Dining Out

Here's a little humor to end the old and begin the new year:

Browsing the Menu

by Kendra Mack b.1989

Nothing too fishy,
Too soupy, too spicy,
Nothing too fancy,
Too foreign, too pricey,

Nothing with egg yolks, 
No dairy, no wheat,
Nothing with spinach,
No sugar, no meat,

It has to be fresh, and
It has to be bold,
It can't be too steamy,
It can't be too cold,
Nothing that's sour,
Or bitter, or sweet -- 
This restaurant has nothing

That I'd like to eat!

...................................................................

And here is my related painting, based on a photo I took when touring the Baltics last year.

"At Your Service" 

oil 12x12

For more information about this painting and to view more of my work, 

please visit my website at

KarenMeredithArt.com

ALSO...

In January I will be showing my work as a featured guest artist 

at the Cary Gallery of Artists. 

Details below:

I welcome you to sign up, below, for this occasional blog and share it with your friends who might be interested. AND I invite you to (continue) to send  favorite photos you have taken and writings (inspiring, thought provoking, or humorous) 
 to me at kmeredithart@gmail.com.  

Sunflowers

Welcome to My Poetry and Painting Blog!

The current selected poem is by Frank Steele

Sunflowers

You’re expected to see   

only the top, where sky   

scrambles bloom, and not   

the spindly leg, hairy, fending off   

tall, green darkness beneath.   

Like every flower, she has a little   

theory, and what she thinks   

is up.   I imagine the long   

climb out of the dark   

beyond morning glories, day lilies, four o’clocks   

up there to the dream she keeps 

lifting, where it’s noon all day.

..................

One of the members of my book group, Margaret Pender, owns Victoria Park Florist. She hosted the last meeting and I admired the sunflowers she had in a glass vase. In her usual generous spirit she handed them to me as I left for home. I rearranged them a bit, placing them in one of my blue and white vases.

You may see more of my art and to follow other showings and events, visit:

KarenMeredithArt.com

I welcome you to sign up, below, for this occasional blog and share it with your friends who might be interested. AND I invite you to (continue) to send  favorite photos you have taken and writings (inspiring, thought provoking, or humorous) 
 to me at kmeredithart@gmail.com.  

For the Love of Roses

Welcome to my Poetry and Painting Blog!

The current selected poem below is by George Elliot:

You love the roses - so do I. I wish 

The sky would rain down roses, as they rain 

From off the shaken bush. Why will it not? 

Then all the valley would be pink and white 

And soft to tread on. They would fall as light 

As feathers, smelling sweet; and it would be 

Like sleeping and like waking, all at once!

...................

Yes, I do love roses as well! 
I painted this to go with the above poem...
Large canvas this time: 30x30" in oil..."For the Love of Roses".

COMING EVENT:

By invitation, I will have a solo show "Celebrating Color and Light" at the Page Walker Arts and History Center in downtown Cary, NC. This show is sponsored by the Town of Cary Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources. 

You are invited to join me at the reception there
on Friday, June 26th at 6pm.

Exhibit dates are June 23rd to August 16.

119 Ambassador Loop, Cary, NC 27513 (919) 460-4963

Also...

Victoria Park Florist is featuring a collection of my artwork. 
If you are in the neighborhood, please stop by to see it. 

1129 Weaver Dairy Rd

in Timberlyne Shopping Center

Chapel Hill, NC 27571

phone: 919 967 9394

.......

You may see more of my art and to follow other showings and events, visit

KarenMeredithArt.com

I welcome you to sign up, below, for this occasional blog and share it with your friends who might be interested. AND I invite you to (continue) to send  favorite photos you have taken and writings (inspiring, thought provoking, or humorous) 
 to me at kmeredithart@gmail.com.  

Spring Gardener

Welcome to my Poetry and Painting Blog!

The current selected poem below is by Carolyn Brunelle:

Spring Gardner

Plants, flowers, shrubs, trees

all warmed by the sunshine 

kissed by the bees; 

encouraged to grow so evergreen.

Sweetest blooms we’ve ever seen

arrive in Spring 

with each new breeze; 

and dropp us faithfully 

to our knees. 

...................

 I am smitten with spring, especially this year after what seemed to be an eternal winter! Every year I miss the best of peony season in my garden...But this year I am here to enjoy them. This painting (10x10 in oil) is called "Garden Gift".

COMING EVENT:

By invitation, I will have a solo show "Celebrating Color and Light" at the Page Walker Arts and History Center in downtown Cary, NC. This show is sponsored by the Town of Cary Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources. 

You are invited to join me at the reception there
on Friday, June 26th at 6pm.

Exhibit dates are June 23rd to August 16.

