When I look at my blog stats (which I examine waaay too often), I am always amazed at the power of the internet, and the fact that people from all over the world have peeked in at my blog now and then. I love that the Blogspot site shows you a world map so that you can see where your traffic comes from. It's so much fun to look in on it and see that someone from Taiwan, Romania, and India stopped in to check out my site during the night,,,(night here - daytime there!)

Who are you? Did you just stumble on me, and then move on? Have you read some of my posts? Are you an artist? What is your life like?

I would love to know more about you. Love for you to leave a comment on my page.

Here is a little bit more about me and who I am;

I work full time at a senior living community as dining room manager in the memory loss/assisted living facility. I enjoy working with the seniors. I also work part time at a local restaurant on The Kennebec River in my (small) city on the coast of Maine.

I live with my fiance John. We have two dogs; Gracie and Boru.

I have two grown children - Shawn (29) and Sara (26) - who also live in Maine.

My son is the general manager of a Panera Bread Restaurant (yum!). And my daughter teaches high school math.

Here's my kid's when they were kids:

 

and here they are all grown up:

 

 

 



So let me know a little bit about you. Tell me what you like about my blog. Have you ever been to Maine?

 

And don't forget to visit my ETSY shop - creekart on ETSY.

 

Thanks for stopping by! 

 



 

Summer in Maine

Haven't been posting much for awhile. I've been working a few shifts a week at a second job (my old full time job - the Kennebec Tavern on the waterfront in Bath Maine). Great food. Fun, fun place!



It's tourist season in Maine and this restaurant on the water is hopping this time of year. So one full time job and a second job with 10-14 hours per week. I love the extra cash - but it leaves me little time for artwork or writing posts.

One thing I have found a little time for is going picking with my daughter. No not strawberries...I'm talking junk. As in flea market, vintage, rusty, old, etc. We have both fallen in love with picking at flea markets, antique and junk shops.

Between the two of us we have begun quite a little collection of items. We both love things like antique keys, old jars, wooden boxes, vintage handles - things that can be repurposed - or simply displayed.

Sara just opened her shop on Etsy. It's called Picked In Maine. She has already sold her first item! There will be more items listed daily.

Picking in New England, and especially in Maine is great fun because there are so many old places here - barns, homes, tons of 'antique' shops. An endless supply of junk! Do you like to go picking? Are there certain types of vintage things that you love? Here are some of the items in Sara's shop;
 

 

Gratitude Girl

I believe that we all go through whatever we go through - to get to where we need to be.
Over the past several years, after losing my creative self for nearly 30 years...I rediscovered my art self, my creativity. I found my passion in mixed media art. I started my blog and opened my etsy shop and moved forward toward a life of art. But these same several years were some of the toughest of my lifetime.

For 15 years - from 1994 until 2009 I was a residential real estate broker in Maine. Real estate was very good to me for many years. Everybody knows what happened to real estate after 2007.  As the market really began to slow down, my income began to dwindle. By 2008, as real estate and the economy imploded, I had taken on a full time and a part time job, while still trying to maintain a real estate career part time. By 2009 I took a different full time job that took up all my free time, and I stopped working real estate altogether by mid-year.

Throughout all this time my goal was just to keep an income coming in to pay my mortgage, and my business loans and simply 'get by'. Eventually I could not keep up. Although I was working my rear end off - I couldn't make up for an income that had dropped by more than half of what it had been. I didn't have lots of credit card debt, and I hadn't spent my home's equity...but I couldn't stay current on my mortgage, my business debt, and monthly living expenses. I was sinking.

In spring of 2011 my home was foreclosed on. Going through foreclosure and bankruptcy is a very public thing. Everybody sees your life. The advertisement to sell your home goes in the local paper, along with your name. Feelings of regret over past decisions, feelings of fear moving forward. Feelings of failure.

