Dick Blick Art Contest

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Just a reminder: It's okay to leave comments!

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Many artists in the US are familiar with the Dick Blick art supply business. I buy stuff there myself from time to time. Unlike Amazon, what I purchase from them usually arrives undamaged. I consider that a plus.

As a promotion, they are holding a contest (or "challenge" as they call it, probably for legal reasons) for US citizens through October for pen and ink drawings.

You can submit a new one each day. If yours is selected, you could win art supplies. Sounds like a way to get your work noticed (without a lot of effort or expense) and you might even get something for it. There is a gallery if you just want to browse the submissions.

You can get the details here: DICK BLICK PEN & INK CHALLENGE

I don't receive anything for promoting this, but I might see if I can dig up a picture to send in!

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© 2017 K. R. Smith All rights reserved

Dear American Diabetes Association

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Just a reminder: It’s okay to leave comments!

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I hadn't planned on writing another blog post so soon, but it seems another public service announcement is in order.

A few weeks back, I was going through my mail. It was full of letters from various charities, each asking for a donation. This isn't unusual. I get about a dozen requests per week. Most get recycled.

One of them, however, was from the American Diabetes Association. What caught my eye were the mailing labels they sent. A lot of charities give mailing labels as a bribe an incentive to donate. If I kept all the mailing labels I get from charities I'd need to rent a warehouse to store them. These were different. They had classic motorcycles and cars on them. I'm old enough that I'd actually driven and ridden on some of those machines. They are the best mailing labels I've ever received.

Cool mailing labels

I was hooked. I had to give them a donation. I was doing my civic duty and all that crap. In addition, another writer I know, Beth Rhodes, is a diabetic, so helping her, albeit indirectly, was a plus.

As an added bonus, if you donated a certain amount you'd get a free tote bag. Now, I need another tote bag like I need more mailing labels, but it was part of the deal and I planned on accepting it graciously.

So, I sent in my check.

A couple of weeks later I found a tote bag wedged into my mailbox.

The original bag...

It's an OK tote bag. It, you know, holds stuff. So far, so good.

I thought that was the end of it.

Today, I found out differently.

After coming home and parking the car, I went to the mailbox. I could see it wasn't closed. There was a package sticking out. I removed the item. What did I find but another tote bag. Great. I didn't need one; now I have two.

I went back for the rest of my mail.

And found another tote bag.

And another.

And another.

The other four...

I had so many bags I needed a bag to hold them. Sadly, this was not a problem.

I don't know how the mail person got them all in there. The mail I wanted was in the mailbox, too. Looked like the dog had chewed on it—and I don't have a dog.

Standing at the mailbox, I pondered the significance of this event. Had the ADA sent out five tote bags to everyone who had donated? Was the USPS about to succumb to a burden they couldn't possibly handle? Did I get someone else's tote bag? Or, should I say, four other people's tote bags? Would the ADA go bankrupt from the postage fees? What should I do? I'm not even sure if my donation is tax-deductible now since the value of the bags is probably more than what I sent.

It says they're a non-profit organization.
If they weren't before, they are now.

Someone at the ADA had made a terrible mistake and it was all my fault because I had given a donation. I felt so guilty about what I'd done I went to the ADA website and made another donation. I figure the way they're handing out tote bags they'll need it.

And if you haven't donated to the ADA yet, you might want to—before it's too late—for them. Just make sure you say "no" to the tote bag.

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© 2017 K. R. Smith All rights reserved

Artsy Weekend

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I had a busy weekend! Not writing, but relaxing.

I attended two shows: The Fleetwood Mac concert at Verizon Center on Friday and the musical play Little Dancer at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts on Saturday.

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Fleetwood Mac

This is their first tour since Christine McVie rejoined the band, so I wanted to see them. They have a few years on them, so you never know if you'll get another chance. I snapped a few pictures with my old camera phone, but they don't show much.

Stevie Nicks

Lindsey Buckingham

At closing - Christine McVie sitting at keyboard on left

I have to say, they sounded better than the last time I saw them. That's been a while, and Christine McVie was not with them for that concert. And Christine sounded stronger than when I heard her before and I can't even remember how long ago that was. Not bad for someone in their seventies. Perhaps the hiatus was good for her.

When they first started, the sound was a little muddied—something I've noticed during other concerts at the Verizon Center. The sound seemed to be better during the last half of the concert as if the sound crew did a little tuning as things progressed. Still, the Verizon Center is not the best place to listen to music. (Works great for hockey games...)

The songs selected were all of the Fleetwood Mac standards—The Chain, Dreams, Go your Own Way, Landslide, etc., so there were no surprises. It was a good show, however, and especially so for the older Fleetwood Mac fans. Despite a lot of younger attendees, there was a definite "graying" of the crowd to which I must admit my own contribution.

The hall appeared to be sold out, or nearly so. Since they've already made plans to return here in a few months for another show, the DC area must be a successful venue for them. And I'm betting they'll sell out again.

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Little Dancer

I saw this play at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. If you've never been to the Kennedy Center, there is a lot of white marble and gold paint. Some parts look like the world's biggest mausoleum.

By Tom (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons

 

The play is about the dancer that became the model for Edgar Degas' sculpture La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans (Little Dancer Aged Fourteen).  From the web site:

Part fact, part fiction, and set in the harsh backstage world of the Paris Opera Ballet, this world premiere Kennedy Center musical is inspired by the story of Marie van Goethem, a young ballerina who posed for Edgar Degas and became, inadvertently, the most famous dancer in the world. Torn by her family's poverty, her debt to the artist, and the lure of wealthy men, she struggles to keep her place in the corps de ballet--a girl on the verge of womanhood, caught between the conflicting demands of life and art.

Edgar Degas [Public domain or CC-BY-2.0
 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons

I had mixed feelings about the play. The actors, singers, and dancer did a great job, but many of the songs, while very nice, are not memorable. You probably won't be humming them a few days later was you might after seeing other musicals. The story makes the play worth seeing, but probably only once. If you like dance, it will satisfy you. There is a long dance number in the second act that would tax a marathon runner, yet the dancers in this group did it without appearing the slightest bit out of breath. The small orchestra gave a wonderful performance.

The play is tied to an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art where the original wax sculpture and other works of Degas will be displayed through January 11, 2015.

As a disclaimer, I wish to say that I am not a person who attends many plays or knows a lot about them. These are only my uneducated opinions.

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© 2012-2014 K. R. Smith All rights reserved