Children's books at the Bellefonte Art Museum are definitely not just for children.

Fine Art vs. Illustration: Does the debate have merit?

We take flight with stories. 
(Illustration Uri Shulevitz)

For a few hundred years, since the advent of the publication of illustrated stories, those involved in the realms of art have enjoyed debating the value and merit of fine art vs. illustration. Which is better? Which is more collectable? Which takes more skill? Where do we draw the line between fine art and illustration? Which tells a better story? And, as with most debates on art, the answers depend very much on personal opinion. You could have a different discussion every night of the week, depending on who you're talking with and which artists you're talking about.

In contrast to the widely accepted and touted answers of recent decades, some of the answers to these questions have changed with the times, where today, we have whole museums devoted to illustration, such as The National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature, and organizations which define an illustrator as a professional, such as the Society for Illustrators. We have, for many years, had recognizable awards for the best illustrated picture books for children, such as the Caldecott Medal. And there are many more organizations celebrating the skill and artistic talent of artists who work with words and pictures.

The Caldecott Medal graces the covers of winners.

I'm so pleased to be able to share some of the most beautiful books written and illustrated for children in our Bellefonte Art Museum library collection, including several Caldecott winners, such as Song and Dance Man, shown in the photo below. The interesting thing about Stephen Gammell's illustrations for Song and Dance Man is that they're mostly done with colored pencil, a medium that has only recently been taken seriously as a professional tool for artists.

Caldecott winner Song and Dance Man.

Magic.

Our collection includes one book that might not make it through the publishers today - it is very controversial - come take a peek and see if you can figure out why Good Dog, Carl might be unacceptable in today's over-regulated society.

We love Carl.

Our collection includes several books on the process illustrators went through in the 1980s to get their ideas onto paper and out to publishers. It's fascinating reading. The process has changed somewhat with the advent of the Internet, where many times, illustrations are created and provided electronically, and authors and artists have easy options for publishing their own books without the need for large publishing houses, though those avenues still exist.

How did Uri Shulevitz do it?

How did Janet Stevens do it?

What do Berthe Amoss and Eric Suben say about their processes?

And we have our icons, those illustrators and writers that everyone knows and loves, such as Dr. Seuss (turned down 27 times before his first book was accepted for publication).

Retrospective Exhibition of Dr. Seuss's work held in San Diego in 1986.

Our collection includes pure magic and fantasy, with a couple of different versions of Puss in Boots.

Puss in Boots, illustrated by Fred Marcellino.

And stories celebrating the beautiful differences in cultures.

Chief Seattle's historical message, beautifully illustrated.

Detail from Brother Eagle, Sister Sky.

We have a tale from the Pacific Northwest - 

Bold color and cultural symbols.

I find it fascinating that Raven is a Caldecott winner, as is Song and Dance Man, and yet the illustrations are completely different, though both are gorgeous.

Take a trip around the world in Spanish!

Soak up some American history, beautifully illustrated by Samuel Byrd.

Check out the relationship between Flossie and the Fox.

Find out how Maebelle's selfless wisdom solves her friend's problem.

These are just some of the very special books we have to share for children and grown-ups alike in the Photography Gallery/Library at the Bellefonte Art Museum.

Children's books are powerful.

I'll tell you a secret. When I go to the doctor's office and I know they're going to take my blood pressure, guess what I read while I'm in the waiting room? Children's books. They never fail to bring it down several notches.

Fine art can do that too, whether you're creating it or enjoying another artist's creations. It's magic, come see! The Bellefonte Art Museum is open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, from noon to 4:30 p.m. or by appointment.

Members are encouraged to bring in your favorite children's books to lend or donate. Spread the joy!

Cheers!
Jen
Library Manager

Sharing gorgeous art books at the Bellefonte Art Museum!

It's a TOME. There can be only ONE.

I am so excited. I spent my afternoon going through my library, which is fairly extensive (over 1,000 books), looking for art books to share with members and visitors to the Bellefonte Art Museum. Wow it was so fun remembering all the hours I've spent poring through them over the years. More than half a lifetime, and hours well spent, sometimes outside under a tree, sometimes late at night between work hours - keeping my dreams alive and keeping my eyes and hands in shape for the time I would be able to spend most of my time drawing and painting, which has been a lifetime passion and is now becoming my "second career" after retiring from 16 years with Penn State University, mostly as an instructional designer (web design of educational subject matter).

