GREENWICH PEN WOMEN - Arts, Letters, Music, Creativity

Plein air painters: The winds pick up and your easel is about to take off! Simple solution: Secure your tote bag of supplies with a bungie cord to one of the legs and you’ll stay put…much cheaper and lighter than having to buy a weight to keep your easel in place.

“When you’re stuck, and sure you’ve written absolute garbage, force yourself to finish and then decide to fix or scrap it ---or you will never know if you can.”   ~~ Jodi Picoult

My parents needed a break from the constant battling between my two younger brothers. Dad was so embarrassed by my brothers’ constant fighting that he runaround the house slamming windows shut.   “Be quiet! The neighbors will hear you!” He tried to protect his reputation as model parent and church leader. Furthermore, he was the drum major in a bagpipe band that raised money for Shriners Hospitals for Children. He had to protect his image as a lover of children … even his own. However, one day the boys fought viciously on the front lawn. Dad was so mad that he ran outside and screamed, “I’m going to send you to two different reform schools!”  His face turned red and I thought he’d have a stroke.  Unwittingly, I added fuel to the fire. I ran outside and stuck up for my brothers. “If you send the boys away, you’ll have to send me, too!” I don’t know what made me think that Dad wouldn’t have been glad to get rid of all three of us, but he s...

Don’t panic. Stay calm. In times of trouble and in life and death situations, Jews and Christians find comfort in Psalm 23. Today with the Coronavirus, we face an invisible enemy that affects all our lives. In an effort to give you more insight on this Psalm, let me share with you my thoughts and how it helped me through some difficult times. Then and now I adapt Psalm 23 to my present situation. I make this psalm my own.   Psalm 23 uses shepherd and sheep imagery. God is the good shepherd that provides us, the sheep, with safety and sustenance. The first three verses of this psalm focus on God’s provisions given to us.             The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures: He leads me beside still waters; He restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake. Lying down is a symbol for peace and tranquility. The still waters refresh us. So if we are part ...

How many times have you run into someone who you wanted to give your Business Card to and didn’t have one with you?   Try to keep a few in the pocket of your blazer jacket or your car’s glove compartment.      Doris Mady

Is there an artist who hasn’t had the issue of transporting several wet paintings at once? Here’s something I “invented” for transporting my wet canvases. It’s cheap, easy, and generally won’t mar your wet paintings. 1. At the hardware store, get the plugs that you put on electric sockets to prevent children from putting their fingers into the sockets or drafts from entering a room. (The thinner the prongs, the better.) 2. Place 4 plugs between your canvases or panels. Wet side to wet side. (It’s best if the canvases are similar sizes. I’ve yet to try merging different size canvases). 3. Use masking tape to secure the plugs in position. Repeat Steps 1-3 for multiple layers of plugs and canvases.

Join Greenwich Pen Women and the Perrot Library for a presentation on Protecting your intellectual property by the general counsel of the Authors Guild, Cheryl L. Davis. Cheryl L. Davis is General Counsel of the Author's Guild, where she oversees the organization’s legal affairs, including its in-house corporate affairs, its government relations and policy initiatives, and its legal services program. In addition, she is responsible for developing a wide variety of the organization’s written positions, policies, statements, submissions to government agencies, and legal briefs, as well as participating in domestic and international public speaking engagements and conferences. She is a former partner at the firm of Menaker & Herrmann LLP, where her practice focused on counseling clients on intellectual property issues and litigating copyright and trademark cases. An award-winning playwright, she has long combined her creative passion with her legal work, by representing ...