I limped along for another year - working hard - waiting on tables, and trying to get back in balance.  In summer of 2012 -  I went through bankruptcy to clear out all that debt so it wouldn't be hanging over me for years and years.  Bankruptcy is meant to be a fresh start, and it is - but to me it felt like the final stamp on my financial failure. Starting from zero at 55 years old. Me, my car, an apartment and a weekly income from a waitressing job. No retirement. No health insurance. No savings.

This story is a rather quick synopsis of the past 4-5 years that doesn't include many painful moments. Moments of pacing the floor at 3AM worrying about how I was going to get through the next few days. Moments lying awake thoughout the night worrying about bills, and finally falling asleep around 4am only to get up and go to work at 8.  Moments with my head on my desk in my office at 9-o-clock at night, after everybody else had gone home...sobbing uncontrollably. Moments (very long moments) on the phone with the bank and local businesses to whom I owed money. Local business owners who I would see regularly in a small town of 3000. Moments of anxiety, guilt, embarassment, exhaustion.

So here I am in spring of 2013 on the other side of it all. My business is gone, my home is gone, and now, after filing for bankruptcy - the debt is gone.

A new job with benefits. Although the money was better waiting tables, my new job at a senior living community offers me health insurance, which I haven't had for years. Like so many other americans I am living paycheck to paycheck. Trying to make it to the end of the month.

So what have I learned throughout all of this?

I've learned a lot about me. I'm not a victim. I take responsibility for every decision I made. All of it - the good and the bad.

I've learned how strong I am. I've learned how positive I am.

I've learned what a wonderful man I have in my life. John was there through it all. Holding me while I cried at night. Letting me talk through the tough parts. Helping me to look on the bright side. Making me laugh.

I've learned to stay focused on what's really important.

As hard as it was... losing my house was not a tragedy. Losing someone you love is a tragedy...a house is just a house after all. (Can you believe this is a former real estate broker speaking?) This is something that I had to keep reminding myself over and over. Regardless of how much I may have loved it..it was just a house. There will be other houses someday.

I've learned about gratitude. I'm grateful for my good health, the health and happiness of my children, and John. I'm grateful for my strength, my mind, my heart, my spirit. I'm grateful for my ability to persevere and to always look for the good things. I'm grateful for the opportunities that continue to come my way. I'm grateful that I have rediscovered art and creativity in my life (see my first blog Me and Paper). This was my journey. This was just one journey of many journeys in my life.

So here I am. I'm ok. I'm better than ok. There's something very valuable in learning to live simply... to live with less. I'm happy, I'm healthy, and through it all...I'm still grateful for all the blessings in my life. I believe I'm where I need to be right now. I'm listening to the whispers of life... I'm creating art. I'm writing my posts. I'm learning to follow my passion. And the journey continues.

As I greet each day I remind myself that every day is a gift.
And I like to remember this quote by Tom Hanks as 'Chuck Noland' in Castaway as he stood at the crossroads at the end of the movie.

"I know what I gotta do now. I gotta keep breathing. Because tomorrow, the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide will bring?"

This is one of my 'Gratitude Girls', you can find others in my ETSY shop 'creekart'.







 

Spring...

ok - spring has sprung - time to get back on track in several areas!
I've gained 10 pounds over the winter - so....
back to a healthy eating lifestyle (not diet!)
and regular cardio and weight training. I've done it before - I can get back to the habit.

Also - although I finally, in 2013, started my Etsy shop, and restarted my blog -
I need to make sure that I make time to blog at least once a week. I find that the less I write, the more difficulty I have in thinking of something to write about. So practice creates - more creativity!

I will post some pix of my SO cute aprons here in a few days (made from repurposed men's shirts!)
And will have them up for sale on ETSY shortly.

OK - so I've put my goals and plans out there. Motivation to follow through!!

By the way - I've downloaded Bod Harper's (Biggest Loser Bob) new book 'Jumpstart to Skinny' - to get me started. C'mon Bob - let's go!

who am i...

 

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

----from A Return to Love, by Marianne Williamson.