The image above is the book my wonderful husband handed me to donate to our collection. It's a textbook sort of TOME - lots of black and white photos, lots of lecture-type, nose-in-the-air carefully educated, opinionated text. The reason my little caption says "There can be only ONE," is that as the library manager reviewing and checking in books for donation or lending, I consider it my job to accept books that are stunningly GORGEOUS, filled with AWESOME illustrations, INSPIRING, and that cover a wide variety of subject matter, according to our membership talents and skills (I'm even bringing in a book on mosaic artistry, so excited because we have a very talented artist who works in that style).

We are not boring. We are here to inspire you. We are here to enhance skills you're interested in improving.

A few really inspiring anatomy books.

Many artists do not draw the human figure because it can be rather overwhelming, all those muscles (or not) and curves. We have several anatomy books that are so beautiful you can hardly resist getting out the charcoal and playing with the light and shadow that creates a recognizable human being.

How-Tos

Step-by-step instruction.

We have some lovely how-to books on many styles of imagery, including watercolor and pastel, oils, etc. Borrow a few and see what you can do! Book sign-out starts March 1st!

Quirkiness is something we can all relate to.

In the interest of inspiration, I'm also sharing some books on artists who have been successful in developing a reputation for quirkiness and fantasy, commentary on contemporary society, and little beautiful messages from the soul. James Christensen is one of these - our collection will include two of his lovely books. If you feel like you don't "fit in," no worries, we all fit in here precisely because we "don't fit in." We are individuals with inner vision, and our unique forms of expression hold value to our viewers and clientele.

I'll tell you a story...

This book was pivotal for me at the tender age of two years old.

Ancient, I know.

This is one of the pivotal images.

The line, the form, the color captured my imagination and my heart.

The images above come from a book my parents read to me when I was just two years old, and of course, many times in subsequent years. I fell absolutely in love with the illustrations - the line, color, form, and beauty of them. This is what sparked my heart to do this as my lifeway - to become an artist. To create beauty that others could enjoy and fall in love with. To make their hearts sing. As we roll into having evening discussions and afternoon storytelling time, I look forward to the opportunity to hear what sparked others to become artists. 

One day I had the loveliest conversation with one of our members. He had worked full career years at the University, and at retirement, he decided he wanted to have some legacy of a sort to leave to his children, so he started painting. And his paintings are beautiful. Such a great reason to lean into your creativity!

So with the setup of the library at the Bellefonte Art Museum, my main goal is to inspire others. I get to review the books donated or lent, and will be looking for this. Gorgeousness is definitely encouraged. No dump-offs, no crapola. 

Here's part of what I'm bringing to share, all cover washed and dedusted.

For the children xo

And here's what I'm bringing for our children's book collection. No Disney. Not yet anyway unless there's a big demand for it.

These are books that are beautifully illustrated by artists who have been able to build respected reputations. 

So I'll be spending a few days this week at the museum getting set up, and we'll start lending in March. Take a minute to pop into the Photography Gallery to check the bookshelves to see what's there that might inspire you to create your next masterpiece : ) And please consider sharing some of the books that have inspired you. You can lend or donate. And if your books feel like "gold," we can keep them on the premises, not available for sign-out, but for viewing in the gallery, yes.

Come check it out!

See you soon,

Your happy library manager, Jen

Namaste

Creating the Healing Place, Using Our Power

Big empty room.

Today was a lovely milestone day. We survived the days of taking down the bedroom setup in the third bedroom. Pete from the Used Furniture place came and took some of the stuff we had in there, and we donated the rest to the Salvation Army. Both were kind upon pickup. When the twin beds went out of there (which I thought we'd have in the house always) I sat on the ottoman in the living room and had to cry a little for a minute. Change is uncomfortable, but very very necessary.

After all the furniture was taken care of (sent off with prayers for prosperity, peace, and good health for the new owners of these items) I rolled up the Persian rug and we put it out on the curb. I had walked down the hallway a thousand times this past year, seeing that rug, knowing I could go into that room, but I would not find my Jess. The rug just held a lot of pain. So did the beds, as I had made them up with my heart in my throat before we went to get her and bring her home to heal. I had spread out all her new clothes on one bed, and gave her the task of taking the tags off, but she was too sick to even do that, so I did it for her.

