Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is upon us once more.
There is so much to be grateful for, and I pray for peace where there is currently turmoil.

The photo above is from the current 3rd series of 'Rain Paintings'. They are turning out nicely,
and maple leaves have found a new home on the canvases.
Here is a youtube link to the 1st series of 'Rain Paintings' accompanied with part of my Inanna's Dream solo piano song.

I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday!
Laurie

Laurie's Art
Laurie's Music

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Jack Frost is Nipping at My Toes!

'Listen People' Cover Art
Hi everyone,

   It is getting cold outside, brrrrr!
I hope everyone is staying warm.
I'm recovering well from my medical problems this summer.
My throat is still healing from an endoscopy I had in September, but I'm confident I'll be able to sing and finish my new CD, 'Listen People', soon.

  In the meantime, I'm releasing the songs I recorded earlier this year as singles.
I've released  'Boring Remix' and 'Listen People' this past month!
Thank you to Sean Walker for producing and engineering this project, and to all of the musicians who have contributed their
talents so far.

'Listen People' has a positive message when makes you feel better to listen to it!

'Boring Remix' is a fun dance song!

  We are in the process of creating videos for all of my songs, and here is a video teaser for the 'Boring Remix' song.  Thank you Michael Wittenbrink for directing the videos.

  We are also continually updating my music web site - Laurie Miller Music.
If you get a chance, check it out!

 Have a wonderful day!
Laurie

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Beautiful Piano/Cello song - Rise to Live! and Boring -Dance Remix


Hi everyone,

I hope your summer is going well!  :  )
Video shoot/party for 'Boring' dance remix  (here is a sample of the song)
Boring - Dance Remix August 23 - email me - bassnlegs@aol.com  if you are interested in participating.

Progress is being made on the CD.  Here is a clip of the Beautiful Piano/Cello song- Featuring Rachael Beaver playing the cello. This song will start the CD - 'Rising to Live' - Piano/Cello - Rise to Live
Slow but steady.  
I had a couple of obstacles to overcome these past few months (illnesses, injuries, and my internal hard drive died), but I'm currently in less pain.

I'm shooting for a release date this Fall/Winter 2014.  
I have another studio date scheduled for the end of August, so after that I'll be better able to estimate the completion date.  I will be releasing the songs as digital downloads individually too - starting with the 
'Boring' dance remix by Teal Douville.  

Good News!  The 'I Like You' remix of my song - again by Teal Douville placed as a Finalist (top 5) in the Dance category in the Song of the Year contest!

I've also updated my Art website - www.lauriemillermodernart.com which includes the Rain Painting series - money from the funding went towards the Rain Paintings. It costs a lot for canvases and paint.  Rain paintings use a lot of acrylic paint - a lot of paint is washed away - :  )

Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far, and if anyone would like to Give - for the final recording sessions  and CD printing - it is greatly appreciated :  )

Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far for their kindness and support!
I'll talk to you soon!
Love,
Laurie

Monday, June 30, 2014

Laurie Miller's Artistic Life: Beautiful Rain Paintings!

Laurie Miller's Artistic Life: Beautiful Rain Paintings!:    Good morning!  I'm still getting familiar with the new Blogger format since Google has now taken over Blogger.  I'm still le...

Beautiful Rain Paintings!

   Good morning!  I'm still getting familiar with the new Blogger format since Google has now taken over Blogger.  I'm still learning how to navigate this site, and from feedback from my "followers" listed on this site, none of them have been notified about my new postings. Great!  I'm still posting as a personal journal!
  If anyone knows how to fix this, please let me know. I guess Google is also taking over Youtube.  Baaahaahaa!  Soon they will own the world!  It makes you wonder about our government's non-monopoly laws?  Hmmm!
    I'm going to take a second here to reintroduce myself and to tell you what I'm currently working on.
I am a Fine Artist (I have a BFA in Design from CCA), a Recording Artist (5 CDs Published), a Professional Musician (25 years or more playing paid bass gigs/tours), and a Business Owner (Private Music Teaching Lessons - I teach: Piano, Violin, Guitar, Bass, Ukulele, and Voice).  Currently I finished a new series of 'Rain Paintings' in April, which turned out beautiful!

