I've Just about Had It!

What can I say? Last week was a week from Hell! Here's a brief outline of what happened:

• On Sunday, I tore an abdominal muscle so sitting, standing, lying down, walking, eating, etc... are all very painful. It's better now, as long as I don't sit in one position for over an hour.
• On Monday, the local internet server stopped working, so the only way to access the internet was via long-distance. Besides auctions, I had bills to pay so I was really counting on the internet to be there. It finally got fixed on Thursday.
• On Tuesday, one of my parrots died and to say I miss him terribly is an understatement.
• On Thursday, hubby's dog got out just before sunset so we spent most of the night looking and worrying about him. (We have lots of coyotes that find small dog tasty.) On Friday, the dog came home with only minor scrapes.
• Also on Friday, I had the opportunity to adopt a new parrot but I had I drive about 3 hours to get him. By the time I got home I was physically unable to stand up straight or eat for fear of vomitting.
• On Saturday, with great reluctance, hubby headed back on the road.

In the middle of all this, I get 4 portrait commissions and an order for more knitted items (by Thanksgiving). Throw in my sadness about the death my little birdie friend, and I really feel overwhelmed. So, I sent an email out to all those waiting for a portrait, or auction winnings, or knitting, and most people understood.

I said most. One lady replied, "the drama and excuses have run thin. at this point i would accept a full refund...", so I did. I have the portrait of her cat about 1/3 done and I normally don't refund money once I've started, but I did this time. A small voice in the back of my head kept telling me that no matter what I did for her, she wouldn't be happy with the final portrait. I was on drawing #9 or so for her before she approved of the drawing. (Normally it's one or two and that's it.) At this point, with so many portraits to finish, I don't need that kind of aggrevation. So, I cut my losses and refunded the full price. I shouldn't have done that because I'm now out the cost of the canvas and the cost to develop some pictures. (She sent her photos of the cat as one of those disposable cameras and I had to pay to get it developed.) There comes a point when it's better to lose money than deal with headaches.

Needless to say, the painting a day plan is presently way out of the window. I need to get these portraits done and I will -- I might have to stay up some nights, stop taking showers, and eat tv dinners, but they will get done. There's 4 I need to do by Xmas, 2 pastels that should get done by 1 Jan, 2 oils and a pencil portrait that will be done by Thanksgiving, and one oil which will get done in early January (and I'll throw in a bonus for her). I'll be stressed, but I will get everything done. (And then I can get back to painting my stuff!)

And now, off to list something on eBay. It's a pain that I'm so busy now and this is the good time on eBay. Next year, I plan to work hard over the summer and have lots of stuff ready to sell in the winter.

You Gotta be Kiddin?!

It wasn't the best of days, but I'm feeling slightly better than yesterday. I made a couple of decisions and I bought some cookies! Hey, when I'm blah, baking cookies is just too much trouble, so I bought some.

Decision #1
I need to get these portraits done ASAP. They are hanging around my neck like a huge weight. So, to get them done quickly, I'm suspending the painting a day plan until I get at least 4 of the 7 done. I'm also not going to join another interesting group which does a themed painting on Fridays until the portraits are done. I'm cutting back on listing on eBay for the next week or so. I'll still list 3 or 4 items, but not the 6-7 I have been. I need to be actively painting and producing more stuff to list daily.

Decision #2

I'm not happy with my life being taken over by art, knitting, and websites. I need some time for myself, for my cats, and for my house. Now, I'm not talking 3 or 4 hours per day -- just an hour a day to do non-art stuff. And then I'm taking Saturdays off from business. I have a lot of little household chores, such as weather stripping the windows, which need to be done, so I'm going to do it. I'm also going back to reading more. I kind of got away from that thanks to the knitting, which I tend to do while watching TV. I need to bring my life into a more healthy balance.

Decision #3
This computer has crept back into my life and has taken over. Yes, I know my web site needs updating. Yes, I need to list auctions. Yes, I need to write this blog (a whole lot cheaper than therapy!). And yes, I need to work on this alpaca farm's web site. But that doesn't mean I need to check my email or auctions 4 or 5 or 6 times a day and then check this group or that web site. Starting tomorrow, I 'll check things in the morning and reply to emails and problems, and then the computer stays off until 5pm (blog/auction time). And my web site will be updated on Sunday mornings.

Well, I think these 3 decisions will help me be happier and more productive.

Speaking of happier or not, I recently received a Best Offer on a portrait commission. It was an 8x10 pencil portrait which I had for $80. The offer was for $5!!! I just about fainted. I really would like to ask the person if they thought that was a fair offer. Needless to say, I declined it. Definitely one for the "you gotta be kiddin" file!

Not a Good Day

This was not a good day. I just couldn't get going this morning or this afternoon. I think it was a combination of not eating decent food, not having slept well last night, and being tired of working on this computer. So, I did my painting and took the rest of the day off.

I might as well get today's painting over:


It's Japanese iris buds in watercolor in front of two leaves done in pencil. Years ago, I did a set of 4 of these and a couple of months ago, someone bought one of them. ONE! So rather than redo the same iris, I did a slightly different iris. Unfortunately, it doesn't loof too good. While it's botanically correct, it's not terribly colorful, it should be moved up higher, and it looks funny since I'm not used to Japanese irises.

I guess I shouldn't paint while blah. Now if my auctions would do well, or someone would buy a couple things from my store, or I'd a check or two in the mail, maybe I'd feel better. If not, tomorrow when I mail a package, I'm buying some cookie fixings. Nothing like a chocolate chip cookie to chear me up!

Nibblefest Results

While the results aren't officially in concerning the October Nibblefest Contest, I've accepted the fact that I didn't win or even place, in terms of unique bidders. I only had 4 different bidders. Some people had 10+ unique bidders. That's fine, as I know some of the artists involved have large followings.

What I found terribly upsetting is the cheating. Well, I should say suspected cheating. For example, one item had a total of 9 different bidders, of which 4 had zero feedback. 3 of these bidders were also brand new to eBay and had registered on 21 Oct, 22 Oct, and 23 Oct. Could it happen that 3 newbies would fine this auction 2-3 days after they registerd? Yes, but the probability is very low. Or is it more likely that the artist, not pleased with either the price or the number of bidders, created these IDs to help their entry along?! Just in case people don't know, many artists have 2 or 3 IDs so they can sell or buy non-art things and not have the feedback show up. Not only am I upset by people cheating in general, I feel sorry for the real bidders who either paid more than they should have or lost the auction to a fictional person.

Other than this problem, my piece was the 7th highest (out of 58 entries) in terms of price. I'm pleased with the price. Also, I think I have found a tiny niche on eBay which I'll happily fill with a few more similar paintings. And my piece was seen by a lot of people, although much of the traffic was other contestants.

Overall, it was a very good experience and I plan to participate in the monthly event for some time to come. November's theme is a monochromatic painting in purple. I admit, purple isn't exactly my favorite color, but I've got an idea or two on what to do. The only question is just how much am I willing to risk, since the auction will be starting at $0.99. I'd like to do a large closeup of a purple orchid or iris in oil, but I'd be really pissed if I spent $20 on the canvas and had it go for $10! (I suppose I could jack the shipping up to $25 like a couple of people did. $25 on a small painting -- I could send it US Priority Mail for $4.05!)

Anyway, I did sort of get back into the saddle today. So, here's today's painting:

It's a cedar waxwing in watercolor on handmade paper. I'm pleased with it, eventhough I struggled with the colors. It seemed every photo I looked at had the wings and lower back a different color. For example, the wings ranged from blueto pure black to a brown/black. I finally put all the photos away and decided to paint it so that it looked good to me. Afterall, I have an artistic license! (Bad joke!)

Since I had to take a break from painting daily (due to illness, knitting, and website/logo designing) I'm running low on what to list. I don't have any wildlife up, except for a moose art card, so I guess I'll list this waxwing. I don't know what I'll due for tomorrow, but one day at a time.

Trying to Say No

I know I haven't written in some time. In part, it's because I got a cold. Then there's the part that involves my inability to say 'no'. It's such a simple word, but I just can't do it sometimes.

So, here I was, working on 7 portrait commissions, trying to do a painting a day, listing new auctions daily, and trying to blog every day. That was a full plate. But, I just about had everything under control.

Then I get an email from an alpaca farm about custom knitting. Email is followed by large package and insto-presto I'm in the knitting business. Now, I've knitted for people off and on for a few years and I have taken on small projects for non-knitters here and there. But this is a bit more serious. I do admit -- alpaca is pretty fun to work with.

But wait, there's more. Roughly at the same time, I get an email from another alpaca farm about designing a logo and building a store and website. By 1 Nov. Surprise! Now this isn't quite as bad as it sounds since I had originally done some preliminary designs back in April, so I just had to redo one. The store is just a matter of filling out things and editting. And the website doesn't have to be done by 1 Nov -- just the logo and store.

I have nothing against doing either of these two new things, but the timing is bad. There's a part of me that wishes I could just say 'no', but then I look at the checkbook and say 'yes'. While I'm doing pretty well on eBay right now, I feel like I need to take advantage of these opportunities. I'd like to take over some bill-paying from my art so we can use hubby's pay to pay down the credit cards and house, so he can retire (and make me lemonade).

So, until 1 Nov (thankfully that's only 2 days from now), I'm a knitter and logo designer. Once I get these two things done-ish, I'll go back to a painting a day and working on the portraits.

