Heron Done!

As I said yesterday, I thought I would finish the night heron today. And I did. Heck, I even got it matted and framed. Yah, right. (Looks like I can't even cut electronic mats straight on the left side.)

I think this painting came out pretty good. The bird is very well done. The stump and grass are fine. The only problem I have is with the water -- it's a bit too dark among the grass, but I don't want to try to fix it. (Last time I got a brilliant idea to do something like that, I basically repainted the entire painting!) I really like the composition and am planning on trying this general idea on other pieces.

Over the years, I have resisted using acrylics, because I associate them with plastic. And while it's true that acrylic paint is plastic, if I take the time to build up layers, the finished piece doesn't look like plastic. They also have a distinct advantage over watercolors and over oils. With regards to watercolor, acrylics come with white paint, so any mistake is easily covered up and repainted. And with regards to oils, acrylics just dry so much faster. I think I prefer oils, but I did enjoy working with acrylics enough to use them again.

Working on a Heron

Well, I finally go back to work. And it feels pretty good.

I'm working on a 12x16 acrylic painting of a black-capped night heron. I have the bird and the stump it's sitting on done, so tomorrow I only have the background and the water to do. I should be able to finish it tomorrow, but I'm sometimes surprised about how long it takes me to do backgrounds. (It's all the individual leaves of grass which take time.)

I must confess that I'm enjoying working on something a bit larger. I usually tend towards the small sizes, but there's only so many small birds plus the details are easier on a larger scale. Right now, I'm contemplating doing some larger birds, such as an eagle or an owl. These still won't be life-sized, but 20x30 or 18x24 is still a decent size for me. There's 2 problems with anything larger -- shipping and my ability to reach the top of the painting. Yes, it's sounds silly, but when you are short, trying to paint large paintings not on an easel is a challenge. I end up doing a lot of the painting upside down!

I think it's time to check on the fire again (large wildfire about 1 mile away) and then relax and watch a DVD.

What's Next

With a bit of luck, I should be back to 'normal' in a day or two, assuming that I remember what that means!

After I wrote my last installment, Emily has a crisis on Friday night. She went blind and she started to pee every half hour. Then on Saturday, she was very lethargic and still couldn't see. Needless to say, I was a wreck, not just because it was my grumpy old lady cat, but because my vet was gone until Tuesday. Thankfully, by Sunday she was better and then started eating on her own. This blindness was due to high blood pressure, which cats with chronic renal failure often get. She's on medication now, but other than restore a bit of large shape vision, she's blind. She is getting around okay, including jumping up on the bed, so that's good.

Also, last week, hubby came home -- at the time we thought to maybe bury Emily. We had a good time which meant I didn't get much work done. One fun thing we did was go get some more alabaster.

Anyway, with Emily now stable and hubby on the road, I can get back to work. I did yesterday -- I got to work on the stone sculpture I had been working on. Today was more of a problem. My back and arms were a bit sore from working on the rock yesterday, so I didn't want to stress them today. Which meant I should do something else, but what? (Yes, I know I need to get back to those 2 commissions, but I'd rather do something less critical to get my creative juices flowing again.)

I know I have written about doing my own art, but it's been so long since I've done anything for me that I really didn't have a clue as to what I wanted to do. I know I'm more than a bit emotionally tired, but I still wanted to work. But I have so many things I want to do, I don't know which one to start with. Part of the problem is my perfectionism -- I feel like I have to pick the perfect project.

Well, I did decide to get to work on a new woodblock print of alpacas. Maybe while I'm carving the block, I'll be able to figure out what's next.

Well, I might be back and then again, I might not.

Since I last wrote anything, my life has been one mess after another, and yes, I will admit it that I created some of them. When I last wrote, Sammy had just died. Hubby then came home and his dog upset my older cat so she stopped eating. Then I adopted 2 more cats. Then my older cat started pawing at her mouth so there was an emergency trip to the vet for dental surgery -- she lost 6 teeth. Now she's still not eating and has a cold -- another trip to the vet. She's doing a bit better today, but I'm still having to force feed. These are the messes I admit to creating. Somewhere in all this, we got our $7000(!) IRS bill, hubby's big rig developed a new electrical problem, and diesel fuel is $3/gallon in many location, which really hurts since he fills his 300-gallon tanks about everyday. Those are hubby's messes which I have to deal with. And the final group of messes is the general stuff -- rabbits eating everything green, gas $3.55/gal, I'm getting fat, etc. Oh, and the gallery where I had some sculptures called and asked me to remove them, so now I'm gallery-less!

The one bright spot in this is I'm back to stone sculpting. Love working with stone. It's dusty, dirty, heavy, and somewhat dangerous with the power tools, but it's fun. Right now, it's what I need to do -- I can't think about cat problems while working unless I want to lose a finger or two. I actually finished one piece to the polishing stage and am working on a second, which I should get down in the next day or two. And then I'll probably start another one. I'm on a roll.

I'm also back, somewhat more tentatively, to painting. I'm working on two commissions right now -- a blue bird and a dog portrait. Both in oil and both should be done by Monday, barring anymore cat problems! I'm 'forcing' myself to get these done before launching off on some major projects.

And I'm also hoping to be back to listing pieces on eBay this weekend. I don't know for sure because I'm still not clear on the new postal regulations. I think I'll have to go to a calculated postage rather than a set postage because it really is going to depend on the distance. This also means I'll need to change a lot of my store items too!

Anyway, I'm sort of back. I'm definitely not back to where I was before Sammy got really sick, but I'm happy to have moved on a bit.

Sammy, 1994-2007

Sammy, my beloved tuxedo cat, died on 21 Apr in my arms. As my last post indicated, we were winning the battle against his skin cancer. Unfortunately, his kidneys could not take the strain and they gave out. Thankfully, the end came quickly (about 24 hours from okay to dead) and he was not in pain at any point.

