Sketchbook Project for ArtHouse Co-Op

What is a Sketchbook Project?
Sometime early summer 2010, the Art House Co-Op advertised a sketchbook. The idea is that the sketchbooks are filled by different artists, each book has a different theme, and the sketchbooks become part of a traveling library. For more information on how it began, my blog post can been read by clicking this sentence.

What is the theme of your sketchbook?
The actual theme of my sketchbook was "This is not a sketchbook." Here are just a few sample pages from it. The entire book was created during the time that I was deep into my Caliginosity series based on the Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico oil spill event. The pages are little dark...because that was the mood of the series.

Using scrap paper, each page has a series of strips and ripped paper. Later, using rubber stamp letters, I chose "h" for "hope" and "d" for "despair." There is hope that the damage from the oil spill is much less than believed, but there is despair because the extent is still being researched as this blog post is written. 


The sketchbook project was shipped this last Friday, on the 14th of January.

If you wish to know about the Canvas Project by the Art House Co-Op in which I also participated, please click on each of the following words: Basil - Staccato - Often.


Upcoming about Encaustic Workshop in Key West
For those of you waiting for more about the encaustic workshop from this weekend, please stay tuned this week. Right now...WOW! My brain is on fire and the need to return to my studio is painful!!! WOW!!! Please visit my past blog post by clicking this sentence about the workshop by clicking this sentence.

Smiles, 

Angeline Marie of 

Angeline Marie Fine Art

Why Oceanography?

Spilt Oil with Sheen ©2010 by Angeline Marie encaustic techniques 5 x 8 inches

Why take Oceanography? Here is the quick list, from the artistic side:


1. love of ocean means learning something that should already be interesting
2. flexibility of choosing ANY college credit course but
3. limited to what is provided by the local college online (no art history)
4. extra credit involves snorkeling and I adore swimming
5. textbook has cool photos and graphics
6. influence next art works 
7. local college does not have JJ as a professor (he teaches writing)


As for why take college courses at all, well, it is a requirement to maintain a teaching certificate in Florida while not working in any school system. My mantra: "It is easier to maintain the certificate than later regret allowing it to lapse." 

First week of college credit course Oceanography is done! One chapter of a dozen completed. Goal is to pass with at least a C. I used to go always for the A and be hugely disappointed without it...but my life is not about pursuing another degree.

If my life were about pursuing another degree, this classes would not be taken at the local college!  

There you have it - all the reasons to take Oceanography. 


Smiles, 
Angeline Marie of 
Angeline Marie Fine Art

Greatest Hit Favorite Paintings of 2010

To all those who encourage, are interested, and love art: THANK YOU for a wonderful 2010 and may we all enjoy a blessed, safe, FUN, and healthy 2011! This is a quick review of my favorite paintings from this year...hope you enjoy them, too. Click on the information of each title if you wish for more information about it. For more paintings in the series, click on the why it was chosen. 

©2010 by Angeline Marie, Primitive, encaustic techniques on board, 8 x 10 inches


Irreverent, fun, and lots of textures with a new-to-me media. 

©2010 by Angeline, Join Branches, mixed media on canvas, painted on location at the Deering Estate, Miami, Florida


This one gives me bragging rights: other than the mosaic by another artist that was beautiful and unfinished, this was the most quirky painting entered in the juried exhibit. Honorable mention!

©2010 by Angeline Marie, Lady on Her Side, ink on paper, 11 x 14 inches


This was done during one of the Bakehouse figure drawing sessions. I love the curves of the figure and how the ink flowed from the brush. 

©2010 by Angeline Marie, Lust, acrylics on canvas, 18 x 24 inches


The Bakehouse had a juried exhibit with the theme "SIN," and months before the deadline I decided to enter. That was a first time for me, planning out five paintings for an exhibit months ahead. Well, I entered five paintings, and not a single one was accepted. After seeing the show on YouTube, I decided it might be because I am too traditional. Still, I love this piece. 

©2010 by Angeline Marie, Blue Ridge Parkway, white clear, acrylics on paper, 23 x 33 inches


Andy and I enjoyed a motorcycle trip this past summer. It was the color, information, and reference photo overload for art junkies that he predicted for me. Even in late August, some leaves were already turning gold and red. 

