Whitney Houston - Rest in Peace

Hi Everyone!  I know I've been a little behind with my blog postings of late. I had eye surgery last month, so I'll attribute my absence to that. I had a new lens put in my left eye.  I can see again!  I guess my art might change a little?  Also, I'm back into the swing of working seven days a week.  Oh when am I going to win that darn lottery so that I can once again focus my time on my creativity rather than paying the bills. Okay, attitude of gratitude at least I'm not living on the streets.  I'm also happy that I'm not chained to playing bar gigs for now.
I don't mind the first two hours (at least when I'm playing with good musicians, and I can solo and/or I can sing a few songs), but the last two hours are so intolerably boring.  There is just so much spit I can wipe off my face from the conversations with drunks.
   I held my artist 'Meet and Greet' last month at The Scotch and Vine.  Some fabulous musicians came and played the event including; Tim Turner, Rod Cook, Ronnda Cadle, Heidi Swan, Gary, and my band mates: Carol Howe (percussion, back up singer), and Michael Wittenbrink (violin).  Thank you all for making the event a wonderful evening, and thanks to everyone who came to the event. We had a nice full house, and it was the first time I had a chance to enjoy the tantalizing food. The Big Blue Peacock drink that Drew created was also a hit.  My abstract feather series is featured till April at The Scotch and Vine.  20% off all art at the show, and I have signed art cards of any art from my site for $2.50 a card www.lauriemillermodernart.com.  A portion of all sales is donated to NCADV - Helping Women who have been abused by domestic violence - www.ncadv.org. In addition, I will be selling signed prints of my Whitney Houston picture at $10.00 plus postage fees. If anyone is interested you can email me at: bassnlegs@aol.com.  Thank you for your support!  It is much appreciated.  I have written a few new songs (music and lyrics).  I shall be sharing them soon.  In the meantime, I wrote the song Whitney R.I.P. (featured on this blog posting) on my guitar the other night.  It is a simple melody, but I wanted to write something.  I also created the art dedicated to Whitney last week. I will try my best to post more frequently.
Nighty night. xxoo Laurie

Flip Flop Boot Camp

    Happy New Year!  Okay, so I'm a little late.  Better late than never!  I met my sister, Kristie,  in Vegas for a winter vacation on December 26th.  We created our own low key boot camp - flip flop style, a lot of laying by the pool and swimming.  It was so nice to see the sun again.  When I came back to Seattle it was strange being engulfed in a sea of gray. We rang in the New Year at the Tao nightclub at the Venetian with Kim Kardashian counting in the New Year.  I had a blast dancing on the ledges while my sister sat on a bench because she wasn't use to wearing high heels.  I think I gave her a five hour foot rub when we walked all the way back to our timeshare.
    I currently have two art exhibitions on display.  My Surreal art is shown until Feb. 10th at the Lynnwood Library Gallery.  20% sale on all art at this show until Feb. 10th.  Art can be shipped with shipping and handling fees added.  Miniatures are very affordable, and  all art is collectible.  If interested, email me at: bassnlegs@aol.com .  The other show is at The Scotch and Vine in Des Moines.  This exhibit features my abstract feather art work, including the 'Light in the Woods' piece pictured on this page - www.lauriemillermodernart.com .  We are aiming for Feb. 19th to have an art opening party.  I will be playing a set of my original songs, and hopefully other local musicians will also play.  After I verify the date and time, I will post the exact details.  I'm still gearing up to complete my year long daily posting of music/art/poem.  I will start soon, I'm finishing a few details for the recording aspect.
Have a nice day!  xxoo Laurie

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone.  I hope that everyone is safe, happy, and healthy.  I played a gig last night, Christmas Eve at the 13 Coins in Sea Tac.  It was a fun gig with Tim Turner on guitar and Billy Spaulding playing drums.  Tim dressed up as Santa half way through the gig.  Last weekend I played with Scott Rosburg (guitar/vocals) and Rick Spano on drums. I'll soon be enjoying Christmas dinner, my son and his fiance (Stephanie) are cooking it for me (lucky me).  Mmmm, it smells great!  I painted this at 3 or 4 am, a quick acrylic painting of a poinsettia last night.  I have 'I'm Dreaming of a 'White Christmas' linked to the title and here.  Always a favorite Christmas song of mine.  I get to see my sister tomorrow in Vegas.   Yeah!
I'm off to eat and to see if Santa brought me anything?  xxoo Laurie

