2021-05-31 19:29
As time has marched on and I have plenty of outlets for putting my art out there online, including Instagram and Fine Art America, I seem to be less and less interested in blogging herein. T… Read More
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Speed Of Light Blog
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Books, art, nature and life's sometimes illuminative moments
2021-03-31 15:53
Spring is here. I've been working in the yard a lot. But I've also I've been making a few postcard collages in advance of the National Collage Society's annual small format show. I've had to… Read More
2021-02-19 18:21
I had COVID-19 at the beginning of January. 'Twas not a Happy New Year, but I had a mild case. My husband Tom and I did not go to any group holiday parties or meals, so perhaps I caught it h… Read More
2020-12-19 21:12
Here are some great places to browse for best books of the year:The Ultimate Best Books of 2020 List from Literary Hub - An amazing list sourcing 41 lists to present… Read More
2020-11-02 19:05
Today has finally come along -- the National Collage Society's 36th Annual Juried show is online! It really made my summer when I learned I had two pieces accepted. The one seen above is tit… Read More
2020-09-30 14:03
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker a masterpiece of research and storytelling, the real life kind.How did anyone survive inside this family… Read More
2020-08-22 16:17
I took the plunge and joined Fine Art America this month. A friend suggested I do that and I took the nudge. So now some of my collages can be purchased as prints, coffee cups, throw pillows… Read More
2020-06-29 19:32
This Is Happiness (Bloomsbury, 2019) by Niall Williams seems to capture the very love of storytelling the Irish carry in their souls. For some readers, it may be on the slow side, but I sunk… Read More
2020-05-28 20:38
When I used to babysit in my early teens, one family sometimes paid me in paper! I was over the moon for I liked to draw and do crafts. The husband in that family was a paper company executi… Read More
2020-04-30 14:23
"Spring Fever" is often the post title I've used during March or April in years past. But that hardly seemed appropriate given these COVID-19 times. None of us want a fever of any kind right… Read More
2020-03-14 22:08
This my favorite from Februllage, a collage challenge of sorts on Instagram. Every day of the month had a word to riff on; this one was: Rabbit. I did not pick up on Februllage until the mon… Read More
2020-02-17 23:32
Before I wrote this post, I purposely did not not read reviews of In the Distance (Coffee House Press, 2017) by Hernan Diaz. I was sure there were already many eloquent tributes, but I… Read More
2020-01-18 16:26
A friend and I went to see the new Little Women film directed by Great Gerwig earlier this week. During the course of my life, I believe I have seen all the movie versions, and as… Read More
2019-12-14 16:23
Ask Again, Yes (Scribner, 2019) by Mary Beth Keane. Two NYC cops raise families right next door to each other in the suburbs. What began as a simple friendship becomes more complex as childr… Read More
2019-10-30 19:32
To quote Kelly Corrigan, "this book is about the things we say to people we love (including ourselves) that make things better." This is complex topic, yet those words we need to say in even… Read More
2019-09-28 19:12
I am taking an online screen printing course with Linda Germain. There is a steep learning curve. I have yet to make a proper print that is all silk screened. Linda had us printing on old bo… Read More
2019-08-28 21:39
Lone Star Literature (Norton, 2003), edited by Don Graham, kept me entertained for many weeks. Some pieces were nonfiction, such as Stephen Harrigan's excellent essay entitled "What Texas Me… Read More
2019-07-31 20:41
I enjoy collecting quotations from books, online sources and out and about in the world. I often think I will use quotations in my artwork, but rarely do. Perhaps you have noticed that illus… Read More
2019-06-22 19:52
I cannot stop thinking about this book and recommend it to anyone who has ever been in therapy or thought about seeing a therapist. Maybe You Should Talk To Someone... is such an inside look… Read More
2019-05-27 19:10
Ten years out from retirement, I find myself taking stock. Tom and I are getting older gracefully and not so gracefully... Lately I am spending a lot of time battling nerve pain in my legs… Read More
2019-04-23 18:21
I can’t say that the exploration of Alaska during the late nineteenth century was a plot line that grabbed my attention, but because I adored Eowyn Ivey’s first novel, The Snow C… Read More
