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

Yellow Wind

Hi Everyone! I'm readjusting to my back to school teaching schedule. Fortunately I'm not playing as many gigs, yeah. Don't get me wrong I love playing the bass and I like the musicians I play with, but when you work seven days a week 365 days a year being in a bar is the last place I want to be. It is a rather negative environment. Hopefully, I can make enough money with my creations so I can move on to a different level of presenting my music which isn't limited to bars.
   My bass student Ruby is still fighting cancer and we hope to have a fund raiser soon. I'll keep everyone posted, and in the meantime you can read Ruby's journal.
  I still have art work displayed at the Puyallup Fair. I will have to write more soon, since I'm a bit tired.
I stayed up till about 7 am painting an album cover. Once Susan picks which version she wants to use I'll share the picture in my next posting. The acrylic painting in this posting is a quicky I did this morning after the album cover called Yellow Wind.
   I'm still having fun with my keyboard recording input. I love writing a song and being able to record it immediately. Here is my latest piano piece I wrote for my son to use as backing music for his photography.
  

Gray Skies

Hi everyone! A lot has happened since I've written. First of all, sad news; my bass student, Ruby, who is only 17 years old was diagnosed with cancer. Ruby is a wonderful intelligent person with an upbeat amd kind personality. She has learned music and how to play the bass at an amazing level - here is a link of Ruby playing 'Teen Town'. You can read about Ruby's journey to recovery from cancer and make a donation at her CaringBridge site. I visited Ruby once at Seattle's Children Hospital, but since last week I've been hit with a bad virus. Hopefully I will be well enough to visit her again soon. My prayers go out to her and her parents, Kate and Theo. You can visit Theo at Couth Buzzard Books Espresso Buono Cafe where he is a co-owner.
I painted this quick acrylic painting this morning. It reflects Hurricane Irene to me. I'm also always inspired by Project Runway - Season 9. Currently I'm working on a couple of larger paintings so, I may post WIP, or I may

wait till they are completed? I've also started to write a new piano solo song in the vein of my Inanna's Dream song. The link below is the book 'The Help' which is written by a fellow Phi Mu sister Katheryn Stockett. The book is now a movie, and I can't wait to see it. Off to finish errands, and then I have a gig tonight. Have a nice day! xxoo Laurie

Red Bars and Girl

Hi Everyone, I'm ecstatic that a new season of Project Runway has begun airing. Tonight the third episode is running, however I missed the first two episodes (due to work conflicts) so I watched the saved recordings this week. I'm in love with fashion and creativity! How many of you enjoy Project Runway? My dream is to, some year, attend Fashion Week in New York. I started designing a few dresses this year..... I dropped art off at the Puyallup Arts Festival last week, and I'm waiting to hear back which pieces were juried into the show, if any? I'm still refining my art site a bit, but Michael, my son, did an awesome job of getting the basic layout completed: www.lauriemillermodernart.com
Thanks ahead of time for looking at the art site.
I'm still getting my Facebook Fan Page out there too, so if you get a chance go to the page - push 'Like'.
Also, you can check out my Reverbnation page, which I am currently #8 on the Rock charts for Seattle.
I'm teaming up with a charity (whose mission is ending domestic violence in homes) where I'm donating a percentage of my CD sales and downloads. My song 'U Really Chose' was included on four CD compilations concerning domestic violence, and I played the 2005 'Take Back the Night' Festival at the University of Santa Barbara Festival which also dealt with domestic violence awareness.
I painted this small acrylic painting last night.
It is a beautiful day outside, so I'm off to see what magic occurs today.....

Red Dress

Hi Friends near and far,
I had a wonderful time playing at the Bellevue Arts Festival last weekend. Carol was great playing percussion, as well as Michael was great playing the electric violin. We had a stranger wanting to hire us for a private party, so we must have sounded okay.
It was very soul pleasing to play my original songs once again. Full circle. Back to where I belong. : ). Here are links to my music sites, Laurie Miller at Reverbnation, and my Facebook Fan page. Thanks for looking and listening, and adding as a friend if you chose. My son, Michael, won first place for photography at the Magnolia Arts Festival this past weekend too. You can look at his picture under this link - Run Down Gas Station. I'm including a miniature acrylic painting (I painted last night) called - Red Dress with this blog, and a link to my 'I Like You' song. I'm off to get my oil changed and teach. Have a Nice Day! xxoo Laurie