Vamp until ready.  When playing piano, this is a what you do until the main theme comes around, the singer begins or the other instruments join you. 

 I consider my art accomplishments as “vamping” for  awhile now.  I’ve managed to fulfill some contracts for commissioned works, but the muse has avoided me for quite some time.  However, even though I’m vamping (or dog-paddling in place), I can still help others exhibit their works.

That’s how CONNECTED was created.  We had a great show October, 2009 at the Bay Leaf Cafe in Spearfish, SD with more than a dozen artists.  Above is a photo of Margie Litzen, Anita and me at that reception.  Margie’s painting of a cat was the first sale at that show.  Anita’s “Wonderful Wire” jewelry was a top seller.

CONNECTED, too just opened on Friday, July 1, with another terrific reception. I hope you have a chance to swing by the Bay Leaf, which is just off Main Street in Spearfish on West Hudson Street.  The works will be up until July 31.

 You’ll get to see oil paintings by Sue Sasso.  That’s her work showing Spearfish Canyon at the top of this posting.

There are three new works by Beth Lytle.  “Pensive Pause” is her work depicting a Tibetan child.

(It’s been so long since I’ve written a post that I can’t get the photos into the body copy, but I wanted you to see some of these beautiful works.)  Anita has returned with new pendants, the new artists are Lander Solon and Jackie Kriebel.  Laurie Williams-Hayes and I return with new works, as well as a terrific new display from the clients of the Susie Cappa Center of Black Hills Workshop.  By the way, everything you see is an ORIGINAL, and yes, they are for sale.

I may not be creating any great masterpieces right now, but I can still organize and promote a  nice exhibit.  Special thanks to Taffy Tucker and French Bryan for inviting me back.  This is where we started and it’s always a treat to return.

I welcome your comments and suggestions on this site.  THANKS. mlt

Posted on July 4th, 2010 by Marie Louise
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Posted on December 5th, 2008 by Marie Louise
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This is a photo of my student Ruby at the first BlizzAid concert on November 16. She also showed up for BlizzAid- Holiday Edition on November 30.  It’s such a great shot and I couldn’t get it loaded onto the Piano Polish website, so I thought I’d take advantage of this blog….otherwise it is driving me crazy.

I just cleaned out 73 comments to the blog.  Need I mention that they had NOTHING to do with you or me? Let’s face it, I am too sensitive to read all those rude things!

I am going to use this blog for one last indulgence during the month of December and then tell my webmaster to “shut ‘er down”.  Since I now have a blog about piano playing on the Rapid City Journal site AND I already have good connections with the folks who get my newsletter, I see no reason to keep this up.

I just completed  a painting for the holiday season - can’t give you details until I have presented it as a gift.

Posted on December 1st, 2008 by Marie Louise
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For three bright summer mornings, my yard has turned into a place for piano students to explore their creativity.  We sing, dance, paint and build.  Day One we learned about the color wheel and different kinds of painting. On Day Two everyone tried Abstract Expressionism. (above left)

  Of course, we spent time reviewing notes, musical symbols and the keyboard.  To make it fun, we tumbled into the yard and had several rousing games of Sidewalk Monopoly which challenged our knowledge.  The first winner was the youngest member. (above right)

  This year’s crazy activity was learning how to hammer a nail into a chunk of 2×4.  With two 6-year-olds, an 8-year-old and three 9-year-olds, my assistants Sarah and Rhye were kept busy protecting fingers. When parents/grandparents picked up their prodigies today, they were properly impressed by the benches and tables that had been created.

Congratulations Campers.  Everybody gets an A.  My assistants get an A plus!

I’ll try to get the video up another day.

Thanks. mlt

Posted on August 21st, 2008 by Marie Louise
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OK, I haven’t really been to the sea, but I have been traveling - physically and spiritually.  Most of you know that Max the Wonderdog passed into another plane on February 29, 2008.  That plunged us all into a deep morass of sorrow.

After six weeks, my husband and I simply couldn’t bear the extreme quiet in our home.  On April 10 we adopted two puppies - Holly and Gus.  If you want to hear more and see pictures, let me know.

I visited friends in Colorado and New Mexico in May. In June I attended a family reunion, went to my first book signing and did some historical research in my hometown.  All of this should add up to a new painting, but the muses are elusive these days.

In fact, I am giving serious consideration to shutting down the website and just sticking to piano lessons.

Now don’t get all worried about me….I am back to writing this blog after a 5 month absence.  I think that shows some progress.

I had planned to settle down, teach lessons, clean house and trim the ubiquitous shaggy lilacs, but I was called to the road again.  Last week I attended the funeral of my oldest nephew. The photo at the top of this posting is from his beach overlooking Blue Dog Lake.  You can read about that in my blog about piano in the Rapid City Journal. www.rapidcityjournal.com/blogs/piano/

Yes, I can’t keep up this blog and now I have another one!