I knew I could not live with that intense level of pain for very much longer, so we decided to change the purpose of the room. We had lots of really fabulous exercise equipment in the basement that I'd purchased over the years, but I never used it because our basement isn't dry and the air is musty/moldy. So we decided to bring it upstairs and convert the third bedroom into an exercise room.

Wow. What a day. I haven't felt this excited by anything in a couple of years. It felt so good to be heading into positive territory.

Grown-up toys!

My sister gave us a rug she wasn't using for the workout room, and it's just perfect. A little bit of softness and mood, which adds some warmth to the room. You can see parts of each lovely piece of equipment, including our treadmill, Crossbow, and Fluidity Bar, plus my little bouncer.

Rob's reviewing the manual for the Crossbow.

The treadmill stands by the window, a great place to walk to our hearts' content, and I was very pleased that I could download the manual for the Crossbow even after years of it sitting in the basement unused. Rob spent the afternoon swabbing everything down with Mr. Clean, and hooking things up, including our computer, which will play the coordinating DVDs and other really cool things we can download to make workouts fun.

It felt very special that though the morning began a bit wintry and wet, the sun came out just as my nephew and his friend arrived to help move everything, and it stayed out til just after they left. Magic. I so appreciated their patience and strength and safe maneuvering of all this equipment. Isn't it wonderful when our Earth Angels come to help us?

I got to rearrange the other spare room once the treadmill had been moved.

And as so often happens, when a project is being done in one room of the house, many other rooms get affected, so I spent my time rearranging the other little spare room once the treadmill was out of there, preparing for the arrival of the new queen-sized bed, and organizing things that hadn't been touched in years (CDs!). I rediscovered my wonderful music collection and had a good time moving things around. A side note to my West Coast and Far-Eastern thinking friends - I did some research on which direction is best for sleeping, thinking of Earth's magnetic fields and how the birds line up to orient themselves each day at sunset, how the fish and other animals navigate according to the magnetic fields, and discovered some very interesting information. I like to learn from ancient ways, so took in some Native American info on which directions are best to have your head when you sleep, and switched my bed accordingly. Now my head is pretty much southeast, which should be much better than the North, the direction I'd been sleeping for a couple of years - oops. Can't wait to see if it makes a difference.

Still a million more things to do, little details to take care of, finishing touches to put on the rooms, etc. I've decided to have the poster Alicia made using Jess's photo of Mt. Hood and the moon and the beautiful poem enlarged and will hang it in our workout room for inspiration.

For this I rise up.

All day in my head I had images of Jess and me laughing, several different instances over the years. I think she was sending them to me. One was the time we were driving across country, after the divorce, bringing my kids back East to raise them, and they were about 9 and 11 years old. They were excellent travelers, and we'd been driving for days. We stopped at a hotel one night and went into the restaurant for some dinner. The kids were so tired they were a bit punchy and got a fit of the giggles. I told them to quiet down because we were in a public place and their eyes got as big as saucers and they both looked at me with very wide grins and they said "but there's no one else here!" And it was true. The restaurant was completely empty. So we all broke into fits of giggles that we could hardly stop. That was one of the images she sent to me.

Another was when I lost the phone. You might have heard this story before. Jess and I were sitting outside in the pergola by the pool and it was dinnertime so I shook out my towel and slung it over my arm, got ready to go across the yard to the patio but realized I'd shaken the phone somewhere. I heard it thud. So I got down on my hands and knees and crawled around under the hostas looking for it. Didn't find it anywhere. And Jess said, "Oh I'll just call you Momma," so she did, and it rang. But it sounded way up high. And we realized that the phone had bounced out of the towel and straight up into the hanging basket that was over our heads, swinging from the top of the pergola. We cracked up laughing and I told her it probably would've been there for the whole winter if she hadn't thought to call me.

Another giggle fit we had was when we were hiking in Portland with Jess and somehow I ended up in the middle of a camera war. Jess was on one end and Rob on the other and they pointed their cameras at each other but I was in the middle and for some reason this struck our funny bones and we all cracked up laughing hysterically.

There was also a time when I put my sunglasses on my head and my hair stuck out all over the place and made Jess laugh like there was no tomorrow. She was a true gigglepuss all her life.

She was just sending me these images all day. Aren't I lucky. She knows it's the 10th and Momma has made a decision to step into her new world with a lighter heart. I will still cry. I will still miss her. But there's something healthy going on around that, and I think she approves.

