The Giveaway:

In conjunction with Mummified Times Five, I am giving away up to $1000 worth of Maimeri Classico oil paints!

Each prize pack includes 10 tubes of Maimeri Classico paints valued at $9.55 each…so with free postage, that’s a prize pack valued at over $100!! And we have 10 packs to give away!!

To enter, all you need to do is:

-comment on any post ON EACH of Kathy Shell’s blogs (listed in my blog side bar and below):

http://www.artslim.org/
http://www.cards-art.com/
http://www.kathy-shell.net/
http://www.doggiesblog.com/
http://www.gray-nomad.com/
http://www.bloggermuse.com/
http://www.functional-art.net/
http://www.postcards-art.com/
http://www.campfire-yarns.com/
http://www.fridgemagnetart.com/
- then go to the competition post at

http://mummifiedtimesfive.net/2010/02/01/spotlight-on-kathy-shell-giveaway/

and say why you would like to win a 10 pack of Maimeri Classico paints.

(Both steps are mandatory to be in the running to win this prize)

Giveaway finishes 15 Feb 2010

 This blog post has been illustrated by postcards from the art of Kathy Shell. These can be orderd through the artist's postcards-art web site or purchased 'direct from the artist', in her caravan awning studio

I just updated the listing of standard size postcards made from my artwork, that I have for sale, in my http://www.postcards-art.com Natures Postcards, blog and web site.

I have illustrated this post with some of the postcards that can be ordered from mypostcads-art web site and purchased, 'direct from artist', under our caravan awning studio.

I am working hard completing the jobs I need to have done before we set of on the next stage of our ecotherapy tour which will be early Autumn all things going to plan.

 

Ecotherapy is not a fad, nor a new marketing approach for the psychology profession, and not just more “green exercise,” although it does include fitness and wellness practices.  I try to do my exercises as much as posible in nature, bushwalking is our great love. Even when we relax at home, we love to have a window view, unbroken, looking out over nature. The tranquility this brings Rus is the eco-therapy I speak of.

Some examples of recent ecotherapy research findings:
- “Equine Therapy Helps Withdrawn Vets Reconnect”
- “71% Report Depression Decrease After Green Walk”
- “Immersion in Nature Makes Us Nicer”
- “How the City Hurts Your Brain...and What You Can Do About It”
- “Connection to Nature Vital to Our Mental and Physical Health, Scientists Say”
- “Drug Addiction: Environmental Conditions Play Major Role In Effective Treatment And Preventing Relapses, Animal Study Shows”

Because I will be receiving publicity for my FREE Giveaway of Oil Paint, this month I have been asked to submit a little information about how I got started in art, so I have updated my 'about me', page.

As I am primarily a carer these days, scaling my career down not up,  I often laugh and tell people, 'I am a once was, not a has been'. :-)
 
'This is me'.~ the artist - author..

 Internationally acclaimed artist, KATHY SHELL

*60 Years experience in the arts, 51 years as a professional artist  

*Painting, Sculpting and Writing for as long as she can remember, Kathy Shell studied art and sculpture under multi Archibald prize winning artists.

*Awarded Prestigious accolades in Oils, Pastels, Watercolours, Pottery and Sculpture.
*Kathy Shell has received frequent feature articles in national newspapers & magazines and interviews on national television and radio.

*Chosen as one of the leading ten art and craft exhibitors in Australia by Westfield. *

*Kathy has distinguished herself by winning community service, environment, writing and business achievement awards.
 
*Kathy Shell,is a published and multi award winning artist and poet. Once the editor of two magazines, self help booklets, ghost writer of research articles in medical and science based journals and nonfiction. publications. 

* Kathy Shell is a humanitarian by nature; many charities have been the beneficiary of all profit. Kathy in her maiden name, Kathryn Joy Simpson is a life governor of the Royal Children's Hospital in recognition of donations made through creative endeavours in her name.

*Kathy’s art work are in public and private collections world wide.

*Kathy Shell represented Australia in the International Artists Festival.

*Kathy Shell with husband Reg and Indigo the poodle, are on continual tour of Australia painting mostly en plein air landscapes and wildlife portraiture also writing nonfiction with an emphasis on  travel, environment, fitness, wellness, nutrition, folklore, history, women's issues, art.

