The Ramblings
of an Artist's Husband

April 7, 2007
Hello everyone.  Well a lot has happened for Donna in the last 3 months. I'll let her tell you because she types so much faster than I do!

*********
Thanks, Sweetie, for letting me share my excitement. I've had a very special assemblage I created in honor of my mother published in the April/May issue of Somerset Memories magazine. Check out pages 18-21.

If any of you live in or near the western side of Ohio, come visit me from 6-8pm on May 11 at the Massillon Museum in Massillon, Ohio. That is the date of the artist reception for a collaborative exhibit with my art friend, Cheryl Strait. We are doing two collaborative books - one is made of 5 x 7" metal pages; the other has 18 x 24" canvas pages. Very cool! We will each have individual pieces on display as well.

No matter what Carl has told you, he has been a huge help in the construction of those two books. The museum notified us that all work had to hang on the walls ... wha???? How do you hang a book? Carl came up with a great idea for the canvas book, built it, and put grommets on all the canvas pages. That's all I'm going to tell you ... you'll just have to come to the exhibit to see the finished piece!

I am really excited about this next exhibit. My daughter, Mary, and I are doing a joint show in June at the Lawrence Street Gallery in Ferndale, Michigan. The opening reception is June 1 from 6-9pm. The title of our show is 'Intimate Views' and consists of my daughter's photography and my mixed media interpretation of those photos. I'd love to see you there.

Click here to see some of the work in the exhibit.

And, finally, I was accepted into the Flint Art Fair on June 9-10. Carl and I will be there setting up our tent and hanging my work, we'd love to have you stop by our booth and say hi.

Oh, one more thing! (sorry, Carl, I really do need to have my own blog - just like you've been bugging me to do.)

I will be having a solo show at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center in Birmingham, Michigan, during the month of September. You will be able to read more about that as soon as I get my OWN blog up and running. (big grin)

To see more information about my exhibitions, click here or on the Exhibitions link on the left.

********

For me not so much excitement. I did rake the lawn and put down the Scott's Pre-Emergent & fertilizer. Not as exciting, but it's something. I also picked up some odd jobs here and there but nothing permanent. I am still doing things for Donna and selling on Ebay. I put some more shelves up in Donna's studio and I am now going to go on a rant.

If you look up 'pack rat' in the dictionary, you will find a picture of Donna. Donna is very good at watching out for found objects wherever we go. We have gone on field trips just to look for things on the side the road. She uses a lot of that in her work. I have had to stop the car because she saw something along the road that was cool.

I never throw ANYTHING out without checking with her first and I always chuckle when I walk into her studio. On one side is all her paint and canvases for her abstract painting. Somewhat organized on the other side is this mix of stuff you would find in your grandfather's garage. I just smile and build her new shelves when she runs out of room.

She is also a "flat space junkie". If there is a flat space she will fill it. Please let me give you an example. In the computer room there is a extra chair so we can both sit at the computer. One day I go in to sit with her and she has put papers on it! I take them and put them on the desk to take care of, leave for a few minutes, and when I come back the papers are sitting on the scale I use to weigh things for Ebay.

I just smile and think 'I LOVE YOU'. In all honesty, Donna really tries but being the artist that she is ... well, that side of her brain doesn't work all the time. I do love her very much, so in all fairness I am going to ask Donna if she would like to give her side.

*****
....haughty sniff..... I'm NOT a pack rat, I'm a collector. Just like my T-shirt says.
*****

Till next time, this is Carl signing off.

Add your comments here.

Remember the coffee grinder I mentioned that my sister-in-law gave us for Christmas last year? This year she gave us the matching coffee pot to go with the grinder. Now we are really able to brew good coffee.

As I sit here (enjoying my coffee at 7 a.m. on New Year's eve) thinking back on the year, I find that I am grateful for all I have. This is a difficult time in my life right now and what keeps things in perspective is my wife and family. I'm a very lucky man.

Before I go any further, I want to thank Rosemary from Ohio for her comments. I am not sure where 2007 will take me, but I know it will be interesting.

While I continue looking for work, I plan on supporting Donna in her efforts to expand her creativity. She is focusing on her collage and assemblage work, while looking to expand her teaching opportunities. I've always felt that she is a fantastic teacher, and her students love her. Donna's emphasis when she teaches is always on the process not the product. So her students never do anything wrong, just different. I try to encourage her to work that part of her creative philosophy into all her classes.

Now for the plug. You can view her 2007 schedule on the Workshop link to the left or click here. I always tell Donna that, at this point in my life, I have no problem becoming a kept man. One of my goals for the upcoming year is to become her man servant as we travel from state to state, teaching her workshops. (grin)

Now for my plug. I have started selling artist canvas and paints on Ebay - gee, where did that come from? You can view my auctions by clicking here.

Wishing you all a joyous and prosperous New Year.
Carl

Add your comments here.

SiteBuildIt hosts this web site and they have a system that tells me how many viewers have hit on my pages. Not knowing much about the inner working of web site building, SBI makes it very easy for beginners. Donna is almost beyond needing their help, but I need it badly!

Add your comments here

I just helped her update her site. I say helped but what I really mean is I get her coffee, rub her neck, and when she gets really frustrated, bring her a beer. I watch and try to learn. Donna asks for my opinion on things and she tells me I am a big help - Bless her heart. But mostly I just watch her mess with the code. I think that she has done a great job on the site.

Donna is all excited today. A while back she sent some of her Assemblages (before I met Donna I didn't even know what that word meant-grin) to Somerset Studio magazine. They published a feature article of her Assemblages in their newest Gallery issue that just came out Dec. 1. Needless to say, I am excited for and proud of her.

If you want to see the assemblages, they are on page 69 or you can click here to view them on the site.

While I'm off, I've been doing more cooking. Here is a link to site that I thought was interesting. Haven't looked around too much but they have all the cool brands that I like and have purchased in the past. If you are looking for a gift for a cook and don't know what to get, there is always the trusty gift card!

Donna and I enjoy our coffee. We got a really cool grinder for Christmas last year, so we always buy whole beans. Big difference in the taste. If you haven't ground your own beans fresh each morning, I highly recommend it. It makes very good coffee.

Hope you had a great turkey day and that you appreciate this journal. With my hunt and peck typing method, this little entry took quite a while to finish. LOL

Carl

P.S. Donna helped me put in this little holiday animation. I'm learning a bit of code but if I went into her library of graphics and messed it up, she'd wouldn't be too happy.

Add your comments here

Having just finished building a home with a good friend of mine, I find myself with time on my hands. As I am looking for more work, Donna asked if I would like to add to her site. As I am not very good at writing, I hesitated ... but then I decided to give it a try.

I am not sure what to talk about so I will just ramble for a bit. This is my first attempt and I hope you find it somewhat interesting. Life with an artist certainly is!

One of the things that I do know a lot about is being the husband of an artist. Everyone can find blogs of or by the artist, but how many husbands of artists do this?

We have been married for 18 years and loving every minute of it ... well, not every minute. She is, as I call her, a 'flat space junkie.' If there is an empty flat space she will fill it. Doesn't matter what it is, just that it's flat and empty: a box, a chair, the footstool. You get the idea. This took a while for me to accept; now we laugh about it all the time.

I will be putting links on this page that I think are interesting, so please give them a look. Some of them might make me a few pennies and if a lot of you click on them I may not have to go back to work. I am 57 and getting too old to swing a hammer, plus it is getting cold out there.

Thanks for your time,
Carl

P.S. As soon as I can talk Donna into doing it for me, there will be a way to leave comments and maybe add your own stories. She's kind of busy right now, so check back after Thanksgiving.