Reaching For The Star

"Reaching For The Star"

Today I finished my latest piece, "Reaching For The Star." This is actually a photo of one of the cats my mother-in-law use to have, an Abyssinian cat by the name of Cinnamon. I used colored pencil & turpenoid and pasted a special hand-made paper in the foreground and background. This is the same paper I used in my other animal piece, "Mighty Mouse." I thought it might be a nice idea to mix things up a bit by using some decorative paper instead of finishing it off with more colored pencil or watercolor and this fit perfectly with the color and composition without taking away from the main subject, the cat reaching into the trash.

Today was also the day of the Michael Jackson Memorial service which the news has been covering all day today. I watched most of it and was extremely moved. The music was excellent. I guess you could call it a "reaching out" to a star that touched the hearts of many of us, including me.

These are strange times for many of us. I know it is for me. Many of us, including me, are have difficulty surviving the economic meltdown that is occurring right now. We are trying to hold on to our dreams and tough times like these can bring huge obstacles that we weren't planning on facing. I am going to have to make some changes in the future in order to get through this economic downturn, but one thing I know for sure is I will NOT give up my dream to be an artist and to be an art teacher. I will continue to go to school to get my degree and I will use my art to help and enrich the lives of other people.