Kathy writes ten blogs
Artist and Author
A Creative life, at http://www.kathy-shell.net 
Art of healthy Living and slimming at http://www.artslim.org 
Words, Works, Women, gifts at http://www.fridgemagnetart.com
Light hearted doggie blog and canine reference site at  http://www.doggiesblog.com
Gray with an A for Active Seniors. Travel and healthy lifestyle blog, http://www.gray-nomad.com
Natures Postcards, environment and ecotherapy plus postcards at http://www.postcards-art.com
Blogger Muse, Current Events, Life Inspirations,  at http://www.bloggermuse.com.
Personal Greetings and Cards by Kathy Shell at http://www.cards-art.com
Books, yarns, short stories and at http://www.campfire-yarns.com
Useful stuff for house and home, at, http://www.functional-art.net.

Enquiries are welcome for investment works as the artist is downsizing her own private collection.

Contact, Kathy Shell

A Century Turns, New Hopes, New Fears, by William J.Bennett will be my first book to review from Books Sneeze.

.I took a look at the books on offer from Book Sneeze, for my first read and review and the list was fairly limited. One political non fiction book, which I chose and the remainder were heavily Christian literature books. I am hoping that as I progress with this company, a wider range of books will become available to select from.

This will be a new type of reading for me, yes I am an avid reader of political and historical fact but usually in essay form rather than book length format.  I'm also a very keen political and historical TV documentary watcher so the subject will be familiar to me and I will have a wide cross reference of varied opinions to weigh up the writers view point.
 
This supplier of these FREE books for blog reviewers, is US based so I expect to receive my first book to review from them in about two weeks time.
Once I have reviewed it I am hoping a wider selection of books will be come available for me, the reviewer, to select from. 
I will let you know if I think Books Sneeze is worth reviewing for. 
I will be also, very interested in hearing other bloggers opinions, of the Book Sneeze, available book selection.

The book I have chosen to review from the Book Resources, is

A Century Turns New Fears, New Hopes--America 1988 to 2008 By William Bennett Average Blogger Rating:

Book Description Author, historian, and educator William J. Bennett examines America’s last two decades.

Twenty years ago, John McCain was serving his second year in the Senate, and Colin Powell had just been promoted to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. There was no Fox News Channel, no American Idol. Saddam Hussein and the Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeni ruled Iraq and Iran, respectively. George W. Bush was the fairly unnoticeable son of the then-president. If you asked someone to “email me,” you would have received a blank stare, and “Amazon” was a forest in South America. Finally, 20 years ago a young man named Barack Obama was elected the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. The two decades from 1988 to 2008 have proved to be some of the most pivotal in America’s history. Based on a lifetime of experience in government and education, William J. Bennett defines the events that shaped American history during the final years of the century.

Time to register your interest in taking part.

One for the Melbournites

or for those who might be interesting in coming to Melbourne for a weekend

Royal Children's Hospital,
Good Friday Appeal,

annual

 Run for the Kids.

14 March 2010

Two easy courses, depending on your fitness level.

You can walk or run the course; it is about raising money for the kids and participating.

There is a 5.2 km course

and a longer 14.6 km course which takes you from the city, over the Bolte Bridge, through the domain tunnel and back to the city.

Costs are for the long run $40 (of which $23 goes to the) and $35 for the short run (of which $18 goes to the Good Friday Appeal). 
Check the website.

 
If you are looking for a training program to be ready for this run, you could take up the Couch Potato to 5 km running plan, (www.c25k.com) and then be ready to participate in this charity fundraising event.   I will be walking the equivalent area, in the country and donating the fee to the Royal Children’s Hospital, (of which I am a ‘Life Governor’),  it's a great cause and a good challenge for those who are up to it - and it's a great day out too.

OMG,  What a goal that would be for me to do.

I am going to make a walk by the riverside in fresh country air.

 14th of March is highly significant to me, it was my mother’s birthday and my mum died at a younger age than I am now, partly due to obesity and partly due to smoking. She died from lifestyle disease. For me to walk that distance at two years older than when my mum passed away, on her birthday, will be proving to myself that I have overcome the family curse of bad health and I know my mum would be pleased for meJ.  