Blessings to you and yours,
Namaste,
Jen

Two Worlds Painting Done

Two Worlds all done!

Well I've made myself stop. Sometimes with painting it's knowing when to stop, and with this one I had a reeeeally good time.

This depicts the two worlds - spiritual and physical, and specifically, my daughter and myself as described in my blog post about this painting.

It's finished now, and I love many things about it, the main one being the creative power Jess has now in her new worlds. That's what I tried to convey in the design of her wings and her surroundings.

She's happy.

So this one is done and there's one more, which is the most beautiful of all. Will post about it when done.

Thanks for visiting!

Namaste,
Jen

Second Annual Review from my Employer, Dreamkeeper Creations

My good luck rabbit Ojime necklace which I wear all the time : )

So it is a bit past time for my annual evaluation from my bosses at Dreamkeeper Creations. I do this every year, to give me a plan and a touchstone and some encouragement. Here's this year's eval, which is a bit late because it was hard to write. But I'll certainly stick with this job. Oh yeah....

To Jennifer Berghage from her boss, Dreamkeeper Creations 01/03/16

Annual Evaluation

Dear Jen,

First, please accept our sincere condolences on the passing of your beloved daughter. We wish it could be otherwise, but we respect her choices and needs, as you do.

We are thankful that we still have you with us. We believe you have immense talent and we would like you to have a solid chance to develop it to share with the world. We would like for you to enjoy and revel in the moments that you are working to grow and to express your creative self, your mind and heart, and the appreciation you have for beauty.

We've watched you work through the hardest year of your life, and we'd like to highlight the qualities and skills that we see working for you.

It is evident that you have phenomenal strength and determination. It is evident that when you encounter challenge, you seek out ways to surmount it, some good and very effective, some self-destructive or weakening. In your situation for a limited period of time, the negative behavior is understood, and we sympathize. We are your best cheerleaders for working through it and letting go, for growing into the life-sustaining behaviors that make your work sing, and your heart sing.

It is evident that you have worked many years to create a store of reserves to pull out and lean on when you feel defeated, and you do pull them out, even as you work to escape the pain you have been feeling.

We would like for you to keep seeing your therapist, to keep that encouragement going, and the reminders that you are not your daughter, and that one moment is one moment, one appointment is one appointment, and what you do in-between makes a difference in how you're able to function and in how you feel.

We see that you're investing in both your restful life (new bed, peaceful bedroom with the comforts you find enjoyable), and in your physical life (creating your workout room where you can move your body and feel its strength returning).  We completely approve of these changes in your life and support your investment of them.

We would like to see you take some time to evaluate your direction for this year, creatively, no matter what else may come about, because it is the fire in your belly, the foundation of your existence here. You don't need to be famous, though you may become so, just create, do your very best, and spend time cultivating new friendships. Surround yourself with people who are doing what you're doing and working on living their own dreams. Drop the rest and anyone who does not encourage and support your dreams and efforts.

Choose carefully, focus, work hard, and you will see the reflection of your efforts and you will experience growing rewards. Stay focused when possible. Rest when you need to, walk in beautiful Nature, give your hands and mind and heart the power and freedom to do what they do, it comes from a higher source. This you can trust to bring you pleasure. And others too.

We are behind you one hundred percent. Follow your heart and don't let anyone steer you off your chosen path - listen and meditate. Enjoy your body movement.

We wish you the very best in 2016, a fresh new start, and a continuation of things that feel good. We are so very proud of you. Keep going. For you, for others who relate to what it is that you do.

Learn new things and let them fly. Spend time developing the social/online outlets.  Pay attention to the events at the museum, they are foundational to keeping you connected to others of like mind.

Carry on Warrior.

With love and respect and support and admiration - spread those wings and soar, we've got your back. We're looking forward to the wonderful year ahead.

Sincerely,

The DKC Team

Surviving the Gauntlet

Short Lived Hopes and Dreams and Wishes - 7 years later she is dead.

My gauntlet has been the holiday season and sometimes I am not at all sure I will survive. It has taken everything I have and I'm so depleted I'm struggling to find the strength to come out the other side alive and somewhat well and functional. Me, a top performer all my life, relegated to the depths of this grief for as long as it takes me to climb out. How do I do that?