2019-03-31 19:50
We are not the kind of folks who you might expect would go to Vegas. But neither my husband Tom or I had ever been, so for our 11th wedding anniversary this month we went on a Southwest vaca… Read More
2019-02-27 23:43
Lately I've been thinking about some old fashioned words we don't hear used much anymore. Abide with me! We will mosey through my alphabetical list. Probably most people will recognize most… Read More
2019-01-31 18:58
It was great to get back to making art after the holidays. Here are a few new collages from the series I call "Jubilation" because the are all about rejoicing via color. My process involves… Read More
2018-12-18 18:19
Clock Dance by Anne Tyler (Knopf, 2018). A woman who has been pining for grandchildren suddenly finds herself in a variation of that role. Classic Tyler!The Ensemble by Aja Gabel… Read More
2018-11-28 20:08
I often find myself weighing the pros and cons of being an artist. I can't imagine not making art! But it gets so obsessive and sometimes takes over my life. That sounds like a con, doesn't… Read More
2018-10-25 17:31
Is there any American woman alive who does not have an issue or two about her weight? You get points if you still manage to feel good about yourself at least some of the time, right?In GOOD… Read More
2018-09-22 15:38
My interest in digital collage waxes and wanes. Too much time on the computer is not good for my posture, plus my mouse finger gets numb. Most likely I will always be more of a paper collage… Read More
2018-08-22 16:46
I entitled this one "Knowledge Foretold" -- the substrata is a cigar box lid painted black. It will be in a Collage show at the Texas Art Asylum this weekend. Method: fusion collage.Th… Read More
2018-07-26 16:48
When I think of Anne Tyler, I think of Baltimore, Maryland. That’s where so many of her books are set, and it’s also the city Tyler calls home. Clock Dance, however, begins in La… Read More
2018-06-28 22:11
Though this historical suspense novel is set in 1879, in many ways it seems relevant to today’s #Me Too movement. I was dumbfounded to learn that the age of consent for females in New… Read More
2018-05-30 21:46
One of the best things about the Internet Age, as far as I am concerned, is quick access to word definitions. I am much more apt to look up words than in the days of old when all we had were… Read More
2018-04-29 22:03
I just returned from a North Carolina beach retreat of sorts. I mailed ahead a group art project, a simple collage exercise I call "Collage Squares." My three friends enjoyed the experience… Read More
2018-03-26 20:55
Today I worked in the yard until I was ready to drop. But then I went back with my camera and felt a sense of appreciation for what is growing and flourishing there.Here are Indian Blanket f… Read More
2018-02-22 17:50
I am about 140 collages into my 500 digital collage experiment. When I first started learning GIMP, I gave myself that 500 image goal to encourage myself to keep experimenting. I have trashe… Read More
2018-01-30 00:04
Perhaps you heard of the Black and White Photography Challenge? It was going around Facebook and I enjoyed seeing people's daily photos. Then a dear friend asked me to do it and I was elated… Read More
2017-12-26 18:24
As I looked back at Goodreads and my reviews on LitLovers.com to choose which books to list here, I noticed that my reading year was very much about fiction and to be more specific, about ch… Read More
2017-11-21 15:43
Dear Eleanor Oliphant,Listen — you say you’re completely fine, but give me a break. On the third page of your book, you tell us you hadn’t invited another human being… Read More
2017-10-21 20:56
Though Fall officially arrived last month, in Houston it still felt like high summer. When a few days of more tolerable weather arrived this past week, I came down with fall fever. Three day… Read More
2017-09-27 16:08
"Going gold" is the expression or title I kept thinking I would use for this month's post. But that sounded rather braggadocious, especially in the wake of Hurricane Harvey… Read More
2017-08-14 20:24
GIMP is a (free!!!) Graphic Image Manipulation Program that I am currently studying. People tell me it is much like PhotoShop. I figure maybe I will have to do about 500 creations befor… Read More
2017-07-19 21:39
This is our new Havanese puppy. We adopted him a few months ago, named him Dylan, and now of course, he is running the show. Dylan turned 1 year old at the end of June. I love taking hi… Read More
2017-06-14 17:34