©2010 by Angeline Marie, Escape from the Deepwater Horizon Event inspired series Caliginosity, acrylics on paper, 23 x 33 inches


The most influential to me as an artist was the Deepwater Horizon event in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill is still affecting life in the waters, but the media circus has ended. Researchers have taken over the areas...and we have yet to learn the extent of damage. This painting is one of my favorites for it's pure accident, the fish I see, the water, the panic, and the need for survival. 


Did I miss a painting you loved? Email me, write a blog comment, or Facebook me with your opinion. I would love to know what you enjoyed!


HAPPY NEW YEAR! 


Smiles, 
Angeline Marie of 
Angeline Marie Fine Art

Melting Crayons Make Art, Too: Video

If you cannot see the video on this post, please click on this sentence to take you to my YouTube Channel, AngelineMarieArt. Thanks!

Smiles,
Angeline Marie of
Angeline Marie Fine Art

Fish with Stars- Original Encaustic Painting

Fish with Stars - Original Art Painting

View more presentations from AngelineMarieArt.

Special note to Mama, JJ, and Jason: I'm taking a break!

Smiles,
Angeline-Marie of
Angeline Marie Fine Art

PS: Storage is full of paintings...and it is time for my second annual sell off of my "1st and 2nd generation styles" of painting. For one, please visit my recent eBay post:
Cat in Sunlight, Original Canvas Art Painting

So Much for the Oil Spill's Impact by Fred Grimm Miami Herald

This article shares so much of how I feel about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, that I re-posted it here, knowing that the Miami Herald will pull the article from their website in less than week. 


How do you feel about the oil spill, now that it is late October, 2010?



So much for the oil spill's impact BY FRED GRIMM (published October 24, 2010)
Contact: fgrimm@MiamiHerald.com


Not only did that giant horrible plume of oil seem to disperse in the Gulf, it disappeared from politics.

Six months ago, the gusher in the Gulf of Mexico was seen as both the worst natural disaster in American history and the most vexing problem in American politics. ``This is what I wake up to in the morning, and this is what I go to bed at night thinking about,'' President Obama said.



The ruinous effect of 4.1 million barrels of red, gooey crude washing onto the Gulf Coast would surely affect the November elections.


Thanks to the spill, Gov. Charlie Crist, commanding a flotilla of plastic booms off the Florida Panhandle beaches, was able to resurrect his candidacy in the U.S. Senate race. In early summer, Crist was transformed into the environmental governor with lots of media attention and a lead in the polls.

But in the final weeks of the campaign, the spill -- along with Crist's allure -- has receded from public consciousness.

The gusher was capped three months ago. Worried talk of an environmental catastrophe was soon drowned out by an angry harangue from oil-state politicians demanding an end to the moratorium on new deep-water wells. Elected officials formerly concerned for shrimpers, fishermen and the Gulf Coast tourist industry talked incessantly about the loss of drilling jobs.


On Oct. 12, the Obama administration lifted the moratorium. And the worst natural disaster in American history became no more relevant to American voters than those vaguely remembered wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Over in Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal has stubbornly persevered with his $360 million chain of earthen berms 40 miles offshore, despite protests from environmentalists and marine scientists.


So far, his sand barriers have intercepted only about 1,000 barrels of oil. That works out to $36,000 a barrel -- not such a cost effective way to protect the coast. But Jindal's berm project, also known as Jindal's folly, was a political conception, a monument to himself when it was proposed in May, a time political leaders were still obsessed with the Gulf disaster.



Lately, not only has the oil spill faded from the public narrative, so have other environmental concerns -- except as the stuff of derision from tea party insurgents.


The new right-wing activists, poised to chase Democrats out of their majority positions in Congress, regard talk of global warming as biblical heresy. As former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, reincarnated as a tea party intellectual, put it, ``The Lord God Almighty made the heavens and the Earth to his satisfaction. It is quite pretentious of we little weaklings here on earth to think that we are going to destroy God's creation.''



A New York Times/CBS poll this month found only 14 percent of the tea partiers called global warming an imminent problem. More than half doubted that global warming posed a future problem.



After Nov. 2, the new political establishment will ignore all those secular worries about melting polar caps, massive wildfires, dust storms, ocean dead zones and a rising sea that could inundate much of the Florida peninsula.


