would you believe i won an award for one of those and from the park itself no less? LOL

i will be the first to admit that i am at home in the abstract, surreal world and the closer you put me to realism artistically, the worse I get. I've always suspected that this is because art is my escape from reality.

I don't have a tremendous amount of ego invested in art. My psychiatrist back in 1980 suggested I take up art as a way to alleviate unipolar depression, which I've had since a late teen (genetically runs in family tree and both my nephews have had to contend with it also plus my grandfather). For many decades now, by using the correct drugs (zoloft and buspar) plus using the art (which triggers the right side of my brain into action, instead of the left side where the depression is), my depression has stayed in complete remission. the only fear my oncologist had with my undergoing severe chemo was that the depression would resurface and that i would kill myself. i told him that as long as I did the art work and took the 2 drugs, I didn't think it would. I was right. I remained depression free throughout 24 agonizing weeks of leading edge colon cancer chemo for colon cancer 2A..

In sum, it is hard to have ego about art work when it has already saved your life more than once! Both my psychiatrist and I were equally flabergasted to discover that I had some ability at the art. We hadn't planned on that. It was a therapeutic maneuver solely and he got me started with Betty Edwards' DRAWING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BRAIN. this book and her classes have turned many people who thought they had no ability in quite good artists. she believes all people have art ability, as do I.

I've also discovered over the decades that I can never predict what someone is going to like. The purple one of the tree in river, in the natural park pictures, was picked by a long time friend of mine as his birthday gift to hang in his office at the US Navy Yard where he is a head electrical engineer working on submarines. That is about the last image I thought he would have picked in a million, billion years. I simply don't have a clue as to what someone else will like when I throw the work up for exhibit. It is a huge mystery to me. I rarely even think about it anymore I am so clueless about this. When I used to have my work in art museum shows, I was always extremely puzzled by what the jurors accepted and rejected. I thought my most creative work was the most frequently rejected. I don't think anyone knows anything when it comes to "judging" creative work. It is all a crapshoot.

carol

On 10/4/07, Greg wrote:

--- carol irvin wrote:

I know it is terribly easy for me to end up with mud after I overdo

it

with all the plug-ins, styles, custom shapes and so forth that I've amassed in the PS program.

Like your national park pics? :) Actually, I like the surrealistic look it gives them.