Art Plunge

  "Emergence 1" My first painting of the new year is finished and titled. This week I will take it to be scanned for high res photos and printing. I'm restructuring my whole business this year and weeding out things that don't work for me. That's going to include the small prints. I'm hoping my supporters will just buy the next size up since they aren't that much more. It saves me time and hassle for little payoff. The new prints from here on out will be LIMITED EDITION prints on high quality Rives paper. Real fine art prints that will look stunning in frames.  I'm also weeding out a lot of stuff on social media and getting very business minded about my time on there. If entities aren't following me back or art related in some way they are distracting up my feed on my @galleryrodriguez page. That page is strictly art biz. I have so much to do to get things sorted out, my website back up and online shops integrated - forgive me if I'm not as cha...

  The weekend was going well until the very sad event unfolded. I have been taking care of some stray cats, a mom and kitten. They are feral and have never come within ten feet of me... Yet I still felt a kinship for them and worried over them and fed them. Before the holidays I bought the kitten a bag of toys, different things..a ball, a plush elephant, a tiny fish, a crinkly plastic thing... Kittens are kittens and all kittens deserve toys. I was delighted that she loved the toys. I would find them in odd places of the yard. One day a planter, the next a bird bath. I watched her throw the toys up in the air and carry them away. She and Mom were usually together but as she got a little older she wasn't always with mom when mom came to eat. This worried me.  The freezes we had worried me too and I put hot water bottles out and spare blankets were tucked under the shed where they were seen a lot.  They always came out the next morning and I became a little less fearful, ma...

  Back in the saddle finally... Since September I have been itching to get back to this painting but no, no there was work to be done. I was committed to the Fair, committed to the Acura car and hustling because it's my biggest money maker of the year. After the Fair was dealing with the back log of work that had built up because of the Fair. And kittens, new kittens who hadn't had enough attention and bonding yet. Oh and one of the kittens had a problem of peeing on carpet so let me stop down and address my stinky house that's falling apart. Let me rip out carpet when I need to be painting. Oh holidays? Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year triple sucker punch time and all the energy that goes into making sure everyone has a nice one and a big yummy meal, etc, etc It's been one thing after another and in my quest to stay on top of bills I took on a side gig on top of my part time and my other side gig. Painting? What's that? Artist? Not I. I had turned myself back into a...

  Portrait of a gal at work I like to mark the passing of the first week of the new year and what got accomplished. I stretched every day and did work on my plantar fasciitis and the weird tight painful spot in my shoulder that's been plaguing me for over a year... And lo and behold it feels like I'm healing. Focus on healing, put effort into healing and see the gains of your effort. Where you put your effort is where you see your gains and it's true in various aspects of your life as well.  Myofascial massage balls and a Solid Back spine helper When I focus on Woodwork and selling Woodwork- I see sales in that department. If I focus on art and prints, I see sales and opportunities in that department. Channel your efforts and see where your gains start coming.  Week one was healing and rehab and it will continue. I also am being strategic about THINGS THAT DON'T WORK and getting those things fixed. Case in point- this old dryer I've been dealing with for about a yea...

  One step at a time... Even with plantar fasciitis I've been pretty good about not complaining about ailments and financial woes... So I'm not gonna start the year off with that. But yes, I've been dealing with the plantar fasciitis or fascists , as I like to say! 😜 It's no fun having the simple pleasure of walking taken from you and your heels made to feel like they've been standing on concrete for 100 hours straight when they haven't been.  So I'm going into the new year with the word HEALING firmly in my heart. I'm going to heal myself before anything else and make myself priority number one. I'm also doing some major overhaul on my VALUE system and making sure I'm finally getting what me, my time, my art, skills and knowledge are worth this year. I've been undervaluing myself and it's time to stop that nonsense. I'm fully prepared to make this a fantastic year for art and good things and hope you'll follow me along on this j...