“Serenity” Painting & A 3:15 Haiku Equals Honorable Mention

I have mixed feelings about entering  art shows. If validation comes from within, then the results of an art show can create counter productive emotions. The ego gets excited if you win and gets deflated when you lose. That is, until one is good with whatever happens and the ego is no longer triggered. So why do I enter art shows? That’s a good question. And I don’t have an answer yet.  Is it the idea of winning? Is it the prestige? Is it the belief that more people will take you more seriously as an artist when you win? Is it the belief that it would add to the value of the art? Or is it to be seen? Is it to get exposure? read...

Are Judgments Just Recycled Thoughts?

I work on watching my thoughts most of the time, especially judgments. I find it interesting that Wikepedia defines Judgment as the evaluation of evidence to make a decision. My husband, Ron, and I had gone to a party a couple of months ago. I didn’t realize how much I had been watching my thoughts. I felt really good about it because I was catching myself on things. Yet what startled me was the automatic judgments. Say what? Yes, I found myself doing these automatic judgments and I thought “whoa, where’d that come from?”.  In light of the above definition, I was evaluating what evidence to make what kind of decision?  I started paying more attention and sure enough, I caught a few more. read...

Wine Blending by Rodney Strong Vineyards – Part 2

When I entered the room, my eyes saw a sea of wine glasses. I saw 8 glasses at each place. Five of them had small amounts of blending wine along with bottles to replenish the glasses. The sixth had the Rodney Strong Symmetry wine to give us inspiration! Two were empty: a water glass and a glass for the blend. Robert Larson, the Director of Communications at Rodney Strong Vineyards, gave us the information. He spoke about the history of Rodney Strong from his dance career to founding Windsor Winery to starting his own winery, Rodney Strong Vineyards. Rodney also saw great potential in certain acreage in Sonoma County, one being Chalk Hill which eventually became the Chalk Hill Appellation. read...