So much for worries about preventing future deep-water spills. So much for carbon-cutting measures that might slow global warming. If climate scientists are right about rising sea levels, and the tea partiers are wrong, so much for Florida.

Sails 3 - 2004 - acrylic paints on canvas - 16 x 20 inches - ©Angeline Marie

For the original link, please click this sentence, but I cannot guarantee that it works when you use it. 


For more art about the oil spill, please visit my webpage by clicking on this sentence. 

Smiles,
Angeline Marie of
Angeline Marie Fine Art

Skeletal Fish - No. 16 of Art Inspired by the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

On October 24, hidden in the deep pages of the hardcover newspaper, there was a brief article about the oil spill and the continued effects.

Seems like the sharks are missing...without these predators, even coral reefs die.

For more information sharks and the Gulf of Mexico, vista Mote Marine Laboratory's website.

Skeletal Fish - Art

View more presentations from AngelineMarieArt.

Smiles,
Angeline Marie of
Angeline Marie Fine Art

Mangroves Wait - No.15 of Art Inspired by the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

"Clean Up?" - 2010 - mixed media on board - 8 x 8 inches

This mixed media in this piece consists of encaustic (beeswax), and burnt tea. 

Mangroves are very fragile ecosystems with many dependents. So many lives, plant, animal, and human depend on them. Will they filter the oil as well as suffer? We can only wait and hope that everyone involved with cleaning up the oil spills from the Deepwater Horizon, the tugboat hitting an oil rig, and the Crystal Clear are successful. 

From Fox News: 

"...How many accidents are needed and how much environmental and economic damage must we suffer before we act to contain and control the source of the danger: offshore drilling?" said Rep. Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat.

Mike Gravitz, oceans advocate for Environment America, said President Barack Obama "should need no further wake-up call to permanently ban new drilling."

There are about 3,400 platforms operating in the Gulf, according to the American Petroleum Institute. Together they pump about a third of the America's domestic oil, forming the backbone of the country's petroleum industry....”

We need oil. From the moment we wake up, we use hundreds, if not thousands, of oil products daily. We are not going to practically cut off the oil production in the Gulf of Mexico. What is needed a true regulating system, modeled after the nuclear industry. 

How do you think your lifestyle would change if there was no oil used? How would daily objects change if there was no plastic? 

PS: How often do you think I should blog each week? Any topics you would like me to cover? What would you wish to read and see? Thanks in advance!

Smiles,

Angeline Marie of

Angeline Marie Fine Art

From Here? - #14 Art Inspired by the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

From Here - 2010 - encaustic techniques on board - 10 x 8 inches

Encaustic Workshop techniques were never ending with this piece. This piece just seemed to never want me leave it alone, even now that it is completed. What more? What can I do? It needs something...! STOP picking at me, it laughs. 

From Here began with a paper mounted on the board, clear beeswax on it, then layers of beeswax colors, then tried to erase all of it, used carving tools, used the heat gun, smeared oil paint, repeat a million times. The clown fish (I am resisting to call it Nemo) appeared and demanded to stay exactly how you see it. 

Compositionally, the clown fish is NOT in the right place...but for me it seems to make the entire art piece work. Sharp, blurred, wide and thin lines carved into the wax just make the clown fish jump out for more than its color. The blues and whites invoke sea plants and fish to me and give your eyes a place to travel instead of out of the art piece. The clown fish seems to say "Where am I supposed to go from here?" because he is running out of space on the board. The sea plants and fish above seem to whisper "up here!"

Why is this piece part of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill series? As I was creating this, I keep thinking about where the sea life is to escape the oil and dispersants. As humans, we can move away on land or on sea, but sea life is limited to the oceans that suit them.

What do you think of From Here? Does it work for you? Where do your eyes travel on it? Your comments can help me decide if this is finally finished, or to keep working it. Thanks in advance!

Angeline Marie of

Angeline Marie Fine Art 

Dharma Studio Exhibit: Press Release!!!!

Caliginosity by Angeline Marie to Show

at Coconut Grove, Florida’s Dharma Studio

Dharma Studio in Coconut Grove, Florida will present an exhibition of expressionistic works by Angeline Marie entitled, Caliginosity during the Coconut Grove Art Stroll. The exhibition will open for the evening of Saturday, September 4, for one night. It will be the first opportunity for the public to view these beautiful works at Dharma Studio.


