a stretch. My art is getting all entwined with my life. Or lost in it.
See the picture above? I took this months ago for another purpose, but it seemed to work. Paint brushes all clean and idle, unused. That's laundry piled on the kitchen table. An illustration of what my life has become. Wax lips, some candy cigarettes. A bottle of X (seemed like a good idea at the time).

This is my husband, Joe. He's trying to enjoy a piece of cake at a friend's house, but he is also looking at me, while I take the picture, knowing it may end up here on
THE ART BLOG.
Being an artist can be detrimental to your heart, mind, soul, pocketbook, your flower beds...
your rugs, your toilets, your relationships (see Joe above), the oil filter in your car...(add more HERE if you like).
It's a matter of balance. I used to have it. It left. Where and how does the art fit in without creating problems in other parts of life? Not quite there yet. Obviously! That's the task at hand.
One of my blog friends, Sandy Mastroni said to ask for Help. She's right. Sometimes I forget.
Have a good beginning to a great week loved ones,
Ronnie - living life in a small town in Georgia, USA

Goings On for the 4th and a Friend's Retirement

It was a good 4th of July. Family gathered at my 82 year old mom's house. She loves to party! Then she likes everybody to leave so she can get a good night's sleep with her little dog Rocket.
This is my mom and a son and his son! Looks like a game of rock paper scissors.
Water was certainly the theme. A lot of water logged kids as well as adults.
Little guy says enough is enough. NO paparazzi please!
More water logging.
Light is getting low and the older sons are enjoying the lake and Jones Grape sodas interspersed with a few adult beverages.
Andi and Ana decided to bring a new tent for its inaugural. Pitched it in our backyard 10 feet from the lake and went kayaking first thing the next morning. Brilliantly absurd idea!!!
Shifting gears to the week prior, Joe and I traveled to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida for an old friend's retirement. This is their quarters on base where they threw a great party the night before the official retirement ceremony. If you want to see pictures of that go to my facebook page and look for JETS!
Here's the happy (they don't know what's about to hit 'em!) retiring military couple.
Lots of good comfort food....
and Nancy's famous Bourbon slushies! Holy moly YUM! Look at the smile on this girl's face!
And here's their motto to live by. Surprised!? I'm not. Whoo Hoo indeed!
After the festivities Joe and I kicked back at a little cottage on the base near the Pensacola lighthouse.
A bit of history. You'll have to click the pic to read the fine print.
One last look at the white sand beach and then it was time to return home. Boy am I ready to be home. Ten days for me to get some painting done before we have to go again.
I hope you're enjoying the summer!
Love and hugs,
Ronnie - tortured wife of retired JOe