Loving One Another

Archive for the ‘art’ Category

Montana Art Walk


Yesterday was the last of the Ennis, Montana Art Walks for 2020. I attended three gallery’s showings and enjoyed seeing several artists at work. I thought you might enjoy walking along with me. So, here we go…

Peggy and Frank Giblin own this gallery.
Artist, Sherrill Gold’s “Wolf.”
Sherry’s paintings of animals are my favorites.
The art on display was for sale.
Here is more of Sherry’s work.
Gerry Mooney and Patsy Eckert chatted at the refreshments table.
Gerry is an extraordinary photographer
and Patsy’s watercolors are wonderful!

Leaving the Cattleman’s Gallery, I proceeded to Gallery 287 owned by Cathy Toot.

Sue Kinn-Brown was there,
working on her pottery.
Sue is an active member
(the vice-president)
of our Ennis Arts Association
EAA.
I don’t know this gentleman’s name,
but I love the glass art of fish.
Fun to see the weaver at work.
A lovely display of necklaces
A belt buckle for every occasion
One of my favorite cowboy paintings
I think this painting of cows is by Margie Reck, another of our EAA members.
I like it, don’t you?
I love the way Margaret Casolara embosses the spoons.
I have one of these with bees on it!
BK was set up to make jewelry right there.
BJ Goodman demonstrated her felt pillow art.
Beautiful stuff!! I love that rooster.

Before the Art Walk on that busy Friday, I participated in a rally on the lawn by our Ennis fisherman at the town’s triangle. Some of the local Democratic candidates were there waving flags and holding up signs with about 25 of us patriotic Madison Valley residents. It was time to “Put your body where your mouth is!” Just putting your money out there to support the candidates of your choice is not enough – ever – but particularly this election year. We need to be brave enough to advocate for our blue candidates in this red state!

A group picture was taken earlier. I wonder if it will appear in our local newspaper?

We waved our flags, smiled at passersby and motorists, and gave thumbs up. Many returned our smiles and honked their horns and gave us a return thumbs up. About 1/3 gave us a thumbs down. Another portion just drove by avoiding eye contact or any kind of reaction. Fortunately I only received one middle-finger-salute!

I figure that guy who gave me the F-U sign was probably the same one who wrote and posted this sign.

And with that, I conclude my “Art Walk” with you.
I hope you enjoyed it…
and you are having a Stupendous Saturday.
What are you doing to “Walk the Talk” in your world today?

See ya later.
Love, JanBeek
(and Bob, too)

Peace and Joy to you, my friends!
Enjoy this gorgeous rendition of “Let there be Peace on Earth.”
(The second half is a little boy’s gorgeous voice. So enchanting!)
Let me walk with you in perfect harmony!

Category:

art, children, friendship, Living in Harmony, Love, Montana, music, peace

Tagged with:

Can You Bee an Artist?


Can you bee an artist?
Maybe you already are!
How about beeing a bee artist?

We may not all be endowed with the skill to play the piano like this, or … (hang in there and keep listening)… another guy plays the Flight of the BumbleBee on several different sized trombones. It just gets more and more unbelievable. WOW!!! It’ll leave you smiling. How does he do that?

Maybe your artistic talent doesn’t lean toward music, but you’re good at painting and drawing. You can bee a bee artist like Luisa Fernanda Otero Prada. Isn’t this colorful art enchanting?

Here is another bee by artist Luisa Fernanda Otero Prada

Sometimes it’s not music or painting or drawing that makes us artists, but the ability to write – to put words together creatively for entertainment or education, inspiration or just to vent. I recently found a new blogger named Amy who wrote about bees on her post:

The secret of natural honey and good health

I wrote her and told her she was “spot on” about the health benefits of honey, but honey doesn’t make good candles! They’re ineffective and sticky and they don’t burn. Nope! It’s the bees wax, not the honey. She was kind and wrote back to say she believed me :o)

I have written on the subject of bees many times, too, because (as many of you know), my husband Bob is a retired beekeeper. With a name like Beekman (Bee-keeper-man), how could he bee otherwise?

