My love/hate relationship with my computer

Dottie's Gifts

20x20 oil on gallery wrapped canvas

I've been AWOL from my blog. I'm so proud of not committing PC homicide on my desktop because its been giving me so much trouble. After not being able to upload photos, it is still crashing without warning and what used to take me a half hour will sometimes take a whole day. Okay, enough of that!

I just got back from Michigan where I got to deliver a birthday present to a very special lady. Mrs St. Pierre is the mother of my high school boyfriend with whom I have been blessed to rekindle a relationship with after forty years. This painting is based on a B&W photo that my friend Terry took. He explained he set up his camera on a timer and ran back up to stand with his younger siblings Cheryl and Mark at the mouth of a cave they were exploring in Japan. I've talked about being raised in Japan and his father Wayne was stationed at the same US Army HDQRS I was at. The St Pierres were there for 3 years. I cropped and glazed the background to what I thought it might look like on a late hot afternoon as he described it. When Mrs St. Pierre opened the present, she said, "Oh, my Babies!" I see her "Babies" as very special gifts she has given the world.

Countin' My Blessings

I was leaving a SF art gallery at around 9:30 Wednesday night and walking to the Rapid Transit system to get across the Bay. I was walking at a quick pace for the two and a half blocks not only to get me there but to appear like I knew what I was doing late at night. I caught something out of the corner of my eye. It took a couple of steps before I realized the huddled mass was a person down for the night.I went back, snapped a photo with my phone and went back on my way. I could not get the image out of my head. I had to paint it to exorcise it from my thoughts.

With the disaster in Japan, and relatives and friends who have been affected there, it has been a somber time. So even though this man just has a flattened cardboard box and a jacket for his bed and pillow, it is dry and out of the danger of tsunami and earthquakes. I read one friend who had posted on Facebook that her local grocery store in Japan was all out of meat so she will be having sashimi for dinner. Bless her heart for finding her silver lining in that massive black cloud.

"Counting My Blessings"

8x10 oil on Raymar panel

$100 plus $5 for shipping

Paypal has waived all processing fees so donations can go directly to those affected by the disasters in Japan:

https://www.paypal-donations.com/pp-charity/web.us/campaign.jsp?cid=-12

Asian Pear Apple/ Apple Pear

The label reads "Apple Pear" but I usually call it a Pear Apple because it tastes like a pear but shaped more like an apple. It is sweeter, juicier and crunchier than both. I also call it a 'nashi' when I'm among my Japanese speaking friends. I first tasted this unusual fruit in Japan. I thought it would be an interesting subject because they are always displayed in their fishnet Styrofoam stockings to protect their paper thin skin.

6x6 oil on wood panel -$65