April 10, 2004

Hi everyone; Happy Easter!

It is snowing outside and we have had a wonderful light rain for the past two days. The moisture is very welcome. The perennials, poppies, peonies and iris are up about a foot and spring has come early. I don’t remember this much growth in the past few years. We had an exceptionally warm March. It was in the mid 70’s some days. Ken has a tan from being outdoors.

We did our traditional hike New Year’s Day with our friends, Nick and Debbie in Rocky Mountain National Park. We started out from Bear Lake and hiked up to Nymph, Dream and Emerald lakes. Ken got some really great photos on this crystal clear day and I have already painted several pieces from this adventure. One of the paintings will be this year’s Christmas card.

In January I helped accept artwork at the Boulder Library for the Visualizing Mahler Festival. I do not know many of the Boulder artists. One woman came to check in, looked at me and said “You should cut your hair”. I asked “Why?” She replied “because I want 4 inches of it for a collage”. I told her no way. Well she hung around for at least another ½ hour and kept looking at me and once again she asked have you changed your mind? The answer she got was “Not a Chance”.

Ken has been doing his usual things including another ‘tough’ business trip, this one to a ski resort in Park City Utah. Closer to home he twice snow shoed off-trail and above tree line on Niwot Ridge but screaming wind and extreme cold quickly drove him back each time. In contrast, down here on near the house the weather has been very mild and he has done a lot of road bike riding.

Ken traveled with his friends from Spidertrax to a national rock-crawling competition in St. George, Utah. He struggles to keep up with their schedule. They worked on the competition cars until midnight and then leave. Then they drove 12 hours over the Rockies and straight through to St. George (near Las Vegas), unloaded the cars and spent the afternoon getting them through tech inspection before heading out to dinner and finally to bed. Ouch! The next two days were each 12 hours of outdoor activity in the desert rocks. Nice tan; tired body.

For his own little Suzuki Samurai, Ken has engineered a custom nitrous oxide injection system that makes it really jump forward when you hit the button.

I was finally called to Colorado University for the fitness testing program I had volunteered for. The testing was done over a two day period. The first day’s work lasted over 4 hours with information taken on medication, family health problems, vitamins taken, etc. They also collected extensive information on how much I exercised, how much TV I watch, etc. Almost an hour was spent recording what you ate for the entire year. The Nutritionist said they were compiling data because the records on what is eaten, etc in the US is incomplete and they are trying to build up data.

This CU study is part of a larger study of aging and the reaction of older adults with regard to exercise and vitamin C. They were testing both active and sedentary elderly people. Can you imagine – me, elderly? I don’t think I am.

I was put on a tread mill with 12 electrodes stuck all over my body and a breathing apparatus similar to a snorkel mouthpiece only a bit bigger. This was hooked up to an air supply and measuring instruments. My nose was clipped with a sort of clothespin. I could only breath only through the mouth and was told to not swallow. After two difficult swallows I focused on not swallowing. The tread mill grade was increased and I got up to grade 8. The staff cheered me on asking if I could do more so I did 45 seconds more and that was it. That test took about 10 minutes. The doctor, a young 30's something women in great physical shape (what else do you expect from CU) advised at the end of the stress test that my heart at the end showed some irregular heart beats and when that occurred during any workout I should slow down and if I didn't recover see my doctor. Well, I usually slow down when the work gets that hard.

They did a bone density scan of my spine, hips, etc. The technician said my bones were strong. This was great information. I got this wonderful test without having to pay for it. Medicare would never cover this type of testing.

My blood pressure was taken at least two dozen times during each of the two days.

The second day’s session was over 5 hours long. I was immediately hooked up to an IV and them they did cell harvesting, which involves inserting this curved needle into a vein and scraping the inside of your artery. It did not hurt but was strange feeling.

Many ultra sound images were taken of the blood traveling through major arteries. Twice they cuffed my forearm tightly for 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes they released the cuff and measured the flow of blood through the artery using ultrasound. After the first round of ultrasound measurements, they added Vitamin C to the IV and repeated the series of tests.

One of the staff doing the testing asked if I would like to be included on a list for further studies and I agreed. This is a good way to find out if there is a problem and I am all for that.