This blog thing is just like selling artwork locally.  It’s your friends and relatives who respond - not the big, wide world.  Frankly, I am a bit embarrassed by the whole thing.  Who bought at the book signing? - my relatives.  Who bought artwork at the gallery? - my friends and relatives.  Who ordered cards from the website? - my friends and relatives.  Who responded to the website? - same answer.

I am thinking of going small - really, really small.  From time to time I may create something and then quietly give it to someone who understands the sentiment behind the work.

Hope you are having a great summer.  I’ll bounce back when the autumn leaves begin to turn. 

Thanks for stopping by.  mlt

Posted on July 31st, 2008 by Marie Louise
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  In a few months, A Prairie Prayer will be published by the North Dakota Institute of Regional Studies.  It’s a collection of poems that continue the ideas first introduced by South Dakotan Bruce Roseland in The Last Buffalo.  You may recall my story of meeting Bruce and his wife, Barb, at the Book Fair last September.

I’m excited because they asked me to illustrate this time.   Just ten little drawings, but golly, I am proud.  Since 2002 I’ve tried painting, but always considered my true, natural talent to be the simple work of pencil on paper.  Apparently, Bruce Roseland thinks so, too. The little gopher at the top of this note is one of the sketches.

Bruce’s poems are about surviving the (simple) country life in South Dakota.  There’s plenty of appreciation for the ancestors who settled the land, the generations who stayed through thick and thin, and the trials of today.  I  read his first book in one sitting;  smiling and nodding my head in agreement.  He has a great knack.

Look for The Last Buffalo in your local bookstore, or you can order it directly at www.ndirs.ndsu.nodak.edu/publications .

 If you  call 701-231-8338 to order, you will talk to a real live person.  They’ll even chat about the weather.  Tell ‘em I told you to call.

I hope you get a chance to read Bruce’s poetry.  I’ll keep you posted when A Prairie Prayer is available.  I always dreamed of being part of a publication,  just thought it would be as  writer, not illustrator.

If you want to write a little critique or a full blown review, I’d be happy to publish it on this blog.  Just click on “Leave a Reply” below and start typing. 

Thanks.  mlt

Posted on February 8th, 2008 by Marie Louise
Filed under: Village Life, Artwork | 1 Comment »

Fresh with the vigor of New Year’s resolutions we started out on our first Sunday hike.  Above you see Max the Wonderdog and I full of energy as we charge down the path toward Doty Springs.  It’s a nice Sunday stroll in the Black Hills National Forest, but the first couple of switchbacks remind you that you are definitely headed down. 

As we started down the road, my husband Pat reminded me to save energy for the climb back out.  We’ve been coming here for about 20 years, but we always seem to forget what a “gasper” the return trip can be.

At the bottom we found a running stream of icy-cold mountain water.  There was a thin layer of ice in the shady spots, but the winter has been very mild so far.  As always, we thought we’d retraced our earlier route, but found a few variables in the path.  This time there seemed to be a very clear road to the springs, but we couldn’t find the spot where the stream dives underground with a gurgle.  We wandered about, found some familiar landmarks and realized that there are about four different ways to get to Doty Springs.

We got separated for a bit and Max and I took a hike with a more upward slant.  When I got to the top of the hill, the thick stand of Ponderosa Pine made it difficult to see, but I could tell that there was a complete oxbow in the stream.  On previous trips we had walked along the stream without realizing that we had gradually curved around a hill.

When we rejoined Pat a few minutes later, he was surprised to see us approach from the right rather than the left.  Even when you know where you are going and you feel you’ve arrived, there are surprises along the way.

We finally got back to the clear path where we knew we were retracing our steps.  As always, we promised to come back more often, marveled at how much things had changed yet other things had stayed the same.

I have a number of projects in the works.  No telling which ones will pan out.  I’ll try to remember my lessons from Doty Springs: there’s more than one way to get there. 

When we got back to the steep climb of the switchbacks, our aged canine companion had to be carried.  When you’ve been hiking for several hours the last thing you want to do is carry a 22-pound dog, but there was no other solution.  I confess that Pat carried Max and got back to the car several minutes before I dragged my weary carcass up the last  half mile.

Another reminder:  save a little extra energy for the last stretch.

Hope your New Year has started out well.  Feel free to share a comment with our growing circle of friends.

Posted on January 12th, 2008 by Marie Louise
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Thanks to the good people who have ordered custom Christmas cards, I’ve been in full production this week. It’s great to have friends with fresh ideas of how to use my artwork for their holiday greetings. 

As I tussled with fonts and design ideas,  I was struck by how quiet the printing process is compared to my days in the newspaper biz. Just the click of my computer keys, the gentle piano music of Jacqueline Schwab, and the clickety-click of Max’s toenails as he moves from the cushion in front of the door to the cushion in front of the fireplace.