'Rain Paintings' - My 'Rain Paintings' take a little over a month to manifest.  They are created with the help of 'Mother Nature'.  I reapplied acrylic paint about 10 different times over a six week time period to canvases that were laid flat on the cement area in the back of my house.  During this time period from March through April 2014, here in the Seattle area we received an enormous amount of rain.  Several times after I applied new paint a downpour would occur and wash all the new paint away.  Arrgh, back to square one!
It was exciting to peer out the glass of my back door, when it was raining, to see how the paintings were evolving.  My son created this youtube slide show for me which features a section from my solo piano song, Inanna's Dream. 'Rain Paintings' - Youtube.
Michael, my son, and I are also working on editing a documentary short video which shows me creating my rain paintings.

I'm offering 10% off all of my art till the end of August.
www.lauriemillermodernart.com

I'm thinking of having a Jam/Art open studio party August 23rd.  Let me know what you think?

Thanks again for reading, looking and listening, and ignoring grammatical errors since I can't see clearly in the mornings (or any other time really - lol).

Have a nice day!
xoxoxo,
Laurie
    

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Laurie Miller's Artistic Life: Art and Life!

Laurie Miller's Artistic Life: Art and Life!: Good morning everyone!  Even though I have sleep in my eyes and my thoughts are jumbled, if I don't post in the morning it never happ...

Laurie Miller's Artistic Life: Art and Life!

Laurie Miller's Artistic Life: Art and Life!: Good morning everyone!  Even though I have sleep in my eyes and my thoughts are jumbled, if I don't post in the morning it never happ...

Art and Life!

Good morning everyone!  Even though I have sleep in my eyes and my thoughts are jumbled, if I don't post in the morning it never happens.
  One huge motivating factor for posting to my blog again is Facebook, where I was posting weekly, removed six months of my postings for every year I've been on Facebook without notifying me.  Gone.  Everything I thought about and shared was wiped out and gone!  Like a bomb wiping out a city.  A part of my history is now gone.  Oh well, I'm now a forward marching soldier into the world of blogging.  Even though my blog says I have 38 followers, it seems now that my blog is Google hosted, none of my followers receive my notifications when I post.  So I guess for now, until I figure out how to relink to my followers and to find other places to post, this blog will be my personal journal. Kind of cool!  I hope I don't rant and rave and spill too many beans. Lol!
  Okay, what is currently happening with me?   I'm finally feeling better, and yes I have a smile on my face.  I have been fighting an intestinal bug for a couple of months now.  I was waking up with horrible intestinal cramping and then severe diarrhea.  I would have to take four Imodium Ads in the morning to make it through my music teaching day, or to make it through my recording sessions in April, and even to make it through the conference I attended in LA, and then I would collapse at night.  It has made a huge dent in my energy level and in my ability to get things done.  So, yeah, I'm glad to finally be feeling better.  Now I have a ton of house cleaning and organizing, business, music business, art business, and social media to complete.
  My drawing, 'Christmas Dance', will be exhibited this coming weekend at the Juried Gallery of the Edmonds Arts Festival.  It is for Sale!  Yahoo!
  I'm getting ready to finish and release a new CD - I love my new tracks - they are the best ever!
I'm also planning on submitting for new gallery shows with my beautiful new 'Rain Painting' series, and finishing the documentary film associated with the 'Rain Paintings'.
You can view my art at my art site: www.lauriemillermodernart.com.

Thank you for looking and reading, and if anyone can tell me how to notify my followers or to link my postings, I would greatly appreciate it.

xoxo,
Laurie

Friday, June 6, 2014

Laurie Miller's Artistic Life: Steak Dinner

Laurie Miller's Artistic Life: Steak Dinner: Hi everyone,   I'm a sleepy zombie this morning.  Argh!  I didn't get very much sleep the night before, and then I woke up last...

