RETIREMENT FROM THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
I retired from my position as Music Reference/Collection Management Librarian at the Library of Congress on January 1, 2022, capping off a 35-year career as a music librarian. My first work as a full-time artist was to have been a commission to paint the portrait of Pongo, the adorable corgi belonging to one of my closest friends and colleagues at the Library. As it turns out, that friend’s husband secretly intervened to commission the portrait as a surprise Christmas gift. Instead, it looks like my first post-retirement painting will be the portrait of my cat Pearl that I was sketching out at the time of the commission.
CHATEAU ORQUEVAUX RESIDENCY
The first two weeks of September 2020 were to have been the time of my residency at Chateau Orquevaux, an artist retreat held in a magnificent chateau in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France. COVID-19 put a hold on those plans for this year, pushing my visit back to October 2022.
(photos by Ziggy Attias, Chateau Orquevaux)