I have just started reading some of her books. And I really love this quote of hers. I find that I need to read and re-read this quote when I find myself 'shrinking'. Shrinking is when I allow myself to feel 'less than' all that I know I truly am. I fall into this exact pattern of thinking that she is speaking about....

...who am I to think that I have anything to say that the rest of the world wants to hear? why would I believe that I am an artist? It's unrealistic to hope that I could make a living doing what I love to do? 
These are the persistent little gremlins that hide within our most vulnerable places, and sneak out to demand attention when we are feeling defeated, or exhausted, or just low-energy.

In the past few months I have, for the first time in my life really,...begun to call myself an artist, begun to share myself and my artwork,...begun to dream that this can become something. Believe that art and creativity could become my way of life.

Very often - when I speak my ideas out loud, to John, or to my daughter Sara, or anybody really - I feel immediately....
what's the word...? Not 'insecure', not even 'self-doubting' really - it's more of an 'unworthiness'.
Where does that come from? I truly feel that I am a confident, smart, capable and talented woman. So where the hell does that come from? Why would I not be just as 'worthy' as anybody else?

I am of course. Worthy. So are you - we all are. So why do these little gremlins still thrive from time to time. Why do we occasionally feed them so that they stay alive?

I think I need to paint that quote on something large...like a wall. Where I'll read it often.

So - here's to letting our lights shine! (and starving the gremlins!)



 

The other day I was thinking and remembering some of the art-sy and craft-sy kinds of things that I did when I was young. Some I stuck with, some I tried and then got bored. The more I thought about it - the more I remembered...I was kind of amazed at all the different mediums I had played with.

It started with just paper (see my first post 'me and paper'). I would draw with crayons, and sometimes used stencils (numbers and letters) that my father brought home from the mill. I remember getting 'paint by number' oil painting kits for Christmas. Not a lot of creativity in these - however they do teach about painting composition, and working with oil paint.

Here's a bunch of other art/craft stuff I enjoyed -
made my own candles
had an 'Artex' (remember these?) fabric painting set
linoleum art block carving (Speedball Brand stuff)
taught myself to macrame belts and bracelets (hey..it was the 70's!)
my mother taught me to knit and to crochet.
Learned to sew -(starting in 7th grade most girl's took 'Home Economics' - half the school year was cooking and half the school year was sewing.) LOVED learning to sew and really took to it. I continued to make a lot of my own clothes right through high school. Took apart my old jeans and turned them into purses, skirts, pillows etc. Cut up plain, crew neck wool sweaters, shortened the sleeves, added buttons down the front and made cute new tops out of them. Made clothes for my Barbies.
Made detailed Christmas ornaments from homemade salt dough.
Wrote (awful) poetry, in my journals and did lots of drawings in those as well.
Worked with clay.
Pressed flowers in glass.
Used paper and cardboard to create houses and whole villages for the tiny dolls my little sister and I loved called "Little Kiddles". (Gosh we loved those dolls!)
Always made my own greeting cards, invitations etc.
Worked with oil pastels. Charcoal pencils. And lots and lots of markers.

I think there are probably even more.
All these creative endeavors that I was interested in...I can't believe that I let that part of myself go away for years and years. I feel like my truest, most real self when I am creating and I know it's here to stay now.

Here is one of my latest - showing the painting... (appropriately titled - 'Follow Your Heart')
                                                        'in progress' and then finished.

 

 

 

 





 Original and prints available on ETSY.

 

The One Who Stayed...

A lot of my art is about women. Sometimes I call my paintings 'girlies', gratitude girls, sister souls etc.  I am one of six sisters - thus the 'girl' thing. But I am also one of 8 children. We were six girls and two boys. I say 'were' because, when I was 11 years old we lost my brother Robert. He committed suicide by shooting himself. He was 18.

Having a tragedy like that in your family leaves all kinds of residue.  Incredible loss and grief. Shock. Hurt. Anger. Confusion. Questions. Shame.

