Thursday, May 21, 2009

Cavalier King Charles in Gouache

Well, in spite of having a J.O.B. I have managed to complete one of the commissions I took from the dog show in April. This little guy is Seamus and he is a delightful Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Thanks go out to Tom for trusting me again with creating another painting of his champion dogs and to Family Tree Images for the use of their photo.

I am still trying to adjust to my new schedule and I am finding it a bit challenging to try to fit in quality painting time. I honestly do not know how some women who are also artists find the time to paint and still care for family and home and not be insane or exhausted. I'm feeling a little of both lately. It's very hard for me to keep creative juices flowing and not be totally overwhelmed. If anyone has a great suggestion as to how to do this I'd really love to know! In the mean time I will keep plugging along and hope that this situation will even out and I will find some peace with it.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Me and Maggie

Thought I'd post a recent picture taken this past weekend of me with my dog, Maggie. It was an awesomely beautiful spring weekend and we were clowning around in the front yard. I didn't think posting the picture previous to this would be as good since it looked a lot like I was choking her. She doesn't like having her picture taken and you can tell she doesn't look really amused.

Some things have changed in my life recently and so I'm taking a step back to re- evaluate the direction I'm heading. Our household has been affected by the economy and my husband has been laid off. It looks like it will only be for a short time, but he works in construction so it's hard to tell. I would love to say that I make tons of money from my artwork, but that is not yet the case so ........I have made the decision to ( temporarily) work for someone else at a J. O. B. This has not been an easy decision for me since I have always believed that I would make my living from my art. I fully intend to continue with my painting and still do the outside job, but you, my readers, may notice that I may not be posting as many paintings in the weeks ahead. Hopefully, I will be able to keep up with it all. If you're a praying type, please pray for my sanity as it tends to slip a bit and I get a bit grumpy when I neglect my creative side for too long!

I am trying to keep the right perspective about all this and be thankful for what help I can be, but my heart will always belong to my art and no other job I do has ever been able to satisfy me. Perhaps this will be a time of strengthening my dedication to my art and maybe it will take a new path all together. Being a creative soul I always have ideas of new things to try so maybe this will be a time of experimentation. On my website is a quote from a friend of mine about life being a long journey, so perhaps this is just another turn on that journey. I'm not sure where it will lead and sometimes that's a little scary, but I'm on the journey just the same so I guess I'll look forward to what's ahead. If you join me we'll find out together!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Dogwoods in Bloom




I recently participated in Art Under the Elms, an arts and crafts show associated with the Dogwood Festival here in the LC Valley. It's a beautiful time of year here in the valley and the festival takes place just as all these gorgeous dogwoods come in to bloom. It's a wonderful way to welcome in spring! I took a little time out to snap these photos to share with you all. The first photo is my booth, the next shows a grouping of these trees in a historic part of town and the last is a closeup of the dogwoods themselves.

Well, I have to say that I was really looking forward to doing this show. It's a great, fun family event with lots of food, great artists and lots of activities for everyone. I was really hoping it was going to be a big money maker for me, but the jury is still out on that. Since I do mostly commissions sometimes it's hard to tell how successful an event has been right away. Sometimes it takes a few months for folks to decide just what they want.

Now that these shows are behind me I'm going to take a well deserved break and see what my next move will be. In the meantime, I'm going to try to make some time to enjoy the spectacular springtime show that God is unveiling!