Obama, Obama, Obama!!!

I wish I could be in Chicago right now, or with any
of my American friends on the blog. If you didn't
vote for Obama, it doesn't matter at all to me.
But if you did, congratulations. I would have voted for
him, if I could. I have been so impressed by Obama
since the first time I heard him speak. All through
this long campaign I've been getting emails from
Barack, Michelle and all of his key supporters, but
as a Canadian, I could not contribute to his campaign.
It is my sincere feeling, that America and the rest of
the world have won a magnificent victory tonight.

Barack Obama

I didn't want to speak out forcefully about the election,
because America is not my country, and art has no
country. It transcends country, political
party, and even time. It lives on long after this momentous
night. So if you did not vote for Obama, and you are
American, forgive me this brief indulgence. I know
that for my friends in the most diverse city in the
world -- Toronto -- where I live, this win means a
change in the way the world views people. It
also means the triumph of intelligence, deep thought,
true concern for people's well being over the greed,
deception and power of the Bush administration.
I know Obama isn't perfect, and he will definitely feel the
weight of his office, in the current global financial and
political climate. But he has elevated America in the world's
eyes again. And I believe he will live up to his promise.

Have a celebrating-your-private-wins day.

Well hey I won an award!

Things are heating up on the school/painting front, with
lots of art deadlines coming up. I'm painting big time,
but nothing is ready for your inspection, so I'm going
through the sketches and paintings I've done in recent
years just to keep the images flowing.

Figure study
acrylic on watercolour paper
18" x 24"

And today I've been incredibly happy driving up to
class (1 1/2 hours) thinking about all of the wonderful
artists I'm meeting through the blog network. It
just makes me feel like the luckiest artist on earth.
So when I came home after a long day of teaching
and working hard at helping the kids be enthusiastic,
cheering them on, and delving into the world of
writing and school success, sporting my air cast and
crutches, I was absolutely thrilled to see that Theresa Rankin,
http://theresarankinfineart.blogspot.com/
who I was meaning to talk about tonight as a superb
landscape and still life painter -- has awarded me the
"Brilliante Weblog"award.

The award -- Hurray!

There are a bunch of rules and I'll write more about
the award, the rules, and who I'll nominate tomorrow,
but for now this is exciting news. One of the other
landscape artists whose work I think is fabulous is
and who has been very supportive is Eldon Warren.
http://eldonwarren.wordpress.com/
I think I initially met both of these artists through
their comments on Aaaron Lifferth's blog.
http://aaronlifferth.blogspot.com/
Aaron's daily paintings showcase, glass containers,
and fruits, among other things. He makes
composition look like it's easy, and his paintings
are always fresh and done with a flourish I envy.

One of the beautiful Cleomes in our garden

I'm short on time for doing the work required for
winning that award Theresa, but I promise to
do so as soon as possible.

Have a loving the world you work in day!