Bob grew up on a “Honey Farm” and learned the relationship between natural honey and good health at a very young age. “Bee”ing a good beekeeper is an art of its own!!

I found some pictures from the family farm on this search: https://www.yelp.com/biz/beekman-and-beekman-hughson But discovered that internet site name is “unclaimed.” Hmmm… I know they have a website that has been claimed. I’ll have to keep looking.

This is definitely the honey that was produced by the bees of Bob & his brother, Bruce, (and now his nephew, Matt) and it is bottled and sold at the ranch in Hughson, California in their tasting room. Bruce’s wife, Ann, is the brains and creativity behind the Tasting Room/Honey House and the Beekman&Beekman label.

Matt’s wife, Sarah, is actively involved with him as a beekeeper. She raises queens (that’s a topic for a future blog) and she travels with him to North Dakota where Matt & Sarah take some of their bees for the summer. She’s a wonderful example of a mom who cooks with honey!

It’s an art to create an attractive label and an inviting “Honey House” and it is an art to be a good salesperson! It’s an art to take beautiful photos of people, products and places.

California sage – by Beekman and Beekman
Beekman & Beekman Honey farm also has lavender products
and a beautiful field of lavender just south of the house.

Bee Honey Wise

I kept searching and I did find the actual Beekman family website at http://www.beekmanandbeekman.com … It’s been 15 years since Bob retired as a partner in this bee business, but honey runs through our veins after a lifetime with bees and beekeeping!

On the Beekman website I found a link to another way to Bee an Artist… Culinary Arts! There is a link to “Cooking with Honey” that gives you tips on how to do so successfully.

Go to the website and learn more!

Bob reminded me that Bruce & Matt are not the only Beekman beekeepers and that I should not forget to mention his nephew, Bryan, who is one of California’s largest beekeepers. He has over 10,000 hives that he places all over California’s central valley, mid-coast, and southern CA. Bryan and his wife, Michele, also have a honey sales room. In the area outside Fresno, CA, the Honey Hut is a unique place in Sanger, CA. You should consider visiting it if you are ever in that area. You can learn more about Bryan at http://www.fcfb.org/About-Us/BoardMembers/Beekman.php

Bryan and his cousin, Matt, are members of co-op, Sioux Bee Honey.

You can Bee an Artist in so many ways – with:

  1. Music
  2. Visual Arts
  3. The Written Word
  4. Culinary Arts
  5. Photography
  6. What can you add?
Bee Clever!!!

Have a BEEutiful Sunday.
Go to church and worship God!
Thank Him for all the artists who enhance our lives!

See ya later.
Love, JanBEEkman

Category:

art, Family, food, God, health, learning, Love, music, photography, writing

Tagged with:

Color, Music & Life’s Fascination


· Shared with PublicArtist Melissa S. McCracken is a synesthete — she can see sounds in brilliant color, and she actually paints songs.

I found this to be fascinating.
I hope it was interesting to you, too.
I love sharing things that are fascinating to me.

Here are some other things that fascinate or intrigue me:

Easy Moussaka Recipe

These things pique my interest
and make me want to try them
or learn more about them
or at least share them with you.

I want to share my sense of hope with you
in these troubled times
and help you overcome any fears
that may be haunting you.

Little kids with exceptional talent always fascinate me!
Check out this adorable violinist!
Not always right spot on…
but hey!
He’s playing from memory
and
he’s only three!!

I hope some of these selections fascinated you, too.
Share with me something you are fascinated by, will you?

Have a Wonderful Week.
See safe!
Bee well!
Bee Happy!

Sending you my love,
JanBeek

Category:

art, blessings, children, food, happiness, Life's Challenges, Living in Harmony, Love, mental health, music

Tagged with:

Travel With Me


Please travel with me
To some far away places
Escape for a day

Dream of the places
You can virtually go
And venture out there

Play with animals
Get up close and personal
Through someone’s lenses

But beware the heights
The danger that lurks above
The eye of the storm!

