"Hope Springs Eternal" by Brian K. Raynor

I painted "Hope Springs Eternal" over the weekend. I'm usually not happy with my late Winter/early Spring paintings but I am okay with my first two paintings in 2011. "Hope Springs Eternal" is 12" x 12" Acrylic on stretched canvas. It is being donated via Project Art Aid to the American Cancer Society and will debut at the American Cancer Society’s Survivor’s Dinner, to be held on June 17th 2011 at the Wachovia Atrium in Charlotte, NC.

GOOD JUDGEMENT

I once judged a book by it's cover and REALLY liked that book.
Good judgement.
Good cover.
Good book.

The book was A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving. I found it in a thrift store. I put it on a bookshelf and forgot about it. Then a couple years later I noticed another cool book cover at a yard sale. I bought that book and was putting it on the bookshelf and realized it was the same title as my thrift store find. I assumed the universe wanted me to read it and so I began.

I loaned a copy to my sister and we would discuss what we had read from time to time. I realized that I actually loved the characters and the story so much that I slowed the process of reading it down so that it would last longer. Sometimes I would reread chapters so that the story would not come to an end. It finally did,... a year later.

The 1998 feature-length film "Simon Birch", directed by Mark Steven Johnson, was loosely based on the novel. That was a terrible movie. I'd have to say it may be better to judge a book by it's cover than to judge a book by it's movie.

"In The Blue Room" by Brian K Raynor

I painted one similar called "Flower's For My Sister" which I had intended on giving to her. She saw "Flower's For My Sister" before I told her it was for her but didn't seem thrilled about it so I hung it at a coffee shop and sold it. When I told her it had sold she was very disappointed because she liked it and had hoped I'd give it to her but didn't want to ask for it. I painted this one after she died of breast cancer in 2003. It also sold.

Christmas Tree

It's been a few years since I've put a tree up for Christmas. No little one's at my house to enjoy it. I don't usually have holiday get-to-gethers at my house but this year my family will probably be coming to my house for Christmas. So, Sunday I got my Christmas tree out of the attic. 6 feet and scraggly. Brought the decorations down as well. Realized I had no lights for it. So last night I stopped at Wal-Mart & picked up a couple strings of white lights. Put the lights and ornaments on and now "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas". Humbly compared to many and not nearly as decorative as Christmas' past at my sister's house. She died a few years ago. So I'm trying to hold our family together with some semblance of our previous holidays. Now I must begin my search for gifts,...