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I love Sundays, but they wear me out! We get to church early for choir practice, then sing at Mass, then have coffee hour, then return to choir practice. It works out great for those of us (including me) who drive a long way to church, but I’m pretty much useless when I get home.

I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Douglas F. Hedwig and his wife today, and he told me about the posthorn. I had never heard this instrument, but now that I look at the picture, I have seen these before (or something very much like it), largely in use for decorative purposes and not as instruments. Anyway, from what I gather, they are portable instruments that were once used to bring a little culture to the countryside, perhaps like a guitar in terms of function. Dr. Hedwig is an expert on the subject (as well as the trumpet and music in general), plays the posthorn here, and has a CD for sale.

Over at RedBubble, I am pleased to report that Dogwood Tree was featured in the Seasonal Scapes group, and Bluejays placed sixth in the Genesis: Day 5 challenge in the Living Christianity group.

I haven’t been painting much lately (did I already say that in a recent post?), but I miss it, and I hope to get back to it soon.

Still Haunted
A.M. Otwell, 2008
Acrylic on canvas
20 x 24 inches, gallery wrapped
Original $850

“While the South is hardly Christ-centered, it is most certainly Christ-haunted.” —Flannery O’Connor

I was saving this for closer to Halloween, but the Halloween-related contests are already getting started on RedBubble.

In other news, I am delighted to report that Rose has been featured in the RedBubble Painted Florals group!

A Prayer

Father in Heaven! from whom the simplest flower
On the high Alps or fiery desert thrown,
Draws not sweet odour or young life alone,
But the deep virtue of an inborn power
To cheer the wanderer in his fainting hour,
With thoughts of Thee; to strengthen, to infuse
Faith, love, and courage, by the tender hues
That speak Thy prescence; oh! with such a dower
Grace Thou my song!—the precious gift bestow
From Thy pure Spirit’s treasury divine,
To wake one tear of purifying flow,
To soften one wrung heart for Thee and thine;
So shall the life breathed through the lowly strain,
Be as the meek wild-flower’s—if transient, yet not vain.

–Felicia Dorothea Hemans (1793-1835)

I drove all the way to Athens before I realized maybe I shouldn’t have done that. Since I don’t watch television, and my only local news is through my weekly paper (which I’m weeks behind on reading), I didn’t realize the gas shortages had extended outside of metro Atlanta. I was peripherally aware of what was going on but wasn’t at all worried about how it applied to me. Part of my blase attitude is probably due to the fact that we closed on our house the day it became apparent that Hurricane Katrina was going to cause gasoline shortages, and we moved, anyway. What else was there to do? It wasn’t all that bad. Then, I passed roughly 10 gas stations on the way from our apartment to the interstate. Even at the worst times, at least one of those stations had gas.

. . . and it wasn’t all that bad in Athens, either. The first gas station I tried had regular unleaded, although they were sold out of the higher grades. I had enough gas to get home, anyway, but I decided to fill up just in case. A few miles on, there was a gas station that, as far as I could tell, had plenty of gas and few customers. These “spotty shortages” are truly spotty so far in Athens. I guess I’ll return to my state of indifference, at least until I’m down to 1/4 tank again. If I avoid trips to Athens, that could be months from now, as I only pretty much only drive there and to the grocery store, but since church is in Athens, I suspect the gas will go faster than that.

In other news, Dogwood Tree was featured at RedBubble in the Rivers, Lakes, and Dams group, and Boat was featured in the Impressionist Art group. When art is “featured” there, it goes on the front page of the group because the group moderator(s) likes it. I’m honored.

des·cant
(děs’kānt’) Pronunciation Key
n.

1. also dis·cant (dĭs’-) Music
    1. An ornamental melody or counterpoint sung or played above a theme.

    2. The highest part sung in part music.
2. A discussion or discourse on a theme.
(American Heritage Dictionary via dictionary.com)

If I had known I could hit those notes, perhaps I would have quit smoking long before 2006. That is not to say I sound good, just to say that I can make a sound several notes higher than I thought I could. Almost always the right note at the right time, even. And it wasn’t until now, the third day after my first successful descant experience, that I thought of shattering glass. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t do it. Shatter glass, that is. But who knows?

