What next?

Lots of things happened in the past few months that made the days just fly past...quitting work, the trip to Houston, DaddyBoy's new job, the little InchWorm turning one (no, we didn't have a party - we sponsored a child instead), getting ready for and participating in two art exhibitions, setting up a store on Etsy....was there room to do more?

YES!!!

So, here's the scoop: I am now partnering with a friend in business venture that I'm very excited about. We will provide strategic planning and writing services both on line and through workshops, presentations etc.

This means what?

TONS more work ahead!

It never ends, does it?

P.S. So now you know what's happening on the writing front and why you weren't seeing any here.

Welland Rose Festival

That's where a few of my paintings are being shown next as part of a juried art show.

I drove to Welland yesterday morning with the little Kitten and didn't realiize until halfway there that it was the first time in MONTHS that I had driven by myself with her! The weather being good I had the umbrella stroller with me, which I can handle, but I still had to struggle with the fastener on the car seat. Oh, well.

Also, to top it all off, later on that evening I managed to trip over the baby gate, while carrying the baby. Yikes! Thankfully, I kept my hold on her and she probably thought Mommy just gave her a very short, very bumpy ride. Yeah, Mommy got an assortment of bumps to show for it, all right! But no matter, the SnuggleBug was unscathed, so it was OK.

Here's more about the Welland Rose Festival.

Hello, Etsy!

Yay! I FINALLY put some stuff up on Etsy! I registered a few days ago, but with so much going on it was really hard to actually get the shop going. Now that I do, I need to flesh it out a little and of course, add more stuff!

Our writing services business is about to be launched very, very soon! I'm so excited. I am really looking forward to doing the two things I enjoy - art and writing - now that I am no longer going out to work. Of course, the little HoneyB keeps me VERY occupied, since she only naps while nursing, which means the rest of the time when I'm trying to do anything else, I am also looking after her. Many times I just leave everything I'm doing and simply play with her - she's my little toy!

But yes, that was my news flash for today!

Sunshine on a rainy day

It's been raining, and I love it. The greens look so green, and the pinks so pink!

Here's a painting that started out as something else entirely a few weeks ago, but I couldn't get to it and days kept passing. Yesterday, with rain falling softly around me, I finished it under the gazebo in our yard, while DaddyBoy played with the GlowWorm for a bit.

I've never painted anything pink, I think. It was sweet!

This little chair is sitting under soft sunshine, and birds are singing nearby. It's happy!

Attention all butterflies (or one) - listen up!

What a busy, busy week. If I only had to make sure the house was always clean, the dishes always done, the meals always cooked, Daddyboy's favorite homemade banana bread always in the fridge, my blog always up to date, my paintings always being worked on, my experiments with PhotoShop always in a state of progress, my writing always making it to the computer instead of fermenting in my head, all my social obligations always fulfilled, all my emails always answered promptly, and a half dozen other mundane things - oh, life would be easy.

Throw a little butterfly into the mix - one who is just finding her wings - and things go straight from hunkydory to haywire.

So today I took the little Bug aside and I told her, and this is what I said:

Dear Fragile Little Precious Butterfly,
Sometimes you make me want to tear my hair out, but I love you.
No matter how many times I have to extricate you from under furniture, or disentangle you from the Cluthes of the Evil Cords, or protect you from KittyCake (or, more often, the other way around), or make sure you stay away from stairs and sharp corners and things you can reach that may hurt you, I love you.
No matter how little I sleep, how many meals I miss, how many times I go back and forth, up and down, in and out, trying to get everything done, I love you.
Because you come first.
Because I knew when you came that you would always come first.
Well you do, and you always will.
Nothing, nothing is more important.
Remember that.
Now go forth with courage and despatch, and let Mommy type.
xxx

What about writing?

This blog started out about art, design and writing. There's not much in it about writing, is there?

Well, I didn't realize back then that it may look like a mish-mash if I put everything in one place, so the writing part has been evolving separately, but quietly. Somehow my forays into drawing and painting began to take precedence on this blog, and the writing got nudged out. Something is happening with it, though, and if it takes reasonable shape it will be a whole new platform altogether.

For now, on to art!

This piece was done a couple of weeks ago, but I forgot all about it. Here it is now - take a seat, please!

Red Sofa with Lamp

(Geez - I need to get the tripod out or something!)

Refinishing an old chair

Some days ago I had posted PhotoShop versions of a watercolor I had made, and I revisted them today and played around some more.
This is the result!

