"Return to Ismailia" by Karen Hagestad Cacy

My Woodrow Wilson classmate's book struck some of my core interests.

I like to think of myself as being open minded. My self-image was tested by RETURN TO ISMAILIA. To begin with I respected Karen Hagestad Cacy’s desire “to put a human face to the conflict” so I read on chewing without swallowing or spitting with indignation. My difficulty, at first, was with the young Arab refugee “Palestinian” sneaking behind a fence to pick a Jaffa orange from a tree remaining from his grandfather’s orchid. Was this the usual Palestinian propaganda? There was a hint of a more in depth story of high tech terrorists in the making. The image of Fou Fou says so much to me of the problem of growing populations. Most of their orchid had been bull dozed for housing of European Jewish refugees. I continued to read because I cared about the people and exotic places. Little gems of culture including Arabic nomad poets illuminate the beginning of each chapter. The scene of Israel and Egypt came alive. Jew (Rossie) and a Palestinian (Fou Fou) were enemies with more in common than I ever thought could be. I will divulge this much of the book. Expect a heartwarming, bitter sweet ending that moved me to tears.
Five stars is not enough to show my enthusiasm for RETURN TO ISMAILIA. I rank it with Alan Payton’s CRY THE BELOVED COUNTRY and Rachel Carson’s SILENT SPRING.

Review of J.H. Sweet's book GYPSY FIDDLE

Gypsy Fiddle, by J. H. Sweet, is between magical fantasy and science fiction for 10 years and up. It is much fun to read and I can readily see that Sweet was having the best time ever writing the story. As a 68 year old grandmother, I enjoyed it for the wholesome main character who was brave in exploring a strange world where she was proactive in surrounding herself with caring adults. The new mother substitute nurtured her when her biological mother who also loved her but fell short.

As an artist I loved the message that even if your first art works do not fill the expectations of some critics, art is useful and in the reach of everyone - art helps to bring people together by showing tangible works so we can appreciate our similarities in needs. The hand crocheted border on a salvaged towel makes a beautiful personalized gift from a great aunt who I am trying to convince is artful in her living. I can't wait until I write her about Sweet's book. Click here on the blue tiltle to get a copy of this free e-book, GYPSY FIDDLE.

See my blog titled Diane Widler Wenzel to view my latest paintings of Talking Water Garden, Albany, Oregon.

Steve Carpenter, painter of world renown is giving back

Steve Carpenter is a graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon. He is an example of when your high school teachers and friends believe you can be an artist to the fullest depth of the word, the seed of the dream can materialize with work and focus. In high school Steve's biggest dream was to be an illustrator like Norman Rockwell which he accomplished early on in his career. He was a commercial artist for Disney as part of a rich art journey taking him to Europe where he was a fine arts painter. Recently he returned back to the United States to give back to the arts by creating a school in New York. Steve says anyone can learn to draw and learn from him by watching a four hour long video on building a portrait.
Below is his painting "Cosmos Dialous I".

Below Steve's teacher, Henry Heine's demonstration from years ago has sharp differences and faint similarities.

"The Mechanical Birds" by Henry Heine was part of his lesson. He showed us a number of examples of cubist painters and talked about the history of science impacting the artists of the early 20th century. Artists learned from science that there were more ways to see. Mr. Heine, also, demonstrated the process at work. He applied the paint with a sprayer and used printing techniques as well as brushes. He demonstrated an energetic attitude and promised us a break through where we would let our hair down, feel freedom, and promised it would be great fun for us when we make a break through where creative expression would flow. During the 60's there was a movement in art education to paint from our own notions and disregard the tradition of representational painting. This philosophy produced practitioners of painting who complain. Many felt misguided because they don't know what they are doing when painting abstracts. During the three years we were with him, Heine gave us an understanding of abstracting the essence and directional guides based on art history in many of his assignments.

Henry Heine somewhere in the cosmos is very proud of Steve. To learn more about Steve click on the links in blue and underlined above.

Inanimate things or people the most difficult to paint?

I find no difference in difficulty whether I am painting something alive or inanimate. I paint their gesture and energy. When I am painting the rocks I feel myself as a rock. The gesture of the rock comes from its skelton-like creation standing up to water and wind. When I am painting the ocean water instead of picking a still moment. I do a dance of gestures as though I were to paint. I feel slish, slosh, kazame of water moving into the rocks pushed by weather and tidal forces. My muscles do the planning in a state completely in the moment. Theoretically my goal is to live in tha moment.
The end results do not always flow. But when they do I am pleased.

February 3rd, Seal Rock Sunset

Seal Rock - 60 degrees F.-slight breeze - 10 foot swells

Wishing to correct for the scale of Seal Rocks and the early morning sun light on them, I painted over the on location experience. I think this one was a learning experience.