Chair and Vase

Hi Everyone,

  Yes, I'm still alive, and I'm covered in a new coat of mold.  It is lime green this time.  This is my first break, only one student to teach today, in a couple of months.  I have been busy doing positive thing, even if I haven't had any time to paint (wah, wah).  I painted last night though.  I forced myself to get started. To shift my brain back to the right side. It was 3 am when I started, and it is a quick acrylic painting of a vase of flowers and a chair.  I will be updating my art site with my miniatures and paintings from the previous few months by next week - www.lauriemillermodernart.com .  
   First, I played a GoGirls Festival at Eddie's Trackside in Monroe.  Michael, my son, played violin with me, and Carol played percussion.  It is soul full filling to play my original songs again.  Writing music, painting, writing, creating in any form brings me joy.  I'm in the moment, and I feel like I'm living my destiny.  




Anyway, the GoGirls Festival was a wonderful event, and I met some wonderful talent: Ronnda Cadle, Heidi Swan, Jean Mann, and Christine Havrilla.
  Next, I played a fundraiser at The Vera Project for Ruby Smith, my 17 year old bass student who is beating cancer.  Here is a link to her journal. 
  Finally, I held my fourth annual Christmas recital for my music students.  It was a wonderful event as always.  Their energy is so positive and they are all so talented.
  I'm #4 on the Rock charts in Seattle on Reverbnation now.  How exciting!  There is some great music on the Reverbnation site if you get a chance to check it out.  Here is my link: http://www.reverbnation.com/lauriemiller.
  I'm still updating my Facebook Fanpage.  If you want to 'Like' it great.  Let me know by sending me a message or email and I'll 'Like' your page back: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Laurie-Miller/6369592998.
   Thanks so much for reading, looking, and listening.  Have a nice day! Laurie

Stormy Seas

Hi Everyone, I'm going to post my famous 'quickie' today, because I have to leave to teach music in five minutes.  I wanted to let everyone know I'm still alive!  "I'm still breathing!"  Busy, busy, busy with a ton of left brain decisions to make.  I did paint this quickie small acrylic painting this weekend, and I've been working on new lyrics for a couple of new songs and the B section for an instrumental piece.    I'll be updating my art site - www.lauriemillermodernart.com soon within the next two weeks, since I have about 20 new miniatures to add.  I'll post more this week.  Have a nice day!  xxoo Laurie

My Father's Birthday and Steve Jobs Dies

Hi Everyone! I'm back again. Wednesday, October 5th, would have been my father's birthday. Unfortunately he passed away of a sudden heart attack when he was only 49 years old. He was an amazing man, and I remember moving to Palo Alto twice, two years apart, so that my father could work on his Ph.D in Sports Medicine at Stanford. He was inducted into the NATA Hall of Fame. He had also been a trainer for the USA team Winter Olympics, and he was the president of NAIRS which was located at Penn State. I wrote this song on Wednesday in memory of him - My Father's Song. Unfortunately on Wednesday, Steve Jobs died. What an amazing creative genius Steve Jobs was! What a loss!
Ruby, my bass student is always in my thoughts, and you can read about her journey to heal from cancer at her online journal link Caring Bridge/Ruby Smith.
I'm really enjoying getting back to writing songs again. The song I've linked to this post is written for piano/violin, but I haven't found a good violin midi sound yet. My son played it on his violin for me, and it sounded great. I will soon have my instrument inputs set up so I will have a real violin sound recorded.
I painted the acrylic painting 'Hat and Coat' last night too. I'm getting excited to focus time on my painting too.
I'm sure that I'm in need of some sleep,
so nighty night. xxoo

American Boy

Hi Everyone! A quick post to show the variations I made to the acrylic painting for Susan Bellone's 'American Boy' album cover.

If you want, leave a comment and let me know which layout you like the best.

My art is still displayed at the Puyallup Fair till Sunday Sept. 25th. Here is a link to my art web site - Laurie Miller Modern Art.

It is a very warm day here in the Seattle area. I'll soon share a new song and picture that I'm working on.

Have a nice day! Laurie