I was awarded the coveted "Stroke of the Brush Award" by Laure Ferlita, a new web friend; thank you Laure! Laure is a very talented artist, and you owe yourself a visit to her excellent Painted Thoughts Blog.
As part of the award, I'm to list seven little known facts about myself and then name seven other blogs that are also deserving of the award. So here goes:
1. My studio is a little desk in a corner of my bedroom. Until very recently, everything you've seen on my blog (except for plein air work) I have painted while sitting on my bed watching TV. Really.
2. My favorite kind of music is Alternative Rock; I love crunchy guitars and driving rhythms. However, when painting or drawing, I prefer listening to classical music, specifically chamber music.
3. Speaking of music, I play guitar. I keep my acoustic guitar on a stand ready to be played when I have a moment here or there. I can also play drums, bass (electric and stand-up), and a little bit of bluegrass fiddle.
4. I love watching movies and have fun with family and friends quoting famous/funny movie lines. I enjoy watching favorite movies again and again. Comedy is my favorite genre, although I enjoy most other genres as well. Except horror. I loathe horror movies; they hold no appeal for me.
5. I enjoy cycling. In fact, my wife and I watch the Tour de France on TV every year. We watch most (if not all) of the stages in their entirety and we keep up with the stage winners and standings each day while the race is in progress.
6. Although I don't have a pet right now (our cat Penny, who we had for 18 years, died in November 2007), I'm a cat person. Would love to get another one someday, but I'm not quite ready yet...
7. "Seinfeld" is the perfect sitcom; there is no equal to its comic genius.
There are a host of blogs I enjoy and visit regularly, so many deserving ones to list... And I give special mention to my fellow "Real Life Artists" bloggers, many of whom have also given and received the Stroke of the Brush award. But here are a few that I feel anyone reading this would enjoy visiting and bookmarking:
1. Laura at Laura's Watercolors. Laura paints with an appealing loose style, and her blogs feature paintings and sketches of her travels and life.
2. Felicity Grace at Felicity's Philosophies and Other Curiosities. Her sketches, and especially her colored pencil portraits, must be seen to be believed; they're amazing--so lifelike.
3. Jacqueline Gnott at Contemporary Realism. I enjoy visiting her site for her realistic florals. Beautiful and inspiring work.
4. Miguel Herranz at Free[k]hand. I've been a longtime fan of Miguel's blog, which features an interesting variety of videos and scans of his excellent sketchbooks.
5. SketchingSpirit. I've followed this blog for a while and, while the travel sketches a joy to view, be sure to seek out the architectural renderings that are featured chronologically earlier in the blog--just incredible--these are what drew me to the blog originally.
6. Casey Toussaint at rue Manuel bis. A fun blog, and I greatly admire the loose, juicy paintings and sketches. A visual treat.
7. Martha at Trumpetvine Travels. I must give a shout out to Martha, as I relied on her self-published sketchbooking 'zines for information when I was just starting out on my current art adventures. Her blog is an extension of those earlier 'zines. Martha hasn't been making regular posts for a few months; however, her site is a treasure chest of information and inspiration.
