Thinking Blogger Awards

This picture has absolutely nothing to do with the post other than I THINK it is a while since you saw a picture of my lovely Phantom.

My lovely friend Dotee nominated me for one of these awards and as part of the gift of being given this award I need to nominate 5 blogs that make me think, and inspire me each day. I am supposed to put a little "Thinking Blogger Badge" up aabove this post, but as yet blogger and I are not seeing eye-to-eye on that.

I am procrastinating with this post because I am finding it hard to choose only five and to be true to myself. But here goes - I will not nominate Dotee - she knows I read her blog every day and and love her heaps. I nominate: Jessica, Kelsey, Kelly, Sandy and Michael.

I don't remember how I came to Jessica's blogs (Something Nice to Talk About and Raw Food with Jessica), but I know that her heart shines through in every post and that she lives what she believes.

Kelsey is one of the most generous people I know - her blog posts are full of ideas and if she has not shared the 'how' in her post she will answer questions, patiently! I often leave her blog and go try a technique - sometimes only on a scrap of paper or in my journal.

Kelly wasn't a well known mixed media artist when I first started visiting her blog; her art has grown and progressed over the last 12 months or so. I love her art, I own an original and some prints - but I visit because Kelly reminds me about what is important in life. Her posts are full of friends, fun, struggles and an adorable dog Bella - oh yes a smiling hubby too.

Sandy was one of my first blog friends - she reads me, through my posts, and often sends me e-mails which get straight to my heart, her comments on the other hand usually leave me giggling. I love to visit and see her amazing art, and listen to her tales, I learn so much from her. I save her posts until I have a cup-of-tea and time to enjoy them.

I hesitated over nominating Michael (after all 'deMeng' is famous, or infamous - and my pride did not want to look like a groupie). But Michael posted last week about art criticism -and the post hit a chord, it was a topic I have been thinking about for a while: How to facilitate some healthy critiques of my work using an on-line media, as I don't have like-minded people around me. Actually his post was about art criticism in general, but the themes and the article he linked to have had me thinking all week - so if the awards are for blogs that make me think this one is currently top of the pile.

Of course there are a lot more people I could have nominated, more even than in my links (Which will be reviewed very soon), but this award came with the responsibility of choosing five - and I have.