Stepping out on a limb......

Yes, I'm still here .....but currently blogging under very trying conditions. Who ever thought we should communicate this way when it is far too complex for the normal human brain and virtually a muddle for someone of my intellect....but anyhow.......... see those pictures up there? Well, on blogger format, before publishing, they do not appear as pictures but are a bunch of gibberish...as a result, I am unable to reposition them into the body of my blog. Normally, I can review them, position them or delete them .....now when I look at this , I see no pictures. They do appear in the preview so I'm hoping they pop up when I publish. But this format is ALL wrong. The computer has been totally screwed up for over a week and Paul has tried his best to work with it. I now have a duplicate site I could work from but I'd rather stay on the familiar side and just bitch about how annoying all of this is......
But I digress. Back to the pictures. The top two are pictures I took (the scanner isn't working either !) of 2 of my recent sketches. I took Botanical Art courses at the NY Botanical Gardens a number of years ago and despite good intentions, never kept at it much. Lately, I've been dabbling again and feeling the need to explore my creative side again. I've tried a couple art classes here but without much satisfaction. I maintain contact with one of my instructors from NYBG who now is on her own. She steered me to a school in Sarasota and after months of procrastination, I signed up for a distance learning class. (See bottom picture). I placed my order for the books yesterday and this morning my phone rang. When I answered, the lovely voice on the other end said, "Hello, this is Olivia" Well, I don't know any Olivia's except for the lady who developed this program and I was stunned that she would personally call me. We talked for about 30 minutes. Because I just dipped my toe into the process, she felt that I needed some guidance and was very generous with her time in explaining the Certification process (I don't think I'm that interested in getting a Certification in Botanical Art as it is lengthy and arduous) and how the school works. And she said that Mindy, my NYBG instructor, would be teaching some workshops in the near future. So, I am all aflutter with enthusiasm and can't wait for the materials to arrive. And now that I"ve shared this with all of you, I figure I'll have to post progress reports and won't be able to slack off. And I'll expect critiques.....
Paul left this morning for Denver and the next 'jeeping adventure' with Mike and Lizzie and Alex in Moab, Utah. I'll fly out this weekend and then Paul and I will drive the motorhome back to Florida for the winter.
By the way, it FINALLY cooled off down here.....to the tune of mid 40's in the mornings. But it's back up into the 80's again but no humidity so the house is open and it is refreshing and golf is once again non-life threatening from heat stroke.

And, we always knew the Broncos would be 6 - 0 at this point in the season....we really did.