Drawing Prayers

I promised Belinda over at upsidedownbee that I would share my zendalas. I learned about them from her post, Praying With Art. When I saw the zendala and her magnificent doodle, I knew I had to do one too. She had already piqued my interest in the concept of using drawing to focus your mind in prayer in her post (I can't find it to link to it) about the book, Praying In Color . I purchased the book and played at it a little, but never really took off with it.

The Zentangle / Zendala thing though, that got hold of me. The first one I tried is the b&w one. I worked on it for a couple of days. After that one I wanted to incorporate some color and mixed media art into one which resulted in the one below. I'm not crazy about the way it turned out. I like my girls but the doodle part got lost in the too busy foreground.

This is one example of the many treasures I have gleaned from stalking Belinda. Her blog is definitely worth a read.

Thanks, Belinda, for sharing and inspiring!

It's A Musical Life

The CarolinaTheater, originally uploaded by candyknits.

When I was a teenager, I had a lot of friends in my circle who were musicians. I mean good musicians. We spent a lot of time hanging out in the background during jam sessions. I miss that. Though I don't have an ounce of talent myself, I sure enjoy listening to others that do.

I have a friend in my current life who likes to go where folks are playing the blues, particularly guitar blues. I've had the pleasure to accompany him to a couple of concerts this year (I like the blues too). Back in January we heard the Derek Trucks Band in Charlotte. It was a great concert. We were treated to a surprise appearance by his wife, Susan Tedeshi, who belted out a few songs with the band. Derek is the nephew of drummer, Butch Trucks. He was a child prodigy who started sitting in with the "big guys" when he was 9. He toured with the Allman Bros and still plays with them. He formed the Derek Trucks Band when he was 15. Cool huh?

This past weekend we went to The Carolina Theater in Greensboro for the Guitar Blues Tour to hear Robben Ford with Jorma Kaukonen, and, my favorite, Ruthie Foster.

I have been to the Carolina Theater long days ago. The acoustics there are really good. Ruthie Foster has this rich, resonant voice and she really filled up the place. She was very personable on stage and talked to the audience like she was just hanging out and jamming. I really enjoyed her. Though her songs were all secular, you could tell she comes from gospel roots.

She Has A Blog

Bill Morrison collection, courtesy of The Shubert Archive.

Well, I have always liked Jane Fonda and I found out the other day (somewhere online) that she has started blogging. It's right here and it's good, really. She shares her thoughts about her life and her art. She just opened 33Variations on Broadway in the Eugene O'Neil theater (I've been there!) and openly shares her feelings about returning to Broadway after 30+ years. I find it fascinating. Just sayin.

Check it out.

I love my books but....

...I want one of these



Can't argue with 230,000 books at your finger tips. Not too mention newspapers, magazines and blogs. I would really appreciate it for traveling with the cost of checking bags and all.

This second generation Kindle is getting good reviews. It is supposed to start shipping later this month.