Gifted by John Daniel is a first novel that feels like the polished work of an old master, bringing to my mind the likes of Ivan Doig and Wallace Stegner. Daniel has previously published non… Read More
2017-05-09 22:23
Mother's Day is around the corner and of course, I am thinking of my Mom, Dorothy Stanton Outlaw. We lost her in 2013. She lived to be 94. I wrote this poem in her honor years ago and g… Read More
2017-03-30 22:22
It seems March evaporated without much art to show for my efforts, but here are a few postcard collages I composed in my spare time when I wasn't suffering with a ginormous cold or working i… Read More
2017-02-28 16:53
It is not easy to paint like Jackson Pollack! That is what I have learned fooling with paint effects on our garage floor. We painted it a plain gray using concrete paint last year shor… Read More
2017-01-22 20:18
Perhaps I have written of this before, but one of my favorite childhood memories took place in the second grade when I was given my very first dictionary. Our parents had to pay extra f… Read More
2016-12-14 21:35
During 2016, I read more new books than last year. Though my shelves spill over with older books I mean to read, I am also always looking for the latest and greatest b… Read More
2016-11-30 15:01
In collage, as in dining, there are times I savor using leftovers and other times not. Post-Thanksgiving leftovers are fantastic. We are almost a week out from Turkey Day and I for one… Read More
2016-10-10 22:28
It escaped my notice until today that the oak trees are starting to drop their acorns. I realized this as I took a bike ride in my neighborhood, celebrating the return of what we in Houston… Read More
2016-09-24 19:16
Recently I was delighted to be invited to review books for LitLovers.com, a wonderful bookcentric site that specializes in Readers' Advisory for book clubs. In the past I have re… Read More
2016-08-25 15:03
Ever since I was a young girl, I have loved books and tv shows about settlers, pioneers, cowboys, etc. -- especially if girls or women are involved. Give me a wagon train or a soddy hut and… Read More
2016-07-25 13:35
Summer is a great time to enter art shows here in Houston. Compared to the rest of the year, there are more opportunities for non-established artists such as myself to see their art up… Read More
2016-06-27 14:49
The name LaRose is inscribed many times across the cover of this fine novel by Louise Erdrich. And we do meet a boy named LaRose shortly after the book begins. He is but five years old. He i… Read More
2016-05-18 20:19
Although I did a lot of gardening in upstate NY following my college years, after I moved to Houston, I did not stick a shovel into the (so-called) soil until I had lived here about 15 years… Read More
2016-04-18 16:14
I was up, down and all around reading The Doubter's Almanac by Ethan Canin. Milo Andret is the genius mathematician/topologist at the heart of the novel. He is a man who hurts, ignores… Read More
2016-03-30 19:41
As my adventures in gelli printing continue, so does my enthrallment. And mind you, there are lots of unsatisfying results, but there are also always a few marvelous surprises. Lately am enj… Read More
2016-02-21 22:16
I found My Name is Lucy Barton to be a spare and eloquent book. The manner in which Elizabeth Strout presents her protagonist Lucy feels truly intimate. Manhattanite Lucy Barton is laid up i… Read More
2016-01-19 20:30
These are my new collages, all made using printed papers from Gelli plate monoprints. &n&hell…Read More
2015-12-23 21:15
An analysis of my favorite reads this year proves I was almost as equally into memoirs as novels. As usual, I tended to read books written by women more than me… Read More
2015-11-30 20:31
I find deadlines and art challenges to be invigorating. At the same time, I have learned not to overdo the adrenaline rush. Last year I about did myself in by developing double vision… Read More
2015-10-25 21:18
Art-wise, I've been enjoying a change of pace and much exploration of monotype Gelli printing, abstract compositions, sewing on paper, the use of watercolor and acrylic paints in collage as… Read More
2015-09-30 21:41
In a "Note to Readers" on the website for writer Ivan Doig, the author mildly rails against being pigeonholed as a "Western" writer. "If I have any creed that I wish you as readers, ne… Read More
2015-08-18 21:05
Book reviews used to be my primary selection tool for finding books I wanted to read. I don't read as many reviews as I used to, especially because I am no longer a working… Read More
2015-08-18 21:05
