I've had a sleeve of slides lying around for, I don't know how long. Old stuff. Not the oldest stuff, but college days, and a couple of years after that, I finally had them scanned and emailed to me. As it is anytime you go through your old photos, it's quite a trip down memory lane and it carries its own sense of vertigo. We still have some undeveloped film around here, who knows what it holds. But slides were the way of things if you wanted to show your work.

My dear sister, Lynette, deserves credit for most of my artwork photos. I miss the days when I used to write art columns at the ISU Daily and Lynette's photographs would go along with the articles. When I wrote I had to physically go to the Journalism building, hard to imagine, to enter it into the Daily's system using a markup language (basically, html). I think they paid $6 an article. Nothing critical, just informative. It was fun.

Since those days, we've done lots of other stuff. And I'll say that Lynette has always been the most supportive of people you could know. Thank you, Lynette.

In fact, over the course of time, one of the things you come to realize, if you're smart, is that nothing you've ever done matters as much as your relationships with those who cared about you.

The top right image was a silkscreen monoprint using newsprint and an innovation I created using a piston to push ink through the screen. That was in 1983. I don't know what's happened to the original that was sold to Norwest Bank, later "Northwest" bank (since 1998, merged with Wells Fargo).

Other works that I enjoyed seeing again were plays on decay and the idea of using sticks as bone and cloth impregnated with fiberglass and painted with acrylic as skin. That was in 1987. They were all very organic and abstract. Inspired by a dead bird I saw outside of our apartment in Pammel Court at ISU.

As I have reviewed these I've been thinking that they've held up well over time and deserve a new life in a new way. That'll be fun.

I'm pretty easy to work with. I try to make it simple and easy for people who know me. But...some of the ways people build collections and make transactions are fascinating. Buying and selling art.

I'm planning on a May-June exhibit at Dog Eared Books. I've been thinking about flyers and details. But, I love these people. I hear all the time, "that is my favorite bookstore!" It's one of those places that plants itself in your head and heart. Dog Eared Books

It's hard to look at a painting on its side. Things have changed quite a bit, and no doubt will change some more. That is a brocade veil on the arm of the figure on the left that will sweep toward the arm of the male figure on the right. Obviously, no figure is yet completed. This is one of those paintings that I have no idea what will happen next.

While I visited my sister, Lynette, and my brother-in-law, Larry, I was treated to another visit with their friend, Andy, who grinds and polishes precious stones. I was interested because of my work with glass flowers and integrating them with copper, but I also found wonder and possibilities in what he was doing. A true artist, he works with these stones because of love. There's also an element of surprise when you discover something in nature that has been hiding for millions of years.

And I found an appreciation for all things rock as well. These things are always surprising. Like coprolites. Fossilized dinosaur poop (which is not the picture on the right). That's a different fossil.

And, of course, this is Andy, an altogether different kind of fossil and totally polished. Sorry, I couldn't resist. Becky loves the earrings. I can't wait until I can find some of these on my own and see where they take me.

Thanks, Andy.

You've likely heard, "the only constant is change." It doesn't have to be dramatic, change just happens. One moment to the next. A new sunrise and sunset, encapsulated between "now" and...

I hope you're safe and well,

Dick