Angeline Marie resides in Miami-Dade county and she began her artistic career in 1999. It was with Baruj Salinas and Ismael Gomez-Peralta that the artist developed her style of celebrating nature with a dark twist. Her paintings make the viewer see whatever they want as well as what the artist wanted them to see. The textures, colors, and moods guide the viewer into a different world.The show Caliginosity will feature encaustic and mixed media paintings showcasing her interpretation and emotions regarding the horrible ecological event associated with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon.


Angeline Marie has exhibited in various local shows and won awards including Carl’s Furniture “First Annual Floridian Soul Contemporary Art” and has won several awards for art work created during local paint out events in Coconut Grove and at the Deering Estate. She paints and draws landscapes, figures, and animals with many different materials such as acrylics, beach sand, found objects, and ink. She paints on traditional surfaces such as canvas and paper, but also on clay, concrete, and wood. She currently shares her unique art at www.angelinemarie.net.

For further information about Dharma Studio, call 305.461.1777, email at loree@dharmastudio.com, or on the web at http://www.dharmastudio.com/.


For further info about Angeline Marie, call 305.984.3954, e-mail at ammtz2008@gmail.com or on the web at http://www.angelinemarie.net/ and angeline-marie.blogspot.com

(Where do We Go) From Here? - 2010 - encaustic techniques on panel - 10 x 8 in.
Copyright artist Angeline Marie Martinez

Trapped - #13 of Art Inspired by the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

Trapped - acrylics on paper - 2010 - 23 x 33 in. 

Seems like the spilling in the Gulf of Mexico is done. Now, the clean up begins in earnest for all of the areas. While in Key West this weekend, NOAA, the happy news that the oil will probably not affect the Keys and South Florida at all reached the Cypress House. We are still going to feel the affects...but at least our waters will remain how we love them. 

This piece, Trapped, is to honor all those who are affected by the oil spill. To all those cleaning, losing their lives, their homes, the animals from dolphins to seahorses. We need to remember and continue to remember how fragile the Earth is. This series will be continued...perhaps not as much as I was...maybe a little more light heartedly as with Seahorses Three. 

How do you feel when you look at this piece? What ran through your mind when learning the spill was occurring...and when it was stopped (so we hope!)?

Smiles,

Angeline Marie of

Angeline Marie Fine Art

Seahorses Three - #12 of Art Inspired by the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

Seahorses Three - 5 x 8 inches - mixed media on board - 2010

At this posting, a boat ran into a different oil rig and caused a geyser of oil to spill in the Gulf of Mexico, just off the Louisiana coast. China and its sea is having its oil spill. A pipe bust some where between the US and Canada and is causing the fourth oil spill advertised in 2010. Good news is that it looks like the BP one, begun in April, may finally have been stopped. 

I filter the news that reaches me. Andy stops many conversations about the oil spills because of how upset I get. I do nothing good in this world getting upset. I do better creating art - and that is where my energy is channeled (ok, and the gym, too). I heard about research being done to count seahorses because they were endangered. Who knew? Seahorses? Those fascinating little creatures? How sad. 

Seahorses Three is on a wood panel that has (very watered down) acrylics, encaustics, and oil pastels. A little whimsy in the midst of so much tragedy in oceans....

Come out see some of my art work on September 4th, Saturday, during the Coconut Grove Art Stroll! I am honored to share space at Dharma Studio with photographer Jason Eldridge the same evening. Hope you can make it to stroll the Grove!

Smiles!

Angeline Marie of

Angeline Marie Fine Art

Stoccata #11 of Art Inspired by the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

Stoccata - 2010 - mixed media on canvas - 4 x 4 inches

The ArtHouse Coop has been around for at least a few years, and I always intended to sign up and participate in some of the projects. That was my problem: intention but not action. There are always things to do such as my self-made projects, forgetting to log in to see the due dates, etc. Too many times, the project was already closed by the time I remembered. Not this time!

This is the first of three canvases, each is 4 x 4 inches. For the Canvas Project, each artist gets three canvases and three randomly generated words. The idea is to paint your interpretation of each word on each canvas. One of my newly learned words is "stoccata."