I only have a handful of memories of my brother Robert. I wish I had more memories. I wish I had more of an opportunity to know him. I wish he had stayed around.
But this post isn't about the brother I lost. This is about the brother who stayed.
My brother Terry.

Terry is 3 years and few months older than me. As a family we have always been close. We lost our Dad back in 1996 and our mother more recently in 2010. Shortly after we lost my mother - Terry found he had a need to confide in us (his sisters) about of lot of things he had kept tucked inside for years.

So there was our family in 1968 - four older girls all married with families. Two young girls - myself just 11 and my little sister only 8. And there was Terry. 16 years old. The only boy now. What Terry revealed to us, what none of us had seen...in the midst of everyone else's grief and sorrow - another horrible thing happened. Terry got overlooked. Nobody took care of him.

We six girls all lost 'one' of our brothers that day. My parents lost one of their sons.
Terry lost his only brother.

Looking back now, I see... a teenager - busy with sports, his own friends, a girlfriend. He probably seemed fine..(did anybody ask?) I had my little sister, and together we had the blessing of youthful ignorance - the ability to forget (sort of) what had happened - to move through each day selfishly concerned only with ourselves and the moments of our day. The older girls each had their own families, and were concerned about how my parents were doing. Terry was suddenly alone.

As Terry opened up to us recently ... he told us he felt like he disappeared back then. His whole life changed. A door slammed.
My parents were absorbed in their own grief. I can't imagine how they got through each day. How they were able to think about much else. I know that my mother became zombie-like for a time. She admitted in later years that she was using pills the doctor gave her to get through the day - until she felt that she was using them too much.   My father used it as a reason to drink too much. Basically their attention was elsewhere - and in no time Terry was off to college and married.

I feel so sad that he was alone at that time. It makes me sad to hear him say he disappeared. That time in his life took a huge toll on him that stayed with him for years. The details are his own story. Not for me to share here. What I do want to share here is the fact that I am so glad that he opened up to us. That he was able to talk to all of us, and tell us how he felt...how he feels. I hope that will continue. He is a wonderful man. Smart and funny, a great dad and grandfather. A really good person.

Mostly I am so incredibly thankful to have my brother in my life. To have this brother. The one who didn't disappear. The one who stayed.

 

Infinity scarves

Look at these!!!
Aren't they awesome?
My daughter Sara has just learned to create these scarves (which I think can work as scarves/necklaces), from old T-shirts.
I think they are beautiful!! If she can get a bunch of them made, she can start to sell them on Etsy.

What do you think the retail price should be? Give me a price range.

 Beautiful, beautiful.....!

Spring is just 2 days away...

And it's snowing...again. I could really use some warm weather. I would sooo love to get outside and walk/jog for an hour or so. Can't even find the sidewalks right now.

We do get out most days to walk the dogs on trails in the woods, with our boots on, hats, mittens, and 'creepers' on our feet. (For those of you not in cold climates 'creepers' are stretchy elastic thingys that wrap around the bottom of your shoe, and they have little metal pieces sticking out that grip the ice so that you don't slip. A necessity for dog walking in winter! They are like snow tires for your feet!)
What's that you say?  You don't know what snow tires are either? Ok I'm not talking to you anymore.

 Anyway - that is a 'winter walk'. I want a spring walk. I want a clear sidewalk, and some buds on the trees. I want to just wear a light jacket and then need to take it off and wrap it around my waist because it got too warm. I want to see other people outside! I want to be able to not wear a hat and not have my ears ache from the cold wind.

I know spring is almost here. But in Maine - 'almost here' could mean April or May, and it could mean cold weather until June! Sometimes we go right from winter to summer. Which makes the summer season feel really short.

And sometimes spring is warm-ish, but very wet and rainy. When that happens, we don't call it spring...we call it mud season, soon to be followed by an early 'bug' season. Really fun. (ugh)
But when we do actually get a spring - it is sooo welcomed and enjoyed!

