Busy Memorial Day

Well a afternoon at Beaver Creek Saddle and Bridle Club has turned into a full evening of painting. Got some more work done on "Plotting" although I think I should really pound out work on "Origins of Balance" so it's done in time for the show. If I am lucky I will have enough time to start work on a few of the horses I saw that really got my blood boiling to do a few horses... I am so A.D.D. some days. I have 2 wolf pieces in the works, a Serval piece I have yet to get the final refs for, several SARS projects, at least one other ferret piece, refs for a rabbit piece, not including all the fantasy 2D and 3D art that's in the wings... My camera is starting to die. Today it couldn't decide which mode it wanted to be in, which made taking pictures very difficult. It has been doing that more and more often and I'm getting sick of it. I can't buy a camera out of pocket I have to earn it by selling art, those are the rules. That's the incentive. That's how you run a business..So if things don't go well I may be making art that I have waiting in the wings and will have pounded out work on a photography booth for nothing.

Missing My Little Ghost

Tonight I added in my albino boy Ghost to the "Plotting" piece. All was fine and going smooth until I managed to hit that one special point where I got his sleepy gaze just right and it was like I woke him in his hammie. I half expected a sleepy yawn to follow. But sadly it was not so. Tearfully I dragged out the painting of my boy because each stroke was like petting his small white head. Detailing his ears reminding me of his popcorn scent and his face of all the goofy stuff he used to do to make me laugh. For a few hours tonight I had my little boy back in my arms sleepily gazing back at me from ferret Heaven. A small reminder that he's OK and he and Odin and all the others are right here whenever I need them. For as the saying goes: they are never really gone as long as they have a place in my heart. And they always will.

Stubborn like bullheaded weasel

Yup that must be what I am sometimes because despite an upsetting day I plowed ahead and pushed into a piece anyway. With the regional show just around the bend I don't have time to fluff about how I feel right now. Switched to colored pencils with the ferrets on this because the detail is so fine.

April Shower & May Flowers

Well the Waukesha show is fast approaching and the booth is ready to go, finished the rest of the sewing last night. Spent the past few days running promotional material around, and prioritizing my lists of activities that have to be finished before the show. Amid all the chaos I found a growing pit of anxiety and dispair in my gut and purged that from my already overloaded system. These shows will be much easier and less stress when I figure out the small details of the booth and how much display space it provides and how many of the extra pieces I will or will not need. Going to see If I can find a cheaper and easier way to run off my sympathy cards....I would really like to offer them this year. Until then it's back to the grindstone...

Working Despite the Rain

One of the things I don't think many people understand when they start something as large as "their own company" is that emancipation from an employer also means you have to be self supportive, self driven, and be able to adapt to many different scenarios that your main talent does not support. I am an artist- not a seamstress. Yet today I will be sewing and framing. Some of the finer points to saving money is to be a bit of a Jack-of-all- Trades. Being able to overcome obstacles by working through them even if it is just a bit at a time. But on a sunnier note it is Spring and the flowers have arrived:

Somewhere between the streets of civilization and the wilderness of the untamed is the imagination and the beauty of the rebirth of the Spirit. Be brave enough to find it and bask in it's glory. Happy Spring Equinox to all those reading.

First Time Out With the Search Team...Dog Park Day 1

Whew! It only took me a few minutes to get set up and then a few more to realize I somehow had set and invisible "Do Not Disturb" sign around my neck.  I got bothered by a small black lab mix who was convinced that I had a plate of food not a pallet of paint in my hand and leaped several times in an effort to get to it. Kodiak however was a pro and body blocked the lab every time until there was no room to work and I went around the canvas to the other side coaxing the dog along till his owner came and wrangled him claiming that I "look like I had a treat".  what ever didn't let it bother me took it in good stride I got this expensive easel with spikes so that if it gets bumped the painting doesn't go flying... (except the painting is too deep and won't clip to the stand  )
Then I got rushed by two little girls asking questions, they later brought a mom who apparently was not phased by the LARGE search and rescue painting and has Julie train and boards her dog so that was entertaining. The girls wanted to watch me paint which I didn't mind and was hoping would invite more people over but no such luck...After and hour and a half I had done a decent base coat on dog 1 (Navi). The temp had dropped and I started to pack it in. Two trips back accounted for all the stuff but it wasn't until it was all back in the car that people came to talk...And it wasn't even about the painting or the search team...sigh oh well better luck next time..

 Kodiak did a wonderful diligent job protecting the painting while I was working on it and to prove it here's him posing with his charge- a 2ft x4ft painting.. such a good boy!