Steak Dinner

Hi everyone,

  I'm a sleepy zombie this morning.  Argh!  I didn't get very much sleep the night before, and then I woke up last night after having fallen asleep for only an hour last night.  I then stayed awake till 5:30 am.  I was in a total information absorption mode.  Reading and looking on different links on Social Media.
  I have to keep this short, since I need to 'hit the road Jack' in about twenty minutes.
I'm teaching private music lessons from 1 - 6 pm, then my boyfriend arrives at my house.  We cook the most awesome steak dinners together you can imagine.  Okay, I'll post a picture.  All I can say is yum, and we have so much fun doing it.
  If I don't pass out tomorrow early, I'll try to get back to my blog to write some more.
I'm turning in my art for the Edmonds Art Festival - again my drawing was juried into the Juried Gallery part of the festival.  It is the 15th time I've been juried into the festival. I've sold a few pieces, and I've had about 30 pieces juried into the festival.
I added my new beautiful 'Rain Paintings' to my art site: www.lauriemillermodernart.com
All of my art is for sale - and this summer only 10% all art.
My art is awesome - get it while you can!
 xoxox

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Rain Painting

Hi everyone,

Well, it has only been two days since my last posting- "Yahoo!"  I guess it is an improvement over the previous two year gap - lol.
  Here is my grammatical and writing errors disclaimer - I'm not a morning person - and it is 6:30 am!
Also, I'm legally blind (for real - you should try my glasses on!) and it is difficult to see the screen.
My darn cat woke me up - "Meow, meow, meeee - ow!"  Argh!  When will she ever learn how to feed herself? Where did all of the mice go?
  I'm feeling so much better today.  I have been fighting an intestinal bug for over a month now. It was really wiping my energy level out. I know I should probably go see a doctor, but ignorance is bliss.  I'm focused on healing myself for now.  I know I digress, but my brain does that.  I sometimes think in ten different directions at once.  Okay, not sometimes, all the time.  I have wonderful conversations with myself.  I was thinking yesterday that I feel successful in my spiritual evolution because I have arrived at a place in my life where I enjoy my own company.  Oh so anti-social of me, but true.  I love spending my time being positive, happy, and creative.

I'm sharing one of my beautiful 'Rain Paintings' from a new series I created in April.
I will soon describe in depth more about creating this series, but I'm getting sleepy!
xoxox


Sunday, June 1, 2014

I'm Back!

Hi everyone,

 Well, it has been two years since I posted on my blog!

  Anyway, I don't want to get into all of the tiny details, but mainly I was emotionally drained due to the passing of my bass student Ruby, who had turned 18 years old a few weeks before.
I also have been working seven days straight for the past ten years with only one vacation, and about maybe one to three days off (usually because I was too sick to teach) per year (due to unexpected and unprepared for tragedies with no family help - and I was a single mom with my son still in school).
  I try to stay positive, but it sure gets depressing when creativity pours out from my very soul and I previously lived, studied, and breathed my passions for numerous years.   I can create music, art, poetry, whatever at the drop of a hat, and I'm hoping to become better at selling my artistic endeavors so I that I no longer spend hours a week not living my passions.  My health hasn't been the greatest the past few years either, and when I come home from teaching it takes every last scrap of effort that I have to take care of myself, my cat, and my home.
   Don't worry I generally have a positive outlook, and I keep buying lottery tickets, no, I mean I have an attitude of gratitude for what I do have in life.
  Also, I have been fighting back through my physical pain and fatigue, and I have been creating once again.  I'm very happy with the outcome so far.  I have created a few new drawings and paintings, and a series of 'Rain Paintings' (which my son and I are creating a documentary film for).
My art web site: Laurie Miller Modern Art
   Another big also,  new music recordings.  I really love my new tracks!  Sean Walker engineered and helped produce my new music, and he has done an outstanding job.  The songs have energy, they sound powerful, and they received 100% positive feedback from other attendees and big wigs at the ASCAP EXPO in Los Angeles in April of this year.  As soon as I finish my student's music recital at the end of June, I plan of finishing the new CD - and then massive promotion will occur.    The songs are awesome!  One person associated with a label said my new version of my 'I Like You' song is a Hit song.  Yeah!  My new music web site (still updating, thank you for your patience): Laurie Miller Music
 
  With this new posting I plan on sharing at least a new piece of art, music, poem, or some outpouring of creativity from me everyday.  We shall see?

Today I'm sharing a drawing I created December 25th 2013 called, 'The Christmas Dance'.  It will be shown in the Edmonds Juried Art Gallery, June 13th - 15th.  I do have a BFA in Design from CCA ( a top art school in California), and I did work at Landor (at the time the world's largest design firm) where I was doing computer graphics.  I have also have an extensive fine art resume - solo and group showings listed on my art web site.
  Hopefully I will be back again to post sooner than two years.  xoxo