Early in March I had an opportunity to hang a painting in the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art. You had to stay at the museum while your art was on display. A friend and I brought down our paintings and set up our chairs. This was a CU art crowd and made for good people watching. I saw one fellow who looked like he was having a bad hair day. He probably spent a couple of hours getting his hair to stick out in all directions. One artist had foam core boards covered with post-it notes. There was some weird stuff and it was priced very high. One artist was evidently very talented, however, I could not decipher what his painting was about. It was along the lines of a Salvatore Dali abstraction.

At one point I was surprised to see a fellow dressed in normal fashion with properly combed hair. He was the curator of the museum. I introduced myself and handed him my card (which Nancy Hevenor made up for me). We went over to my painting. He critiqued it and liked the way I handled color. I observed that my style didn’t fit in this very contemporary gallery. He nodded in agreement. They cater to the CU students. Paula, the friend who joined me at the museum, said, “Many parents are paying for their children to study art at CU and this is what they come up with?!”

March was an exciting and extremely busy season for me. I was the featured artist at the Muse Gallery. The show was titled “Showers of Color” and I gave them color! My paintings were all of flowers. A couple measured 3 x 4 ft.

I hung paintings at East Boulder Recreation Center both in February and March. One fellow commented very favorably in an email to me. I asked if I could use his comments for my web site. He said he would be delighted for me to do this. I sold a floral painting from that March exhibit. The lady called and asked if I would take installments. I agreed and wrote up a sales agreement which we signed. She sent half the payment and I am keeping the painting for her until the second half comes in.

Some of my large landscape and floral paintings are on display at Wright Kingdom, a realty office in Boulder. These are large (3 x 4 ft and bigger). I held my first artist’s reception there so I sent out photo postcards inviting people to attend. Several people did attend, so I consider it a success. Later, a lady called me saying she wanted to try out the painting of the Flatirons and poppies in her home. She took it home and decided she wanted a different frame and called me. I met her at my favorite framing shop and she picked out a really expensive, museum quality frame. Her furniture is 18^th century antique and she wanted the painting hung for a party she was having April 7^th. The framer accommodated her and had it ready for pick up in time for her party.

Later in March I made a presentation on “Discovering the Roots of Longmont’s Art Community” at the Longmont Library. Ken developed a PowerPoint show for me and ran the computer/slide show while I talked. I introduced Ken at the beginning of the program as my IT Department and Technical Support person. Our premiere artist in Longmont, Scott Fraser, attended. He has artwork in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, the Denver Art Museum, galleries, etc. He has done very well and is a nice guy too. After the presentation, Scott and a few other artists said I should bring this presentation to local schools, Rotary Clubs and television stations. I have not done this yet. It has been so busy and hectic, I need time to regroup and pay attention to other things such as gardening and cleaning the house.

We attended the 50^th birthday party for a neighbor, Steve Condor. They live across St. Vrain in a rather large home. You could probably fit 3 of our size homes into theirs. He is a stereo sound system addict. He has the latest huge electrostatic speakers, all kinds of high-end gadgets and purpose-built listening areas. There must have been a couple of hundred people there complete with a five-piece rock and roll band at one end of the house and at the other end a Yamaha grand piano playing beautifully via an electronically operated keyboard.

Artists are an odd group. I took a pastel painting workshop at the Denver Art Museum. A woman asked how you clean the pastel dust from your easel. The instructor said to take it outside and tap it off to get rid of the pastel dust. We then we found out she lived on the 42^nd floor. I told her to tap it over wet paper towels and a waste basket. When walking out the door to go to lunch, this same woman was by my side and said she was concerned about getting out the pastel on her clothing. I told her whatever I had gotten it on came out in the wash. It was then that I noticed she was dressed head to toes in black leather. Not only does she not know about cleaning, but she doesn’t know to dress in washable clothes when painting.

This October Ken has a business trip to Paris, France. I will be able to join him and I have written to the Foundation of Claude Monet in Giverny. They allow artists to paint on the grounds of Monet’s home on Mondays. They replied approving the date requested – October 4^th with three stipulations: 1. Do not bring anyone with you who is not an artist. 2. Don’t bother the gardeners. 3. Stay on the designated paths. I can do that. What a wonderful opportunity. Of course, I will be taking the train by myself from Giverny to Paris. It is easy for me to get lost so I plan to learn a little French before we go.

One last art happening: I have been juried into the 2004 Greeley Art Show. I will bring my painting there April 24 and the reception is April 30^th. This is an old and respected show so it is great to get in.

Enjoy spring and stay well.

Love, Diane and Ken