Category Archives: Christianity

All Things Beachy and Beautiful

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“Truth makes on the ocean of nature no one track of light; every eye, looking on, finds its own. ” ~ Edward G Bulwer-Lytton

This weekend, there is a place where spirit and beauty will  come together for a  special weekend event that will be worth the trip to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The charming Beach Rose Inn, in Falmouth, Massachusetts will be host to an exhibit “A Passion for Light – Paintings by Timothy R. Thies from Private Collections and New Oils by NJ painter, Judy Stach.” 

Timothy R Thies always painted from the light of his soul. His paintings are in collections across the country, and they will be gathered for this exhibit to celebrate his life as a nationally known landscape artist. Cape Cod was one of Tim’s  favorite places to paint. He often gathered artists together for painting workshops when he came to this coastal area, an inspiring  place for artists wanting to experience  painting en plein air. Tim studied and painted with the best artists of our time. To read the article in American Artist Magazine, in tribute to his life as an artist, please visit http://bit.ly/rrcehF. 

Judy Stach, an artist whose career has really taken flight in recent years, resides by the seashore in New Jersey and Florida. Friend and student of Timothy Thies, her beach scenes were recently selected to grace two covers of the New Jersey Shore Magazine this summer. Judy’s impressionistic landscapes, waterscapes and coastal living scenes will be featured in this show appropriately located near the beach! For more information on Judy’s art, please visit her website at http://bit.ly/nlDB3T. 

The opening event for this exhibit is Sunday, July 17 between 5 -7 pm. If you are unable to make the opening night, the paintings will be on display until July 31. The beautiful Beach Rose Inn is a favorite place for artists to stay and gather. http://bit.ly/mYCDUJ.

 Fulfilling the duties of curator of  the show is  Kristen Thies of West Wind Fine Art, LLC. http://bit.ly/qEWu9G.

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Looking Out for Others

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“In my life, I had two Mothers, Macedonia who gave me birth and America who adopted me.”  ~ Stoyan Christowe 

Have you ever made friends with someone who is a stranger from a strange land, yet they reverse the role and make you, the American, feel more at home? 

Two and a half years ago, I moved from my 35 year Vermont residence to the West. I came to this town, Steamboat Springs, Colorado, site unseen and had no idea what to expect. Within a few months time, I met a woman, about my age from Macedonia. Heretofore I had never known a soul from Macedonia, and was not even sure where the on the map the country lies. 

Two years into our friendship, my friend told me a story of an immigrant orphan from Macedonia, Stoyan Christowe, who arrived in 1897 in my “adopted home” state of Vermont. He started a new life and eventually became a Vermont State Senator, journalist and author. http://bit.ly/n94kTO . He lived out the rest of his life in America and during that time, he six published books including “This is My Country.” 

A film is currently being produced about the life of Stoyan Christowe by the Macedonian Arts Council. http://bit.ly/pPj1SC. I look forward to seeing this film and I hope it well captures the feeling that Mr. Christowe expressed about his native land and his adopted country. 

Today, I celebrate my Macedonian friend’s birthday. She made such a positive difference in my life. She helped me to assimilate into a new community nearly effortlessly. I can think of no better way to say Happy Birthday to her than to tell her how deeply grateful I am for her kindness and her help. 

After many years of living in the U.S., she and her family have returned to her Motherland. Although the distance between us is now great, I can not help but feel our two countries of the United States and Macedonia, have grown just a little bit closer by the fulfilling friendship and bond my friend and I have formed. We hope to continue our friendship for many years to come. 

Happy Birthday, Vesna!

A String of Summer Memories

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“Childhood is the most beautiful of all life’s seasons.” ~Author Unknown 

Yesterday’s blog writing about summertime in Steamboat Springs, Colorado set-off a string of magical childhood memories of growing up in ‘burbs of Baltimore in the 1950s and 60s. When I return to that time and place in my mind,  it is so fulfilling that I enjoy remaining stuck there; not rushing back into present day life. 