119 Ambassador Loop, Cary, NC 27513 (919) 460-4963

Also...

Victoria Park Florist is featuring a collection of my artwork. 
If you are in the neighborhood, please stop by to see it. 

1129 Weaver Dairy Rd

in Timberlyne Shopping Center

Chapel Hill, NC 27571

phone: 919 967 9394

.......

You may see more of my art and to follow other showings and events, visit

KarenMeredithArt.com

I welcome you to sign up, below, for this occasional blog and share it with your friends who might be interested. AND I invite you to (continue) to send  favorite photos you have taken and writings (inspiring, thought provoking, or humorous) 
 to me at kmeredithart@gmail.com.  

Flower God, God of Spring

Welcome to my Poetry and Painting Blog!

The current selected poem below is by Robert Louis Stevenson. 

FLOWER god, god of the spring, beautiful, bountiful,

Cold-dyed shield in the sky, lover of versicles,

Here I wander in April

Cold, grey-headed; and still to my

Heart, Spring comes with a bound, Spring the deliverer,

Spring, song-leader in woods, chorally resonant;

Spring, flower-planter in meadows,

Child-conductor in willowy

Fields deep dotted with bloom, daisies and crocuses:

Here that child from his heart drinks of eternity:

O child, happy are children!

She still smiles on their innocence,

She, dear mother in God, fostering violets,

Fills earth full of her scents, voices and violins:

Thus one cunning in music

Wakes old chords in the memory:

Thus fair earth in the Spring leads her performances.

One more touch of the bow, smell of the virginal

Green - one more, and my bosom
Feels new life with an ecstasy.

...................

 I thought of these words when recently painting outside (en plein air) in a nearby neighborhood. Although the sky was overcast, the color provided by the redbud tree and neighboring flowers inspired me. "Redbud Reverie" 8x10" oil on panel.

Other notes:

I am honored that my oil painting, "Sonatina" (below 10x8" oil on panel) was given second place award in the Small Treasures Show at the Cary Gallery of Artists. 

COMING EVENT:

By invitation, I will have a solo show "Celebrating Color and Light" at the Page Walker Arts and History Center in downtown Cary, NC. This show is sponsored by the Town of Cary Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources. 

You are invited to join me at the reception there
on Friday, June 26th at 6pm.

Exhibit dates are June 23rd to August 16.

119 Ambassador Loop, Cary, NC 27513 (919) 460-4963

Also...

Victoria Park Florist is featuring a collection of my artwork. 
If you are in the neighborhood, please stop by to see it. 

1129 Weaver Dairy Rd

in Timberlyne Shopping Center

Chapel Hill, NC 27571

phone: 919 967 9394

.......

You may see more of my art and to follow other showings and events, visit

KarenMeredithArt.com

I welcome you to sign up, below, for this occasional blog and share it with your friends who might be interested. AND I invite you to (continue) to send  favorite photos you have taken and writings (inspiring, thought provoking, or humorous) 
 to me at kmeredithart@gmail.com.  

While Alone at Topanga Thrift

Welcome to my Poetry and Painting Blog!

My last post offered the poem, "Undercurrent", by the talented Janeen Rastell. She told one of her poet friends about this blog. As a result, Val Dering Rojas sent me a chapbook of her poems, called "Ten", with the hope that one of them might inspire one of my paintings. And it did! I thank her for sharing them with me.

While Alone at Topanga Thrift

It occurs to me

that most things are made

to be filled, even now,

these old red dough-bowls

brim with sun;

the worn-soft roughness

of the feedbag, and the hips

of the ginger jar,

created to contain.

The riddle of space

is how insignificance can be ample,

how absence is useful:

the brass candelabra

with its obviousness and arms,

and now

this tiny teacup in my palm.

I wasn't built for this,

but from here,

emptiness appears to be

such a small thing.

..............

In response to this poem, I pulled some bowls from my shelf and created this still life: "Empty Bowls" 8x10 oil on panel

Other notes:

Victoria Park Florist is featuring a collection of my artwork. If you are in the neighborhood, please stop by to see it. 

1129 Weaver Dairy Rd

in Timberlyne Shopping Center

Chapel Hill, NC 27571

phone: 919 967 9394

Also...

I am honored that my oil painting, "Dappled Gate" (below) was accepted into the Fine Arts League of Cary Annual Juried Show. The reception is March 8 from 2-4 and the show will hang until April 18.

You may see more of my art at:

KarenMeredithArt.com

I welcome you to sign up, below, for this occasional blog and share it with your friends who might be interested. AND I invite you to (continue) to send  favorite photos you have taken and writings (inspiring, thought provoking, or humorous) 
 to me at kmeredithart@gmail.com.