Sky after the storm for Sky Badge

Torrents of rain,
Saturated and flooding,
Many days of misery for many,
Sailing from homes.


Today awakes,
The world, my world,
Powder blue, almost October sky,
Dabs of white painted here.

On the hill, over the city,
Light of morning,
Cast shapes of gold and lemon,
Over sturdy skyscrapers.

Mist low in altitude,
Creates a pattern, a mosaic,
Exhaled air,
Against the vertical.


Thank you to Tim's pictures for the image.

Quiet watchfulness for Sky Badge

Buttermilk sky,
Layers over the morning sun,
The blue sky, almost October,
Shines a smiling light
So bright.


Life is shifting,
Calm and slow motion,
Of stillness and innerness,
Quiet watchfulness of Sophie and Dori,
Watching over the bed's foot,
Mac at the door.

Thanks to web shots for the image.

When individualism counts in music

I like to write about creativity and Adam Duritz has been one of my favorite artists since he came to national attention, and of course the musicians playing with him, too. I noticed an article today in the Baltimore Sun about members of Counting Crows and the mustic. If you are a fan, and appreciate how this music stands alone in the music world, read this article by Sam Sessa. Go to Crows Calling Magazine for the image by Sherri Johnson at Enigma Graphics.

He writes in the article, "That individualism and creativity would eventually help Duritz lead the Counting Crows to sell more than 20 million albums worldwide. From the runaway success of the band's first single, "Mr. Jones," to the Academy Award nomination of the 2004 song "Accidentally In Love," the Counting Crows charmed fans with their earnest, earthy songwriting. Their first album, "August And Everything After" was comfort music at a time when grunge and dance music dominated the radio. That feeling is still present on the band's latest studio album, "Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings." Released last year, the album is split between driving rock tunes and acoustic numbers."

I agree that the new album is fantastic. What about Come Around's "I'm one of the million pieces fallen on the ground ..." Go to Counting Crows.com. Or go to WSJ Cafe.

Artists talking online - following the blogs

I haven't posted for a while, but I am back on for some more frequent posting. I am going to stick mostly with art, poetry and innovation topics.

Searching the blogosphere today I was excited to find the blog called artists who blog. If you want to be inspired and you want to contemplate beauty, look to the dozens of interviews with artists and to plenty of artist blogs.

Since I am an artist without a lot of local contact with artists (gotta change this), the blogs are a way of connecting to conversations about art. I like it that many of the posts are about women artists, and many links are to women artists.

So, visit the site and enjoy. Try visiting Gypsy Girl's Guide. Thank you to Art Style Online for the image.

Art sales in a down economy

Watching art galleries close around the country and how the art auction houses are doing during the economy is reported carefully by those who would profit from a relationship with art sales. Some say art will continue to sell in this economy and it is the time to buy, but this may not be so true.

The Art Newspaper was straight on in its reporting on art sales by Sotheby and Christie recently. "Prices for 18th- to mid-20th-century American art plunged in May as Sotheby’s and Christie’s struggled to sell just 60% of their New York auctions, making $32.1m, down from $159.6m a year ago. 'There were fewer bidders than we’ve seen in a decade,” said Dara Mitchell, the head of Sotheby’s American painting department. 'People were cautious and really waiting to see where this market is going.'"

The NYT says: In Christie’s traditional early summer sale of Impressionist and Modern art held on Tuesday, desirable paintings were scarce. A desperate effort to pad the catalog with a sufficiently large number of works led to the inclusion of some mediocrities that never stood much chance to pull through. Inevitably eight of the 42 works that came on the block crashed unsold. Things could have been a lot worse if bidders had not been as ready as ever to pounce on any works, even modest ones, worth fighting over."

Thank you British Counsel for the image.