Our neighborhood was outside Baltimore City limits, developed as part of the post WWII surburban boom. The community was filled with children to play with. In our family, as was the case in most others, kids were shooed out the door to play and not allowed to spend much of the day in front of the TV. Had we spent the amount of time in front of screens as kids do in this digital age, it would have given our mother apoplexy. Instead of being inside, our summer days were filled with: 

  • Spontaneous BBQs and games of softball with neighborhood families.
  • Running through the neighborhood playing flashlight and catching fireflies (lightning bugs as we called them).
  • Basking in the sun until our skin turned a lovely shade of toast.
  • Playing in the stream that bordered our family’s multi-acre wooded property.
  • Gathering green moss and piecing it together to make moss mattresses, in the woods, resembling patchwork quilts.
  • Doing swan dives, cannonballs and back-ward flips off the diving board in our family pool.
  • Listening to hits of the 1960s on my treasured transistor radio. It came complete with a wrist strap.
  • SummertimeVacation Bible School at the church my Dad built. http://bit.ly/jA0Cpp.  
  • Selling colorful tissue paper flowers, we had made, outside the neighborhood store
  • Taking a drawing class at the YMCA (I was no better at drawing than playing the clarinet). Some things are just not meant to be! 

Childhood times may be gone, but they need not be forgotten! Have you ever considered independently publishing your life story as a “love letter to future generations?”   Begin telling your life’s tale today! Don’t know where to start? There are companies that can help you along the way.  http://www.telling-your-story.com/seminars.htm

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e-Conomies. What Does it All Mean?

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“I look for what needs to be done. After all, that’s how the universe designs itself.” ~ Buckminster Fuller

e-Commerce, e-Books, e-Publishing, e-Marketing. http://rww.to/aiuHxb. You’ve heard the terms a lot lately, haven’t you? But what does it all mean? It means entertaining new ways of doing things! 

Let’s face it – our economy needs a kick in the pants! We need independent spirited folks to take ideas and run with them. Brain power, our most available resource, surrounds us everywhere. It is not located in any one place. We need people who are tired of sitting around waiting for something to happen, to make things happen! 

Right here in Steamboat Springs,CO there is a group of people who want to have their say, they want to be heard, and they want to be seen. Right now! They are not willing to play the game of waiting on someone else to create their future for them, or not! 

She Writes Steamboat is a newly-formed meet-up group that will come together for the first time at 4 pm on June 21st at the Bud Werner Memorial Library. www.steamboatlibrary.org.   Independent publishing is one economy that is on the fast track and it is gaining momentum every day. Business people, non-profit organizations, parents, teachers, children and very ordinary folks with unique stories to tell are pumped. Internet and media technologies have changed so greatly over the past 10 years anyone can jump on the train and tell their story, inform, educate and inspire others through all independent film, music or books. Entertain that thought! 

Further, the internet has provided a way for independent publishers to become visible all over the world! Are you ready to share your voice? Join Us @ She Writes Steamboat – click here http://on.fb.me/lbnPms.

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Fill Up and Write in Philly!

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“Education ….is after all, only a tool; every thing depends upon the workman who uses it.” ~The Simple Life 

 

It is hard to believe it is June already. Before the summer gets away from us, I need to mention for all you Christian writers, there is still time to register for the Christian Writers Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 10 -13, 2011. 

Fulfilling a need for writing and publishing education, networking, and obtaining feedback on publishing projects is the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference. Sixty-five professional authors, editors and agents will be on hand this year offering: 

  • 18 Wednesday afternoon early bird sessions
  • 8 Continuing sessions
  • 6 General sessions
  • 42 individual workshops
  • 2 hands-on clinics 

But, that is not all!  You can also schedule time alone to discuss your work in progress with faculty of your choice! 

