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Underdoing
I began taking Qigong classes in late December. Qigong is an ancient Chinese healing practice that combines meditation, controlled breathing, and gentle movement. Roughly translated as the master of one’s energy, Qigong combines two important concepts of traditional Chinese medicine. Qi refers to vital life force, while gong means mastery or cultivation. The practice is… Continue reading
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Another January Finish
So happy to have my painting starts from June of last year serve as raw material for CutUps and come fully into their own magnificence all these months down the road in January. I use my paper trimmer to cut another card from one of the starts. I adhere three layers of tissue to veil… Continue reading
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Conversation Hearts
With Valentine’s Day coming, and shapes on my agenda, I’ve been playing with the heart symbol, an ideograph that’s—endearingly—an anatomically inaccurate shape. ❤️ You’re probably familiar with conversation hearts, those little candies imprinted with messages—BE MINE, KISS ME, FOR EVER. I’m using my blog as an art journal today to capture a different conversation, one… Continue reading
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Like Granddaughter, Like Grandmother, part 2
In the fiction category, tapping into Dave’s and my both enjoying the young adult novels of Chris Crutcher in recent months, Dave for the first time and I for the second and sometimes third time since 1992, we decided to give Caroline a copy of Crutcher’s earliest novel, … drumroll … Running Loose. Happy birthday,… Continue reading
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Like Granddaughter Like Grandmother, part 1
Early this month I texted Caroline, vis a vis her late January birthday when she’d turn 17: do you have any particular books you’re wishing for? or a category we could dip into? Her reply: Nothing in particular really, I like a surprise! I gravitate towards historical stuff and would like to read more fiction… Continue reading
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Like Grandmother Like Granddaughter
My granddaughter Caroline texted me in early January to wish me a happy new year and to tell me that at Christmas she and her good friend had “exchanged books and matching bookmarks with inspiration from your birthday gift for me last year so thought you’d like to see the results! Murder mystery from her… Continue reading
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… Find Me a Find, Catch Me a Catch!
Those of you who’ve followed me for any length of time are well aware of the fun I have painting bookmarks and then playing matchmaker on behalf of a bookmark and a book cover <https://dottyseiter.blogspot.com/2015/09/transformation.html>. Most often, the bookmarks I create are found compositions excavated from a larger piece that I’ve brought to my trusty… Continue reading
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I Think I Can, I Think I Can … !
You may be familiar with the American folktale of The Little Engine That Could, a story that celebrates optimism and hard work and whose signature line is “I think I can!” That little engine came to mind as I slogged through iteration after iteration of what eventually managed to chug chug chug up a mountain… Continue reading
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Love Doesn’t Come in a Minute
Don’t even ask. Bigtime struggle with this piece. Not exactly sure how I get in my own way but am sure I do. Eventually—after trying and failing, creating one problem after another, scrapping early ideas entirely, feeling sludgy and straight-jacketed, cursing more than once, laughing more than once, walking away more than once, walking toward… Continue reading
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Background Check
The background check on this CutUp indicates that it began its life as one of several painting starts created in June 2023. I had plans to take the starts on vacation … until the vacation got smoked out by Canadian wildfires! This week, a card cut from one of the starts auditioned to be cast… Continue reading
My Story
In 2014, I grab an unexpected opportunity to paint.
To make art.
I get hooked.
In 2015 I start a blog—a diary of my life as an artist.
I post my paintings and their stories. The good, the bad, the ugly.
My compass points: bust through fear, be playful, get messy, trust my gut.
dottyseiter: now playing 