Here's hoping for an early (like say..starting next week?) and dry (just a few light showers please) spring.
Here's a piece I did  hoping for springtime,

OK - time to head to work...in the snow. We're supposed to get about a foot today. Good grief!!

 

here comes the sun!

Finally! - After about twelve days of dreary cloudy weather...
bright beautiful sunshine today! It's only in the 40's - but that's warm weather here after January and February.

The dogs are ready to go out for a long walk.  (That's Boru on the left and Gracie on the right.)
 

 (Gracie says "put down the camera down...can we go now?)

Here's a little sunshine I did in my journal notebook a while ago, just doodles.

Ok - time to head outside!!

Women

Today is International Womens Day. So much of my artwork involves women. I love to draw women and 'girlies'. There are many, many wonderful people in my life...men and women, but today is a day to celebrate the sisterhood of women on this earth. There are parts of the world where it is very hard to be a woman - dangerous to be a woman. Take a moment to send a prayer of love and strength out into the universe. It will find it's way to those who need it.

Here's an unfinished piece - I think she is very strong...

International Women's Day - be thankful for the strong women in your life!

all about the hair!

I really have fun playing with hair in lots of my art pieces. Sometimes I draw the faces/heads without any hair..and then I cut out different 'hair pieces' from decorative papers, and try them on the different girls to see where they fit - as I did in the piece with the six girls in it. This was so much fun! Once I had drawn a bunch of different 'hairstyles' and cut them  out - I kept trying them on all the different girls, until I decided who looked best in which one. It was like playing with paper dolls! And then I pasted them on and continued with the artwork.

and sometimes I draw/paint the hair directly on to each 'girlie'  - like so...

I like to put things in the hair too. Really enjoying this lately - am going to do some more of these. This one with the purple hair isn't done yet - I need to do a background for her.

Ladies - whether you do artwork or not. I'm sure you agree..
some days it's just 'all about the hair'!

www....World Wide Web

I've spent a lot of time surfing around internet sites gathering information on how best to get good image reproduction of my artwork, and then how to turn that digital image into good quality prints. I can't just take a picture of my artwork with my camera and then print that out on my inkjet. That would be a crappy quality print. I need to have high resolution images, taken in good light, preferably on a high res. scanner etc. etc. The prints are made with a printing process called giclée . (Fancy sounding word that means fine art print.) Basically more detailed ink colors, and archival quality to the ink (meaning fade resistant over years), on archival paper.

OK - boring, boring, I know. Long story short - I had to take my artwork to a photographer in Portland ME, - who created the digital images and put them on a disk for me, and then I had to send those images out to another company that could create the giclée prints for me. Not an inexpensive way to go!

In all my searching and surfing around online, I stumbled upon a photography website which just happens to be my neighbor - as in, the house right next door. I know the neighbors casually, we talk sometimes (when there's not two feet of snow on the ground and humans and animals are actually able to venture outside - you know...summer.)

(By the way - does everybody know the names of the four seasons in Maine?  They are...1.Almost winter, 2. Winter, 3. Still winter...and 4. Road Construction!
If you don't get the joke - you either don't live in Maine, or haven't traveled on Maine roads in summer!)

Back to my story...So my neighbor is a photographer! I reached out to her on email and told her about my art and needs for image reproduction. We both found it so funny that we live right next to each other, and had no idea about each other's online endeavors. We are going to get together soon. Perhaps I can use her expertise, instead of taking my artwork to Portland to get the digital images I need. (Also - Sara (my daughter) is getting married next year - and will be looking for a photographer!). I'm looking forward to getting together with my neighbor and seeing her studio and talking 'print reproduction!'

It's funny that while searching the 'world wide web' - I ended up on my own street about 200 yards away!

why 'papermill girl'?

