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I drove all the way to Athens before I realized maybe I shouldn’t have done that. Since I don’t watch television, and my only local news is through my weekly paper (which I’m weeks behind on reading), I didn’t realize the gas shortages had extended outside of metro Atlanta. I was peripherally aware of what was going on but wasn’t at all worried about how it applied to me. Part of my blase attitude is probably due to the fact that we closed on our house the day it became apparent that Hurricane Katrina was going to cause gasoline shortages, and we moved, anyway. What else was there to do? It wasn’t all that bad. Then, I passed roughly 10 gas stations on the way from our apartment to the interstate. Even at the worst times, at least one of those stations had gas.

. . . and it wasn’t all that bad in Athens, either. The first gas station I tried had regular unleaded, although they were sold out of the higher grades. I had enough gas to get home, anyway, but I decided to fill up just in case. A few miles on, there was a gas station that, as far as I could tell, had plenty of gas and few customers. These “spotty shortages” are truly spotty so far in Athens. I guess I’ll return to my state of indifference, at least until I’m down to 1/4 tank again. If I avoid trips to Athens, that could be months from now, as I only pretty much only drive there and to the grocery store, but since church is in Athens, I suspect the gas will go faster than that.

In other news, Dogwood Tree was featured at RedBubble in the Rivers, Lakes, and Dams group, and Boat was featured in the Impressionist Art group. When art is “featured” there, it goes on the front page of the group because the group moderator(s) likes it. I’m honored.

Dogwood Tree
A.M. Otwell, 2008
Acrylic on canvas
10 x 10 inches, gallery wrapped
Original $400

I finished this up last night. The square format and small size don’t really lend themselves to the types of prints available on RedBubble, so I’ve just made the original available; no prints this time.

This was from a reference photo I took earlier this year at Lake Oconee near Wallace Dam. The reference photo had a lot more white in it (the sky, the far bank) that competed with the blossoms, so I had to make a lot of changes. When I get this far from the “real” photo, it sometimes feels like I’m walking a tightrope and that I might lose my balance and end up with a not-very-good painting, but I’m pretty happy with the result this time around.

While I’ve been painting, I’ve been listening to a beautiful piece of music, Ave Generosa, over and over again, trying to learn it before the choir I just joined sings it Sunday morning. I haven’t been in a choir in a LONG time, and I’m really rusty at reading music, much less trying to sing in Latin! It’s so beautiful, though. Embedding has been disabled, but you can hear it on YouTube here. I’m not sure if the viewer can “see” any of the music in the painting, but I think this painting and that music are forever intertwined in my mind.

And, of course, it’s September 11. I was remiss in preparing a blog post for today, but I have NOT forgotten the day or those who died, and I am grateful for the heroic responses of emergency personnel that day and every day, as well as the soldiers who serve our country and protect our freedom. God has blessed this country richly with heroes, and I pray that He continues to bless the USA.

The latest Georgia Blog Carnival (#41) posted today, and Elementary History Teacher was kind enough to share my painting of Nick and Lark with everyone. Thanks, EHT!

Also, Lord willing, this evening I will get the last few images uploaded to my redbubble gallery. However, if I’ve left out one of your favorites, please let me know, and I’ll upload it. I’m not leaving out the possibility that I might find an odd piece here and there that I forgot about that I want to share, but for the most part, I expect my future additions to redbubble to be new material.

That’s all the announcements for now. Have a great weekend!

According to this AJC article, Georgia residents will be able to purchase wine online starting on July 1.

While my favorite California wineries, including Pedroncelli and Sausal, haven’t yet updated their web sites to reflect this change, I am sure that they will work with Georgia residents to fill orders under the new law as soon as it goes into effect.

Cheers!

Jefferson and I near Wallace Dam at the end of March. (Thanks, Elizabeth!)

Here.

Greensboro, Georgia, in March, 2007
A.M. Otwell, 2007

More about Greensboro here.

Here.

I was starting to think it would never snow in Greensboro. Since we’ve been here, Greensboro has generally been at least a degree or two warmer than metro Atlanta, so even when there has been winter weather there, there hasn’t been any here.

I took this picture of Percy in the back yard right after it started snowing. It got too dark for pictures, but we got a light dusting that turned everything white. It’ll likely be gone by morning.

(By the way, those lights in the background are from our local library. Others might disagree, but I think we’ve got one of the best locations in town!)

Edition 22 is here.