Sunday July 13th - First Solo Artist Reception - ALL MINE

WOW, what can I say? I had my first big artist reception today! I can't believe that the art committee at the University Club of Winter Park actually called to invite me to do a show. I really thought maybe it was a prank call at first. But it wasn't! They actually said they would like to see my work on the walls for the month of July. Nita, Daphne and Joe at the UC all welcomed me in and have been effervescent in their help and suggestions. Both Daphne and Nita are painters and exhibit themselves so they know the ropes quite well.
And props up to my buddy, Pam, an amazing photographer who has been exhibiting at various galleries and helped me set up and place the photos. She has an excellent eye for knowing what goes where! The funny thing was, when we came to set up, the lightening and thunder were Hellish and seemed poised right over our heads. As lightening stabbed down all around us, I unloaded the truck with my many photos. The cart I used was shiny, metal. One bolt flashed hard and seemed so close it sent Pam running for the safety of the building as I wheeled the 'lightening rod' cart up the ramp to the doors. I had to laugh, I told Pam, "I can see the obituary now! Local photographer loses bid for first exhibition when she and her photos burned to ash by a lightening strike that came from above Palm Cemetery and set her and her artwork ablaze."
But it wasn't my time and today was my reception and a few wonderful people came out to support me and I very much appreciate that they took the time and even the gas, and drove to Winter Park to be there for me. My family was wonderful in helping me with so many aspics of this. I am happy they encourage their 'crazy mother' to snap away! And sweet Adam, he is the best at helping his old Mom through this maze of artwork that I have taken on. He will go out of his way to be there to help me trudge my art work around Alive After Fives, or other venues! I couldn't ask for a better assistant. My Andrea is a great critic and a budding acrylic painter who I hope will join me in exhibiting as she builds her own portfolio. And Aaron, though he lives and works 110 miles away, he comes over when he can. And I appreciate that when he comes, he doesn't mind sleeping among the clutter of frames and matting.
My art exhibit will continue through July 30th, so if you are in the area, go check it out, please look at my nature photos. My motive is to make you smile and think about the wildlife around us and how lucky we are to have it so close by. So thank you over-zealous developers and politicians for crashing down acres upon acres of trees and shrubbery and filling in wetlands so the fauna of Florida have no other choice but to wander onto our properties.
And seriously, thank you so much, all of you who genuinely came to my aid and filled some space! You all will never know how much it meant to me and how much I appreciate you!
Abbe

Water Make A difference

A drastic measure of water level between the two pictures of the nest. I remember the weekend in March before the baby crane hatched how I worried because there was going to be a hard rain and the nest was already so saturated. I was sure that crane egg would be washed away. But you have to look at nature I guess, the cranes never once doubted that their nest was high and dry even when it was almost under water. They would constantly add nesting material to build it up higher. And now look at the difference, they don't even bother now. Since Early April. We have had little rain, patches here and there, but nothing at all measurable. My yard is almost devoid of grass, keeping the garden from burning out is a constant struggle. The sun is already scorching, seems like August out there.
Tonight we got about a half hour of a decent watering. We are again at the same place as we were going on the third summer. The lake is still 7 feet down. I saw that my neighbor across the lake had to have a new well dug, theirs ran dry.Deja vu from the last summers when a couple other neighbors had the same problem.
Every night the cranes now fly together back to their nest. The baby's wings work a bit clumsily, but he gets where he is going even when he over shoots. The night I first saw him fly to the nest, the parents stopped at the nest and he kept flying for about fifty feet beyond the dry zone into the lake, he swam the rest of the way home. The next night the family flew home and the baby did a complete turn and ended up back here on the shore. The parents waited about five minutes to see if he would fly back to the nest again, but he didn't so both parents flew back here and waited for the baby and they all swam back to the nest. He's getting stronger and bigger each day. I think he will be bigger than his Papa soon, it might be the baby who shoos the parents off when he's old enough!

Update on "baby Huey"

The baby is almost as large as his folks. It's 'down' is molting off his head, it looks like a hard rockin' crane with that little mohawk! The wings are expanding. He can't fly, but he runs around the yard at times with those wings outstretched just waiting for the day the wind will give him a lift.
Once his parents fly back to the nest without Him, (I call it, Him.) Him was all upset. It jumped down the side of the sea wall and got stuck in the lilypads trying to swim out and totally panicked. Screaming and sceaming until his mother flew back to swim back home with Him. He's fun to watch, he's great to photograph. I'm lucky to have Him....

Women's caucus For Art newcomers show May 1st.

The Women's Caucus For Art Newcomers show at Maitland Library started today. It
runs through the month and has a nice blend of mediums, from photography to pencil. The colors and subjects should spark lots of interest for the 'newbies' who participated. (And you know who you are.)
Betty Bay kept the artists organized and our new WCA President, Jo Anne Adams has lots of enthusiasm for her new position, I have no doubt she will do a great job because she is not afraid to order dessert at lunch, and anyone who can put it out there and share a dessert with me at lunch has nothing at all to hide, thumbs up for Jo Anne!
We are looking forward to a fulfilling time ahead, for learning how to push
the limits and get our talents noticed!
Stop by the Maitland Library, they have a lot to offer, books, books on tape, information, a helpful staff, (and even a censor who made one artist put a 'filter' over her oil painting's nude figure's breasts, all 4 of them)... Yes, we bring fun and controversy, that's what happens when you invite artists to invade your space! Never call us right brainers dull!

