"Octopus"

I went to Chicago for a work conference.  Lectures, vendor meetings, fancy dinners (including an octopus appetizer)... but let's get the important part -- I saw a couple of my college buddies!!  Woo Hoo! YAY!!!

Chris, Alex, and I talked and laughed.  I am so glad to see them again after so many years and my heart is bursting with happiness to see them.  I would've liked to see more college friends in Chicago, but time was limited.  We are inspired by the 1981 class' reunion and blog site and want to do our own reunion.  We don't have photos from back in the day because we were too poor for luxuries like cameras and film, but if you were at Columbus College of Art and Design (CCAD) around the time of the graduating class of 1983 let us know if you're interested in a reunion and/or have photos. We're inclusive and would like to see everybody we knew and loved back then, including the 1981 folks.  I'll make a blog for photos if anyone sends them.

I got to see some of Chris (Koronich) Nye's recent work when I was in Chicago.  See her website here.

Chris' work is expressive and happy, and I'll admit I'm a bit jealous that she paints what she wants and has found a market for it.  She combines her other interests in interior design, faux finishes, and yoga instruction into a cohesive plan for survival and self-expression.  She does what she wants artistically and in every other way.

I roamed around her house and contemplated her paintings, which I suppose is the real beauty of them.  They are beautiful in themselves, but they're also contemplative like Japanese landscapes which are intended to be viewed during meditations.  I wandered around in Chris' yard and stroked the lavender to get the calming scent on my hands.  When I went back inside with my lavender hands and there were the paintings again with all the colors of the garden.  They're suggestive, calming, exciting, and inspiring.

When I worked with naturalists, they liked to tell me to do things in "natureful colors".  I'd tell them that all colors are in nature, but they really just wanted tans, browns, and greens.  Chris' paintings have hot yellow chartreuses, purples, reds... an explosion of truly "natureful" colors.

Sometimes I throw paint around.  It's a happy activity that I don't take very seriously when I do it myself.  Sometimes I'll even hang one of those paintings, but I want people to notice things I've labored over, not the things I just had fun doing.  Another of my friends has scolded me for my wrong-headed attitude.  She says people enjoy it when I have fun with paint and also that other people can't do it.  No matter the people who say their kid could do it.  Let your kid try then.  There's a lot to be said for an expensive college education that taught us about color and design, right?

This all made crystal clear sense to me when I looked at Chris' paintings.  Sometimes I can do something similar, but it isn't the same, and I'll be the first to say Chris' paintings are better.  She understands things about interior spaces that I don't.  Her color choices are wonderful.  She brings flowers to life through suggestion.  I've got a blank canvas.  I think I'll follow her inspiration and throw some paint around!

Standing in front of the Chicago "Bean"

The octopus is just a doodle.  I don't want to take away from the beauty of Chris' art this week.