I’m still thinking about it because it was SO MUCH FUN. That . . . and I have a sore throat. The two aren’t related that I know of, except I probably got exposed to a bug the same day I discovered that I could hit high notes.

So I looked up vocal ranges on Wikipedia, and I’ve got nothing special. But it’s special to me. I hope God liked hearing those alleluias as much as I liked singing them. . . and that He’ll clear up this sore throat in a jiffy!

I’m painting orchids. The orchids are not as much fun as the descant was. However, I think I see how the painting is going to fall into place now and just need to take the time to make it happen.

Every time I say I’m painting a flower, I get this mental picture of me standing in a florist shop with a paintbrush, surrounded by white flowers that need color. Anyone else get this picture or is it just me?

Today and yesterday were good days. Yesterday, we went to Atlanta and had a lovely visit with the in-laws and came home with treasures: A bag full of old lace, books, a silver teapot and spoon holder, and other such delights, some of which I am sure will be featured in future paintings and other projects.

Then I found a not-overpriced bottle of wine at a convenience store on the way home. I was surprised, but I think maybe the mark-ups inside the stores have gone down as gas prices have gone up. I didn’t even know metro Atlanta convenience stores had drinkable red wine at any price, so it was a double surprise.

Today, my Dogwood Tree painting placed in the top ten in a “Trees in Bloom” contest at RedBubble. They only announced first through fourth place and then displayed the top ten, so I placed somewhere between fifth and tenth. You’re welcome to go look and form your own opinions, if you’d like. I’m just delighted to be on the page!

We actually had a high of 72 today, much, much lower than it has been, so I dug out my MP3 player and took a walk. I’ve missed that.

Dogwood Tree
A.M. Otwell, 2008
Acrylic on canvas
10 x 10 inches, gallery wrapped
Original $400

I finished this up last night. The square format and small size don’t really lend themselves to the types of prints available on RedBubble, so I’ve just made the original available; no prints this time.

This was from a reference photo I took earlier this year at Lake Oconee near Wallace Dam. The reference photo had a lot more white in it (the sky, the far bank) that competed with the blossoms, so I had to make a lot of changes. When I get this far from the “real” photo, it sometimes feels like I’m walking a tightrope and that I might lose my balance and end up with a not-very-good painting, but I’m pretty happy with the result this time around.

While I’ve been painting, I’ve been listening to a beautiful piece of music, Ave Generosa, over and over again, trying to learn it before the choir I just joined sings it Sunday morning. I haven’t been in a choir in a LONG time, and I’m really rusty at reading music, much less trying to sing in Latin! It’s so beautiful, though. Embedding has been disabled, but you can hear it on YouTube here. I’m not sure if the viewer can “see” any of the music in the painting, but I think this painting and that music are forever intertwined in my mind.

And, of course, it’s September 11. I was remiss in preparing a blog post for today, but I have NOT forgotten the day or those who died, and I am grateful for the heroic responses of emergency personnel that day and every day, as well as the soldiers who serve our country and protect our freedom. God has blessed this country richly with heroes, and I pray that He continues to bless the USA.

If There Had Anywhere

If there had anywhere appeared in space
Another place of refuge, where to flee,
Our hearts had taken refuge in that place,
And not with Thee.

For we against creation’s bars had beat
Like prisoned eagles, through great worlds had sought
Though but a foot of ground to plant our feet,
Where Thou wert not.

And only when we found in earth and air,
In heaven or hell, that such might nowhere be—
That we could not flee from Thee anywhere,
We fled to Thee.

–Richard Chenevix Trench (1807-1886)

A while back, during one of my upgrades to the software, a lot of my settings got changed. I thought I had changed all of the important ones back. . . and left one teeny tiny option box checked that shouldn’t have been.

Please accept my apologies if you have tried to comment and have been unable to. I believe I have corrected the problem now, and things should again work the way they used to.

If you continue to have problems, please let me know! I value your feedback and am disappointed that I might have missed a lot of it.

Lantana
A.M. Otwell, 2008

Cards and prints are available here.