Art Plunge

That is MY hand working on a REAL work project. Today I want to tackle the misconceptions most people have about us weird creatures- THE FREELANCE ARTIST....First on that list is that we don't really WORK like everyone else. We don't really work. We're at home playing with our cats and watching TV. False. We work usually 7 days a week with no days off and no vacation or sick days. Your Saturday is not my Saturday. Weekends are just another work day. That is my work hanging in an apartment sample room for some condos. My hands made that work. This is my work for my OWN PERSONAL BUSINESS. This is 1 of 3 jobs I juggle. Yes- 3!  This is more of my work for my own personal business hanging in a residence.  Freelance Artists can just come and go as they please with flexible schedules or no schedules. False. Our schedules are just different than everyone else's. This is COMMERCIAL work I do for a company who puts work in hotels and various places. There are ...

Had a wonderful time at the Artists Showcase and Home Tour on Thursday. It was a great reminder of the new "Im worth it" path I've taken. I really feel like the artists were well taken care of and promoted and enjoyed the event very much. Here was my little curated space: All the artists got their own little spaces to create and show in this AMAZING house. I had lots of great windows and light in my space. Even though my endometriosis pains were popping in intermittently- I stood and smiled and chatted with visitors and fellow artists. These three were my largest pieces there and looked great on the spacious walls.   These look great together- I hope whoever eventually buys them is able to get both of them. Its a fun horizontal/vertical juxtaposition. The food was IMPECCABLE...the cake makers made these elegant cakeballs in various flavors and used each of the artists works to decorate the tops. I have arrived! My art is edible! Ther...

"Calyces Primavera" mixed media on         30" x 30" gallery wrapped canvas Today is a busy day- showing art at the Artist Showcase and Home Tour from 4-8pm. I'll have to be there early to hang so I'll be here practically all day. Excited to see everyones art and meet n greet. The only thing Im apprehensive about is MY BODY IS TRYING TO KILL ME THIS WEEK and how will I survive chatting up people and pretending theres not a murderer stabbing me?! Sorry, real talk. I want to do the ARTIST thing but it's also stabbing time and very hard for me. However I'm pretty proud of myself for knocking a new painting out this month despite the pains and heavy work load- I made time for ME and my goals. I have to. No compromise. I also woke up to a headache. No doubt because Ive been cutting calories and my body is wise to it. Sorry body-but it has to be done until you remember how to work properly again. So rough week for me as I go through physical body s...

Had a quick little viewing of the space I'll be filling up with art this Thursday. Take in all that blank wall glory and the coveted spot above the fireplace. 🎨 It will be a fun little art showing in this swanky house that's on the market. Various artists and jewelry makers will be there, catered light bites and wine. 🍷 Come out if you feel to and say hello! Im up early for another full day of projects and planning. I've had to turn down social engagements left and right because- work! When its work mode time it is work mode time and right now it is definitely WORK MODE TIME. Plus I need to make sure I capitalize fully on this Thursday showing and have all my work and printed info up to snuff. Busy! See you all here or there. Enjoy your week!

Happy Earth Day friends (everyday is Earth Day though)! I had a mixed bag weekend of work and leisure. Usually the weekends (or what other people call weekends) are pretty much work. But I've been trying to implement some balance to avoid burnout. Saturday my stroll at the park ended up with me picking up any trash I saw ...so Earth Day duties in effect! Sunday I made lunch for the family and spent a little time with them between painting on this New York hotel project. But not to get into the minutiae of my weekend- this blog is about balance and business. Balance is the hardest part of what I do and usually my personal time and family time are the innocent victim of my work tornadoes. So this year in addition to being NICER to myself and upgrading my worth- Im prioritizing my own downtime. Like if I can just have my Sundays for now Im cool. But a proper non work vacation is also a seed Im planting. It's important to work this in because it's the nice part of life and...

It's Friday and I fell into a hole of exhaustion yesterday and didn't get much done....so today is all about ramping up productivity. My pains have been popping in to say hello and sometimes its just a bit taxing. I've been pretty good about allowing myself time to rest when I need to. Yesterday I decided I should just bring a project home to work on if my schedule was gonna be outta whack. So work work work all weekend and getting ready for this next week: The house this will be at looks lovely- at least from its Zillow listing. I haven't been showing very often and am opting to just lay low while I work on new pieces but this seemed doable and lowkey. Please come out if you feel to! My Bucketfeet kicks have finally gone LIVE! I've been waiting years. This one is the "Electric Eels" style and I plan to add a few more. This is the same company that carries my skateboard and they make sure the artist is well compensated so please feel good about ...