Oh, like I had promised, here's ACEO in oil which I did last week:


It's a spray of delicate pink phalenopsis flowers on a near white background. This is really a terrible scan, but I played with it for over an hour -- adjusting the brightness and contrast -- and this was the best I could get. It has another 3 weeks to dry before I can sell it, so maybe I'll be able to figure out how to get a better image.

Bad Timing!

Yesterday, I was feeling good. I sent out a newsletter. I emailed Talk of the Nation (an NPR radio) and had my email read on air.

And then I went to the poll working class. Since that, it's been down hill. The class lasted almost 2.5 hours since I was the only one who had worked the polls before. (My punishment for missing the regular class and having to take a make-up one.) I tried to find double-pointed size 8 knitting needles in town and couldn't. I got home to cat puke in the hall because some cat who shall remain nameless insists on eating parrot pellets. (Cats can't digest parrot pellets, so they....well figure it out!) I tried to knit a scarf for a lady and after 2 hours of piddling with it, I gave up. Actually, someone called and talked on and on for over 1 hour.

So, I didn't do any painting yesterday. I didn't do a blog entry, which was one of the links from the newsletter. And then my cactus print didn't sell on eBay.

But wait -- that's not all!

This morning, I wake up with a sore throat and a slight fever. The sore throat has gone slightly away, but now the fever is worse, I'm achy, and I'm cold even though it's hot in here. To top it off eBay is having a 20-cent listing day, and while I would like to list some more expensive pieces (such as portrait commissions) I better not since I have several waiting for me to finish them now.

Talk about bad timing!!!

So, I basically spent the day being a cat pillow and reading. I'm hoping that if I take it easy for a day or two, I'll avoid getting real sick. I guess this means that the painting a day will be suspended for a few days. (That's going to create some problems down the road, but if I do any art, I have to work on getting these portraits done!)

Not Bad...For Monday

For a Monday, today wasn't too bad. I got a lot of painting on a couple of portraits done, I did some cleaning, and I finished a painting today. I'm also tired from all this, but I'm very pleased with my progress.

And my Nibblefest entry is doing pretty well. It's up to $20.50, which makes it tied for 4th in terms of money. Admittedly, I won't win the contest because all the bids were from two bidders, whereas some people have 8 or 10 bidders. But I'd rather have the money than the bidders. (It's hard to pay bills with a virtual trophy!)

Tomorrow, however, isn't looking too good. I have to go into town for election clerk training in the afternoon. While that's good since I can mail a print, it's not good since I won't be able to paint in the afternoon. The training lasts about 2 hours, so I won't get home until 3:30 or 4pm. I probably won't get a painting done tomorrow -- not unless I start it tonight. (Hmm, maybe do a quick llama in pastel on handmade paper?)

Speaking of a painting-a-day, I did finish one, but it's not dry. It's an artcard of a spray of pink phalenopsis orchids in oil. I like it. And it was fun trying to do 6 orchid flowers on artcard. Unfortunately, since it is oil, it will be a day or two before I can show it off.

Well, I think it's time to go list something on eBay and then fix a nice supper. Maybe I'll even get a chance to read a bit tonight!

Nibblefest Art Contest

Well, I finally have my house and life back all to myself. While I love spending time with my husband, having him and his d-o-g around does create a major amount of chaos in my life. For example, he had to take his truck into the shop again. This time for 'gunk' in the cooling system. While it was in the shop, we basically couldn't do much just in case the mechanic calls. (Hubby's idea -- me, I figure a cell phone is good anywhere.) So, for 3 days, we basically sat home doing nothing. Okay, one day we did sneak down to Palm Desert to get my oil changed, get a new phone for me, and buy some groceries. Other than that, we were just waiting for THE call. (This time it was only $600!)

Anyway, he went back on the road yesterday, so I got back to work. And today, I finished up this piece:

This piece is called "Natural Bonsai". It's watercolor with some rice paper collage on the rocks and trunks. The painting was inspired by the trees that grow along the canyons on CA-18, which is the back way upto Big Bear, CA. I rather like the zen like nature of it -- fits well with the bonsai idea. And it was fun to do because it was so different than my normal paintings.

Now, for the good part. I'm entering this in the Nibblefest Art Contest. This is a contest tun by a group of eBay artists. Each month they have a new theme and people can enter one piece each month. It starts on the 20th and ends on the 27th, but I can still enter as long as I do a 5 day listing. The scary part of this is that all listings start at $0.99. Cheap to list, but I'm hoping it doesn't go for that! The winner of the contest is the person who gets the most different bidders. (And if you want to help me win, click here and bid, please.)

Realistically, I know I have very little chance of winning, because most of the people in the group are friends and tend to bid on each others' works. But I'm doing this for 3 reasons:

1. Having to do different themes -- ones that I never would do on my own -- is good for my artistic muscles.
2. I'm hoping that the attention their auctions get will lead a few more buyers to my auctions.
3. And I'm very curious as to what will happen with a $0.99 listing.

With a bit of luck, this piece will go for a decent price and I'll win the contest!

We Interrupt This Show....

Yep, another interruption to my plans. This one occurred at 6:15am yesterday. Hubby calls and says, "I'll be home tonight." And sure enough, he came home last night. While he doesn't mean to interrupt my painting-a-day, he is a distraction. After all, he does expect food and he does need to go grocery shopping to buy stuff to take in his truck and.... So tomorrow, we go down to Palm Springs to get my new phone, get the oil changed, buy groceries at Trader Joe's, and get the d-o-g the only brand of dog food he'll eat at the pet store. (With a bit of luck, I'll get a milk shake too!)

So, for the next few days, like until Friday, I'll probably not get much done. Although I did get one done today -- one which I had started yesterday. And I do need to get one done by Friday night for a group contest on eBay. (More on this on Friday.)

So without further adieu, here's today's painting:

It's a scrub jay in watercolor on handmade paper. I know I'm doing quite a number of these, but they are quick to do and then sell (not like oils having to dry for a month) and they sell well (the meadowlark went for a nice price last night). Anyway, it came out pretty well. The wrinkles will be removed once I flatten it. And it looks more purple-blue in the photo than in real life. But these two things will be fixed before I auction it.

And now, back to hubby...

My Day Off???

Some time ago I decided that Sunday should be my day off from most things art. Sure I would check an auction or two, or put one up, but basically that was it. Afterall, I can't do and think art 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without burning out on art.

So, what did I do all day? I spent it on this computer, looking at art auction sites, posting questions to groups, reading archives, etc. Basically, I spent it all doing the business of art online. Not very relaxing!

And I'm not thrilled about tomorrow. Yesterday, my cell phone decided it wouldn't charge. It works fine, but my battery is low and it tells me the battery is completely charged every time I plug it in to charge. It could be the charger. It could be a software problem. Or it could be some stupid chip in the phone. The only way to figure it out is to take it to the Verizon store in Palm Desert (50 miles away). Since I also need my oil changed, I'll go down early, get the oil changed, get the phone fixed (fingers crossed), and then get back to a meeting with the lady who makes my paper at 1 pm. I just have a feeling that I won't come home from all that and do a painting.

I really should start something tonight -- something that I can finish tomorrow. I've been having pretty good luck with selling on eBay and I really need to create more inventory that I can sell. But quite honestly, I'm tired from looking at this screen, so I'm calling it a night and making myself a nice meal.

Moving On

On account of it being Friday the 13th, I did as little as possible!

Just kidding. Although it was another day of doing stuff on the computer that resulted in very little to show for except a headache. I would rather spend most of my day doing art or reading or gardening, but I have decided to try to figure out how to get more and larger sales on eBay. This meant a lot of reading in various groups. Then looking at my store and listings to see if the suggestions would work for me.

I still haven't figured it out -- and I'm not at all sure it's possible to figure out -- but I have a plan. I'm going to try to list something on auction everyday. I'll try to keep a botanical watercolor, a wildlife piece, and a still life up at all time. Other than these 3 pieces, the rest of the listings will be whatever I want to list -- some old and some new. Then on Thursdays, I'll be adding to my eBay store until I have about 35 pieces in there. Once I reach that number, I'll remove those pieces which get few visits and add unsold auction items, assuming there are some.

The one piece of the puzzle is what to do with the low-visited items after I remove them from the store. Do I try to sell them on auction? Do I put them on another art sales site? Do I just throw them in a storage box for a year or two? The crazy thing is I have sold several pieces, both at shows and on eBay, which I never thought would sell and got very few looks on auctions. Suddenly the right person comes along and buys them. But I'm not thrilled with paying to have them in my store with the hope that someone will buy them before I've paid more in listing fees than I get for the items.

No wonder I have a headache!

Anyway, I did get some art done today.

This is another art card in oil of a fall still life. I had started out to paint the pumpkin and the Indian corn, but them I added the shelf. Then the leaf. Then the window and the landscape. It kind of all just kept growing in complexity until I got something I liked. And I do like this one. (For what it's worth, the picture looks a bit duller than the original -- the corn is fairly bright.) So, in another month when this is dry enough to varnish, I can put it up on auction.

Note: Since I will only sell varnished pieces and it takes a month for oils (with driers added) to dry, this creates yet another headache for selling on eBay. In the meantime, if someone would like to make me an offer on either card, well, I'll consider it.

And here's the oil art card I did yesterday:

I'm still debating whether I like it or not. I'm so used to having very carefully blended paint that the chunkier painting style looks a bit sloppy to me. On the other hand, it was a lot faster, so....