If you are anywhere near the Philly area, it will be worth the expense to fill-up the car with gas to attend the GPCWC. There will be value added in this writer’s conference –while you are there you can fuel your mind, your soul, your spirit and get practical help, too. What a worthwhile conference it will be. 

To see the full schedule of events for the GPCWC, please visit http://bit.ly/mzK24c. 

This blog is brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Helping to See

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 “Inside myself is a place where I live all alone and that is where I renew my springs that never dry up.” ~ Pearl S Buck 

My husband thinks I am blind. So many times, when I am looking for something, I can’t find it and yet, when he comes to my aid, he finds it right there in front of me.

The other day, something happened that made me think perhaps, there may be some merit to his words that “I must be blind.” We were driving on Route 40, a major thoroughfare in Steamboat Springs, Colorado that I travel almost daily and sometimes several times a day. As I passed by a strip of buildings, there was a store that I had never seen before. My thought was “why hadn’t I ever noticed that before and how long has that been there?” In a time when some stores are closing due to difficult economic challenges, I was quite surprised that someone would start a new endeavor . Perhaps the owners of the business  feel safe that they have something to offer that others need.

The store has a very interesting name! It is called “Come and See.” It also has the symbol of a fish on the sign. What’s  the deal? Do they want passerbys to come see the biggest fish that has been caught this spring on the Yampa River that flows through town? After all, this is fly fishing haven or heaven!

Perhaps I ought to act on my intuition. I had better stop in.  I am always on the look-out for fulfilling things.   Maybe I can find something worthwhile inside like some really meaningful books and gifts. I don’t know though,  from the name of the store, they may be handing out hope and healing for those who are blind and can not see.  I’m there! http://bit.ly/mdsLii.

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Coming to the Art Scene

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 “Nature’s own masterpieces will never go away. If I am able to cast just a few of them in favorable light, and convince you, the viewer, to look at them again with greater appreciation and perhaps a fresh perspective, then I have succeeded as an artist.” ~ Scott L. Christensen 

Tomorrow is the First Friday Art Walk in Steamboat Springs,CO. I particularly enjoy this ski resort’s monthly art walk when it is warm. It is more conducive to strolling from gallery to gallery when I’m not faced with bitter temperatures and falling snow.

This week, an exhibit arrived at the Steamboat Art Museum http://bit.ly/l9on0C  that  is on my list of “have to see.”  The work of landscape painter and Wyoming native, Scott Christensen, will be featured until October 15. I have been aware of Scott’s work for many years now, and I am very excited at the prospect of seeing his work, first hand, rather than in print in art magazines such as American Artist, Wildlife Art, Art of the West, Southwest Art and Images West.

Scott’s work has graced the walls of the most prestigious museums in the country such as the National Museum of Wildlife, the Gilcrease Museum and the National Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City. His paintings have won awards at the Arts in the Parks Competition and Prix de West, just to name a few. The Scottsdale Art School, Disney Animation Studios and the Fechin Institute have all been honored to have him as guest artist teaching his painting techniques.

The Steamboat Art Museum never disappoints in bringing some of the finest artists in our country to this small town of 10,000 people. A jammed, packed schedule of events is on tap here in Steamboat this summer and fall. Remember to put the exhibit of Scott Christensen’s magnificent landscape paintings on your list of fulfilling things to see and do.

Can’t get to Steamboat this summer? Order the book “The Art of Scott L. Christensen” or one of his instructional DVDs. For more information, please visit http://bit.ly/jcVZXz.

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Value Added Experience

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“It’s about sharing. You just give what you have to give where ever you go and let God handle the rest.” ~ Lindsay Wagner 

We have been in celebration mode around here at Cornerstone Fulfillment Service, LLC. It is time to once again recognize and praise the independent publishing efforts of another of our clients, Mitzi Rudderow of Dallas, Texas! www.mitzirudderow.com.