Im not sure what the pivotal moment was that I made "the shift", but it happened. It was a long time coming and long overdue. I began realizing the way I "talked to myself"...not in the crazy person sense (actually talking to yourself is pretty normal 😂) ...but in the way I downgraded my abilities and worth. Always to please others and stay in good graces even though it hurt me financially and emotionally. I would say "yes" to the cheapest price, "yes" to the work even though it really didn't serve me but would stress me out and overwhelm me. When my inner voice protested I told it to shut up- that at all costs we must bend over backwards for everyone. I soon found myself in a joyless cycle of work that barely paid, handing over paintings I barely laid eyes on and sliding the money directly over to my landlord without even seeing it or enjoying it. Autopilot. Nothing nice for me. Out of soap and shampoo? Oh well. Luxury items. Glad to pay...

             Paper leaves, paper leaves! So begins a new week and a very busy one. So many projects to bust through this week but excited to get them to completion at last. All my personal work is on the back burner as I plough through this but it's also simmering in the back of my mind. It's ok to have the ideas simmering for a bit. I'm not sure if Mercury is in retrograde or what - but Yahoo (which Ive used through my whole adult life pretty much) has decided to just throw away all my mail. ALL MY MAIL. That's everything from business, current projects, family mail, photos, files....over a decades worth of my life. After attempting to "contact" them to fix it...by the way there is no way to contact humans anymore online...I got some dumb autoresponse that fixed nothing. I manually pulled out what I could and just have to be zen about the rest. But I bring this up in the event you messaged me recently and I didn't get back with you...Yahoo has be...

Sundays are notorious days for me to be in the studio. #studiosunday Working on my 3D leaf project today because tomorrow I have to switch gears to another project with a more immediate deadline. It's like that. Had a night full of strange dreams which actually made me think about my personal art and the journey I'm about to embark on. As strange and disturbing as they were they really made me feel like I was about to be conducting a new and exciting art future. Fun huh? Thank you subconscious! I like to think it knows things before I do sometimes.  I've been asked to showcase some pieces at an exclusive private event this month and these have never been out of the house yet. But aside from this Im laying low on exhibiting and just working on creating. Its nice that these opportunities find me still. Yesterdays storms have given way to a sunshine soaked day and I do believe a long walk is the way to start this day 🌞 Enjoy the magic of Sunday, whatever you get...

Spring is in full swing and it's a great reminder of reawakening, renewal and blooming. My last project was a literal reset button and I feel like I came back full of momentum. What do you do with momentum? You keep it going. So it was with barely a break in stride I found myself back in the studio working on work projects, thinking about personal projects and my "business". A stack of work was actually waiting for me...and deadlines. So I jumped right in. Getting hundreds of leaves painted, cut, glued and pinned is a process after all. It's the kind of meditative, repetitive work I can get into...also I love new things I've never done before. Probably what I love most about my chosen career- besides bringing joy to others who appreciate it- is always learning and exploring. Im really enjoying not being in the stress of art shows and jostling for gallery attention right now. Im digging this quiet time I've carved out to work on my big picture. And I...

Oh where to start...my last blog had me heading off into the skies to Idaho to put up a ceiling mural. I was very apprehensive and fighting my own negative brains dialogue. My doctor hadn't refilled my prescription in time and I was pretty certain I was going to get ill somewhere in the mix. I was also betting on something akin to whiplash and my back freezing up while I was trying to work. JUST SO YOU KNOW- the way my brain likes to abuse me. :D Not to make this blog too lengthy and flowery..I'll preface this all by saying that had to be one of the best job experiences I have ever been on and it unlocked a much needed transformation in my life. If you may remember I was ready to throw the towel in a few weeks ago. I was feeling pretty shipwrecked. A few friends jumped my cables, so to speak, with supportive words, art sales and even a full out donation and the words "keep creating please". So everyones support has not been lost on me. I've been absorbing i...