I prefer my feet
To securely stand on ground
Imagination!

Stones of the Madagascar Ocean

You collect the rocks
You dive to the sea’s bottom
I’ll enjoy your find!

Thanks for visiting
And venturing out with me
Have a lovely day!

TazE thanks you, too.

Come again tomorrow.
Let’s see where we feel like going then.
Love, JanBeek

Category:

Animals, art, flowers, Haiku, Love, mountains, nature, pets, photography, Poetry, Sharing, Travel

Tagged with:

Gold Art


Artist Tawny Chatmon is phenomenal!! I was introduced to her work today, and I just have to share it with you. My blog is about how we can increase our love for one another. Well, one way is to love and appreciate the shared talents of others.

Tawny Embellished with Gold Garments and Ornate Backdrops these wonderful photos. I am in awe!!

The girls are soooo beautiful! I wish I could have copied the art work in its entirety… but you get the idea. Be sure and check out the blue link above because it’s the rest of the photo (the dresses) the show you the artist’s embellishments. So gorgeous!

Aren’t they beautiful??

I hope you enjoyed these lovely young ladies as much as I did. If you haven’t done so already, go to the link at the top and see the full photos. I could only show you the top of each!

Have a good day.


I have surgery
on my hernia
at 12:45 pm Mountain Time
today.
❤ Prayers appreciated! ❤


I send my love and hugs,
Jan Beekman

Category:

art, Love, photography

Tagged with:

Stone Art


I know a lot of you love art as much as I do.
I am the president of our Ennis Arts Association.
As such, I rub elbows with a lot of talented people.
Today I met a new artist: Akie from Japan.
I LOVE her art!
Take a look:

Akie Nakata Stone Paintings Tiny Animal Sculptures

Japanese artist Akie Nakata (known simply as Akie) transforms found stones into animals you can hold in the palm of your hand. Isn’t this amazing? You thought it was a real bird at first, huh? I did, too.

Here are some more of the rock art creations:

Which of them do you like best?
Have you ever tried painting on rocks?


Today I am having a COVID-19 test. I have no symptoms,
but the test is required before I can have surgery.
I am scheduled to have a hernia repaired on Tuesday.
Should be a simple in-out procedure.

Please keep me in prayer that the robot knows what it’s doing.
I’ll keep you posted.

Hope you are having a Marvelous Monday.
Love,
JanBeek

Category:

Animals, art, Love, Sharing

Tagged with:

Shared Sunsets & Sunrises


My good friend, Lisa, who lives in North Carolina, sent me this sunset video last night. I was home here in Montana on a dark, stormy night… missing the chance to see a sunset here… and along came this gift:

Yes, it is God’s gift of love!

In the past, Lisa has sent other sunsets … and a lot of sunrises … along with prayers for blessings and health and happiness. What a wonderful friend!

My collection of sunsets and sunrises come to you with prayers and love, too.

If you love the way God chooses to start and end each day as much as I do, let me share with you other sunsets I’ve received:

And I love sunrises just as much. Let me share a couple of those with you:

Fran McNeill’s sunrise

I shared that last one with you a couple weeks ago, but I couldn’t talk about sunrises and not include hers. Talk about beautiful! Isn’t God the greatest artist ever??

So, whether you are ready for your next sunset, like we are here in Montana, or your next sunrise, like my daughter in Switzerland, let God’s handiwork amaze you…

… and share your love of the Light with all you meet. Have a blessed day – and a restful night. I’ll see you tomorrow.

Virtual hugs from
JanBeek

Category:

art, blessings, Faith, Family, friendship, Giving, Gratitude, Living in Harmony, Love, Montana, mountains, nature, peace, prayer, relationships, Sharing

Tagged with:

Sky Writing


Paul Holdorf clouds

The day began in wondrous splendor

With a sky of amazing hue

It carried on until the evening

Mixing gray with white with blue.

The sunrise was super amazing

Grab the camera! Catch the gleam!

Find the Angels in formation

Rays extend in glorious beam.

You might wonder at the Master

Who created all we see.