My gauntlet is the onslaught of media and commercialism around Christmas and the holiday season. My gauntlet is family that won't let me get off the bus. Each event or gathering is like several sharp slaps across the face after a year of triggers and sharp slaps and I can't participate, I just can't. Not this first holiday season. We put up a magic, perfect, glowing tree, which was lovely and fine. We did not put up the stockings, one for each person, because she's not here. We did not put the nutcrackers on the mantel, one for each person, because our numbers are lopsided now.

The sharp slaps are living in a town where I go into stores to shop where I used to love to shop for and with her. Sometimes I cry when I come out of the store. The sharp slaps are living in a house where every time I go into the hall bathroom I remember the special equipment in the bathtub - the cedar stool, which I covered with a fresh, soft hand towel for her shower every day (gone now, the stool and the towels), and the hosey shower thing my brother installed so she could shower sitting down (we love to use it for washing the pups now).

I rearranged the furniture in the living room after she died so that the soft chair in the corner where she liked to sit would not be so empty. I washed all the floors on my hands and knees. I gave away the beautiful rug and shower curtain in the bathroom and redid it - the new shower curtain has thousands of beautiful butterflies on it and the rug is gorgeous. New towels too, very soft. New poster, based on a happy ending fairy tale.

New shower curtain and rug in the bathroom.

This is what you see when you're sitting on the "throne."
I love to pick out which is my favorite butterfly, and I love the idea of metamorphosis.

Lovely very soft new towels.

Lovely happy ending fairytale poster.

In order to come out of this I have much work still to do. I am halfway through the gauntlet and it is painful.

The gauntlet for the season has been Hallmark movies where each death is replaced by a convenient life - baby, new love, new spouse, new pet, etc. My life has no such infusion. The gauntlet is family insisting on delivering Christmas presents, which obligates me to shop for them, which I cannot do. My relevancy meter is not the same as theirs. It's shot. (Their presents were oh so thoughtful, tons of tealights cause I light one for Jess every night, and other sweet and thoughtful things. A generous gift card to Michael's for art supplies so I can keep doing what makes my heart sing.)

For the other half of my gauntlet, I'm facing things that no one should have to face at this time of year or any other. What I have to do in the next few days before the new year, is yet again put my daughter's things away (storage), which is like putting her away, and SHE MATTERS.

She was here. I looked for her all this summer after she died, but she did not appear.

Touching

There was a time when we touched. When I brought her home and gave her showers to make her fluffy clean and silently decried the state of her little body getting skeletal and eaten up by the sickness. I read fairy tales to her in the bathroom while she took her showers when she got strong enough to do it by herself. We didn't even imagine that we would lose her.

She was already dying and I didn't know it.

So how do we climb out of this? How do we get to a place that isn't the dropping shoe and the fear of the other shoe that will drop?

Well, we cry a lot lot lot. Get it out. And I seem to have taken on a case of double pneumonia the day before Thanksgiving that let me off the party bus. I ate a little of the dinner Rob made, cried before it and after it. He said "Do you need a hug?" And I went into his arms and he was kind and patient and loving.

Very slow to recover from this sickness - it was pretty bad. Coughing bright red blood Thanksgiving night. Fluid collecting in my lungs. My sis took me to the walk-in clinic. I think the sick part of me is the ego part that says NO MORE stimulation or input or participation. Just leave me alone to lick my wounds and try to recover. Lots of sleep. Lots of reflection. Lots of medicine, more than I've ever taken in my whole life. I'm leaning hard on those who can help. I have good docs but not much faith in them since she had 13 and didn't make it....

There is a part of me outside of the pneumonia that is fighting in a peaceful way - doing artwork, the only thing besides Rob and the pups that will pull me out of this. I do not know if the artwork is strong enough, or if Rob and the pups wouldn't be better off with wife number 3, whoever she might be. Some of my paintings are inspired by Jess and these events and others are beautiful, and have nothing to do with it, I will be able to pick up the trail of where I was going before I got sideswiped.

I want my son near me, but he's 5,000 miles away and happy in a different culture where he's thriving. I cannot tell him how much I want him and his lovely wife near me. Close enough to feed and hug and visit and talk with and see their beautiful faces and smell them.

So I put my big girl panties on, put on my lipstick, take my pneumonia meds and carry on. I do not know where this is going. I want to turn the corner and feel my old self's determination and capability. Wow, where IS that? I used to be so damn strong.

