Check out foreign comments . . .

2009 was a great year for my book, Improv Wisdom. Publishers in both Germany and Korea bought the book and had it translated. Here are the two covers. I'm eager to find someone who reads Korean to see how the title is translated. Recently there was a comment posted on this blog written in Kanji. I wasn't sure if it was Japanese or Chinese, but I was happy to have a foreign reader comment on the blog. So, before I translated it I "allowed the comment". Just now I took advantage of Google's translation service only to discover that the comments appeared to be a string of sexually explicit words and images. Looks like someone "pulled one over on me." I have deleted the post with its comments so I'll spare any of you. The Internet allows for such creativity, don't you think?

I'm wishing everyone a blessed, safe and healthy new year. All the best in 2010.

Plein Air Painters of Half Moon Bay

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Alena Jean's Flower Shop in Half Moon Bay

I belong to a Coastside Plein Air painting group that meets on Wednesday mornings to paint together. We assemble at locations along the Coastside to paint local landmarks and scenes of natural beauty. For the past two weeks we have been the guests of a charming shop in Half Moon Bay, CA: Alena Jean's Flower Shop at 340 Purissima St. The gardens attached to her small, but well stocked shop are magical. For all garden lovers I urge you to spend an hour absorbing the wonder of this place.In July this group will have an art show of our works at La Di Da, a local cafe. Stay tuned for news about this event.

Loaves and Fishes by David Whyte

A charming purple house in Pescadero that I painted last week.

Loaves and Fishes

This is not

the age of information.

This is not

the age of information.

Forget the news,

and the radio,

and the blurred screen.

This is the time

of loaves

and fishes.

People are hungry

and one good word is bread

for a thousand.

-- David Whyte

from The House of Belonging

©1996 Many Rivers Press

Obamasize yourself . . .

Today's distraction from doing useful things is to Obamasize your own photo.

In praise of real work . . .

The Sunday NYT Magazine has a thought provoking article this week on the value of physical work. In it a poem by Marge Piercy is referenced. I found the poem and love it. I can't help thinking of my wonderful husband, Ron. He is a champion of doing all things that are real and physical. There is nothing that I've found he cannot do. Here is the wonderful poem.

To be of use

by Marge Piercy

The people I love the best

jump into work head first

without dallying in the shallows

and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.

They seem to become natives of that element,

the black sleek heads of seals

bouncing like half submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,

who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,

who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,

who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge

in the task, who go into the fields to harvest

and work in a row and pass the bags along,

who stand in the line and haul in their places,

who are not parlor generals and field deserters

but move in a common rhythm

when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.

Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.

But the thing worth doing well done

has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.

Greek amphoras for wine or oil,

Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums

but you know they were made to be used.

The pitcher cries for water to carry

and a person for work that is real.

"To be of use" by Marge Piercy © 1973, 1982.

From CIRCLES ON THE WATER © 1982 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. and Middlemarsh, Inc.

First published in Lunch magazine.

Mother's Day 2009

This photo was taken to accompany a feature article in the Richmond News Leader in 1959. It shows my mother, Virginia Louise Pittman Ryan and me (standing in a party dress) having a "typical family meal". Mother always wore an evening dress to dinner, of course. I think the main thing this tells us is something about the year 1959. In the bottom of the photo is my brother Michael and sister, Kathleen.

My mother was a beauty beyond compare. She was a high fashion model for a decade, wearing the couture of Oleg Casini, among others. But, as we wrote on her stone in the memorial rose garden: "More than her beauty, which was like the rose, was her goodness."

On Mother's Day I give thanks for the world's greatest mom. We were truly blessed. She died on Christmas day, 1998. Love to you, Mama.

The Dragon's Gift - The Art of Bhutan

The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco is one of the nation's treasure houses of great art. This week an exceptional exhibition closes after a three month run here. Brought together by a team of Bhutan specialists, curators, monks and government officials this exhibit assembles 100 pieces that can only be described as breathtaking. The exhibit catalog, which also contains a DVD of the sacred dances of Bhutan (Cham)is stunning in its collection of photographs and articles about Bhutanese art and culture.

Ron and I went back one more time to bask in the energy of this collection on Friday. Tibetan monks roam the gallery chanting blessings twice a day.

Here is Ron in one of the masks used for sacred dance.

Judi Whitton's Watercolour Workshop in Cornwall

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The Cuisine of Cornwall

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Perranporth Beach

This is my painting of the famous rocks at Perranporth Beach on the western coast of England in Cornwall. We spent a day here doing plein air painting with the Judi Whitton course.

Coming soon is a montage of our gourmet dinners.

New ART Montage

This painting is of our local Methodist Church in Half Moon Bay, CA.

With the help of "One True Media.com" I have had the fun of making another short montage of my artwork. This piece includes a painting by Dalla Brown and also one by my sister, Kathleen Ryan. Enjoy Montage II below.

Tomorrow I fly to London and then on to Cornwall to paint with Judi Whitton.

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Cornwall . . . HO!

Packing now for two weeks in England with a week studying with my favorite teacher, Judi Whitton.  Her work in this image shows a vibrant, spontaneous style that I admire. The workshop is being held at the lovely Crantock Bay Hotel in Cornwall.  Then on to London to spend three days browsing museum. the food courts at Harrod's and seeing some great theater.  