How’d He come up with these paintings

That He shares with you and me?  


Sharing Our Writing

Today my Writers’ Group friend, Janet Muirhead Hill, joined me to share what we’ve been working on. (I was disappointed that three others who might have joined us were unavailable today. Hopefully they’ll be here for our next meeting).

I was inspired to write the poem you see above. Janet shared the book she has just completed and published, Prism. It was started by her deceased sister, Joan Bochmann, who knowing she was leaving this earth before she could complete it, asked Janet to promise she’d finish it for her. Here it is… available on Amazon … I have my own autographed copy… yay!

Janet's Prism

Writing Together

During our time together, Janet and I used a prompt by

Clint Bulongo, life’s adventure world.

Hi — life’s adventure Zambia.

and we finished these two incomplete sentences:

  1. It is the world outside where we find …
  2. It is the world inside where we find …

Do click on Clint’s link above and see how he finished those sentences. His site is a new discovery. Living in Africa, his photos are phenomenal, and the way he helps us glimpse at his beautiful country through his words and photos is such a gift!

I wrote the following using his prompts:

“It is the world outside where we find
birds, trees, clouds, friends, travel opportunities, and space.
It is the world inside where we find
peace, God, self-confidence, acceptance, and opportunities.
We are especially blessed when
from the inside
we can hear and see the birds,
we can look out at trees, clouds and blue sky,
we can feel peace and acceptance from friends,
we can plan travel and invite friends to travel here,
and from the inside
we have space to grow spiritually
and the self-confidence to capture opportunities to do so.”

From the inside, we remain child-like,
free to paint as well as write,
free to dance as well as stand,
free to openly express our true selves.
Free!

Dance and Create

After that initial activity prompted by Clint Bulongo’s blog, we tried our hand at creating “Eifchen.” This form of poetry was introduced to me this morning by bigskybuckeyeLifeElfchen

Life’s Snapshots (Elfchen Series #19)

Using his definition of this German-inspired poetry, Janet and I wrote our own “Elevenies.” I wish I had saved hers to share with you. Richard, at bigskybuckeye had three of them on his post. Here’s one of his:

Change

Overwhelmed
Life’s pace
Quickens and races
Time to reorder life’s
Priorities

And here is one that I wrote:

Eleven

Numbers
Bear meaning
Forty is magical
Seven represents God’s completion
Prioritize

Try your hand at an “Eifchen”! Dance with it freely, like my Boston Terrier, Taze, is dancing up there. Don’t let anything stifle you!!

After sharing our “Elevenies,” we read to one another some samples we brought with us of writing we had been working on at home.

Share Your Writing

Janet shared an introduction she has written to go with her book, Prism.

Then I shared some of my journal writing. One of the things I shared was the peace prayer of St. Francis of Assisi sung by Susan Boyle. Janet was not familiar with Susan’s angelic voice. This is too beautiful to keep to myself. I’ve shared it with you before, but it is worth hearing again:

I sang along with the words to the song, written on a page in my journal. Janet listened – enthralled – to this gorgeous rendition of the prayer.

Then Janet said, “Oh yes, I used to have that prayer memorized. Haven’t thought about it in a while.”

Time to put those words in our souls, my friends.

Make Me a Channel of Your Peace, Lord.
Help me seek to console,
to understand,
to bring hope and light,
and to just love!

Do you have a place for writing,
and people who love to write
with whom to share your writing?
Tell me about it – and them.

See ya tomorrow.
Love, JanBeek

Category:

art, blessings, blogging, friendship, Giving, God, Gratitude, learning, Living in Harmony, Love, music, Poetry, prayer, relationships, Serving One Another, Sharing, writing

Tagged with:

Fun Blog Award


I was nominated to participate in this fun blog post. I was nominated by https://charlotteannrobinson.com/ Check out her blog. It is fun, inspiring, upbeat, and always worth the read.

When she answered the question, “What are your ten favorite feelings?” she added graphics to each answer. She made it fun to learn these things about her. You will enjoy seeing them.

