Another Day Off

Gees, it's not been months since I last wrote!

Actually, I'm going a bit bonkers. I have today off and probably tomorrow too. I do know that I'll be working on Friday, although I'm not too thrilled over that. My husband is coming home tomorrow night and I'd rather spend the day with him rather than 6 classes of 7th-graders. But we need the money and I don't mind the school, so I felt I should.

For those that don't know how substitute teaching works, once you are hired, you gain access to a website where you sign up for assignments. What the site tells you is the date, the school, the teacher, and the general topic. So, for Friday, I know where and when and for whom I'll be subbing, but I only know the class is "social studies". At this school, I'm not even sure of the grade. Some school districts have teachers put the lesson online, so I could see if the "social studies" was history about the Reformation or geography of South America. This mystery factor can be interesting! (And sometimes not in a positive way.)

Anyway, I spent today working on some calculus and on my new pink skirt, along with some housework. Again, I thought about working on a painting, but I took a nap instead. My excuse today was I am using my art studio for a sewing room and getting out all the paints will only add to the mess in here. I really do need to rearrange this room so I can do both. I think there's room, if things were better layed out. I doubt that I'll get to that until after school is out -- it's something that will take 5-7 days to do.

Well, the cat herd is complaining. It only took them 2 days to get used to being fed at 5am and 5pm, so now I'm late!

No Wind in My Sails

Well, I've set a new record for not blogging -- almost 5 months. I've kind of missed it, then again, there's a lot about my former life that I really miss.

• Emily -- My cat of 18 years died in January and it's been tough without her. I've been meaning to write a few words about her but I've never gotten around to it. She was so much a part of my life, especially towards the end when she was very ill. One of these days I will have to write her eulogy.
• doing art -- Several times in the last few months, I've tried to do something like painting or sculpting. But I can't. It still hurts too much to do it for fun. Call it sour grapes if you will, but I don't think it's fair that certain 'artists' are still making a fine living while I had to get a normal job. So, I've channelled my artistic drives into making my own clothes. It's not as creative in some sense (I'm too much a novice that I find commercial patterns a challenge), but it is satisfying.
• time -- With this new career of teaching (substitute teaching right now), I have very little time to do anything. I get up at 5am and get home at 3pm exhausted, but having to do all the housework. I do know that once I get thinks settled (such as getting a full-time teaching position), things will be less stressful. But even then, I won't have the time to relax and putter around like I did.

Right now, however, I do have a few days on my hands. This is the time of standardized testing in California and the schools prefer not to have substitute teachers during this time. So, it looks like I'll be home for the next week or so. I have quite a list of things I need and want to do -- some such as filling out applications for college, and some such finishing another skirt -- so, I'll keep busy.

Not Really Back

Well, I see it's been several months since I last wrote anything. The fact of the matter is that I haven't exactly felt like writing much of anything. Plus I haven't had much time, either.

Sometime this summer, it became apparent to me that this making a living at art was burning me out on art, not producing the income I need (in the next year or so), and not likely to improve at anytime in the future. So, I decided, gulp, to give up on being a full-time artist and go be a math teacher. Yep, math. I do have that degree in math/stat and I have taught before (at college level) and they need math teachers, so it fit. It also will give me the freedom to do my art for at least 3 months in the summer.

The bad part of this math idea is that I had to review 4 years of math in 2-3 months so that I could take competency exams. This is college level math with such fun topics as calculus, abstract algebra, and number theory. I will admit it, I haven't had some of the topics and I haven't thought about math in years, so this was a shock to my brain. While I was always good at math, trying to learning abstract algebra on my own after 15 years of not thinking about math as ... well, interesting. Anyway, since about August, I have done 5-10 hours a day of math.

This didn't leave any time or energy to do art, so I ended up refunding commissions and closing my eBay store. Both of these things were difficult to do because I had to admit that my life as an artist (only) was over. I know I'm not suppose to say this, but I felt (and still do) like I failed at 'art'. In my more rational moments (i.e., when I'm not wallowing in self-pity), I understand that I was good at the 'doing art' part, but because of my stubbornness, lack of knowledge, and lack of luck, I failed at the 'selling art' part. (I'll write more on this in a later post.)