 Therefore, I am going to set it as a goal, make an action plan and begin training tomorrow.  I did a seniors walk around Victoria in the Narre Warren leg, 5kilometers at a 6klm per hour pace. They took us to walk beside a highway and it was 'gasp', smelly exhaust fumes and I thought 'never again', when I can choose parkland away from roads.  I will be walking the distance, not running it.

A friend of mine, Danielle, has begun blogging and is doing a great job, at A Dose OF Dannie

She reminded me of some great tips that have been going around the internet and they have been, printed in the Readers Digest. 

I tried to verify the author of them and there were just too many people claiming original authorship may have been a press release from the Dallas Police Department. It seems the copyright is murky. I would be interested in knowing the original source, so i can give credit to the author and make sure I have their permission to re print it.  I am posting this information because I currently believe it to be non-copyright open press release information and I think the information is valuable and should be, shared.

Things Your Burglar Won’t Tell You

1. Of course I look familiar. I was here just last week cleaning your carpets, painting your shutters, or delivering your new refrigerator.

2. Hey, thanks for letting me use the bathroom when I was working in your yard last week. While I was in there, I unlatched the back window to make my return a little easier.

3. Love those flowers. That tells me you have taste .. And taste means there are nice things inside. Those yard toys your kids leave out always make me wonder what type of gaming system they have.

4. Yes, I really do look for newspapers piled up on the driveway. And I might leave a pizza flyer in your front door to see how long it takes you to remove it.

5. If it snows while you’re out of town, get a neighbor to create car and foot tracks into the house. Virgin drifts in the driveway are a dead giveaway.

6. If decorative glass is part of your front entrance, don’t let your alarm company install the control pad where I can see if it’s set. That makes it too easy.

7. A good security company alarms the window over the sink. And the windows on the second floor, which often access the master bedroom-and your jewelry. It’s not a bad idea to put motion detectors up there too.

8. It’s raining, you’re fumbling with your umbrella, and you forget to lock your door-understandable. But understand this: I don’t take a day off because of bad weather.

9. I always knock first. If you answer, I’ll ask for directions somewhere or offer to clean your gutters. (Don’t take me up on it.)

10. Do you really think I won’t look in your sock drawer? I always check dresser drawers, the bedside table, and the medicine cabinet.

11. Here’s a helpful hint: I almost never go into kids’ rooms.

12. You’re right: I won’t have enough time to break into that safe where you keep your valuables. But if it’s not bolted down, I’ll take it with me.

13. A loud TV or radio can be a better deterrent than the best alarm system. If you’re reluctant to leave your TV on while you’re out of town, you can buy a $35 device that works on a timer and simulates the flickering glow of a real television. (Find it at faketv.com.)

8 MORE THINGS A BURGLAR WON’T TELL YOU:

1. Sometimes, I carry a clipboard. Sometimes, I dress like a lawn guy and carry a rake.. I do my best to never, ever look like a crook.

2. The two things I hate most: loud dogs and nosy neighbors.

3. I’ll break a window to get in, even if it makes a little noise. If your neighbor hears one loud sound, he’ll stop what he’s doing and wait to hear it again. If he doesn’t hear it again, he’ll just go back to what he was doing. It’s human nature.

4. I’m not complaining, but why would you pay all that money for a fancy alarm system and leave your house without setting it?

5. I love looking in your windows. I’m looking for signs that you’re home, and for flat screen TVs or gaming systems I’d like. I’ll drive or walk through your neighborhood at night, before you close the blinds, just to pick my targets.

6. Avoid announcing your vacation on your Facebook page. It’s easier than you think to look up your address.

7. To you, leaving that window open just a crack during the day is a way to let in a little fresh air. To me, it’s an invitation.

8. If you don’t answer when I knock, I try the door. Occasionally, I hit the jackpot and walk right in.

 

I have been talking about children's classic books and nursery rhymes with my face book friends. I wonder how many of these were written in order to explain to children the effects of illness or the mental health behaviour of adults.

A brief ‘lay persons’, analysis of the two great Children’s classics.