Rules:

Simply list 10 of your favorite feelings and then pass on the nomination to one or more of your favorite bloggers!

JanBeek’s 10 favorite feelings:
  1. peacefulness
  2. loving and being loved
  3. compassion
  4. empathy
  5. faithfulness
  6. gratitude
  7. generosity
  8. joyfulness
  9. self-confidence
  10. interdependence

I find peacefulness in Derrick’s garden. He shares wonderful pictures of the work he and Jackie do almost every day there. Their relationship demonstrates the reality and importance of interdependence. We all need one another!!

I love looking for Nugget, their feathered friend. When Derrick’s not in the garden, he shows us his travels through the countryside in his area of Great Britain. I nominate him for best daily inspirational post… derrickjknight

Hello Nugget!

.

Have a beautiful day, my friends.
Enjoy Singing Sky Photography at
https://www.facebook.com/singingskyphotography
His is one of my favorite Facebook sites.

See ya later.

Thank you, Charlotte!!

Category:

art, Awards, blogging, flowers, friendship, Gratitude, Love, Montana, peace, photography, Sharing, writing

Tagged with:

I Love Good Art


“Good art is as close as people get to overcoming mortality.”
Nick J. Wood

Photo by Fiona Art on Pexels.com

How do we recognize “Good Art”?

Nick J. Wood wrote on his WordPress blog, Artfully Bridging The Ages — The Nature Of Art,
“… although the styles of expression change, it is the way it (art) touches the inner-self, the part normally obscured by mundane routine that confirms it as having artistic value.”

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Architecture is art as much as creating sculptures or painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I believe “good art” preserves history in a myriad of ways.

Photo by TravelingTart on Pexels.com

Sewing is an art. I have a quilt hand-sewn by Bob’s mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother in 1933. Talk about history preserved!

Photo by Gustavo Fring on Pexels.com

Photography definitely is an art. The way it preserves history is evident.

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

Yes, art takes on many forms; and artists come in every color, age and size. Who decides if you are an artist or not?

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

Is poetry an art? Nick J. Wood posted this video on his blog. I love the poem and the voice recording it. Listen! You’ll love it, too.

How about gardening? Is it an art? Ask my friends, Lexi Sundell or Nancy Smrka, with their greenhouses… They’ll tell you! Ask Bob as he tends our spring flowers.

What about cooking? Yes, they call it “culinary arts” for a reason! My son-in-law, Andre’ is a chef who creates the most delicious, artistic plates imaginable. (This isn’t one of his… but you get the idea)

Music is an art, too. Through their gift of song and instrument, musical artists live on long after they have left this earth. Karen Carpenter died young. She suffered from anorexia. But she has overcome mortality – her voice lives forever in my heart.

Karen Carpenter
“How Could Anyone Mean More to Me than You?”
“One Love”

I love good art –
art in all its many forms.
And I love artists.
They are so predictable …

Hah! Don’t be fooled. This is a cute little cartoon/meme, but with artists being as diverse as they are, believe me, they are ANYTHING but predictable!

Here is an artist I love. He has a special spot in my heart. He and his wife, Lexi paint, garden, make jewelry, and create art by their very existence. Bernie Sundell is one of the first persons we met when we moved here. He helped Bob select and buy and go to Idaho Falls to buy his drift boat. He tutored him on rowing and casting and catching fish on the Madison and he painted a fabulous picture of Bob that hangs in our dining room. Here’s artist, fisherman, friend Bernie:

And here is the painting of Bob on the Madison River.
Bernie created it after one of their memorable outings.
It’s a beautiful rainbow trout –
but here it’s only catch and release!
Toss it back in, Bob!

Can you see why this painting
touches my “inner self”?
Bob & Bernie will live immortally in it!

Do you have a favorite form of art?
A favorite artist?
Do you create art?
Tell me about it.

Have a Terrific Tuesday.
See ya later.
JanBeek

Category:

art, Fishing, flowers, food, friendship, Love, Montana, photography, relationships

Tagged with:

Tag Cloud

%d bloggers like this: