a great weekend. Met up with a long lost friend and his family in DC. Check out my journal on redbubble.com/people/mechellerene to find out more about it!

I'm working on a new 'Atmospheres' painting.  I don't know who or what it means yet.  I started it  when I was under some personal duress, but now I'm feeling more optimistic and nostalgic, so...I don't know maybe it's about Mike and the A#####. I guess we'll see where it ends up. 

you just have to kick in SNL's the best of Will Farrell, and get some more cowbell.

raining here in DC for almost 2 days. It does my heart good. We really needed this long soaking rain. I would be glad if it rained for the next 3 days straight.

The art show was great this weekend! I bought wonderful piece from a new local art pal named Janis McMahon.

I'm thinking about our recording session a couple weeks ago. Here is a pic of our motley crew. We haven't heard any news yet on the songs. I wonder how that process is going. I'm sure they got a ton of prospects! There are so many talented songwriters and musicians in the eastern region!!

i have to fight instinct in order to stay connected. There is so much negativity being hurled about at times that it makes me want to crawl back into the safety and confines of isolation. But...i will press on through this urge and, hopefully, develop a sense of place, without becoming someone else's emotional doormat and/or hardening my heart towards people i perceive have dealt unseemly towards me. Anyway, that's my prayer to close out this Sunday.

Cheers!

to play with my friends' horses this morning. We had a great time. It was such a beautiful morning. The weather was perfectly cool and the sun was out. I love spring!

Tomorrow is the Prince William Art Society Spring Art Show in Lake Ridge. It's going to be a busy weekend!

finished a painting I have had hanging up in my room for a while. First time working acrylic and oil together. Loved the effect, but still getting used to the drying time of acrylics! WoW!
This piece is dedicated to a friend of mine who gave us a bit of a scare this spring by having to be rushed into brain surgery!!! All is well, and her recovery was quite the miracle.

It reminds me of her compassion, beauty, kindness, and regal presence. I call it Atmospheres(felicia). Yes, the pic is pathetically crooked. I'll have to fix that, lol!

is a good thing. This week I'm going to try and flesh out some recommendations my instructor gave me about my site. It's easy to hide behind the "stats", but that isn't going to propel me and my work (which is pretty much one in the same) to the place of communication that I'd like it to establish. Lots to think about, but I have to promise myself not to "overthink".

I've been scribbling out some ideas for a series called "Family Tree". It's quite crude. Not in a "rude" sense, but very, very childish. It's exposing my intense vulnerability in this area of my life. We'll see how things pan out.

Need to paint. I'm having a tough time getting a piece started. External deadlines would be great, but I guess I'd better come up with some internal motivation strategies because I'm being a lump.

the recording went well. I'll post a pic soon. I don't care if anything ever comes of it, it was just so great to get together with the guys and play again. Ray is working on the mix and getting everything together to send off.
I was so happy to be playing with Tommy, Tim, and Ray again that it doesn't matter if we get a spot on the CD.

will be interesting. We are going to record and submit some songs to the Vineyard East Regional. A couple of them we can extract and re-tool from live events. The others we'll have to build from scratch- in the dining room, with the lap-top, Tim's 4-track, and our mishmash of instruments, mics, and amps. Sounds like heaven to me! I'll try to set up a link if all goes off the way we're hoping it will.

been up to much this week. The oils workshop I took last weekend kind of knocked me out. Staying up until almost 3 a.m. the night before the workshop didn't help things any either. Today I got an idea for a painting. So,tomorrow I'm going to go to Home Depot to get some masonite board (thanks Todd, you're my favorite person right now!). Is that a brand name, btw? I think it's going to be a big one. Time to get out the circular saw! :)