I really am getting tired of painting these minatures, so maybe tomorrow I'll try a larger oil painting. The reasons I was doing these art cards were (a) there used to be a big market for them, (b) they were something new to me, and (c) if I ruined one, I wasn't out much in terms of materials. Now, however, there's less of a market for them, I'm getting tired of them, and I feel much more confident working in oils, so maybe it's time for me to try something larger? Maybe 6x8"?!

Groan

Groan. This is going to be short as I'm tired.

It seems like all I have done today is play on this computer, even though I did get a small painting done. (More on that later.) I decided that since eBay sends out an email "New from Your Favorite Sellers" on Thursday night/Friday morning, I should put a few new items in my eBay store. And since my two botanical watercolors on auction have been getting a number of views, I put a couple of orchids in the store.

Then I made a few revisions to some of the store items, because I'm trying a more 'personal' touch to my listings. Someone in a groups said that people buy from an artist because of a personal relationship, either actual or preceived. Collectors like to feel like they know something personal about the artist. So I'm slowly changing listings to "my" and "I" rather than "the artist's" or "the artist". I had used the third person because another group said it gave the artist more of a professional look. But lately, a couple of buyers have emailed me and I got the impression that they appreciated the personal touches.

Then I had to list something new on auction today. I listed a small oil of a ladyslipper, similar to the one I did a week or so ago.

I personally I'm not thrilled with it, but hubby likes it as does several other people. So I'm listing it. (Click here to bid on this painting!) Some people say never to sell anything you are not pleased with. Others say sell things even if you're not 100% thrilled with them. Yes, this is another case of two opposing opinions. (Seems art is full of contradicting opinions.)

Oh, yes, I did do a painting today. It's an art card of a purple iris. But it's done in oils and isn't dry, so I can't scan it. I tried using my camera phone to take a photo of it, but that didn't work. The purple came out blue, no matter what I did. So, you'll have to wait a day or two to see it.

Finally.....

Sometimes I run into a portrait that drives me nuts. Jackie was one those. Beautiful cat, but an interesting color. Version 1, I screwed up the color. Version 2, I didn't like the pose and while correcting it, I really messed up the paper. Version 3, had a tail and I only then realised that the 4 photos of the cat showed no tail. Yep, it's a Manx. So I tried a different layout -- only the head. Version 4a was too large. Version 4b was too small. Finally, version 4c was just right! Two days of work, but I did finally get it to my liking. (And the client loves the scan, so it's worth it.)

Now that this portrait is done, that leaves only 6 more to do. (Ended up with another one today.) I really wish I didn't have all these portraits to do, so I could focus on getting things done for eBay. But I've committed to doing the portraits, so I will do them. Besides, I'm looking forward to doing several of them in oils.

Back to eBay. For the past several days, I've had a lot of people looking at the 2 botanical watercolor paintings I have up on auction. I would like to have several other botanicals in my store, but I either have to unframe a few or I have to do new ones. As I hate unframing pieces, that leaves doing new pieces. I actually have an iris drawn out, so it's only a matter of painting it. I wonder if I can do it in one day? I think I'll find out tomorrow!

I'm Confused

There's one thing about eBay that drives me nuts -- just when I think I have things figured out, something happens to confound my theories.

Lately, views to my auctions have been slow. Very slow. For example, my pink passionflower art card only had 22 views and no bids. Last April, a similar card got 85 views and 3 bids. All the eBay experts say October should be better than April, so go figure! So, I'm thinking it's the election, the mess in Iraq, the nice weather, falling house prices, and/or the new TV season. And then I accept the fact that things will be slow for a while and I probably won't sell much -- probably not until mid-December. I also was toying with the idea of removing all the relief prints from my store because they were getting few looks.

Then I turn on my computer and out goes all my thinking. Someone not only bid on the print I have on auction, but also purchased another one out of my store. And then another someone bid on a botanical watercolor which I didn't think had a chance to sell at all. (It's very well done, but it's not showy and is of a rather strange plant.)

So, now I'm totally confused as to what is happening on eBay.

But there's nothing like a few bids to encourage me to get to work. Here's today's painting:

It's another watercolor on handmade paper. This one is of a Gambel's quail, which is the quail species we have around here. They are just hilarious to watch because they follow each other, so if one jumps down here, the next one must jump down here. The floppy top knot doesn't hurt their comic appeal.

I'm rather enjoying doing these watercolor birds. Admittedly, part of the enjoyment is that I figure someone will buy them. But more than that, they are an interesting challenge for me. I've done so many watercolor botanicals that I know pretty much exactly how to do each flower. Doing feathers is a whole 'other problem!

Besides this quail, I also planned out two portraits to work on. One I need a bit more info from the client and the other I just need to transfer the layout to the final paper. So, tomorrow, I'm hoping to do one of the portraits and maybe start on a botanical watercolor (an iris).

Then again, I may turn on my computer and find another surprise from eBay which will confuse my plans again!

Doggie Be Gone

Okay, so this weekend I fell off the "painting a day" wagon. (I didn't fall off the blogging wagon, but just before I had finished an outstandingly wonderful blog entry last night, the lights flicker and off my computer went. I was too annoyed to rewrite it, so you get a summary this morning.)

And I'm blaming it on the neighbor's dog that I found. I tried to do the good neighbor thing and take care of the dog until they returned home. But they didn't come home on Friday, or Saturday, or Sunday. So, I called animal control. While they usually don't pick up strays on weekends, they do if it's an emergency -- and I must have sounded like I was at the end of my rope! (It whined/barked all night, snapped at my cats, had to be taken out every 3 hours, and whined if I wasn't in view. Oh, it also smelled like a dog!)

Now that I'm free of a dog, it's back to work. I have no idea what I'll be doing today, although a pet portrait commission comes to mind, but I will be back working. And that sounds great!!!

A Good Deed (Pending)

As the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished.

Today, I found one of my neighbor's small dogs (he has about 7!) wandering lost on my property. So I picked the dog up and walked over there to return it. Well, the other 6 small dogs and the 3 large and vicious German shepherd crosses didn't want me getting anywhere near the fence. So, I put the small dog down and he walked towards the fence, but when this pack started to snap at him thru the fence, he came back to me and begged for me to pick him up. I stood over there for about 10 minutes hoping someone would come out of the house, since I really didn't like the idea of just throwing the little dog over the fence. No one came out so I came home. I would've left a note in the fence but I like my fingers!

So, I now have a whining dog that is driving me and my cats up the wall. I also have to figure out what to feed it and where to put it over night. Oh, yes, I suppose I have to take it out on occassion.

And just when are they returning so I can get rid of this doggie??? Let's hope they show up tonight or tomorrow, because I don't want to rearrange my life for their dog! It gets annoying to do the right thing and then have to suffer for it.

So, it was a bit surprising that I got anything done. And while today's piece is not a painting, let's just not get too literally on the "painting a day" idea.

This is a woodblock of a cone. (Actually, it's a cone from a Pseudotsuga menziesii, or a Douglas fir. I have a thing for the scientific name, because it's so fun to say.) The block itself is about 3x4" and is of soft maple. I had started this woodblock print a while ago, so today, with the dog whining, I figured it was time to finish it. Afterall, the design had been drawn out and the carving started, so all I had to do was cut away waste areas and not stab myself with the gouges. And I did both!

Anyway, the image on the left is the actual woodblock. The wood colored areas are the areas I gouged out (and will print white) and the black areas are at the original surface level of the block and will print black when inked. The image on the right is a computer generated version of the print -- boy does that sound fancy! Basically, I flipped the image as in a mirror and changed the tan wood color to white. If I wasn't so tired tonight, I would go ahead and print the edition, which will be about 10-12 prints.

One of these days I may try some woodblock prints of non-botanical subjects, since the botanical ones only appeal to a few people. In the meantime, I'm happy with my cone. I like doing prints on a limited basis and there are quite a number of potential techniques to try. My big hold-up is that what do I do with all the prints? I do sell a few prints here and there, but they aren't big sellers and even with very small editons (10-25 prints each) they take up a lot of space. Then again, maybe if I did non-plant prints or tried color again, maybe they would sell better. Another something to think about!

Sammy's Fine, I'm Not

As I thought, yesterday was stressful but somewhat productive. The stress came from having to take Sammy, my tuxedo cat, to the vet to have two warts removed. He absolutely hates riding in a car, so he whined all the way up to Big Bear City. Basically, everything went well -- the one tiny wart on his eyelid was removed and the remains of the big one were also removed and that 'hole' was sewn up. He's on anitbiotics for a week -- not my favorite thing -- and then in 2 weeks the stitches come out.

The whole vet thing would have been better except for the vet tech. See, the clinic has 2 vet techs -- the old one and the new one. I like the old one -- very sensible, willing to explain things, and willing to bend the rules. The new one, --- well, we just don't get along. The problems began when she wouldn't let me pick him up at 3-3:30 like the old vet tech told me. That way I could get down the hill (with it's 16% grade and switchbacks) before dark.) Nope, the new one made me wait until 4:30. Then when I get there, she hands me this box and says to follow the directions. I ask what is it. (Seemed logical to me.) She snaps back that's it's antibiotics. Okay. Then I look at the bill and ask to make sure if the remains of the large wart were indeed removed and not just sewn up. She says it was debrided. That doesn't answer the question, but she refused to say anything more. So, I called up today to ask the old vet tech what had been done, since she had been assisting the vet. The new vet tech wanted me to tell her what my question was and then proceded to tell me that the area had been cleaned thoroughly so the wart was surely removed. (Cleaning is not removal!) She was suppose to have the old vet tech call me back, but, gee, surprise, I guess my message never got to her. I still want to know what they did for sure and what the note on his teeth means. The only problem is that I will have to go through her to get either to the vet or the old vet tech, so this is going to be a pain!