Lately, things have calmed down a bit and I'm thinking about painting a bit. (I've passed the hardest exam, feel confident I passed the second exam, and now just waiting for results so I can fill out the actually paperwork to get an internship.) I'm also working on finishing up a couple of stone sculptures -- just so I can have more things to dust in my house!!!

Oh, and in all this mess, Emily, my cranking old cat, is dying from chronic renal failure. Some days she acts fine, and some days I think it's time to make the final trip to the vet. Today has been a good day so far.

Someone recently said to me the Universe doesn't give you more than you can handle. I sometimes wonder about that -- then again, I am still here and it is been fun reviewing/learning all that math, so I guess it's true.

Excessive Heat Warning!

It's official -- it's hot. Only 109 today. Tomorrow is suppose to be over 112! In fact, I'm in an area with an excessive heat warning. This is what I get for living in a desert. So, no strenuous outdoor activity, lots of water, and a big bowl of ice cream. Okay, the last one is my own idea, but I'm willing to see if it works to make me cooler.

Actually, 109 isn't so bad with a breeze and no humidity. Well, there's a breeze, but.... Unlike normal heat waves, this one came with clouds. Not the big thunderstorms but high wispy clouds. Well, clouds means humidity otherwise the clouds evaporate over the mountains. So, this 109 is like walking out into a sauna. I doubt that this humidity is enough to lower the fire danger, so all it's doing is making life miserable outside. (Hey, even the cactus wrens are walking around with their mouths open.)

While my house does have air-conditioning, my studio still gets plenty warm. If I turned the a/c to cooler, it would be better in here, but then the rest of the house would be too cool. (I keep it about 82-85, so I'm not sweating but I still adjust to the heat.) So, I adjust my schedule. I now am painting in the morning, knitting or reading in the afternoon (in a cooler room), and then back in here at night to work on my web site or draw (doing colors under artificial light is frustrating to me). I can work with this, except for one minor annoyance. There's nothing interesting on the radio at night. (Hey, I said it was minor!) Flexibility is key to an artistic life.

So, what am I working on? There's a dog portrait, a short-eared owl, a warbler, and an alpaca print. The last item I have done, but I just need time to print it. If it ever gets cooler outside, I'll get back to working on a couple of sculptures, but not when it's 105+! If I can get my web site updated, then I'll have even more time to do art.

And now, I think it's time for that bowl of ice cream.

Too much???

Yes, I know it's been literally weeks since I last wrote anything. The fact of the matter is that I'm just too tired to do everything I want to do so some things, such as this blog, get left behind.

So here's a few of the things I've been upto lately:

• I've been dealing with a sick cat and 2 cats with food-issues. This means special food and medication at various times throughout the day. I never realised how nice it was when I had 3 cats and they all ate the same food without any other problems.


• I've had to deal with various troubles with my husband's truck and his business. While this doesn't take up much time, it's an emotional nightmare. A few hours in the shop and he racks up a bill for $3000! There's only so much money, so I have to juggle bills to pay everything.


• I'm revamping my web site thanks to a friend talking to a big-name decorator. She wants to show him my work, but I'm insisting that she hold off for a week so I can redo some of my web site. (Like this blog, updating my web site is one of those things that I keep putting off.) I probably have 10 portraits and a dozen botanicals to put up!


• I've just finished a couple of portraits, but I still have 3 or 4 more to do! Every time I think maybe I've caught up, I get further behind.


• I decided that come Sept, I will get rid of the garbage service, so I've had to work on starting a compost pile. A compost pile in the desert requires almost daily maintenance.


• I'm trying to get some bookcases built in my studio so I can actually find books. One thing about doing wildlife art is that you need reference material -- books and photos. But if the reference material is hidden away in boxes or piles, it's really frustrating.


• I am now back to 'professionally' knitting for 2 different people. One contacted me and we settled on terms. Then another lady contacted me and, since we have had a long-term working relationship, I agreed to do some for her. (If I didn't need the money to cover the vet bills, I'd say 'no'.) I guess I will have something useful to do while sitting in front of the fan when it's 106F outside!


• And finally, I'm desperately trying to get new work done both to sell now and to have ready for the fall.

