A Red Painting, the Homeless and French Fries

Painting #2: A Study of Reds
Here is the pic I meant to post of my new painting as discussed in my last post. It looks more like pinks. But no matter, I love pink too. (Did you see my wedding dress??!!)



Homeless and French Fries
Yesterday was my first day for my shift at the Raleigh Rescue Mission. It is a Christian organization that has been around since 1960 and in the heart of Raleigh. They have about 50 residents that live on their campus but they routinely serve the homeless community. There are classes, GED tutoring, health clinic, daycare, etc. Its pretty amazing. Anyway, I have volunteered on the first and third Tuesday of the month to help serve lunch in their cafeteria.

That's right, in addition to being an artist, designer, actress, hair stylist -- I am also the "lunch lady." And we wonder why I'm considered a Renaissance woman.

They have a pretty great set-up. The women come in around 11:30 and one of the residents says grace. The men arrive around 11:45. The staff and volunteers get to eat lunch there too. I passed, but let me tell you there were some serious fresh French fries staring me in the face. I got to serve the baked beans and corn. The menu also included chili dogs, lasagna, garlic bread, ice-cream, salad bar, fresh fruit, cake and pie.

Now I will get fat from donuts at painting class and food from the homeless shelter. Is there humor in this?

I am excited about this volunteering. My heart has wanted to do this for awhile. The volunteer coordinator said she might need me to facilitate a quilting class or teach a drawing/art class. Again, the term Renaissance woman comes to mind.

I'm no one special doing this volunteer stuff. Its so easy to do this kind of work and deceive yourself into feeling good about yourself. That is the thing. When this kind of thing is no longer convenient, or stretches my busy "schedule" or requires me to give up the comfortableness of my life, then I can "brag." But for now, for now I'm just a Renaissance woman eying the French fries at the homeless shelter.

Our Artsy Fartsy Family

Painting Class #2:
My new Thursday painting class started yesterday. Its in the same location with a different instructor. So now I will be going to painting twice a week. NICE! The new class is more formal and a crowded mix of wayyyyyy retired people and middle-aged women (like me, I guess). The instructor is Leslie and she is a working artist about my age (I can't tell). But she knows what she is talking about. This is both good and hurts my pride a bit. ME? Pride issues??! Oh, shut up.

Here's the thing, Leslie KNOWS what she's talking about --- all the art terms and so on. But what she doesn't know, is that I, too, already know them and it makes me feel like she's talking to me as if I am painting for the first time in my life. That's not her fault, how could she know I have a lousy B.F.A. in painting and art history? Any who my pride hates the thought of being thrown into a category of the rest of the class where painting is a recent hobby.

I will have to admit, I am a little fuzzy on my brushes. Yes, did you know that brushes not only come in different sizes, but shapes and lengths and the material of the brush whether natural hog hair or synthetic fibers all play into the application of paint. I think I just earned myself another B.F.A.!

I showed up to class with a brand spanking new 3' x 3' canvas. My intention is to do a color study of red. an abstract. It will be about the joy of experimenting with color and composition. I think Leslie was excited about this because she is an abstract painter and everyone else in the class as usual is painting sailboats and flowers and landscapes and apples. She actually spent a lot of time with me and I admit, as I got started gave me a lot of good things to keep in mind. The truth is, she is exactly the kind of person I need to be around regarding my pursuit of painting.

I know I don't have to agree with everything she suggests, but I am thrilled to be exposed to someone who's critique and knowledge I can trust. Besides, how could I resist her when she dropped the name of "Rothko and pure color field painters .... " blah, blah, blah..... ?

I suppose I won't be getting a scarf out this chick, eh? P.S. I will post an image of the my new painting later.

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Poetry Slam
Some of you may remember the post I did on Lauren's poetry slam she wrote awhile back. Last night she performed it at the Creative Writing Poetry Reading at school. It was a well attended crowd of mostly angst ridden black wearing attitudinal teenagers in a dimly lit corner of the library of the high school. Ahhh, yes, angst ridden creative types in their teen years. My favorite. Thank God they will all grow up and get smacked by the real world, cut their hair, and apply for real jobs one day. And even remove their black fingernail polish -- the girls and the boys.

It was actually great to see this group of about 70 kids (and some parents) be so supportive of each others poetry and having the guts to get up in front of your peers to bear your work. The subjects ranged from lost love, to teen frustration with parents, to creepy shadows to rainbow trout. I lie not. The rainbow trout poem was quite amusing.

As expected Lauren's performance --- and I say performance because she did not read from a piece of paper --- was stellar. There was healthy applause when she went to the mic, and roaring loud thunder of applause and calls after she finished. She beamed. And so did I. That girl rocks.

The "success" of raising a child is measured by, what? Their grades? Their attitude? Their relationship with Jesus Christ as their Savior? Their character? I'm tempted to say their sense of fashion, but that would give away my true character. I don't think a stellar poetry performance is any indication of me raising a terrific human being. But having said that, as a good friend of mine reminded me, its good to celebrate the successes of our children too.

Evolution of "The Hair"

In addition to being a talented actress, some of you might remember I am also a talented untrained and unlicensed hair stylist. Well, believe it or not, Michael trusts me to cut his hair. And Michael is very particular about his hair. Any woman would kill for his hair (if one didn't already have hair like mine, or course).

Anyway, he has been growing it out all fall and a couple of weeks ago he went to an Anime Convention and wore a costume of one of his favorite characters. He died his hair a chocolate brown and I got to cut it for him and style it based on a picture he provided.

I introduced him to the wonderful world of hair mousse and helped him make these huge "spikes" to fit the character. It was fun and a gross mess of mousse, TONS of Aquanet (the hard core stuff) and more mousse.

He was not concerned with the strange cut for the character because he announced that after the convention he wanted all his hair cut off for a nice clean look. So last night I cut almost 4 inches of hair off and gave that boy a nice do even if I say so myself. We all agree he looks a lot more like Danny again with the short cut! So many handsome Dulins in my house!