As for me, I spent the day taking photos at the zoo up there and then hiking. And it was the latter that nearly killed me. Okay, 6 miles and 2000ft in elevation was hard on this short, fat, old lady! By the time I got down from the peak and then drove all the way home, I was so tired and achy I just collapsed. Today, I'm still sore, but I think I will live.

I did get back to work and here's my "painting" for today:

This is a pastel sketch of Tucker. It was commissioned by a friend of his owner after he passed on. It was done in soft pastel, over ink, with touches of watercolor, on hand-made paper. I had some trouble getting the details on him, since it's only 8.5x11". With the hand-made paper and the entire dog, it was tricky to get the fine points of his muzzle. This is way I used touches of watercolor to blend the pastel and add a bit of color. Overall, I'm pleased with it.

And now I'm looking forward to tomorrow and working on something fun. I don't know what that will be, but I'm thinking maybe another oil? or maybe oil pastel? Tune in tomorrow to find out!

3 for 3, But...

Well, so far I'm 3 for 3. That is, 3 paintings in 3 days into my "painting a day" plan. That's not bad, since I spent most of the morning doing something. Other than checking my auctions (and hoping people would visit them), I really can't recall what else I did.

It wasn't until this afternoon that I got around to painting this art card:

It's a Downy woodpecker in watercolor. I had wanted to do this little fellow in oils, but since I wanted to list something tonight, oils were out. And pastels would have been impossible at this scale with the details I wanted. I can always do a similar version on a larger scale sometime. Anyway, painting around the white wing bars was fun! (Right now it's being flattened under those big art history books, but in the meantime, you can bid on it by clicking here.)

And yes, I put a lot of detail into it. I shouldn't as this was part of what I was trying to avoid with the a painting a day idea. The problem is I'm nervous and worried about Sammy's trip to the vet tomorrow. And doing very detailed paintings or drawings is a good way to distract myself.

And speaking of tomorrow, I'll be taking Sammy up to the vet in Big Bear City, so I'll be leaving here at about 8:30am. I'll spend the dy up there taking photos, or hiking, or visiting the zoo, and then pick him up at about 3-4pm. I seriously doubt that I will feel like painting when I get home, so I'll miss tomorrow's painting. I am toying with the idea of taking some paints with me and doing some plein air painting. I don't know -- I rather dislike painting in public. Getting a couple rolls of useable photos may be just as important.

Distracted by Sammy

Today hasn't been the best of days.

First of all, my auctions are going nowhere. No visits, no bids. So I went to one of the eBay groups and asked for suggestions. One powerseller said my titles needed to be redone. Instead of "Wild Roses -- Original Floral linocut Relief Print LMH", she said I needed to have terms people search for. So the new title is something like "Rose Floral Contemporary Garden Wall Decor Art LMH". Not nearly as poetic, but it probably is better. After changing this one, I changed the other 3 auction titles.

Then because things were getting late, I just removed the morel print from my store, wrote a new title for it, and sent it to auction. I can feel it now -- with the new titling, hundreds of people are now flocking to my auctions! Ah, right, and I'll soon get a call saying I won the Noble Peace Prize!

I also spent most this morning getting photos printed out. Since my printer only works occassionally, I send my photos to Winkflash.com and have them print them out. It takes a few days and costs $0.19 per print, but it's easier than trying to keep my printer printing nicely. (The dry air dries the ink in the inkjets, so if I don't print daily, I have to spend an hour or more cleaning the heads.) Today was not a good day for uploading files. Prodigy, my ISP, kept dumping me on large files, so I had to rescale a few photos.

The big concern/distraction today is my tuxedo cat Sammy. He had a large mole on the side of his face, which he removed on one of my kitchen chairs last week. So, he has an appointment with the vet on Wednesday to have it surgically removed. Over the weekend, he removed most of the rest and now it's infected. I tried to clean it out with hydrogen peroxide, but it's hard as it's right next to his mouth. I called the vet and the vet tech said not to worry since my appointment is for Wednesday. But I'm going to worry anyway!!!

So with this as the background, here's today's painting:

It's a pink ladyslipper orchid on masonite. The picture is so bad because I had to use my cell phone to take the photo. Since the oils won't try for a few days, I can't very well lay it face down on my scanner! It actually looks better in life. But I'm not terribly pleased with the layout. Part of the problem is the shape of the panel -- 4x6". It's too long to really highlight the flower. It also would have helped, probably, if I had put more flowers in the background, but I had wanted to highlight the flower so I figured less was better. Not so in this case.

Well, I knew when I started this painting-a-day thing that not every piece would be a masterpiece. The point is to learn to paint faster. Still, it's hard not to feel a bit disappointed in the results. (Yes, I have the idea that every piece will be a masterpiece!) Tomorrow, I will take a little more time planning out the painting.

The First Day's Painting

This meadowlark was the first in my "a painting a day" plan. It's watercolor on handmade paper. And it came out quite nicely I think.

In keeping with my idea to leave out all unnecessary details, the feathers on the back have more suggested detail than actual detail. See, I have a tendency to paint in each and ever feather shaft and marking. Then I would paint over them to create the shading. Instead, I started with the shading and then added enough details to make them look realistic. I will confess that I was more than a bit nervous, but it came out fine.

Right now it's being pressed flat. This handmade paper buckles when wet, so I have to carefully wet the entire sheet and then dry it under weights. (Large art history books do come in handy for some things!) It'll be dry and flat tomorrow, so I might just list it.

Or I might not. I need to figure out what I'm going to list on eBay. I had the idea of concentrating on still lifes, but the anemones I put up have 3 views after 4 days. I don't know whether it's the subject, the painting quality, or the lack of eBay surfers at this time. (September is suppose to be good, but who knows with eBay?!) Anyway, I don't know whether it's worth listing anything but art cards, which still seem to be selling for me. I'll have to ponder this tonight.

In the meantime, I'm off to give my self a gold star for doing a painting today! (I wonder what I win with my gold stars?!)

Painting a Day

Since this is 1 Oct and a Sunday (can't begin any new plan on, say, a Wednesday!), I'm going to try something new. Namely, I'll be trying to complete a painting a day for at least 2 weeks, if not longer.

The reasons for this are three-fold:

1. To quit obsessing about details. I know I'm somewhat known for my detailed drawings, but when it comes to painting, I often get too caught up in the details. I will make corrections upon corrections for a lot longer than I really need to. In fact, I sometimes ruin a painting by making too many corrections. So, if I only have one day to do a painting, I can't spend days piddling with it. My style of oil painting will get more free, I hope.
2. To get more work for eBay and shows. Right now, I only have a few botanical watercolors to sell. Fewer still lifes. And almost no animal art. Well, I would like to list something almost every day on eBay, but to do that I need stuff to list.
3. To get my hourly wage in line with my prices. If I spend 4 days on an 4x6" oil painting, I can hardly list and sell it on eBay for $200. Not even a gallery could get that much for it! But if I can get that 4x6" painting down to 4-5 hours and then list it at $40-50, I'd have a shot at selling it. And at $10/hr, I have a chance to be self-supporting.

So there are my reasons for trying this. There also so should be the bonus that my looser painting style will more quickly develop.

Now, this doesn't mean that I won't do the very detailed drawings or portraits. They will be something I do from time to time, because I want to do them. My portraits will still be very detailed and I will be working on finishing the commissions I have as soon as I can. (Not all my day paintings will take 8-10 hours, so I will have time to do the portraits and get caught up.)

My biggest concern is coming up with ideas. Right now, I can think of a few paintings that I want to do, but I have this fear that after a week, I'll run out of ideas. The rational part of my brain says this is stupid as I do so many things that I will never not come up with ideas. But who said artists are totally rational?!

A related concern is the amount of energy it takes me to commit to a new piece. This works like this. I come up with several ideas and mull them over. Finally I pick an idea and really think about it. After sometime, I then commit to the idea and start working on it. While working on it, I become emotionally attached to my "baby". And when I'm done, especially if it's successful, there's kind of an "ahhh" feeling and a bit of fear that the next painting won't be as good. I'm hoping that painting a new piece each day will short-circuit some of this emotional business and I can get into each painting quicker and leave it quicker to move on.

I will try to post each new piece as I get done with, but since I'll be using oils and I don't want oil paint on my scanner, it may take a day or two before I get oil paintings up.

So, off I go to paint today's painting!

I'm Back...Sort Of

It's been a long time since I blogged. So long, in fact, that I actually had to look up my user name and password. (I sometimes wish I would just use the same name and password for all my accounts across the web, but that's not safe so I'm left with a list of combinations.)

