Welcome to my newsletter,

the Chili Dogma Blogma!

(I also have a blog at Diaryland.com (chilidogma.diaryland.com), but you have to have a diary there to read the other diaries. So...hmmm...if you've been thinking of setting up your very own blog (online anonymous soapbox), maybe Diaryland is a very good place to start, seeing how it's FREE, and EASY, and we could meet there for TEA! www.diaryland.com )

GO TO JAROFPENCILS.COM AND SEE A CHILI ART SHOW REVIEW

My new favorite blogger posted a Chili picture and wrote about my show, and my town (a magical town, little-known in the great, big world). She is the first person ever to make the connection between my 20 years growing up in Miami, and its tropical influence on my Midwest imagery. Ok. Even I MYSELF had never thought of it! Visit her. She's a genius. www.jarofpencils.com.

 

CHILI's ONE WOMAN SHOW AT THE RINGLING GALLERY

Pieces sold by day three: 16

My art is currently hanging in my solo show (until October 16th) at the Al. Ringling Gallery. I have 79 pieces up, and I'm happy and grateful that they're selling nicely. Two were purchased by a couple who walked in before I was even finished hanging the show, and seven were sold at the opening reception. nine more the next day. One's even on its way to Connecticut (see "Yellow Room" on my gallery page. Goodbye, Yellow Room! Remember to write!)

 

LEAVE A NOTE FOR CHILI

If you're reading this for the first time, I hope that you will click right here on the word guestbook and write a note for me! I promise to write back!

 

PRINTS BY MAIL FROM CHILI DOGMA STUDIO

Email me -- chili@chilidogma.com -- if you're interested in prints of any picture. (I have nearly 25 new pictures soon to be hung in my internet gallery by my web genie.) My prices are crazy good.

 

DISCOUNTS ON PRINTS

I often have "print sales" during which you can get certain matted prints for stunningly low prices -- mailed to your cozy home without postage costs. Watch here for sales postings!

 

CHAMP BLOGGER TALKS BLOGGING WITH CHILI

A seriously-blogging blogger came into the gallery today and talked with me about the wonders of blogging. I know nothing about her -- and she told me that it's often best to enjoy another blogger WITHOUT knowing much about them -- but she gave me her blog site, and it's really beautiful! Apparently her blog won first place in a blog contest! See her blog at www.jarofpencils.com. She told me about many fascinating bloggers, one of whom goes by the name of PrisonPete. He's not allowed to use a computer in prison, so he manually types his entries and snail-mails them to a web guy who posts them daily. Find him by googling this: prisonpete.

I was trying to use the word "blog" ten times in the preceding paragraph, but only used it nine times. If you count the previous sentence, however, we're there.

Blog is a really unaesthetic word.

LUMINOUS L

I received an amazing gift last night. A beautiful young woman named L-- (whom I met at the University when I reviewed her Stop-Everything-Oh-My-Gosh-This-Is-Brilliant creative writing) came into the gallery. I hadn't seen her for a while, and it was a huge treat that she came there. Just before she left, she handed me a kind of mystery package. She had created a collage of photos, letters, words, images and ribbons and into it she had slipped a note. "Read it later," she said. When I got home, I slowly slipped the note out of the ring-like collage holder, admiring every tiny micro-inch of the collage package she had made: a white silk flower, clips of blue lace, strips of purple velvet, gold foil, cardboard cutouts of images, and across the front of it all was an ancient 3 x 5 photograph of a woman with braided hair wrapped around her head. My young friend had glued these words on the photo: "What strength am I!" And on the back, she had glued, "Thank you." When I unfolded the note, I saw that she had written -- at precious length -- a note thanking me for encouraging her as a writer.

I can only limpingly describe how profoundly this touched me. I'm sure I didn't do enough for her, to have deserved this treasure. But more important was the fact that a woman like this exists. A person who perceives a good thing offered to them, and feels thankful in return, and then expresses that, is so rare. By this gift, she revealed the possession of a heart that is large enough to contain -- and illuminated enough to express -- the feeling called gratitude (though certainly undeserved on my part.) "Gratitude" comes from the root word "grace" which comes from the Greek, "charis" which is the root of "charisma" which is close to "gifted" -- all woven in with "gracias" which is "grace" expressed as "thanks" in Spanish. Where this line of thought might go if left unattended is anyone's guess. But the point is: we can all learn from L-- to be so graceful and so full of light. Let's be luminous.