If You Want To Catch Fish

There's an old Irish proverb, which is obvious I suppose because if it were a new Irish proverb it wouldn't be worth quoting, which says, "If you want to catch fish, first you must listen to the water."

I write a lot of things on this here blog, but I seldom know if anyone is listening, until now. I got a card from the wonderful local artist, (Probably Nationally known artist, but I am not national just local so I try to confine my statements to what I actually know as opposed to what I just guess), S. L. Donaldson. Ms Donaldson has a way with color and a whimsical imagination and creates some of the most memorable images you are likely to see locally or nationally and that is why I was surprised and delighted to get a card from such a distinguished personage.

Ya see when I first picked up the card I noticed the stamp. Now it is a noticeable stamp, but what caught my eye was the fact that I had seen it before, at the Coos Art Museum's Fish/Fishing show. Ms Donaldson had taken one of her own pieces of Fine Art and made it into a stamp so that each and every card she sends out this Christmas can display her talents as well as carry her wishes for a Merry Christmas. Now that's getting double your pleasure for the price of a stamp, which you would have to have anyway just to send the Christmas wishes and you were going to do that, so why not do both and since I had been beating the bushes urging you to do just that imagine my joy at seeing that someone, not to mention a distinguished someone, had done that very thing. I musta been better than I remember.

When I opened the card i got a second surprise, for there was another piece of S.L. Donaldson's art, a beautiful, Currier and Ives sort of road in the snow covered woods, even though those woods were not in New England because S. L. did not jump in her GulfStream and make a dash across the whole country just to capture a scene in the woods with snow on the road.

I have to tell you I had a lump in my throat, and no it was not a bit of un-chewed pizza, cause I don't have pizza on my meal plan and my Doctor would ground me for life just for saying that I had pizza in my throat or anywhere else so I had an actual joy induce lump, no it was not a tumor.

I have been begging and pleading for weeks for artists to use their own art on Christmas cards and lookee here one of them did! And did it right well if I may say so.

Now the images posted here have a big, black Copyright statement in their middle which did not come on the copy I got cause it was sent to me as a Christmas greeting and didn't need a statement to keep me from using my grubby little scanner to copy it, but when you post something to the internet you cannot be so sure that the folks, none of you local guys cause you are all artists and would never steal from a fellow artist, are as conscientious as they should be so, I followed a two step plan. I sent a note to S. L. and asked permission to publish her work even at low resolution and in behalf of a good cause. And I promised to stick in a big, black Copyright statement so that the images while they can be copied can't be claimed by someone who didn't create them.

Thank you S. L. I love what you did and I am pleased to see that Zazzel came through for you. and for all of you who did not listen, well, you'll just have to plan something for next Christmas.


Images courtsey of S. L. Donaldson Fine Art