For the last couple of weeks, my husband and his d-o-g have been home. Not for a vacation, really, but because his truck (big, 18-wheeler) needed to be repaired. It all started with having the clutch replaced, because it was failing. Simple job -- drop the transmission and replace it. While doing that, the mechanic found that the transmission oil cooler was leaking coolant into the oil. Not good. So to get it replaced, I had to drive to Fontana, CA (90 miles away) to get a new one, but -- and here's the cute part -- the dealer said he had the right part but it turned out to be the wrong one. Well, when the mechanic called around to other shops and dealers, the only one he could find was in Atlanta, GA. So, sending it by overnight freight (for $160), I got to do a return trip into Fontana. (The new part came into another dealer, but I still could return the wrong part to the other dealer and get our money back.) Then when the mechanic test-drove the truck, he noticed a fuel leak out of the fuel pump and an oil leak from the front of the transmission. The fuel leak ended up being just a few loose bolts and the oil leak didn't seem bad. So, on Friday, we paid the bill and brought the truck home.

Over the weekend, we drove it down to Palm Springs to pick up some lights for the truck and to figure out how much oil it was using. We found out about a pint of oil in 70 miles. Since hubby will drive 500-600 miles a day, that's nearly 2 galleons of oil per day. At $12/gal, this gets expensive fast. So Monday it went back to the shop. The cause was some dumb gasket, which was available in Chicago. After another bill, hubby finally got a working truck and left on Friday.

The total cost was about $5000.

This is why I about killed myself getting some Xmas cards done this week. As I mentioned, the alpaca farm wanted another alpaca piece by last weekend, to take to a show. She had also told me that she wanted a set of 3 Xmas cards by early November. Well, a week ago Friday, she calls and says they took out a half-page ad in an alpaca magazine, so she needed the cards by Thursday. With all the stuff going on with hubby's truck -- namely the trips to Fontana -- I didn't get started on them until Saturday afternoon. I figured one a day for 3 days and then another day to make corrections. No problem to get them done. So on Monday, I get this call and she says the deadline is really Thursday morning for the ad layout, so she would need the cards by Tuesday afternoon. So much for my timeline! I ended up working most of Sunday and Monday on them -- even made hubby make my lunches so I could work on the cards. But I got them done.

And in the middle of all this, I've been trying to run some auctions, update my website, and finish of some portrait commissions. All with husband and d-o-g in tow. (Sorry to say this, but dogs are a real nuisance, what with their trips outside. With cats, just give them a litter box and they are set for the entire day!)

And to complete my annoyance theme, today my website seems to be down. No wonder I'm not getting any views on my auctions -- the pictures are gone!

So, here are photos of what I'm selling on eBay right now:

Trout Lily Art Card

Wild Roses Print

Anemones in Crock

Anyway, I'm now trying to get my life back into some order and get back to work. I've sorted out what I want to do and how I'm going to try doing it. I still haven't exactly figured out how to get it all done, especially when I have these interruptions such as hubby's truck and the website problem to deal with!

Getting Back to Work

Gees, I know I haven't written much lately, but I didn't realize it was 9 days ago.

Well, I wish I could say I had a good break from things, but I can't. I've been feeling blah lately. I'm fighting against myself when it comes to doing an oil portrait. The IRS and my former auto insurance company are creating problems. I've spend days tracking down a few parts for hubby's truck. It's been hot and humid here..... On and on my list of whiny complaints.

Yes, I know I'm whining. And yes, I hate whiners. So I'm not happy with myself.

The basic problem is that all these little "problems" nibble away at my energy. Enough little bites, and then I feel sapped. So, like the terribly mature person I am (irony here), I just shut down. So, while I finished a couple of small paintings this week, none of then where on my list of commissions to do.

But now I had better get my act together fast!

Next weekend (16 Sept), I have a one day show to do in Montrose, CA. This wouldn't be a big thing, except I sold a number of my unframed botanicals during my "Best Offer" sale, I haven't done any extra florals/botanicals, and now my husband wants me to take my sculpture to the show. (He thinks sculpture would look good with the botanicals.) I also need to come up with something to take to "demo".

Then the following weekend (22 Sept), the alpaca farmer who used to handle my alpaca artwork will be doing a show in Monterey, CA and they want a couple of pieces. Well, they actually only want one pastel, but I would also like to do a small sculpture. They also want a set of Christmas cards, but not by the show. Again, this wouldn't be a big deal, but I'd like a bit more than a 10 day notice. (10 days because they need to take it to a framer.)

And then the eBay season is coming up. I had planned to start listing on the 15th or 17th actually (after the show). I have a few new things to list. But then there's the problem of letting the new oils dry long enough to be able to varnish them before I sell them.

So, in some ways, things are going pretty well for selling art. I just need to get busy and get back to producing a lot of art and soon!

Off the Bookshelf

With having my husband home for a week, I really haven't read a whole lot. I would like to read about a book a week, because I have a lot of books on my to-read list. And like any bibliophile, I keep adding more.

One thing I'm going to try for September is to really limit my television time to about 1 hour a day. The only exceptions will be when PBS has 2 hour shows or a good movie on the weekend. (Hey, I deserve a break once in a while.) Actually, I haven't been watching too much more than an hour per day as it is. I don't like most reality shows. I don't watch most sports, with college basketball tournement being an exception. And I don't have cable/satellite tv so I'm limited to 5 snowy channels. I'm actually threatening not to get a digital converter if and when the US does go 100% digital tv.

Anyway, with only 1 hour of tv, that should give me 1-2 hours a night to read. So, I may get my pile of books down to only a dozen or so!

Here's what I've finished lately:

• The Hours, by Michael Cunningham -- I'm not sure what I think of this novel. The basic outline is there are 3 women, Virginia Wolf, a 1950s housewife, and a contemporary lesbian. The book follows each woman in alternating chapters and then ties all three women together in the final chapter. While the characters were well-rounded, the plot rather surprising at times, and the writing clear and often poetic, the book left me feeling less than pleased that I had read it. (I have a lot of interesting books to read, so I don't want to waste my time on less than oustanding books.) Why it won a Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award I don't know. I don't think my less-than-positive reaction to the book had to do with the depression/suicide theme which runs thru the book -- it was more that the book was too contrived. Linking the three women together was a stretch. I probably won't ever reread this book and I definitely won't see the movie based on this book.
• Boomer, by Charles Taylor -- One blurb on the cover said something about better than Tom Clancy. And I have to agree, especially when compared to Clancy's Op-Center and Net Force novels. The basic story is a rogue submarine captain seizes a nuclear submarine with the intention of destroying U.S. subs and how the U.S. Navy tries to stop him. The writing was clear with enough detail to make it authentic, but not too much to become boring. The characters were interesting and multidimensional. And the plot had some extremely interesting twists and turns. While not a "great" novel, it was entertaining and very much worth my time to read.
• Regarding the Pain of Others, by Susan Sontag -- This collection of essays was outstanding. Basically, Sontag discusses how television and photography have influenced how we view the inhumanities of war. The chapters were short and basically independent of each other, which was good -- this is not a book which one reads in one sitting. My favorite part of this book is that she made me think about a lot of things related to the media and the U.S.'s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (And time an author can make me think, I love it!) On the down-side, her writing can be fairly complex in terms of syntax and rheotic. For example, she will hang a number of dependent clauses on one sentence, and then make reference to something she said three pages earlier. The writing is clear if one takes the time to read carefully, but as I was reading this while reading the above easy-to-read novels and in 'speed reading' mode, Sontag's writing occasionally confused me. I definitely will reread this book again as I think I can get more out of it each time I read it.

Presently, I'm reading these two books:

• Snow, by Orhan Pamuk-- Yet another novel I found at the library book sale. (Hey, I can get a lot of books in a bag on their "Buck-A-Bag" sale!) This was a New York Times Best Book of the Year and a novel based in and from Turkey, an area that I wouldn't mind learning more about.
• The Voyage of H.M.S Beagle: The Journal of Charles Darwin, by Charles Darwin -- Yep, another library find! Some years ago, I read Darwin's Origin of Species, and was left wondering what he saw on the voyage. So, when I saw this for sale (I didn't even know it was ever published), I knew I had to read it.

Both of these books are very interesting, at least as far as I am right now. Unfortunately, both are rather long, so it'll be a while before I get done with either. And in the meantime, I really need to get those bookshelves built so I can buy a number of books on my wish list!

Post Hubby Blues

Okay, I took last week off to spend time with my husband because it was our 20th anniversary. We had a great time doing not much of anything but being together. It was a wonderful week.

But now,....

Well, I should get back to work. Unfortunately, I'm having some mental and physical issues.

First, I like having my hubby around and doing things together. I know that's a bit unusual as most of my married acquaintances would rather have not spend time with their husbands. So, when he heads back on the road (he's an over-the-road trucker), I feel very lonely for a few days.

I'm also fighting against doing some portraits. I need to get these done so that I can do more of my personal art and just to get them off my mind. The problem stems from my fear of screwing them up. They are in oil and I haven't done a lot of oil portraits, especially lately. Add to this stress that one of them is to be a demo, so it's like having people watching me.

And just for kicks, I injured something in my back. It's the muscle under my right shoulder blade. I about screamed when I had to take my t-shirt off last night. It's a bit better this morning -- after 3 ibuprofens -- but all I have to do is reach out for a cup or look down too far to be strongly reminded that it's still there. This makes it hard to both write this blog, paint, do the dishes, etc.

So, after spending most of yesterday reading, I'm bored and frustrated. I really want to get back to work. So, I'm going to pick a portrait and do something on it for 30 minutes. (I think my back can handle that.) Maybe once I get working on something, I'll get motivated.

Or maybe I'll just finish the book.

Works in Progress and Completed

I decided that Monday's just didn't work for an update on what I'm working on. Since I scan things in on Sunday, both for eBay and for my website, I might as well do this update blog at the same time.

