Retired But Working (?)

 I am happy to announce that I have begun a new chapter in my life. A very apropos designation for my opening months of Retirement. 

Chapter One: get Medicare and Social Security on track, plus continue with my regular volunteer "jobs". 

Volunteering as a musician in the Boyertown Alumni Marching Unit and Concert Ensemble and volunteering for that group as co-Music Librarian and as Patron Committee Chair (well, I AM the Patron Committee - it's just me, myself, & I in that committee). These few items have taken up the majority of my life during the first quarter of the year. Chapter One is essentially complete.

Chapter Two: begin to do the things I haven't really had time to do while working more than full time at a public library. 

These include writing (poetry, prose, letters, & my blog, etc.), photography, and painting. So far, I have been collecting and collating my poetry, prose, and photos into a book. Yes, I am finally working on a volume of my Words & Art. I have amazed myself when looking through my various notebooks and computer files to choose which works I will include - there are so many!

I will try to post some sample pages here in my Blog, but it depends on what file formats are allowed. Some of the photos, poems, and prose have previously been published in this very Blog. Most of the prose has definitely come from here, but I have changed or edited them a bit over time, this way they are more up to date or have had corrections made.

Eventually, I hope to have this book published. 

Chapter Three will involve working on my painting. 

I hope to have some of my art available for sale later this year. I also hope to have some of my work entered in Juried Art Shows. 

I have ambitions. 

I think these ambitions are another form of - WORK!

Sample Pages from bk WordArt by mARTa

Please click the above link to get an idea of the book I am working on. There are seven sample pages posted on my LinkedIn page. I would appreciate it if anyone or someone would let me know what they think.

And so, Onward into this new Lifestyle!

Museum Tour

Recently I was privileged to go on a special bus trip with a friend to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We had special tour tickets for the Van Gogh exhibit. What was really special about the tour of the Van Gogh exhibit was that it took place during the hour before the museum opened to the public. We also had a human guide who talked about many of the paintings and about Van Gogh's life.

One interesting fact I learned was the reason he signed all his paintings with just his first name. He wanted his paintings to give the message that he was a friend and brother to all. Family and friends call you by your first name. There are also many paintings he did not sign but they are known to be his because he gave them to family and those paintings have passed down from person to person giving the paintings a provenance.

Winslow Homer's painting "A Temperance Meeting"

How incredible to be able to stand so close to these masterpieces! To be able to have my nose a bare 4 inches away from a canvas and see the individual brush strokes! Not just with the Van Gogh collection but all the rest, Monet, Matisse, Turner, Picasso, Pissarro, Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, just to name a few. A very few.

I could have spent the whole day there but we only had a few hours. We took a break for lunch and discovered just past the cafeteria an interactive exhibit based on Van Gogh's painting, Rain. Visitor's were encouraged to write a Haiku inspired by his painting. So I had to enter my effort.

"Undergrowth With Two Figures" by Vincent

I want to go back. I WILL go back. It was expensive to go on the bus tour but it was definitely well worth the expense. I used my Christmas money for my ticket and to buy a souvenir mug with a Vincent painting on it. One of my favorites from the exhibition - no, NOT Sunflowers. But a truly French forest image called "Undergrowth With Two Figures". It is beautiful and slightly haunting. This particular painting is on loan to the exhibit from the Cincinnati Art Museum. I highly recommend everyone to go see the Van Gogh exhibit while it is still touring. There are paintings from many museums including the Van Gogh Museum in the Netherlands as well as others from private collections. The next stop on the tour will be Toronto.