I simply love the beautiful orchestration of this song. Especially when they let in the acoustic guitar and drop out the rest of the instruments in places. It makes it so delicate sounding in the midst of the grand symphonic sound that is otherwise going on throughout. When the song was out on the radio getting airplay, I read in a magazine article that Madonna learned how to play the guitar for this album, and I originally thought those are her acoustic guitar tracks in there, but I haven’t found any evidence on the internet to prove my factoid correct. And I do not still have the magazine article any longer unfortunately. I wish I did because that article was inspiring to me as I was trying to learn guitar on my own at that time (not successfully) but gave me a little courage to keep at it. I haven’t kept at it but I know I need to get at it again. My guitar is still in storage from the flood, but maybe it's time to bring it back home. I probably make it harder than it needs to be but my brain cannot let go of trying to decode and play the guitar how I would play a piano (the instrument I “know” how to play). I am in complete awe of people that can play guitar AND sing at the same time. Playing ANY instrument while singing at the same time is still a complete mystery to me, but I’d like to work on that. At any rate, this song has always made me cry and today was no exception. I had to collect myself a couple times, but I made it. Please enjoy my Carolaoke scratch track of Madonna’s “The Power of Goodbye” and thank you so much for stopping by today.

Happy Freaky Friday everyone! I’ve been in a really strange mood for some time now (who hasn’t been, right??) Working on my art, music and with my animals certainly helps but I’ve also been doing a lot of deep cleaning and purging of my house lately which helps of course, but gets intense. I’ve noticed as I’m handling old objects & papers, it brings up lots of feelings and anxieties I didn’t realize were even there. Reliving the past to make a decision about the fate of these objects from my whole life is super exhausting and challenging. I’ve been trying to sit with the uncomfortableness of all the feelings I have about said objects and clutter to try to figure out how to keep moving forward and not get super crabby and completely shut down like I tend to do. Or, when I feel like completely shutting down, to at least turn to a more constructive activity to “revive” myself. This week I “revived” myself with making two more tarot cards for The Bird People tarot deck. I’ve been drawn to working on The Cups suit which represents water signs in the hooey phooey world of astrology (Pisces, Cancer, Scorpio). I’m also not 100% sold on this version of the King Of Cups that I’m calling done, but I’m going to leave it and obsess I MEAN WORK ON other things for now. Thank you for dropping by and reading my thoughts. Take care and stay safe this weekend. The world is still a mess. Please be careful.

Upright Meanings:
Nostalgia
Sharing
An honest talk
Traumas
Dealings with children
Reversed Meanings:
Clinging to the past
Vanity
Skeletons in the closet
Plans that may fail
Poor choices

Upright Meanings:
Compassion
Feelings
Supportive
Trust
Healing
Reversed Meanings:
Double dealing
Treachery
Addictive behavior
Unbridled Narcissism
Ruin

I have an update on the past. It seems the two panoramic watercolors I posted previously for Studio Closeup #33 were all part of a triptych(!) and not individual pieces. I did not fully read my own writing on the slides.

The piece I’ve posted today is a watercolor done from photos of me as a kid spending time at my mom’s parents’ house in the country in the 1970's. It is the third piece in this triptych. I remember around the time I did these pieces, my grandpa had passed away and it hit me really hard and these watercolors came out of that. The drawing in pencil to the right of the piece is my mom holding me at my grandparent’s house.

A funny story about this piece! I gave this piece to my grandmother for Mother’s Day unframed and the next time I saw it on her wall it was all cut up into pieces to fit the frame she had picked out for it. I was speechless. But it taught me a valuable lesson to make watercolors into standard sizes to avoid that in the future. I do still like working in weird sparse panoramic form, I just try to be more mindful of how it’s going to look on a wall and cost if framing is involved. I’ve also included all three pieces in order of how this triptych would look together as a whole on a wall and a photo of the original slides because I'm silly for slides. Thanks for stopping by today!

Today’s song pick has everything in it. Every single thing I could dream of being part of a song. The 1960’s guitar sound that sounds like the old James Bond movies or Westerns, the Latin influence with its glorious trumpets, Kirsty MacColl's sultry vocals. Kirsty MacColl’s lyrics are about things proper ladies shouldn’t write or sing about with these brilliantly orchestrated songs and it’s a genius work of art. I’ve said before that Kirsty MacColl’s album “Tropical Brainstorm” is one of those rare albums where every song on that album is amazing. Please enjoy my scratch track version of Kirsty MacColl’s “In These Shoes?”

In These Shoes
Kirsty MacColl

I once met a man with a sense of adventure
He was dressed to thrill wherever he went
He said, "let's make love on a mountain top
Under the stars, on a big hard rock"
I said, "In these shoes?
I don't think so (What do you say, love?)
I said, "Honey, let's do it here"

So I'm sitting at a bar in Guadalajara
In walks a guy with a faraway look in his eyes
He said, "I've got a powerful horse outside
Climb on the back, I'll take you for a ride
I know a little place
We can get there 'fore the break of day"
I said "In these shoes?
No way, José"
I said, "Honey, let's stay right here"

No le gusta caminar
No puede montar a caballo
Cómo se puede bailar
Es un escándalo

Then, I met an Englishman
"Oh, " he said
"Won't you walk up and down on my spine?
It makes me feel strangely alive"
I said, "In these shoes?
I doubt you'd survive"
I said, "Honey, let's do it"

Let's stay right here
No le gusta caminar
No puede montar a caballo
Cómo se puede bailar
Es un escándalo

No le gusta caminar
No puede montar a caballo
Cómo se puede bailar
Es un escándalo

No le gusta caminar
No puede montar a caballo
Cómo se puede bailar
Es un escándalo
Let's stay right here
No le gusta caminar
No puede montar a caballo
Cómo se puede bailar

I’ve been able to work on a few more cards from the Bird People Tarot Deck this past week. I’ve been spending a large amount of time going through old magazines and cutting out images which has brought me a lot of peace and quiet over the last couple of weeks. Although, as I type this, I’m feeling the urge to switch it up and do some painting on The Museum Series this weekend. It’s supposed to rain all weekend so perhaps switching mediums might be really good. Distract me from PTSD’ing about too much rain filling the tiny creek down the road. Getting lost in acrylic painting and color therapy will help. It certainly has in the past. I hope everyone has a most pleasant weekend. Stay safe and well, everyone.

Upright Meanings:
A good man
Honest, with good intentions
Conscience
Integrity
Knowledge
Reversed Meanings:
A serious man
Bad investments
Vicious
Dogmatism
Excessive & exaggerated ideas

Upright Meanings:
Misfortune
Sorrow
Empty, vacant
Idle
Unfulfilled
Reversed Meanings:
Spiteful woman
Bigotry
Narrow-minded
Solitude
Hypocrisy

Upright Meanings:
Annoyance
Sorrow of spirit
Bitterness
Domestic troubles
A stationary period
Reversed Meanings:
Novelty
Premonition
New turn of events
New knowledge
New opportunities