While I have several things planned for this week, I know that I'll be lucky to get anything done. This week my husband (and his d-o-g) will be home for a week for our anniversary. I now people may not consider this professional behaviour, but I'm giving him most of my attention and time and not sitting in my studio and working. But in case I have time to do stuff, such as when he's working on his truck, here are my plans.

Works in Progress and Planned

• portrait of Pancake -- I have the drawing done, but I'm waiting to hear back from the client about the background. I'm also struggling with getting enough courage up to start the painting -- it's not so much the painting that's the problem, but the fact that I'm doing this as a demo and everyone is watching.
• portrait of Paca -- I'm still waiting on new photos.
• a botanical watercolor of an iris -- This was going to be a hybrid Phragmipedium but I decided that this orchid would be better on a larger scale, so I've started on an iris. The reason I didn't just do the orchid larger now is (a) I only have 1 sheet of 7x10 paper left and want to use it and (b) I need to buy another block of 9x12 paper.
• an artcard of a squash -- This is just going to be a fun little art card with lots of textures.
• a floral oil painting of an orchid -- Another 5x7 orchard painting in oil. This one will be a purple vanda hybrid.
• Irises in a Square Vase -- I have this planned out, but it's just a matter of getting started on it.

I would have liked to get more done this last week, but I (stupidly) decided to do this Best Offer Sale on eBay. That has taken most of my time. Well, the problems with the IRS, my auto insurance, and a part for my husband's truck all ate up huge amounts of time. But while I didn't get a lot of stuff done, I'm very pleased with the quality of the 3 pieces I did finish.

Recently Completed Works

Zorro Bunny -- This is an artcard in oil of a domestic rabbit, which I named Zorro because of his mask. I only had one small picture of this bunny, so I used the wild rabbits in my yard for the details on the face.

Pink Passionflower Hybrid -- This is another artcard in oil. I had done a very similar artcard in colored pencil and ink, but I never liked it. So, I redid it in oils. And it came out a whole lot better in my opinion. I did have a little problem with the reddish-pink. At first, it was too pink and too bright, but one of the nice think about oils is that one can correct minor problems easily. So, I glazed a bit of reddish-pink paint over the bright pink and it was exactly the right color. The glazing also added an incredible amount of depth to the flower, so I had to do a bit of glazing on the leaves to make it look right.

Red Miltonia Hybrid -- This is a 5x7 oil painting of a red hybrid miltonia orchid. I really enjoyed doing this little piece because it was simple to paint, was done in one day, and involved 'pretty' colors.

Best Offer Sale Update

Well, so far my Best Offer Sale is doing okay. I received 2 reasonable offers, which I accepted. Also, people are watching several items -- hopefully waiting to make an offer when I stop listing new items. I had envisioned a lot more activity but a little bit is still better than none.

The problem I'm having right now is that I said I was going to list 5 items per day. So far, I have basically listed items that I had in my store at one time or another. This means that the pictures and descriptions are already on my computer and/or web site, so I just have to cut and paste. Tomorrow, I'll be listing some new-to-eBay items, which means I'll have to scan them in, upload images, and write descriptions. So, something that I figured would take only an hour to do per day, will now be more like2-3 hours.

And that's not in my schedule!

What I need to figure out is what to put up. So far I've listed prints, animals, still lifes, and botanicals -- my normal mix of eBay stuff. But like I said, I'm running out of previously listed items. I have one more print I could list and a couple of animal pieces. I could list other botanicals, although I'm a bit hesitant because I don't want to give some of these away! I could also list some abstract pieces, but they are sooo different from the realistic stuff, I don't know. I did get one request to list some nudes, but I had planned on listing them when I started listing goddess artwork. And then there's the brand new stuff -- done in the last couple of months -- which I really hate to list now as I'm going to try to list a couple of items per week from Sept thru May. I want to make sure I have enough stuff!

What really annoys me is that I created this problem myself. Why did I say 5 per day?!

eBay Changes

Just when I think I have figured out eBay, they change the game.

One recent change is to the fees for eBay store items. Instead of 2-cents for a 30-day listing regardless of price, the listing fees will be $0.05 for items $0.01-24.99 and $0.10 for items $25.00 and over. Then the final value fees (fees after you sell something) also will increase from 8% to 10% for itmes under $25, and from 5% to 7% for items $25-100.

While these changes may seem minor, they do add up. For example, if I list 20 items in my store for a year, that used to cost $4.80. Now the listing fees will be $18.00 (if 10 items are under $25 and 10 are over) for the year. That's 375% increase!!! Now, multiply this times the number of eBay stores, say 200,000, and you can see we are talking some serious money for eBay. ($3.6 million/year) This is just the listing fees -- add the final value fees and it's really serious money!

So, rather than put a lot of items in my store and have them continually available, I'm going to have to be a bit more selective. (Okay, I can afford the $18.00/year, but I'm one of many artists who are very upset at eBay's greed!) I'm not sure what I will do -- list things related to what I'm putting on auction, list things that are too expensive to list at auction, list .... I don't know. I'll think about it.

Another possible change has to do with how things are found when one searches for items on eBay. eBay doesn't admit they are tweaking the search methods, but.... well a number of artists insist they are. Everytime they change how search results are found (all itmes listed by ending date, featured items first, no store items,...), it's a lottery as to whether it helps my items be found or not.

Anyway, I've decided not to list anything on auction until at least mid-September, so I can figure out what is going on. Also this will give me a chance to get caught up on portrait commissions. In the meantime, I will be listing about 5 items per day in my store (before 22 Aug when the new fees take effect), all with Best Offer options. Hopefully, I will sell a few items and clean out my store, so I'll have less store inventory.

Now, if eBay just leaves everything alone for a while, I might actually figure out how to make the new changes work for me!

Mental Yoga

Okay, I have a schedule of when I'm suppose to do stuff daily (so I can get everything done). I was enjoying it and getting things done right up until the time others found out about it and are doing their best to mess it up.

Yep, people have found out and now my schedule is a mess. First one was my neighbor who invited me out for breakfast, which then stretched into mid-morning coffee because she needed to talk. There went that morning's "portrait/eBay artwork" timeslot.

Then there was the problem with my auto insurance, which meant that I had to call during normal working hours. One simple call turned into 3-4 calls and 3-4 call backs, so there went that afternoon's "personal artwork" period.

Today's first mess was the IRS' turn. Seems you send them a check 8 days ago, for a deadline today, and it takes them 2 weeks to process the check before you can find out if the check arrived on time or not. (If not, one can do an electronic payment and avoid the penalty for late payment.) Hey, it only took 45 minutes to get to a person who could tell me,... well,.. nothing because they don't have a clue where my check is until it's fully processed next week.

And today's finally "let's get rid of the schedule" mess is brought to me by eBay. I listed a few items and it seems they can't find my gallery pictures. I checked my website, and the photos are there. I revised the items and eBay still says the photos are fine but they arn't appearing in the listings. So I resubmitted the gallery photos, and I got another notice that the photos weren't available from the host. So, there went the morning with no art done and no gallery photos either.

Just to prove to everyone that I have not gone nuts, here's the photo that according to eBay doesn't exist:

Vulture Pot, oil on canvas

I'm trying to remain calm and just say to myself that things crop up and I need to go with the flow. But it's not easy. I have my schedule planned so I get artwork done, I have time to read/relax, I exercise, and I keep the house clean. I don't have time to deal with the IRS for an hour or to deal with eBay's newest glitch!

So, I get to practice some mental yoga. I do need to learn to be more flexible, as I have a tendency for yes/no thinking. If I miss one or two periods of doing art or I don't take a morning walk, the world doesn't come to an end. I just need to pick up from where I am and go back to my schedule. There's really no point in trying to catch up -- it's really only a way to beat myself up.

Just relax, and go with the flow. Be flexible. Take a deep breath.

And if all else fails, go hug a cat or two!

Oh ****!!!

Okay, I know I'm not suppose to use certain words in public, so you'll just have to guess at what word I used.

Here's what happened to give you an idea of which section of the dictionary to look in. I was watering plants this morning and decided that I should move a couple of plants. I had these plants sitting in a 1/2 wine barrel, behind chicken wire, so that the rabbits couldn't eat them. When I picked one up, I noticed some small white grains of rice moving along in the moist soil where the pot had been sitting. I quickly picked up another pot, and more white critters. After removing the rest of the pots, I moved the barrel (not easy to do when it's full of soil) and there were more white critters.

One word -- TERMITES!!!

Next words -- Oh ****!!!

A couple of years ago we found them inside our house, so we had the house treated and trenched. In theory, the trenching chemicals should last 5 years, so in theory we have 3 years to go. But I don't like to push our luck. So, I moved that barrel and another one out by the retaining wall. The other one didn't have any termites, so I'm hoping the problem is in one area of the yard.

But this does give me a wake up call on moist soil and the nasty buggers. I was going to put in roses and other perennials up next to our house, but not now -- I'd just be attracting them closer. Instead, I'm going to put in a cactus and succulent bed, which will require less water, so it shouldn't be as attractive to termites.

I really wish that someone had given me a handbook for desert living when I moved in here. Who knew that a whiskey barrel with moist soil in would attract termites?!

