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There’s a good interview with Pamela T. Boll, director of “Who Does She Think She Is?” at Salon.

A choice quote:

“… In the arts, there’s no guarantee for success. Even if you’re working at Wal-Mart, if you show up, you get paid. In the studio, you don’t. It’s very risky business. You have to create your own life and have a very strong understanding about what your have to offer. There will be a lot of people telling you that you’re just fooling around. Society just doesn’t consider an artist’s work as “work” — just like motherhood isn’t often acknowledged as being real work.”

Do you have a favorite pair of socks? I sure do and they’re made by Smartwool. So it’s a joy to let you know I’m collaborating with Smartwool on their Fall 2011 line of gallery socks. We’re knee-deep in the design process having recently chosen images and colors. The finished socks bearing images from my current gallery and archive will be ready for retail in July 2011.

Can you guess which paintings we’ve chosen?

Bee on dandelion, Boulder, Colorado, April 2010

Are you letting your dandelions bloom? I hope so. And if not, I invite you to at least think about it. Not only are they responsible for an enlivening burst of yellow each spring, dandelion pollen provides an important early source of protein for growing honeybees. And they’re effortless to grow (at least, that’s how it seems).

American lawn tastes are changing, and those who welcome dandelions represent the vanguard of a new aesthetic. Read more in this article by a self-proclaimed Dandelion King.

At our house we don’t use herbicides. Dandelions bloom though we try to trim seeds before they scatter. It’s a little futile. But there’s something happy about it. I do like yellow.

Thanks to Derek Friday at Finndustry for the Dandelion King link.

Gallerist Joseph Carroll chose works by ten artists to show at Flow & Control, the juried show happening at the Fourth Annual Encaustic Conference in June. I am honored and delighted to be included. The other nine are:

Jill Skupin Birkholeder
David A. Clark
Shelley Gilchrist
Ken Gold
Ruth Hiller
Nancy Lowe
Kelly Steinke
Michele Thrane
Robin Van Hoozer

This beautiful thing was made by a bee.

Flower Petal Nest by Osima avoseta

In a tender new discovery scientists have learned that the solitary O. avoseta queen bee works alone to make these petal nests for individual eggs and larvae. More wonderful pictures on NPR. And nice story on eurakalert.

Thank you, Susan.