Stoccata was the last word I interpreted on canvas. When you see the next two words, you will wonder why it was difficult for me because I received two nouns and one adverb. I had the idea for the adverb first!

"Stoccata" has paper, ink, acrylic paint, white glue, and aluminum tape. The companies responsible for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has the world at dagger point...while the environment continues to die as a consequence. I thought it appropriate to make this art part of my Gulf of Mexico oil spill series.

Definition: stoc·ca·do [stuh-kah-doh] - noun, plural -dos. Archaic. a thrust with a rapier or other pointed weapon. Also, stoc·ca·ta [stuh-kah-tuh] Origin: 1575–85; alter. of It stoccata, equiv. to stocc - swordpoint, dagger, as in renegado.

What do think of my interpretation of "stoccata?" What do you think of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill?

Smiles!

Angeline Marie of

Angeline Marie Fine Art

Angel of Death - #10 of Art Inspired by the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

Angel of Death - 2010 - Art inspired by Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill - encaustics on wood - 8 x 8 in.

Time flies. Day 63? 64? and BP keeps committing public relation fiascos. Everyone wants BP to plug both the oil flow and their mouths. This is the 10th art piece of my series about the oil spill...and my feelings just keep going while I try to avoid the media coverage of this event. 

This piece was done using carving tools with the encaustics (beeswax paint). 

I often us my digital camera as a second set of eyes while working on an art piece. The camera shows me adjustments and ideas on how to improve the art piece. Sometimes, the digital image will tell me what to do right away, or like this time, the digital image takes a few days to tell me anything at all. 

This time, the digital image tells me to stop and reveals the angel. She is there in the actual piece, too. Do you see her? May the angel of mercy soon follow her!

Angeline Marie of

Angeline Marie Fine Art

PS: If you wish to see the other art works in the oil spill series, please visit my page that has at least seven of the works with the blog links made easy to find. 

Spreading - #9 of Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Inspired Art

"Spreading" - 2010 - Art inspired by Gulf of Mexico oil spill - mixed media on paper - 33 x 23 in.

As of yesterday, BP chairman apologized and promised to make things better in the Gulf of Mexico. TRY STOPPING THE LEAK FIRST. I so want to scream it, and am noticing that my rage is shifting to despair and sadness. So many lives are being affected by this oil spill, from North America to England. 

For an echo of how I feel about nuclear power and this oil spill event, the Wall Street Journal  has an excellent article about how things NEED to become in the oil industry. Please, read it, and leave a comment here if you want. 

I was listening to NPR yesterday, and heard about how Cuba is dealing with the expected oil. I guess I will never get to Cuba in time to ever see the beauty of the beaches as told to me by my family's stories....At least Cuba is not blaming the USA for the oil spill!!!! The USA is actually trying to help them consider how to combat the oil...but Cuba has no resources (berms, hay, etc.) other than people to pick up tar balls. The reporter on the story mentioned that tourism is the main industry of Cuba and that the oil spill will affect the northern most beautiful and popular beaches on the island. 

Ending my stream of conciousness...

Angeline Marie of

Angeline Marie Fine Art

No Escape - #8 of Art Inspired by Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

"No Escape" - 2010 - acrylics on paper - 23 x 33 inches

My art usually celebrates nature, with a dark twist as I was told recently. Now, I am in pain, in a rage, in horror, and completely insane about this oil spill. Life as I know it is over, as it is for many. These feelings are carried around by many, even though most of us do not voice them. I try to keep them under, and covered, and forgotten until in my studio.This oil mess has twisted me into a social activist artist who does not know even where to begin to make a change.

The most affected are those that are trapped in the ocean: the fish, coral, birds, whales, dolphins....The eyes, oh, the eyes, make me cry...To see what I mean, click here, but I warn you the images are NOT pretty.

Andy made a comment the other night: "but I would prefer you show your pretty paintings!" Mi amor, I cannot paint those pretty tropical images right now. Understand this is my only way to channel what I feel about the entire event. For the first time in my artist life, I am creating a series of which I cannot see the end. There is no end, no escape, for the innocents of the ocean.

What is the most painful part of this event for you? Do you carry pain, sorrow, and anger about this oil spill? What makes you react to this event?