I know I'm a bit unrealistic, expecting to be able to do everything, but I don't know what to cut. I keep thinking if I could just work a bit longer or figure out how to do something faster, then it all would fit in a day. Maybe, maybe not. I'm just glad that most of my clients understand and are patient with me!

My Dear Stupid Neighbors

I decided that I needed a day off from doing art, so I took one. Part of the reason had to do with finishing up one portrait, trying to get new stuff done for eBay, and getting ready to start on a new portrait. I basically just needed a break from it all.

And the other part of the reason is my stupid neighbors. Yes, stupid, stupid, and stupid. At about 9:30pm I looked out my window and saw flames shooting up about 20 feet. I looked again and saw no one around. So, I called 911 (as did 5-7 other people). As soon you could hear the sirens on the fire trucks, my dear neighbors rushed out to put out the fire and then turned off all their house lights. As it happened, there was also a house fire about that time so the fire department was diverted.

So, once the fire trucks were gone, they were back out with a roaring fire going. So, I (and several other neighbors) called 911 again. The trucks stopped on their way back from the other fire. According to one neighbor with a scanner, the stupid neighbors had no permit for open burning and were told to have a smaller fire.

And a bit after the firemen left, they were building the fire up again. Since I was told on the previous call to call back if the fire restarted, I called 911 again. And then I got a visit from the fire chief, who was now stationed out here to watch the fire. According to him, they had a valid permit and were cooperative, so nothing would happened to them.

Well, being the paranoid person that I am, I stayed up until 1:30am and watched the goings on, just to be sure. (Hey, I have too many pets to evacuate with 2 minutes notice!) I also spent the time talking to the neighbor with the scanner. According to her, on the next call to 911, the sheriff was to be sent out and the stupid neighbors were to be cited.

This is where the story gets interesting. This morning, scanner-lady talks to a couple of firemen and they say there was no valid burning permit, a permit would allow them to burn things from 11am to 2pm (not 11:30 pm!), and the permit required them to call the fire department before they started any fire.

So, the question I and several others have is why weren't these people cited last night? Why were they allowed to continue until 1:30am?! Who's lying -- the firemen or the fire chief?

To people who live outside the West, this may seem to be blown out of proportion. And if I still lived in Iowa, I probably would never have called the fire department. But, here, things are very different. We have not had measurable rain since about March 2006. The vegetation is VERY dry. One tiny ember can start a huge fire in no time. For those that have read this blog last year, you will recall the huge fire (37,000 acres) and my evacuation which started from a few embers. And since my dear neighbors have a record of stupidity (scrape their yard and then complain about the blowing dirt?!), I do not trust them with any fire.

So, after staying up until 1:30am and then getting up at 5:30am (thanks to my cats), I'm not at my best. Even the nap I took doesn't seem to have helped all that much. I just hope I'll be able to get to sleep tonight and we won't have round 2 of stupidity!!! After all, I have lots of art to do tomorrow.

Father's Day Portrait

Well, here it is -- the portrait for Father's Day that I was working. I'm actually pretty proud of me. Not only did it come out quite well, but I got it done in record time and ahead of schedule. YEAH for me!

As I said, the portrait is one of my better ones. Part of the appeal is the photo -- it's so loving. People sometimes don't think about how a photo really looks -- instead they think only that it is a picture of Uncle Bob. Well, not every photo makes a great portrait. For example, a 3/4 view is better than head on and not using a flash is preferable.

I also think I did a pretty job with it. The photo was lightly blurred since it was digital -- that is, when I got out my hand-lens to see the detail, all I saw was pixels. The hands were especially problematic, but after doing some hand studies in front of the mirror, I think I got them right. I also had to carefully balance the girl's light pink sweater with her father's dark blue shirt. I ended up darkening the former and lightening the latter.

One of the things I recently announced in my newsletter is that I'm only going to work on 1-2 commissions each month. (This will allow me time to do my art and still do some portraits.) I had two lined up for June, but when I saw the photos for one, I told the client I needed better ones. This worked out well, since I got an 'emergency' commission. So, now, I'm taking a day or two off from portraits before I start on the next commission. The next one up is a horse, cowboy, and cow in pastel. This should be quite fun!!!