Mitzi’s book “Coming Clean: Drug Addiction – Help and Hope” was written with the primary goal of helping other parents deal with the subject of teen drug abuse in their homes. This book is written from a very personal point of view, and the reader can feel Mitzi’s heartache as you travel through a story that is all too familiar in today’s world of raising teenagers. 

 Mitzi’s reflections on the mistakes she made in dealing with her son’s addiction and the spiritual tools she shares in this book is what has set it apart from many other books on drug and alcohol abuse. The critics have presented this book with an Honorable Mention Award in the 2011 Eric Hoffer Awards for independent publications in the Legacy Non-Fiction category. To read the US Review of Books on “Coming Clean: Drug Addiction Help and Hope, please visit http://bit.ly/mCQT6t.

Mitzi has had a career in radio broadcasting, and she has made it her mission to speak with other parents about this topic of drug addiction and teens. She so eloquently communicates her truth to parents everywhere she goes. 

What began as a personal mission to tell a difficult story, has ended in great results. Mitzi’s son, whom you get to know in this tale, has come clean and is living a productive and happy life. For Mitzi, a book award has made the telling of this story even more fulfilling.

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Plein Air in the National Parks Exhibit

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“There is an undeniable urgency when painting outdoors – nature’s so grand, the canvas so small. It takes the human mind with all its grand abilities and complexities to sort through … re-create on canvas the essential components of such beauty and wonder.”         ~ Jan Blencowe 

The Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts http://bit.ly/l6sOIx  in Springfield, Massachusetts is presenting a plein air exhibition that will be of interest to many artists all up and down the East Coast. The exhibit which opened on Tuesday, May 24 and will run until November 6th and it will be visited by “plein air painting enthusiasts” throughout New England. 

Some of most beautiful scenery in this nation can be found in our country’s National Parks. This collection of 94 paintings, represent the work of 35 members of the Plein Air Painters of America. http://bit.ly/iutYWU.  Plein air painting refers to painting outside of the studio in open air. 

Artists have transferred their visions of the landscapes onto canvas through plein air painting since the 1800’s. As the westward expansion took place, the canvases of early plein air painters held great interest to surveyors, cartographers, geologists and naturalists who were studying the land where only pioneers had trod. 

This touring exhibit is organized by the Haggin Museum http://bit.ly/gVaIJ  of Stockton, California and is under management by Smith Kramer Fine Art Services of Kansas City, Missouri. http://bit.ly/jlLwKb. 

For those who are unable to visit this exhibit, the Museum Store has an exhibition catalog available for sale.

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Yippee! More IPPY!

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“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” ~ Wayne Dyer 

Supporting independent publishers is what  Cornerstone Fulfillment Service, LLC is all about!  Never too much focus can be paid on folks working in an industry that is dynamic, growing and full of promise. Independent minded-folks know that by browsing  www.goodsearch.com, a great number independently published books, films and music can be found. These publications  are unique and different than what many of the traditional publishing companies have to offer.  

Our emphasis on the 2011 IPPY awards continues, this week. What a fulfilling feeling it must be for an independent publisher to earn  IPPY award stickers to grace the front covers of their books! There are so many wonderful award-winning books this year. It would take more than “a month of Sundays” for me to mention each and every one. Here are a few more award-winning independent book picks: 

  • Religious Fiction: The Community of Promise – The Untold Story of Moses (Entos Press)
  • Visionary Fiction: The Angel and the Brown-Eyed Boy (Vilasa Press) 
  • Children’s Picture Books: Skywriting: Poems to Fly (The Creative Company)
  • Juvenile/Teen/ Young Adult: Grace: A Child’s Intimate Journey through Cancer and Recovery (Happy Quail Publishing)
  • Biography: The Hammersteins: A Musical Theatre Family (Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers)

 To learn more about the IPPY awards and the 2011 award-winning publications, please visit http://bit.ly/llL02x.

 We will take one last look tomorrow at a few more prize-winning independently published books. Then we will turn our attention to other fulfilling events that are on the horizon in the independent publishing world. Stay tuned!

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