Wow - what a week!  I've had so many visitors to my blog, and to my etsy shop, and forwarding my info on facebook - thank you everybody. (Thank you especially Nancy for your generosity). If you are wondering why I call myself 'papermill girl' - you can go back and read my very first blog post here, where I explain about the early connection I have with paper, and feeling creative.

Also - am trying, today, to add the link to my etsy shop right here on my blog page. I'm sure its easy to do - but this is all new to me - so give me a minute (or a few hours, or half a day) to get that done.

Is anybody out there a real techie, internet savvy, nerd helpful person? If so I'd love to hear anything you have to say about how I am going about this new venture. What am I doing right? What am I doing wrong? What else should I be doing? I am open to any comments.

As far as that goes - anybody can comment on any of my posts. Just click the comment button at the bottom of each post. 

Taking the leap...

So today I finally put several items up on my etsy shop (creekart). I also posted info. about my etsy shop on facebook, and put some of my artwork on facebook. I let everybody know how to find my blog. And then I sent out emails to my closest friends and family letting them know about etsy and my blog.

This is scary stuff putting myself 'out there' like this. Sharing my artwork with the world, (well perhaps a small part of the world...hehe). Opening myself up to comments, possibly criticism. It feels good to finally take the leap though. And so many of you have already contacted me with encouragement and support, emails, phone calls, and comments on facebook - thank you all!

Here's a piece (another girlie!) that I am still working on - I had so much fun with her hair! I think I'll do a few more like this.

Hope you have a creative day!

Got my digital images

Real quick post...

Here are some of my (professionally reproduced) images of my original works.

I should have these available as prints on Etsy soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you like?  Leave me a message...

that's all for now! Bye

 

 



 

Yay! I got the call from the photoshop that my digital images are ready! Can't wait to get them, load them into my computer and then send the images off to a print company for my first prints.

I still need to learn to create my own digital images. I need to learn to use Photoshop, to manipulate these images, and I need to be able to print my own 'fine art prints'. I am also hoping to get my own large bed scanner and photoprinter. It will be much more economical if I can create these myself.

Lots to do still - but I'm excited! Moving forward.

Learning

I've been working on some new art, while trying to figure out how to finally get good print reproductions of some of my pieces so that I can put some prints for sale on Etsy. I have found a few places that can reproduce my artwork, and then give me the digital image on disk. I've found (I think) the right place, or at least 'a' place to start.

So off I go to Portland, (ME) to drop off six of my canvas originals. They will scan and/or photograph the artwork and I will get my digitalized versions on a disc. Then I can upload them so that I can make prints. Sounds easy. Took me awhile to get to this point, and I can see that this is going to get expensive quickly. ($30 for photographed reproductions, and $3 each scanned item). Then I still need to get prints made on appropriate paper, and put them into mats. Long term -  I need to buy my own scanner and photoprinter to made good, economical prints for resale. That's step two.
For now - step one - get some prints made, at whatever cost, and get them up on Etsy for sale, along with some original canvases

All this and I don't even know if anybody will want my stuff. Does anybody like it? Is anybody out there? I'm sure you are, and I hope I can find a market for my creations - I just need to get a little further along this path of creating, blogging, linking and learning.

Got back from Portland just hours before the snow started ( I think they are calling it the Blizzard of 2013). This is what our back door looked like the next morning. That's the door handle there that the snow is up to, and our gas grill outside -


 - and it continued to snow all day! Winter in Maine - glad I've got plenty of stuff to do indoors!

Dreams

Last night I dreamed that I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. It was very real - I mean, I won't go into detail but I 'saw' and 'felt' everything. Now keep in mind - I am 55 years old...so this dream has absolutely NO basis in anything real as far as actually having babies goes.

But what was I giving birth to? I woke up wondering about that. I have spent lots of time lately reading and rereading my Flying Lessons, e-book by Kelly Rae Roberts. Among all the other great, useful inspiration and information that she gives, Kelly also, throughout the book, encourages us to 'listen to the whispers', pay attention to all the small nudges, connections and coincidences that life seems to present to us. Life is hoping we'll notice. Signs are everywhere if we want to pay attention.