Thanks for reading,

Angeline Marie of

Angeline Marie Fine Art

For #6 of the oil spill series:

http://angeline-marie.blogspot.com/2010/05/brill-6-of-art-inspired-by-gulf-of.html

To view past series posts, use the Google search bar on the right of this post and enter "oil spill." The list will appear at the top and you may click on each item.

Brill - #6 of Art Inspired by Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

Brill - 2010 - mixed media on paper - 23 x 33 in. - Art inspired by the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

News is optimistic that the oil spill may be either capped or at least lessened.
Damage is already done: over 22% of the Gulf of Mexico has crude oil and other chemicals.

Jason Eldridge & JJ asked what I put in my paintings for color. This one has red and blue shimmer and black inks, red and blue acrylic paint and white glue. The design is left to chance, using water and drying time. The white glue resists color...

Thanks to Valerie G., who provided the title idea via Facebook.

Please feel free to use the "Google" Search function on this blog to find other art by me that is inspired by the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill. If you can think of a better title for the series, please share with me!

Smiles,

Angeline Marie of

Angeline Marie Fine Art

#5 of Art Inspired of Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Series

#5 of Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Series by Angeline Marie

"Blackened Red Eyed Fish," acrylics & ink on paper, 23 x 33 in., copyright 2010

The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill has me totally in grief when I remember it, which is often. I try not to think of the consequences of this spill until I use my acrylic paints and encaustics. 

As someone who loves the smell of salt air, the feel of salt water on my skin, and the feel of beach sand between my toes....I am in fear of how this oil spill is affecting the ocean. The ocean feeds my soul, as the ocean feeds so many literally. 

How are we supposed to live with less of the ocean and everything it gives us?

For more of my series, please visit my site.

What do you think of the title of the series "Art Inspired of Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Series?" Can

you think of something better? Please, share your ideas.

Smiles,

Angeline Marie of

Angeline Marie Fine Art

PS: An interesting search yielded the following books about oil spills. I will be searching my local library!

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill #4 - Art about Disaster

Art inspired by photos of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Crisis.

"Threatened" - 2010 - mixed media on board - about 6 x 8 inches

I truly try not to think about the damages being caused in the Gulf of Mexico with the oil spill. Today (May 16th, 2010) is Day 17 of the leak and no one is closer to figuring out how to stop it than they were on Day 1. So far, Florida is not threatened with the oil spill due to weather, currents, etc., but Florida's days are numbered. 

We went to the beach again yesterday, Andy and I. It was a churned up, windy day, with the life guards' flying red and purple flags. Although I dislike man-o-war, this creature is still quite beautiful with its blues, pinks, greens, and yellows and balloon qualities. We did walk in the surf...and I could not help but know that pretty soon we all will be dodging tar stains like when I was a child. 

Watching the images that come out on the news about this oil spill is riveting. The art created in my series are from my imagination without using reference photos. 

Other art in my "Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill" series (unless you can suggest a better title?):

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill #1: "Sick Beach"

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill #2:  "Spilt Oil with Sheen"

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill #3:  "Fire and Damage"

Smiles,

Angeline Marie of

Angeline Marie Fine Art

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill #3 - Art about Disaster

Fire and Damage," 2010, encaustic techniques on board, ~8 x 8 inches.

Art inspired by photos of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Crisis.

Writing in an earlier blog post about how strict the nuclear power is because of past human error events, I have since learned how the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill may affect nuclear power plants. Because some nuclear plants use existing and natural water systems as cooling systems, this oil spill may threaten the canal and wetlands that help nuclear power plants run (specifically thinking of those in Florida, Louisiana, etc.). The existing water intake designs are not made to handle crude oil intruding into them. More water cleaning to do because of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. 

If you followed the Senate hearings yesterday [May 11th, 2010], the gist was to improve standards of the oil rigs, industry etc. The added regulation would help the oil industry prevent and detect more often than correct (to loosely borrow a work line)!!! Maybe the governing entities would force preventive equipment maintenance! 

Interesting link: Another player in the clean up is the Loggerhead Marinelife Center. Visit the Center's Web site at www.marinelife.org. 

"

Smiles and watch for more art inspired by the oil spill...

Angeline Marie of

Angeline Marie Fine Art