ART MADE WITH LOVE We can see art made with love—divine love—all around us as our beautiful hometown trees unfurl the brilliant colors they’ve been saving up for autumn. At every corner, in every direction the landscape of their creation is simply spectacular! Spectacular, too, is the “Art of Quilting” exhibition gracing the gallery walls of artCentral at Hyde House. Each art quilt on display is made with an abundance of love—the maker’s love for fiber and color, the maker’s love for design and self-expression. For your viewing pleasure admission is |
Soon after Thanksgiving artCentral will be filled with new art made with love especially for your holiday shopping and gifting. The annual Holiday Boutique and 5x7 Silent Auction will take place November 29 and 30 and December 1. Mark your calendar now and visit www.artcentralcarthage.org for more details.
While there’s a lot of art made with love and shown at Hyde House, there’s a lot of art made with love at my Paradise house, as well. I’m an artist. My husband David’s an artist. Lucky I am, for David’s also a trained chef which means every morning I get an artful, made-with-love breakfast in bed.
Recently coming back up the stairs with a breakfast tray generously laden, David brought a story that goes like this: “You know how people say, ‘Food always tastes better when it’s made with love’, well, this breakfast was made with a lot of love! The eggs were made with my dragging around our Aussie puppy with her front legs wrapped around my leg while I shuffled from the frig to the stove top. The egg scrambling was done with one hand while I played tug-of-war with a towel with the puppy tugging on the other end. The juice was made with the puppy jumping up on me with a squeaky toy in her mouth going squeak, squeak, squeak and the toast was made and saved with my grabbing away the slices just in time as the puppy put her front paws on the counter and opened her puppy mouth wide to steal the toast waiting on our plates. So you see, this breakfast was made with a lot of love.”
There’s been a lot of puppy love infusing the creative efforts made at our house and with our arty friends, too.
One of Lasyrenn’s God-given puppy traits is her capacity to chew up any attractive object that catches her Aussie eye or tempts her Aussie nose. In our storeroom we’ve collected a huge pile of Aussie-loved leftovers. Among these are puppy beds decorated with huge holes; bouncing balls sadly deflated and torn into remnants; pieces remaining from tethers and halters chewed clear through in moments of boredom; stuffed animals missing limbs and noses; and solo shoes that once belonged to nice matching pairs. While we talk of someday making a puppy collage using all these random, well-loved treasures, we do quake at the prospect of tallying the mounting costs of our puppy-created assemblage.
Just ask artCentral gallery docent, Emily Rose. A cat-lover herself, Emily knows all about the personal costs of being the object of puppy love. This time last year Emily was at artCentral doing her weekend gallery tending. She was also completing her sketching on the canvas she was preparing to paint and donate for the Holiday Boutique Silent Auction that features artCentral artist-created canvases. David and I popped in to say “hello”. While we visited with Miss Em, she turned away from her sketching. Lasyrenn seeing an alluring object to chew upon helped herself to Emily’s unattended art-in-the-making. Happily Lasyrenn chewed away a corner of the canvas and wooden stretcher then left her signature toothy, puppy markings all over the rest of Emily’s lovely drawing. Before our puppy was discovered, the damage was thoroughly done.
Emily’s quivering lower lip and streaming crocodile tears were so, so sad to see. Shaken but not discouraged, with her love for artCentral and her skilled strokes, Emily rallied and rendered another canvas for her donation. David took Emily’s damaged canvas and painted a portrait ode to Lasyrenn. On one edge “No! No! No!” was boldly lettered. On another edge: “DROP IT!” was painted like a shout.
The Silent Auction came. Bidding was brisk. David put in the winning bid and now has an original Emily proudly displayed in our music salon. I bid high and brought home David’s portrait of our puppy.
Soon you’ll have your own opportunity to bid on the stunning collection of 5x7 artist created canvases in this year’s Silent Auction. These and all the art in artCentral’s Holiday Boutique at Hyde House are guaranteed to be made with love.