Book reviews used to be my primary selection tool for finding books I wanted to read. I don't read as many reviews as I used to, especially because I am no longer a working… Read More
2015-07-15 14:06
Across the years, dabbling in ceramics, jewelry making, crochet, sewing and collage, this is what I have learned is a common conundrum: it is much easier to begin making somethin… Read More
2015-06-27 15:21
In my September 2014 post, I alluded to the fusion collage shown above, one I entered in a National Collage Society Show. I named it Eternal Women of the Flowers (Flores… Read More
2015-06-17 14:08
I just finished reading The Green Road by Anne Enright. She always delivers a literary punch. So let me tell you a little bit about the book.Irish matriarch Rosaleen Madigan is rarely happy… Read More
2015-05-17 20:00
"Is there a difference between shame and guilt?""What's the difference between a need and a want?"Early on in Hausfrau: a Novel by Jill Alexander Essbaum, these are questions Anna Benz… Read More
2015-04-15 21:25
All I want to do lately is sew! Feeling like that is rare, so I am going with the flow. My mother used to say that she didn't much like to sew, but liked to have sewn -- and often I fe… Read More
2015-03-13 17:56
I have always loved Fridays that fall on the 13th. I turned 13 on a Friday and was given a surprise party by a dear friend. I remember walking down the stairs to her basement and getti… Read More
2015-02-15 21:11
African daisies (also known as Gazania) stole my gardener's heart last spring and summer. They took a short nap for a few months and here they are popping up again already! Said to be… Read More
2015-01-17 22:57
Back in 2012, a dear friend in Idaho sent me a copy of Artists Speak: a Sketchbook edited by Eric Maisel (Harper Collins, 1993). It was a timely gift, for I needed a new… Read More
2014-12-11 00:00
It has been awhile since I have written a book-related post, yet all along of course I have been reading. In fact it is unthinkable for me to be without a book and has been… Read More
2014-11-06 18:29
During the month of October, I worked on collaging a group of table-topper chalices for the First UU Church of Houston's Centennial celebration auction (1904 - 2014). Our decorating committe… Read More
2014-09-10 14:25
I took a class in Fusion Collage taught by Kelly Alison at the Art League Houston (ALH) this summer, and since then have made these small pieces using the new method. The first co… Read More
2014-08-16 19:39
I always read the NY Times Book Review first after the Sunday paper arrives. On July 10th, 2014, I was thrilled to find a brief interview with Larry McMurtry. When asked who his favorit… Read More
2014-07-26 19:39
The Blessings (Grand Central, 2014) by Elise Juska is beautifully written novel about a sprawling family from Philly. The tone here is delicate, emotionally rich and somewhat eleg… Read More
2014-07-14 20:36
I took a 4 week Acrylic Painting class at Leisure Learning last month. We painted some color charts and then by the end of the second week, it was time to start on our 16 x 20" canvas (a big… Read More
2014-07-10 17:31
I've been making postcard-sized collages for the annual National Collage Society Postcard Show. I love working small! I find I can use tiny bits that I've been saving. The sh… Read More
2014-06-11 13:13
Dear Maeve Binchy's books have always tickled me. Maybe it's my Irish blood, but I feel so at home in her fictional universe. Binchy's characters are often resilient. They find help fr… Read More
2014-05-15 23:05
Julia Glass always writes novels of substance. And the Dark Sacred Night (Pantheon, 2014) is her fifth novel. This time around, she offers a tangled tale of family secrets that su… Read More
2014-04-01 13:43
There's always plenty to love about a new novel by Anna Quindlen! I felt immediate sympathy for Rebecca Winter, the photographer who at age 60, considers herself at an impasse in her li… Read More
2014-03-04 14:42
Here are a few herbs that have survived the colder-than-usual winter. Today when I woke it was in the high 30s, unusual for Houston in March. We had three hard freezes this winter… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
This collection of previously published articles, speeches and essays by Ann Patchett deeply satisfied my curiosity about the life of the best-selling author. Usually such collections are a… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
I began a new series of collages a few months ago. I call them Love Token collages and most of them feature Hershey's Kisses strips. On the back of each laminated postcard-sized collag… Read More
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