Gee Whiz, Linda!

Thanks so much!

Linda, of Quotidian Curiosities, has honored me with a "Creative Blogger" award. And she said such nice things, too, on a day when I really needed some serious affirmation. Linda is a wonderful friend and inspiration to me. I always feel creatively recharged after a meeting with her, so this award means an extra lot to me.

Now I am supposed to pass the award on to 5 bloggers who inspire me creatively, and then they in turn should nominate 5 more. How's that for spreading the love? Great idea - so nice to do nice things in this not-so-nice world. For more info about the Creative Blogger award, click here, but not before you read my picks...

1. Melinda of Lunar Epilogues. Melinda is a writer extraordinaire. She writes about truth and life and love and angst and does so in a beautiful and tender way. She doesn't post as often as I would like, but maybe understanding that she is a creative genius will inspire her to write. She often inspires me to paint. And to quit whining.

2. Ronell of African Tapestry. Ronell does amazing, colorful watercolors of her travels, of her home and even of kudzu. She has such a wonderful outlook on the places and things that she captures in her art - she's always refreshing to read.

3. Casey of Rue Manuel Bis. Casey is one of those bloggers that leaves such encouraging, thoughtful comments - I always love to see her name on my comments box. Her ink and watercolor paintings are always so fresh and pleasing, but I have to confess I love what she does with her figures and portraits - beautiful line, lovely shading...

4. Karen of kbladosdesign. Karen has the most remarkable journal. She weaves pictures with text in a way that is completely unique and always beautiful.

and last, but in no way least,

5. Marta of mARTa's Art. Marta is such a lovely person. She balances an intense job with a love of life and art and she does so beautifully. She's one of those bloggers that I would just like to hang out with at the beach for a few days. I think we'd have a blast.

Well, that's my list today. It was very hard to pick just 5 from all the wonderful blogs out there, but I promise if you go visit any of these, you'll be happy you did.

Thanks to Linda again, and to everyone who comes by here to say hello.

Happy Blogging...