Yellow fields and a bit of sky

OK, so the fields are a strech, maybe, but the sky is for real!
(It's part of a picture I took a while ago driving to Niagara Falls.)

P.S.: No, I wasn't the one driving.

The traveling armchair

If there are armchair travelers, why not a traveling armchair? Continuing with my furniture series, this little chair is going everywhere!

Warm evening in the Blue Woods





Daydreaming on a Summer Day





Sweet Memories

New paintings

These are the new pieces I made for the exhibition. Mixed them up with some of my black and white drawings from before and the collection looked decent enough...

Waterfall 1


Waterfall 2


Waterfalll 3


They Grow in Bunches in Candyland


Spring and the White Sofa


Now Let's Check Out That Town!


They Can't Stop Dancing Coz They Got Their New Dots Today!


Spring-ing Chair


Spring and the Golden Chair


Red Sofa







Under The Sea


Plus my other three from before...

Spring flowers

For a few more days our eyes get to feast on the deliciously pink trees that are overflowing with such incredible abundance. So juicy! So unbelievably beautiful!







And magnolias!

The power of positive expectation

I was talking to my mom the other day about how unlikely it seemed that I'd be able to put up a decent amount of artwork for the Pelham Art Festival. She didn't think it was a big deal, though. "Just do your best," was her advice. She reminded me how it's been a juggling act every single year that I participated. It was always school and work and usually something else going on too right when I should have been preparing art work. I never once got to go for the opening night either. And yet, somehow or the other things came together and I put up work and heck, I even sold work every year. It's funny how I still forget and my mind veers towards the worst possibilities instead of focusing on the positive.

This year too, by the time DaddyBoy got home and we reached the festival site on the set-up day, we only had one and a half hour left to put everything up. I was already a teeny bit nervous by that time, but one step inside the arena and I wanted to just backtrack the way I'd come - all the stalls were already set up AND the work looked just fabulous. What in the world am I doing here with my crummy paintings, I thought, supposing I even got them up on time. This time DaddyBoy came to my rescue. "It's not a competition," he said. "You're here for the fun of it."

True enough. That's when we discovered the extension cord we had wasn't long enough, although we had the specified length. If that wasn't enough, we had also managed to get the wrong hooks for the pegboard. The situation looked so hopeless I just burst out laughing. There was nothing to do except bundle the HunnyBunny back into the car seat and look for a hardware store.

We did it, though. I'm not sure how, but we did it. At some point my brain went, "OK, whatever." And then I just put all my energy into making something out of the whole thing. So yeah, we got the lighting figured out, the hardware sorted out, the paintings up, the table set up, all the while making sure the Munchkin was safe and happy. AND we even went back for opening night a few hours later. And I got a lot of visitors to my stall, reconnected with artists I hadn't seen in a while, met new ones, and yes, sold a few paintings, two of which I had done only the very day before!

I guess it all comes down to this: How will you approach a situation, any situation, and how will that mindset facilitate your success?

That's the power of working the Rule of Positive Expectation: the more you focus on the hope of a good outcome, the more you work towards it, and the more that hope becomes reality.

P.S.: Sometimes, though, it REALLY helps to have someone by your side, or on the phone, like my mom was, although thousands of miles away, to pat your shoulder and say,"Don't sweat it; just do your best. Things will be fine."

One day to go

The Pelham Art Festival starts tomorrow, and I'm still painting. After I'm done, I'll still have barely enough work to fill the space they will allot me. Even a couple of days ago I was thinking, " Can I possibly do this? Should I back out?" But I made a commitment, even if it means fewer pieces to display. I had about two weeks to put everything together - paintings, business cards, promo handouts. I painted with the baby InchWorm in one arm, cooked with a paintbrush clamped between my teeth, and smeared paint on canvas with my hands to speed things up. Somewhere in between I designed two different business cards and two different promo handouts and then printed the ones DaddyBoy gave his approval to, since I was too bug-eyed by then to tell the difference between "OK" and "Meh".

It's hard to explain how much my life has been impacted by tendinitis. It poses a constant challenge, every day, in the most mundane activities, and until a couple of months ago it was still too hard for me to do anything with a brush or a pen. Going to Houston was good for my hands because it gave me a break from my regular activities, but in a moment of reckless abandon I went and extended my stay. It was only when I got back to Canada that my brain went, "Whoa, what now?"

We'll find out tomorrow!