Parenting: the Ultimate Improvisation

When we improvise we step up to the moment with eyes wide open and with a mind/heart ready to make sense out of whateever is going on, and do something constructive.  I continue to be delighted and amazed at the applications people have been making for the maxims of improvisation.  I have heard from ministers who have used the prinicples to write a sermon, Lesbians who are using the maxims as wisdom for dating, health care workers using it to train Alzheime's caregivers, entrepreuneurs who are applying it to business challenges and most recently I've read a wonderful blog which uses improv wisdom in Parenting a teen.  Dr. Nancy L. Brown, a specialist in adolescent health has written a delightful blog on this topic. 

Or, of course parenting and grandparenting are the ultimate improvisation.  Nothing really prepares us for the surprises that children and teens bring to our lives.

I love this photo of my brother, Michael and his grandson Ryan.  It won't be too long before Ryan will be teaching his grandpa things about the computer.  

A Bigger Voice Interview with Carol Ross

Wisdom Entrepreneurship is a wonderful idea. Carol Ross has been providing help and inspiration on her exciting blog, A Bigger Voice. She interviewed me a few weeks ago and recently posted part I of a talk with me about the origins of my book Improv Wisdom. Thanks, Carol. If you go to listen take some time to explore her blog as it is chocked full of great ideas.
Today, March 11, 2009 Carol Ross posted Part II of my interview. In this section I talk about how Improv Wisdom has been used by those coaching Alzheimer's caregivers and by a women who woke up from a coma. She discovered that all she could do was improvise! And now, Part III of my interview. Moving into action is the theme. I would like to thank Carol for her initiative in making this interview happen. Clearly SHE is one of the new "wisdom entrepreneurs." I salute you, Carol!

The Art of Patricia Ryan Madson 2009

With the help of OneTrueMedia.com I have created a montage of recent art work. It is a pleasure to share this.

The Orange Cattleya

This week I'm working indoors and I've painted a beautiful orange Cattleya. I'm still trying to get the hang of the Whitton style of loose watercolor. Note the messy blobs and splatters.

Listening to A BIGGER VOICE -Interview with Carol Ross

I was recently interviewed by Carol Ross, a talented change maker.  Her blog "A Bigger Voice" is in the business of promoting the idea of "Wisdom Entrepreuners" and assisting them to get their message to a larger community. Her edited version of the interview in three parts will soon be posted on her website. Stay tuned.  Our lively conversation has helped kickstart me to return to this blog and get involved in spreading my thoughts to readers.  

As a place holder I'll publish several of my recent watercolors.  I've joined a local plein air painting group who meet on Wednesday mornings to paint and help each other.

This weekend I'm welcoming 14 Madson relatives to our home for the first ever Madson family reunion 2009. 

A new way to paint . . .

Studying with Judi Whitton in Wales has given me a new lease on watercolor. The precision of my earlier botanical art study has helped me look at subjects more carefully and seems to have improved my drawing. Judi's technique of dropping in paint has encouraged me to be playful. Here is some of my recent work.










This is Sawrey House, a charming inn just a few miles from Hawkshead in the Lake District. This venerable and comfortable establishment was our home for a week. It is literally next door to Beatrix Potter's famous "Hill Top House" which has been lovingly persevered and is part of the National Trust in England. Potter bought over 4000 acres of land and gave it back to the English people in trust.

I sat outside one day and drew this lovely building covered in ivy.

From a Cottage in Wales

This is the view from our cottage in Wales, The Granary.
Miles of rolling hills with a thousand colors of green. Paradise, indeed. Ron and I have come to Wales for a rural adventure. So much of our travel in the past has been rushing around. This time we both agreed: "Let's go somewhere and BE there for a time." So we are renting this "self-catering cottage" miles from a paved road. We wake to the hens clucking and the family horses clomping down the cobblestones. Last night a nearly full moon rose over the hillside across the way which is the site of an iron age fort. Ron climbed the hill during one of his walks.

I am here to do some watercolor, and there is no shortage of subjects.

Last night I filled the tiny cottage with the smell of roasting potatoes and Welsh spring lamb chops in raspberry sauce. We are able to enjoy the fresh eggs laid by their dozen feisty hens, who have been gobbling down the table scraps which we drop in the compost pile near the henhouse.

The cottage is near the village of Bala, a Welsh town near a very large lake. We're not that far from the town of LLangollen famous for the yearly Welsh music and culture festival. We visited Plas Newydd, the 18th century home of some famous ladies, early trend setters in fashion and the arts.

Last week I took part in a wonderful course in watercolor painting with the artist, Judi Whitton. Her book, Loosen Up Your Watercolours is a brilliant guide to freeing your style as an artist. Here she is demonstrating her technique.


Her style of painting is very much in keeping with the spirit of improvisation so I found a kindred spirit.

Ron is enjoying running in the Welsh hills, meeting sheep, cattle and the odd farmer who look at him with wonder. In addition to his jaunts around the countryside he is spending time in local registry offices hunting down facts and figures of our ancestry. His genealogical database now holds just short of thirteen thousand of our closest relatives. We've spent quite a bit of our time walking in truly lovely small churchyards, observing gravestones.

Before coming to this part of North Wales we spend a few days in Hay on Wye, the village of BOOKS. When we leave our precious cottage we head for Blackburn and then the Lake District. We are staying in an Inn in the town where Beatrix Potter lived.


Here we stopped at a small cheese factory along the way. It was a charming teahouse as well and we savored the fresh lemon cake made by the owner.

The last image, which captures Wales for me is this of the family of sheep. Cheerio from the UK!