Shortly after I got up this morning, my fiance, John, asked me,(out of the blue) if I ever wanted to consider another business... - what would it be? This was not an odd question for him to be considering. Both of our 'career paths' have been in flux for the past year or more.  Not a real comfortable spot to be in in your 50's and 60s'.

I didn't have to think much for an answer. I do have a 'dream business' in my head. I've spoken it out loud, only to my daughter, nobody else. Why am I afraid to speak my dreams out loud? Fearful that they will sound silly, impractical, undo-able? I am starting to realize that if I don't give voice to my desires I will never give them any vehicle, any starting point. So I answered John.

"I would love to have a place where visitor's, clients/customers can come to relax and enjoy themselves, and perhaps to create art. In my head it looks like an old farmhouse with some land, with a lake or the ocean nearby. Several separate little cabins, or perhaps a 'bunkhouse' and a barn. Creative souls could come to the coast of Maine to stay in a cabin. Go to the beach. Swim in a deep Maine Lake. Go on group excursions to antiquing and 'junk' outings. Shop in our delightful coastal villages. Enjoy all Maine has to offer.

In the barn, (which has been transformed into several creative spaces) they can attend workshops for all sorts of art and creative pursuits. Painting, mixed media art, jewelry and metal work, sewing, working with fabrics, paper, books, perhaps even ceramics. There would be guest teachers invited (and paid) to teach these classes, (I don't want to teach them!). Local artists/artisans could also rent out studio space on a permanent or semi-permanent basis throughout the year.

And of course we would have a gallery / gift shop for artists to sell their work. Perhaps have gala/gallery events at times throughout the year. The venue and creative aspect could lend itself to business retreats. Perhaps the barn would be so fabulous that it might be used as a wedding venue on occasion?

This place would be operated and managed by myself, John(?), my daughter Sara, and perhaps her (soon to be husband) Stan. (John, Stan - can you become part of this? Someone has to maintain the buildings, take care of the grounds, keep everything updated and running? ok - we'll see).

My true dream is to have the time I need, and the space to create art. Hopefully art that people will love, and want to buy, so that I can support myself in this. So maybe the detailed dream above is too much. Sounds like fun but...maybe I don't want to have all that going on?
It's good to dream. Anything can happen. So...we'll see, won't we?

Finding My Way

Well, it's been awhile since my last post. I have been creating art and also trying to learn as much as I can about how to promote my art and myself. Been trying to learn more about the world of blogging. How to create good prints of my artwork. More ins and outs of Etsy. And lots more.

I recently was thrilled to receive as a gift, (from my fiance) Flying Lessons e-course by Kelly Rae Roberts, and have been poring over all the pages of fascinating, encouraging and uplifting information. This was just what I needed. Now I am committed to posting to my blog on a regular basis. Not sure exactly what a 'regular basis' will look like, but it will be a lot more often than once in two years!! Hopefully every week or so. I am also committed to getting prints of my artwork made, and getting everything up on Etsy within the next month. And keep creating of course and going forward from there.
All this takes time and with two jobs I don't have a lot of time - but I'm going to figure it out.


On a separate subject, my daughter became engaged over the holidays and a few weeks later I decided to start another blog (crazy?) where I plan to chronicle our mother-daughter journey toward the wedding day. There's so much to do and plan and choices to make. And in so many ways it ties in directly with the creative side in both of us, I know there will be so many memories made along the way. I am already feeling - excited, worried, overwhelmed, delighted etc.
Pop over and take a peek at the beginnings of  Sara's Wedding.

Here are a few of some of my recent canvases, I hope you enjoy them!

So there's a little bit of my stuff. I hope you like them. Leave me a message and let me know what you think. And I am so grateful for my life. For the chance to put my art out there. For the chance to pursue my passion. And grateful for all the good things that lie ahead of me. They are waiting for me - already there in my path.