This is my feelings about the possibly health condition and behaviour being explained by the stories in, ‘Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll”, and Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie.

I never liked 'Through the looking Glass', though I live' Peter Pan’.

I see Peter Pan, the story of the mischievious boy who never grew up as the child fiction explanation of the adult who needs supervision because they have lost their executive function and have a cognitive function disorder, or Frontal lobe degeneration and or dementia . I have a 'Peter Pan', and I'm Wendy the carer and I love our Never Never land, (eco-therapy), life.  Oh and there was a dog, in the Peter Pan story.

Through the Looking Glass, or Alice in Wonderland, I feel is probably an explanation to a child of an adult’s uncontrolled schizophrenia nightmare and it scared the heeby Jeeves out of me when I first read it as a child and saw the film and I still do not like the story. I do not choose nightmares as my reading entertainment :-)

 

Reg and I have had many experiences with out of control fires during our years of travelling Australia, non too dangerous or terrifying though we have had friends who have come close to home and life threatening experience over the years.

Just a few brief experiences our friends and we ourselves have had, with fires,  have included, a friend, Jeannette,  once save her and her babies life by intermittently submerging herself under the water of a flowing river to escape the heat and flames as the fire crossed above her on the outskirts of Montrose in the Dandenongs, in the 1960’s. At the same time,  her husband was out fighting the fires as a volunteer fire fighter with the Country Fire Authority and her father and I were going to the outskirts of the Dandenongs, collecting dogs and bringing them safely back to where they could be cared for away from the firestorm.  .

An art client of mine who lovingly master built his own home from scratch stayed and fought the fire and his home was the only thing left standing for miles around, due to his efforts. His home was everything he loved and he felt it worth the risk he took. Other good friends and art client had lovingly restored the original homestead, Fairhaven, at Fairhaven, diagonally across the road from the Fairhaven Life saving Club,  on the Great Ocean Road, Victoria, only to see it destroyed in the Ash Wednesday blaze in 1983. Reg and I made a round trip to all our good clients’ homes offering to replace any of the paintings they owned of mine, if the art had been lost in the fires. I was never able to make contact with the owners of the Fairhaven property. Fairhaven, had been more than a house to them, it was a restoration dream.

Many times Reg and I find ourselves driving for hundreds of kilometres with smoke and spot fires alongside us, one unpleasant such incident was in the far north west of Australia in scrub country. It was more an unpleasant and tiring experience than dangerous. I mainly wanted to drive far enough to get out of the smoke zone so it would not cause respiratory problems when we camped for the night that made it a long tiring drive and such a relief when we found a roadhouse on a large area of clear land just out f the smoke zone.

The only dangerous situation we have been placed in while travelling Australia was on a drive from Katherine to Darwin where the two-meter high spear grass either side of the road was on fire, the flames reaching twice this again and giving off thick black smoke.  These grass fires in the far north during the dry season are often planned and are sometimes called ‘cool burns’,  this one was no ‘cool burn’.   The air was hot and acrid and burnt the throat and lungs as we breathed.

We blocked off the air vents into the car, quickly, there was a road drained pulled over to the side of the road, with its load ablaze but I could see tree man had succeeded in unhooking the cab from the blazing load. They were about to get into the cab and drive on, as I slowed down to see it they needed any help, (not that I could have done anything), they waved to me to go on ahead, so I followed their direction, and drive forward.  At that stage, I did not own a CB radio, but I know the truck driver would be using one in his cab and would know the best direction to drive to get out of danger.

It was not a big burn; we were so very relieved once we drove out of that situation. Already having ‘weak lungs’, I developed pneumonia which lasted six months as a result of the smoke and hot air inhalation and got a diagnosis via lung scan of pulmonary fibrosis, or scarred lungs and was told I needed a combined heart lung transplant. That was about six years ago and I am fully recovered without any surgery. It does make me even more aware than ever before of the dangers facing fire fighters. That was closer than I ever want to go again to driving near a fire.

Now getting back to topic, I’m asking my readers to take a look at the the Hope form the Ashes, website and consider how we can show support for the people of Toodyay, recently affected by bushfire.
 http://www.hopefromashes.com.au/