My baby crane

Where oh where are these weeks flying too? My baby crane is getting quite tall and learning how to do many things, like swim by himself back to the nest. His folks will suddenly decide it's time to go home and they fly off and leave the baby standing on the sea wall alone. There is a six-foot drop down to the ground. The baby always screams and is panicky, but he will finally use his little nubs for balance and jump down quite awkwardly and swim over to where his folks are waiting. Most of the time his father will swim out and meet him half way.
I love to watch him wave his little wings and do his happy run. The cats don't go near him. They all watch and have great respect for the parents. Even Ringo won't mess with that Papa crane. You mess with the bull, you get the horns, you mess with the cranes, you get the beak!

Judith Kaplan Artist Reception at Steinway

Some people deserve great respect and Judith Kaplan with her quiet dignity is one! She is a tiny thing, but huge ideas and success develop from her touch I have learned. I am finding life lessons in these women who are inside the Women's Caucus for Art and they still astound me in what they accomplish. Abbe the slacker is in awe of how they go full speed ahead to network and push in an effort to acquaint the world with their many vast talents.
Tonight was a reception for Judy, (in blue oriental jacket) highlighting her work to be shown through the month at Steinway Piano Gallery in Altamonte Springs. Steinway has an excellent facility in the back of their store and do showcase an artist a month with a portion of the proceeds going to the Steinway Society Of Central Florida. We were told how Steinway will provide a used piano to deserving underprivileged children. The child or teen in return must play in a recital at Steinway for them to keep the piano for the next year. Kathy and Gary Grimes put on a wonderful and classy reception, they are host and hostess and founded The Steinway Society. There was good food and a festive jazz band called the Bernie Lee Trio and a very good turn out, all tables were filled.
Her artwork upgraded that monotone room into a delight of motion and color. Judy uses a palette knife like a conductor putting the rights notes in place to make a wonderful symphony. She says the work reflects chaos around us, and yet to me there is a dictum to the bright kaleidoscopic motion. Each of her paintings is distinct and one can almost envision her tiny wrists working that knife around the canvas with huge results. She says a couple of art influences were Pollack and Van Gogh, but clearly she has her own style.
But that's not all that gives Judy color, I read an article about her from a magazine highlighting Judy and husband Warren's accomplishments. Judy is a huge collector of women's history. She was one of the original feminists and I have seen her pictured with Gloria Steinem and Eleanor Holmes Norton. Judy is not one to brag about her accomplishments, I would have never have known this except I googled her name and found this article and her pictures on the internet. The credits are at the bottom, the authors words in bold and italics.
Read on and see what they mean by "dynamite comes in small packages", Judy is the perfect example of that!
Excerpt:
" In the mid 1960's Judy and her husband Warren formed a part time first day cover business "TIPEX", named after the souvenir sheet (Scott 778) of which they had accumulated a very large inventory. They dealt mainly in the classics, early cachet makers, and hand painted cachets. Judy and Warren operated TIPEX full time from 1974 to 1980 and it became the largest retailer in the world specializing in U.S. FDC's. TIPEX was closed in 1980 when they moved to Florida.
She was also an early member of the founding chapter of the National Organization for Women, NOW-NY, and served as its treasurer. It was at this time she decided to do a series of covers on women's history for the organization.
Judith Kaplan of Altamonte Springs, FL was honored as one of the "Feminists Who Changed America 1963-1975". Published by University of Illinois Press, this new and groundbreaking directory was released on November 13, 2006. It presents biographies of 2,200 women and men whose successful actions created the modern women's movement...
...currently she is a nationally recognized Orlando-based artist showing at COMMA Gallery in Orlando, is former Chair of Action Products International Inc, an Orlando-based NASDAQ listed toy manufacturer specializing in non-violent, educational toys. A resident of Florida since 1980, Ms. Kaplan was formally a resident of Ocala and Boca Raton. She now resides in Orlando. Under her leadership, the Kaplan family made a major contribution to the building of a civic building on the campus of Central Florida Community College. She currently is funding a Chair in Women's History at the college.
Ms. Kaplan's contributions to the feminist revolution were mainly focused on the importance of researching and documenting women's history and insuring that the knowledge of women's contributions and achievements are included in the education of future generations. She is the creator and producer of the women's history collectible series "The Women's History Series of First Day Covers by N.O.W.- N.Y., which helped induce the U.S. Postal Service to recognize and honor the contributions and achievements of Women to the History of the United States by having them commemorated on U.S. postage stamps. Discussion of her women's history work is included in "Feminists Who Changed America 1963-1975" as a part of documenting her feminist achievements.
Judith Kaplan is Secretary and a director of the National Women's History Museum to be located in Washington D.C. Ms. Kaplan owns one of the world's largest private collections of American women's history."
"Feminists Who Changed America", 1963-1975" is available bookstores

Editor Barbara J. Love
Reference:
©The American Philatelist, The magazine of the American Philatelic Society, October 1985, Volume 109 #10, article, "FDC Series Gives Birth to Museum" by Judith Kaplan.
©First Days, The journal of the American First Day Cover Society, April 15th 1998, Volume 43/No.3 article, "The Kaplan Era: History in the making - TIPEX and the NOW-NY Women's History Series" by Richard A. Monty.
© Knottywood Treasures 2005

When your scared, you run to mama...no matter what your species

Today the weather turned crazy, thunder banged, lightning forked and rain so thick at times you could only see about ten feet ahead. The wet crane family came up to the stump about 6:45pm and were eating some seed when it began to rain hard and a bang of angry thunder shook the ground and echoed hard through our ears. The mama crane squatted right down and the baby tucked in underneath her. They remained that way for a couple minutes until the rain slowed a bit, then the baby popped out and off they went back home to their island. I ran out and snapped a picture of the water around the island to compare it to tomorrow as more big rains are expected tonight. The parents were busy adding more and more weeds to their nest, building it higher and higher. The sun began to shine and I thought maybe I could fish, that was until a solid fork of lightning hit the ground somewhere across from me. I ran and tucked under my safety net, the house!