Twenty years ago I was in my halcyon days editing a small weekly newspaper.  Print production then was very noisy.  The pressmen  wore earplugs as they tended the big monster that pushed the ink onto the page.  Once all the pages were laid out, proofed and sent back to press, I loved to go back and hang out with the press guys.  Sometimes they’d have me “cut color” for the big ads.

I breathed in a lot of learning in the cavernous backroom that housed the press.  The smell was a combination of the ink, the paper and the lubricants that kept it all rolling.  But the scent was only an accompaniment to the chorus of sound produced by that big press. 

It seemed like a locomotive steam engine sort of quietly chuffing while the press guys, garbed in blue coveralls, crawled around checking this and that.  Finally, the signal would come from Dave, the head pressman,  for everyone to stand back.  He’d press the button. There would be a warning sound. Then the big drums would begin to turn with a slow ka-lump, ka-lump.  The pressmen would race along the side (as if they too thought it was a train that might get away) checking levers and chains.  Then a second nod from Dave and the ka-lump would speed up to a single syllable klump-klump-klump, joined by a harmonious clackety-clack and you could hear the news, the news, the news, coming your way, way, way. 

Communication was reduced to hand signals or cupping your hands around someone’s ear and screaming sounds.  It was a wonderful, whirling dance and at the end the newspapers streamed out in a marvelous pattern of that front page photo jumping out again and again and again.

Ah, the sound, the smell, the feel of the press.  It climbed in through your ears and made you tingle all the way to your toes.  Although there wasn’t a wind, you felt like you were walking into a gale that threatened to peel the skin right off your face and blow your hair into the next county. I loved press day.

Today, it’s a simple matter for one artist with a good digital camera, a speedy computer  (and the patience to work through software programs) to produce a custom print order.   It’s progress. It’s good.

But I am beginning to understand why my dad kept his draft horses  long after he had turned to tractors  to farm with. 

Posted on December 2nd, 2007 by Marie Louise
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Quickly.  Pick up a pencil and draw a pig.  Sounds simple enough, but one soon confronts problems.  Are the ears triangular or square?  Does the tail really curl?  Does a pig have knees, and, if the pig is walking away from you, how do you draw those knees?

     Those are the questions I’ve

 dealt with in the past week as I struggle with my graphite sketches.  Most of us can imagine a common animal like a pig, but to draw the particular details is difficult without a living example.  I, for one, don’t happen to have a pig handy. 

Don’t you dare say, “Well, just google it”.  Trust me, I tried it.  You’ll get plenty of pigs, but not exactly what you need.  Fortunately, a friend brought over some children’s story books that helped.  At the top of this message is the first sketch (with an improved ear).  Next I drew that pig as a simple line drawing to clear the clutter.  Finally, I drew it again with graphite and charcoal - got the ear right, I like his shadow, but how come his nose got so long in the final phase?

Back to the drawing board is no idle expression at my house.  I’ve always admired the works of Maxfield Parrish and learned that he often used models and photographs.  He had a complicated contraption set up so that he could pose himself and pull the string when he was in the right position.  If you study closely you can actually tell which figures in his storybook illustrations are actually the artist himself.

For studies of people, I don’t have to struggle with posing  for shots and developing film.  After a day of trying to figure out how a hand would clasp a long skirt, I turned to my ever-ready stream of models.  The next piano student arrived, I tossed fabric into her hand and stepped back to get the proper angle.  Once I had that shot it was easy to draw.

With Christmas approaching, I have a few commissions on tap for pencil sketches of children.  That is still one of my favorite projects:  looking at a good photograph with plenty of shading and capturing the likeness with soft lead.  I shall keep struggling with the pig and other creatures of the imagination.  Perhaps I’ll send a letter to Santa asking for some drawing lessons  - or a yard full of animals when I need a model.

Happy Thanksgiving to you!  If you want to comment on this article or any related topic, click on the comment line below.  Thanks for checking in. mlt

Posted on November 14th, 2007 by Marie Louise
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        My friend Ed Martley has a great new project started.  He is gathering material for a book on South Dakota during World War II .   The working title for the book-to-be is “WAR KIDS: The Littlest Generation.” 

He is seeking  stories from South Dakotans born between 1930 and 1940 who have memories of those years.   Martley, born in 1938, recalls the duties of his father who was an air-raid warden in Redfield; the time a damaged one-man Japanese submarine was on display at the local theater;  his growing understanding of the grief of Gold Star Mothers; and the near-worship of Franklin Roosevelt.
    Martley says his generation will be the last generation to have actual memories of those war days, and it would be a shame to see them lost. 

    Martley is a life-long journalist, author of three other books, and he and his wife, Suzanne, own and operate Top Dog Publishing Inc. in Rapid City.
      If you have a story to share contact him:

 emartley@aol.com

 605-716-1889

 or write him at

 2718 W. St. Patrick St., Rapid
City, SD 57702.

Posted on November 9th, 2007 by Marie Louise
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