Works in Progress and Completed

I thought I would use my Monday blog to let everyone know what I'm working on for the comming week and what I have finished the prior week. Not only will this assuage people's curiosity (one of the most common questions I get is what am I working on), but it will help me organize what I want to get done each week. Also, this will be a way for me to talk about individual pieces on a more personal level, rather than my "just the facts" descriptions on eBay and my web site.

Works in Progress and Planned

• Portrait of Pancake -- This is a portrait of a border collie in oil, which I'm using for a demo on my web site. Right now, I'm working on getting a good working drawing done. Once that's done and I get a few details cleared up from the owner, I'll start on the actual portrait.
• Portrait of Paca -- I had planned on working on this oil portrait of a cat, but I ran into difficulty due to the photos or an adequate model (Paca has a shortened face and none of my cats do), so the owner has agreed to take some more photos. I'm hoping that the photos will arrive soon so I can get back to work on this portrait also. (It's easier to do 2 oil portraits at once, since the brushes will only have to be cleaned once.)
• a botanical watercolor of a hybrid Phragmipedium (orchid) -- I have one sheet of 7x10 watercolor paper left on a watercolor block and I have one gorgeous photo of this orchid, so it seemed perfect to use both at once. Besides, I've been doing a series of small orchids and this will fit in nicely. I will be starting on the drawing for this painting in the next couple of days.
• an artcard of a bunny -- Once I start listing things on eBay again, I would like to list 2-3 items a week, so I'm planning on using artcards as fillers. This will be of a domestic rabbit and will be done in oil. It's sketched out and just waiting for me to get the oils out.
• a floral oil painting of an orchid -- This is just a little painting (5x7) of a red Miltonia hybrid. The main reason for this painting, other than the beauty of the flowers, is to give me some practice at working in oils before I start on a portrait. (I've haven't worked with oils since spring.)
• Irises in a Square Vase -- This will be the last of my floral boutique series.

Well, that should be enough for one week! Actually, I may get a bit more done, depending on how long it takes me to get the photos of Paca and how many distractions happen. If I run out of things to do, I'll just do a couple more small oil paintings.

Recently Completed Works

Pink Trout Lily -- This is an artcard done in watercolor. While it came out fine, I had hoped for a bit brighter look, so I may redo it in oils on a larger scale. The paper seemed to lack its sizing so the watercolor sunk into the paper more than it should have.

Calypso bulbosa -- This is one of our native orchids and a real gem to find. It's not the most spectacular orchid, but for people that collect paintings of native orchids, it should be appreciated. (It seems that the only native orchids one sees are ladyslipper orchids.) Overall, I think the leaves are too dark, but it's the way the plant looked, so I can't really get too upset. I would have liked to do a close-up of the flowers but this was painted life-sized, so the flowers are only 1.5 inches long.

Anemones in a Crock --This is one of my boutique series paintings. It was done in pastel and watercolor and came out fine. I had a terrible time trying to figure what color the background should be -- blue, yellow-green, or yellow-brown. After about a dozen small color sketches, I settled on the brown version. What was interesting was I put too much pink in one wash and that really perked the background up. My husband really likes this one, but I still prefer the sunflowers I did in this series.

Off the Bookshelf

One of the things I'm doing with my new life plan (yikes! I sound like Dr. Phil) is to read more and to read better quality books. And since several readers of my blog have asked what I am reading, I thought I'd write about what I'm reading and why and what I thought of the books when I'm done with them. The latter point is to perhaps help others out when it comes to picking out a good book to read.

Before I get to the books, I should explain one other thing. In the past, I have tried to read 2-3 novels, a couple of non-fiction books, and 1 or 2 self-help books all at once -- basically I had a nice pile of books next to the bed. I know I didn't do any of them justice so I now limit myself to 1 novel and 1 non-fiction book. It's not easy to do, since I'll be doing something and see a book and just want to start reading it. Instead, I now have a pile of books to read in the study, not beside my bed.

Here's what I've finished lately:

• A Sophisticate's Primer of Relativity, by P.W. Bridgman -- I bought this book on a whim, hoping it would help me begin to understand relativity (which is background to string theory which is what I really want to understand). Despite it's title, this is not a primer on relativity. In fact, the author does state he expects the reader to be familiar with relativity theory and its equations. (The book has 2 equations in it, so the math behind the theory wasn't a problem.) I found the book to be almost useless because it was a reprint of an older book (1962) and still talked about ether, because the author seemed a whole lot more interested in the philosophy of science than in discussing the theory of relativity, and because the author often referred to various experiments and papers which I have no knowledge of.
• Op-Center: State of Siege, by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik -- I bought this at the library's book sale sometime ago because hubby was reading Clancy's novels and forced me to read them in self-defense. It was entertaining, but not challenging from a literary point of view. Basically, something bad happens, good guys fight to save the day, and there's a lot of technical jargon. This one , however, was more interesting than some of the Op-Center series because of the background given on the League of Nations and the founding of the UN.

Presently, I'm reading these two books:

• The Hours, by Michael Cunningham -- I found this novel at the library booksale and bought it because this book and it's author has won numerous awards, so it must be good. (So far as in I'm on chapt 2, it is good.) The basic outline is 3 women, with 3 diferent lives, and somehow they get connected by the end of the book.
• Regarding the Pain of Others, by Susan Sontag -- Years ago, I saw Sontag on Charlie Rose and thought she sounded interesting, so I bought several of her books. Lately I found this book, so, since the subject is photography and its influence on war perception, I thought it was very appropriate to read now.

I do wish I had a bit more time to read -- I used to take whole afternoons or days off to read a book -- but I have so many other things to do. So, my reading is confined to a half hour or so after lunch, at night (since I don't watch much tv), and on weekends when I'm having my days off. But I'm also finding it nice to be looking forward to reading a bit more everyday.

Focusing on the Important

I never knew that evacuating from a fire several weeks ago would totally change my way of looking at things, but it did. While it sounds dramatic, it was a life-changing event.

The key part was having a couple of hours (about 3) to pack everything I considered valuable into a small pickup. While this might sound difficult, it really wasn't -- I was on autopilot. First came the pets and their supplies. Then came the "important papers", such as current bills, social security card, passport, insurance policy, etc. After that I packed my CPU, my art business records, and some of the artwork. When it came to the artwork, I took those pieces that I had sold but were waiting to ship, some small "sellable" artwork, a number of sculptures, and a few pieces that I refuse to sell because I like them too much. Most of the latter were abstract pieces and still lifes with wonderful textures. And finally, a few household and personal items that I figured would be hard to replace or which I had strong attachments to. This included my Schaaf knives, a Gesswein, music CD's, an antique Tibetan prayer bowl, and a couple of trash bags full of stuffed animals.

The bottomline was, except for some of the artwork, everything I took was valuable to me. Notice I didn't take clothes, jewelry, books, furniture, a tv, ... or anything that most people take. I doubt that most others would have packed teddy bears instead of clothes, but that's what I did.

After the crisis was over, I unpacked and started to think about what I had taken. I was silently comparing it to how I live my life, what I do for art, and how I view possessions. It took a few weeks for this to soak in and then to blossom into a new insight into what I want in life. And slowly over these weeks I have re-arranged my life to reflect this new insight.

On a personal level, this has meant that I am back to spending time gardening, cleaning my house regularly, reading decent books, etc. All these things I have done sporadically, but now I'm finding time to do them regularly. This is accomplished by understanding for example I don't have to spend an entire afternoon reading (I can read for 30 minutes and then put down the book) -- a little everyday can accomplish a lot over time.

On a physical level, I am doing tai chi, cooking decent food, and trying to lose weight. One of the keys to the latter is a vow not to eat commercial deserts or sweet stuff -- if I'm too lazy to bake something, I don't get to eat it! So far, I've lost 2+ pounds and feel a whole lot better.

In terms of art, this will mean that I will divide my time between "sellable" art and "personal" art. Sellable art includes portraits and art that I intentionally do to sell on eBay. For example, I know irises are well liked, so if I do another botanical watercolor of one, it would be in this category. The personal art is stuff I want to do for me with no real expectation that it will ever sell. Most of my scultpures, abstracts, and "textured" still lifes are personal art. (This is the stuff I took because I wanted it and not because I should.) While this will mean I produce less stuff for eBay, I honestly think that in the long-run, I will end up selling more because I'll be happier.

I'm still working at trying to fit everything in that I want to do, while still having enough time for doing art. It's been an interesting exercise, though. And while I would have prefered not to have been evacuated, I'm glad something positive has come out of the experience.

Evacuating with Pets, Update

As I wrote earlier, when I evacuated with my pets due to a fire, I could not find a place to go. The Red Cross refuses to let anyone brings pets to a shelter. Since I like tilting at windmills, I thought I would see what could be done to change the situation.

First thing I did was call the local Red Cross chapter, the Morongo Basin Red Cross Chapter. I was told that pets couldn't be allowed in the shelters because it was the national Red Cross policy. The lady also said it was the job of animal control and the Humane Society to deal with the animals. She also denied that any pets were evacuated on buses during Hurricane Rita last year.

So, the next call was to the national Red Cross, after looking over their website. Their website said that it was state laws and regulations which prohibited allowing animals into shelters. The young lady who answered the phone told me that while the Red Cross people like animals they can't allow animals into the shelters because animals might carry disease, fleas, ticks, etc, and because some people have allergies to pets. When asked about what their website said, i.e., the laws, the young lady couldn't cite which laws they were refering to. Just a note: most of her replies were read from a script and when I asked to talked to someone who could directly answer my questions, I was told that was not possible.

