Encouragement

Doesn't it feel good when someone says something nice about your art or about you? 
Recently, I was talking with a friend on the phone and she was telling me about this great book that she had read entitled Wilderness by Lance Weller.  She was so captivated by the book that she decided to do something she had never done before and that was to wrote the author and let him know how she felt.  Now, Lynn, my friend, is a voracious reader and has enjoyed many great books, but this one had a profound effect on her and on her life.  Never expecting to hear from Mr. Weller, she walked into her house after an unusually sad day and there was a letter from the author expressing his sincere gratitude.  It really doesn't matter how famous you are or what your accomplishes have been, we all need a little "pat on the back" now and then.  So, don't be shy about passing out those complements or just thanking someone for a job well done. 
If you have an artist friend or a fellow blogger, write a nice comment on their blog or share their Facebook page on your profile or say something nice about an image they post.
Wouldn't it be a great goal to say something encouraging to at least one person each day? 
I know that could make my day and I am sure it will theirs. 
With this post, I have included a painting of yellow roses and white flowers.  It is an oil painting of an especially beautiful bouquet that I photographed while attending a wedding in California.

Recently my book club chose to read The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.  It is a philosophical read about the meaning of life and the nurturing effect of beauty and art on human existence.  Sounds very heavy, but it is a joy to read and a must for art lovers.  There were so many wonderful passages in the book that I was constantly folding over pages, underlining, and highlighting whole paragraphs. 
One particular passage that spoke to me was about still life painting, partly because, at the time I was reading the book, I was also working on a still life painting for  the October show at the gallery where I am a member.  A short excerpt  goes like this:
          "we gaze at a still life, when - even though we do not pursue it - we delight
            in its beauty, a beauty borne away by the magnified and immobile figuration
            of things.......this still life incarnates the quintessence of art, the certainty of
            timelessness....."
I have included in this post my painting entitled Hot! Hot! Hot! that was created for the still life show.  It transports me to a particular time and place in the early Fall in Southwest Virginia and a stop by a roadside stand laden with fall fruits and vegetables.  The bounteous array beckoned me to grab my camera and start clicking away.  One of those photographs became the subject of my painting.  And even though you, the viewer, did not actually experience this image, hopefully you can gain pleasure from this arrangement and maybe recall a time and place when you had a similar experience. 
And if you love to read and love art, you will love this book.