Well, with the new year I have made a decision to turn the third spare room into a workout room. I'm selling the twin beds I grew up in (the bed Jess slept in while she was here for 4 months recovering), selling the other set of twin beds (beautiful antiques from my Grandmother's home) that furnish the other spare room, and investing in a queen bed so that when/if the kids visit they'll be comfortable. And the workout room will be a place to go to get our little endorphins working for us and a place to build back our physical systems that are completely depleted - a life-sustaining room. I will keep a few things in there from all the kids, but mostly it'll be a room that inspires Rob and me in positive ways.

Twin beds in the spare room, nice cherry canopy beds.

Wish me luck in taking down the spare room where Jess spent time in recovery and in moving forward to making it into a life sustaining place where we can move our bodies and listen to music and do yoga and treadmill and fluidity bar and go when we need to destress. When those beds go out of here I will take a shot of cognac, which I usually save for Christmas, but sometimes it is purely medicinal and this will be one of those times. We had set up that room for the grandchildren of our future, imagining them visiting in summer. Well now they'll just have to sleep all jumbled up in the queen bed in the other spare room.

Wish me luck as I put her things, which are in that spare room, into tupperware tubs carefully labeled for her brother, send me strength to do this with respect and love.

This is a hard corner for us. But we must do it else we may get stuck, and that's not an option.

All prayers are most welcome - this is the second hardest thing I've ever done besides live through the past year.

Thanks for all your blessings and uber prayers, I know they matter, and I know they give us strength.

Here's to a new year that is a clean slate for you, much simpler than ours. Last year, like every other New Year, I was feeling grateful that Jess was home in Portland, working, visiting with her neighbors, and talking with me every night on the phone. One of our last, very sweet conversations on New Year's Eve was when I texted her Happy New Year and said we had just watched the ball drop in New York. She said she felt like she was in a time warp, 3 hours behind in Portland, and she said "I'll catch up Momma." The other sweet text thing I have on the phone, just days before she died is when she taught me how to download the little picture icons and we had a conversation back and forth with a ton of them - she said it was making her laugh. Made me laugh too, and still does xo

She never said she'd been sent home from work with jaundice. She never said she'd fallen outside and an ambulance was called. She never said on January 8th that she signed a paper to turn away yet another ambulance. And on January 9th my life flipped over, and so did hers. I did not expect it. I don't know if she did.

So the end of my gauntlet, coming around the corner of this new year is a mix of memories of where we were at the beginning of last year (in for the shock of our lives) and creating change. Birthing something new. Letting go. Embracing all that is meaningful and moving forward with it.

So here's to stepping into new worlds, building back strength that has been sucked out, and learning to believe again. I keep some things of the children around me, but not everything. Just enough to feel the love.

I will try to stay in my spiritual self as I create this change. I am somewhat excited about it. I pulled one of my little Angel Cards, asking Jess what she thought of the changes and got "Celebration!" I think she approves.

So do I think that on January 10th I will wake up Little Miss Sunshine, breathing deeply and looking forward to what is to come? I just might, God willing. We have made it through the first year, and that is the hardest.

My beautiful son and his gorgeous wife xoxo

We can do hard things, right?

Namaste,
Jen

Two Worlds Painting in the Works

Color!

I have been working on the Two Worlds painting tonight. The photo above shows me, the mother of the daughter who passed away, surrounded in gray misery but a little light is getting in from my daughter's world from above.

Jess in her new world

She is happy and surrounded by waves of love, taking a moment to send some down to me.

The Two of Us

This shows the two of us, me feeling ego based and missing her, and her in her spiritual self all joyous, trying to send some light down to me.

Beginning to feel the light

I am beginning to feel the light and love but still ego based and trying to sort out how to find comfort in where she is now in relation to where I am.

Jess at Home

She is so happy, surrounded by love and all the things she could ever need or want - her heaven is as large as her imagination for a while. Looks like a pretty good place for her to be. You can see there are still parts of the image for me to finish.

The Two of Us

And here we are. Learning to communicate in new ways. I miss her earthly presence but I celebrate her new world experiences.

In this painting I am using color to communicate mood. And there is lots of detail. Pretty much everything has meaning - will post about that when done.

This painting will be finished soon. I love the winter when I can concentrate on drawing and painting.

Will post the finished painting when done.

Namaste,
Jen