The West Coast Office of the US Humane Society was my next call. There I asked what was their relationship to the Red Cross and what they could do to help the situation. The well informed man told me that they have been working with various chapters of the Red Cross to help with pets. The amount of success varies from state to state, chapter to chapter, with some California locations to be in the forefront and some lagging way behind. Also he told me about the two following pieces of legislation:

H.R. 3858: Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act of 2005 (PETS Act) -- This bill would force authorities to make emergency plans which take into consideration household pets and service dogs. Last week, it passed the US House and now heads to the Senate. It's Senate bill S. 2548, so I hope everyone joins me in writing to their senators supporting this bill.

California Legislature AB 450 -- This piece of legislature would've forced California emergency planners to take into account household pets. California apparently has a program for dealing with animals in emergencies (CARES), but it is not actually a law, so the Office of Emergency Services does not have to follow it. Unfortunately, it was "shelved" by the Senate's Appropriation Committee.

Hopefully, California will wake-up and pass this before the next disaster hits here. I don't want to camp out in my truck with 4 cats and 6 parrots and no potty!!!

Weekly(?) Update

Hmm, this daily (or near daily) blog is turning into a weekly blog. I'm not too happy about that, so I'll try to fit it in more often. I do find the writing to be helpful -- not only do I enjoy writing, but I get my thoughts better organized.

So, since I last wrote, here's what's been happening. (Or another way to put it, here are my excuses for not writing, doing art, etc.)

It's been hot and humid. I live in a desert, so 110 in the summer isn't all that unusual. Lately, as you may have heard on the news, southern California has been having a heat wave. Palm Springs hit 121 on Sunday, I think it was. Here, it's been over 110 on several days, with most days in the 105-110 range. But what's really unusual is the humidity. Normal humidity is 10-20%. Thanks to the 'monsoon flow' from Arizona and Baja, the humidities have been over 40% and in fact yesterday was 65%. Combine the heat and the humidity and it's miserable to do anything. Stepping outside is like stepping into a sauna. Heck the other day I walked maybe 50 feet and my t-shirt smelled like it had just come out of the drier!

The electricity has been iffy. With all the heat, electricity demand has been at record levels. So, the power companies have asked people to conserve. Being a good person, I set my thermostat at 82. (I personally would like to know if I'm the only one who does this, because they are talking on the news about people getting $1000 electric bills. Mine is $60.) Throw into the fact that for the last week or so, our lights have been flicker several times a day. I don't know if it's due to the demand or to the repairs (from the fire), but I don't want to ruin this computer with some weird power-surge/power-drop. (Yes, I have a surge protector, but I don't really trust it.)

Then there's been the afternoon t-storms. It seems almost every afternoon we get at least the threat of t-storms. Most have been thunder, lightning, and very little rain. But the lightning is a concern, especially after our big fire (the Sawtooth Complex Fire).

And then there's the new fires. Since I last wrote, we have had 6 smaller fires within a 15 mile radius. Most have been 20 acres or less, but one did grow to over 1000 acres. All these were lightning started fires. I must confess, I'm more than a bit jumpy. Thankfully, most of these fires are out or contained.

Finally, I'm doing some deep thinking and re-arranging my life. There's nothing like an evacuation and major disaster to wake a person up and point out what's wrong with their life. This little fire has done that for me. I seem to have clearer idea of what's wrong with parts of my life, what I want to change, what I like, and what's important. I had been heading to re-arranging my life before the fire, but now I'm doing it. The problem this creates is trying to get things into an organized manner so I can get stuff done. (I'll write more on this later.)

So that's what I've been upto for the last week. As you can see, I haven't been doing much art, but I'm getting anxious to get to work and now the weather is beginning to cooperate.

Pets and the Fire

I know it's been some time since I last wrote anything, but I was feeling depressed and then there was a fire. The fire which is officially called the Sawtooth Complex Fire burnt over 61,000 acres and came within a mile (or less) of my house. In fact, it was burning so fiercely and was totally uncontained that this area, known as Flamingo Heights, was evacuated for sometime. So, I loaded up my pickup with my valuables, stuffed the critters in carriers, and left. I won't be brave here -- I was scared that I would never see my house again.

But the moment I left my house, I had another serious problem. I had no place to go.

Yes, the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center in town but there were 2 problems. First, the main road from here to there was closed due to the fire. Second, the Red Cross in this area at least does not allow animals in their shelters. In fact, in last weekend's local paper, there was a picture of an elderly man with his small dog in his arms standing in front of the shelter's doors which had "NO PETS" posted on them. What was he going to do? Abandon his dog, which may be the only 'thing' he has left after the fire?

I called the Red Cross and asked if they knew what I was suppose to do. They gave me the names (but not the phone numbers) of local animal shelters which were taking in pets. I called them. (Always take a local phone book with you when you evacuate.) The animal shelters were taking dogs, cats, horses, donkeys, emus, etc, but not parrots. "Parrots are too delicate for us to deal with." WHAT??? My parrots all were in cages, so the only thing anyone had to do was fill a dish with water and one with seed and they would have survived just fine. And I really wasn't planning on leaving them there alon except for a few potty breaks. In fact, I would rather deal with a cockatiel in a cage than a scared pitbull on a leash any day!!!

So, while sitting in the parking lot of a local grocery store, I called a couple of local people who weren't in evacuated areas. Basically, I was just asking to part my truck in their driveway and maybe to use their bathroom, but not to let my cats and parrots run thru their house. I called 3 people, and was turned down by 3 people. I finally got ahold of my vet in Big Bear City and she had no problem with me coming up there (50 miles away), and that's were I would have headed had not the mandatory evacuation been made voluntary.

As soon as the mandatory evacuation was made voluntary, I unvolunteered and went home. Not only would my animals be more comfortable at home, but I had to go to the bathroom!

It's been over a week since I had my little evacuation, but I'm still mad as hell at how I was treated by the Red Cross, by animal shelters, and by my acquaintances. Didn't the Red Cross learn anything from Katrina? Do they honestly expect anyone to leave a pet behind -- a pet the person has had for 10 or 15 years? What happened to pulling together in times of need? I talked to one animal controll officier who was picking up the neighbor's goats (hey, if you have large animals and no trailer, they will help!) and he was disgusted with the Red Cross over this "NO PETS" policy as it only made their jobs harder.

The local radio station had a call in show about the fire so I called in and voiced my concerns and problems with evacuating with pets. I was told that the Red Cross's concern was the people first. Fine, people probably should come first, but if people will not leave a cherished pet behind because there is no place to go, then what good has the Red Cross done?

Until the Red Cross changes its rules, I refuse to donate any money, artwork, or time to them. They were not there for me, so why should I be there for them? Yes, I'm bitter, but my pets are part of my family and what they did was to tell me I had to choose which members of my family would survive and which might burn to death. I'm also going to try to find out who sets this "NO PETS" policy and see if I can get it changed.

One ray of sunshine in all this was the Hi-Dez Kennel. The next day they set up an animal shelter and would accept ALL animals including parrots. And if I didn't mind sleeping on the floor, I was more than wlecome to stay with my animals. While it was a bit late for my excursion, it was wonderful to know that I did have a place to go if I had to evacuate again.

Here a a few pet evacuation tips that I learned:

1. Have enough carriers and small cages on hand for all the critters. I was one carrier short so my macaw rode on my shoulder the whole day. Since the fire, I have purchased another carrier or two.
2. Have the carriers handy. I had time, luckily, to find all the carriers and small cages which were 'hidden' in my garage. Now they are in 2 locations which are easy to get to.
3. Test fit the carriers in your car/truck. Since I have parrots and this was a fire with lots of smoke, I didn't want to put them in the back of my pickup, but fitting them in the cab as a challenge. I finally figured out how, but if I had had a carrier for the macaw, it wouldn't have worked. So, the new carriers are smaller and will fit much nicer.
4. Get the pet used to the carrier before the crunch time.
5. If there is a possibility of being evacuated, confine cats (and small dogs) to a spare bathroom, so they can't hide when it's time to go. One cat hid behind the bed, which I had to move to get to him.
6. Take any special food (or medication). Parrots tend to eat only the food they are used to, so make sure you take some of it -- say for a couple of days. And since my cats eat a raw food diet (Emily will get sick on commercial cat food), I packed a cooler with their food. I actually now have small tubs of the parrots normal food ready to go at a moment's notice, so I don't have to run around looking for containers.
7. Take water. Since my zoo was confined to my pickup cab and since it was hot, having some water for them to drink was especially needed. I had also brought a spray bottle which I used to mist the parrots and help cool them.
8. Take paper towels. We barely got moving when one of my cats had an accident.
9. Take a small litter box and some litter. I have an old, small litter box that is just big enough for a cat, but in case of emergency, it should work. (It's about the size of a large cake pan.) My only problem was since I had no place to go, I just could let the cats out of their carriers to use the box, lest they run off. I guess if I really had to live in my truck for a couple of days, I could have move the birds outside (in their cages), put the litter box on the floor of the cab, and then let the cats out to use it. Hmm, better not forget the pooper-scooper!
10. Find several places to go now, before the disaster is happening. I now have 2 people in nearby towns that will take my and my zoo, plus my vet. But quite honestly, I will be very hesitant to evacuate again.

The bottomline is this: if you have pets and you need to evacuate, chances are for the first day or so, you will be totally on your own, so you need to have food, water, and potty stuff covered for you and your pets.