I adopted Sammy from an animal rescue. He had been turned in to them at about age 8 and had been there for 2 years, so he was about 10 when I took him home. I had him for 2 1/2 years and in that time he blossomed into a marvelous cat. When he came home with me, he weighed 20+ pounds, his coat was a dull grey with dandruff, and he didn't like being held. Worst of all, his weight kept him from being a cat. He couldn't walk more than 20 feet without a rest. He couldn't sleep on his side because he couldn't breath. And he couldn't stretch because his back was so sore. Well, after a month of convincing him that raw meat was actually edible, he lost weight, his coat became glossy, and he could do all kinds of cat things!

Then after a few more months, he started to truly trust me and became a love sponge. He learned that hugs were fun, a warm lap was better than even the sofa, and being groomed was pretty darn good! To say he returned my love for him is an understatement -- he returned a whole lot more!

I have a lot of good memories of him, which I will cherish. My top 5 are:

1. He wagged his tail like a dog. Rarely would he lift his tail above his back, but instead he held his tail low and when he was happy or expecting a treat, he would wagged it slowly back and forth just like a dog. I've never seen another cat do this on such a consistent basis.
2. He used to "help" me cut up the meat for his food. Whenever I would be standing at the kitchen counter, cutting up meat, he would come and sit next to my feet. Then he started reaching up to the edge of the counter. Then he found if he bumped my hand with his paw, I might drop a piece, accidentally of course. It was a fun game we would play.
3. He was a great snuggler. If I would take a break from painting and go lay down on the sofa for a nap, he would appear and lay on top of me. If I let him into the bedroom at night, he would lay right next to me, under the covers. And anytime he heard me get out a DVD, he was ready to snuggle some more. All this from a cat who originally wouldn't let me hold him or pet him more than once.
4. He loved scratching his back on the floor. Once he lost the extra weight, he discovered that he could roll over onto his back and squiggle across the floor, thus scratching his back. It was also a good laugh to see this large (he was 13lbs), distinguished (tuxedo cats look so formal) cat acting so silly!
5. He used to like me to chase him around and then would hide in the shower. Again, once he lost weight, he became very playful. Sometimes he would follow me to the garage door and wait for me to come back in. When I did, I would reach down to pet him and he would take off running. I, of course, would follow him. His favorite 'hiding' place was the shower. (Black cat in a white tile shower stall -- not the best of hiding places!) What was truly funny was when he would do this right after I had taken a shower. Then he would rocket out of the bathroom, almost knocking me over sometimes, and get to living room to clean himself off! (Sammy wasn't a big water fan!)

I could go on and on about this special cat. He never complained (unless his dinner was late), always was there to give me a hug, and stole my heart. He was truly a wonderful friend who taught me, among many things, that older kitties have a whole lot of love to give.

Sammy, my dear friend, you will be missed beyond words.

Sammy, Art, and Chaos

I thought I should post an update on Sammy and to let everyone know I'm still alive.

As for Sammy, the new herbal remedies seem to be working. That's good and bad. The good part is the tumors are shrinking and he's feeling a bit better. I'm even beginning to move from hoping this will work to expecting it to work. I'm not sure that's a good idea because he has a long recovery ahead of him, but at least I think the cancer is on it's way out. He still has a number of small and medium tumors, but at least the one in his mouth is now 1/2 the size it was.

The bad part of all this is the damage the cancer has done to his jaw and neck area. I won't go into details, but it's not pretty. This area will never be normal but it should be functional. He stopped eating on his own last weekend, so I've been feeding him with a syringe, but he can eat cat treats on his own. It's just the tumor in his mouth and on his throat has made him hesitant to eat enough to keep him going, hence the forced feeding. I do feel bad about doing it, and if the herbs weren't shrinking the tumors, I wouldn't force feed him -- it's not something I enjoy. But he his acting better and barring complications, he should start healing soon.

Now, all this chaos has meant I haven't done any artwork for a while. Nor have I listed anything on eBay. Nor have I worked on my website. I must have very limited capacity as I can only concentrate on Sammy. I know some artists claim to thrive on chaos and do their best work when their lives are a mess. Maybe they can, but I can't. This doesn't mean that I want to live a boring life -- doing the same thing day after day. No, I like a bit of chaos to spice my life up. I just don't want chaos to be the dominant theme of the month!

Anyway, I am hoping that I'll get back to work tomorrow. (I should be able to get a bit done between feedings and medication.) It won't be easy getting back into doing art after almost a month off, but I do have some paintings that I really want to do, so that's where I'll start. And maybe by the first of May, I'll get back to listing on eBay. And updating my website. And emailing clients. And.... well, all the other art business stuff I have to do. But I need to get working on the art first, before moving onto other things.

Retooling my Life

I just thought I should check in and let people know that I'm still alive.

So is Sammy, my cat. He's getting his new herbal medicine every 3-4 hours day and night which means I'm exhausted. I don't know how he's doing because it's too soon, but I have my fingers crossed.

One nice thing about taking this time off from doing paintings for eBay is that I've been able to see things better. Fact of the matter is I hate my life. I hate doing quick paintings for eBay just to have things up daily -- there's no time to plan, craft and carefully painting a painting. I hate doing paintings without meaning -- there's no time to put 'soul' into a piece if one is suppose to do a painting a day. I hate having no time to doing anything else except thing about what's next for eBay -- there's little time to take care of my fruit trees, cook nice meals, or just relax. And I hate selling my art for ridiculously low prices -- one recenly sold piece netted me $2/hr.

So, thanks to Sammy, I quit. And I'm rebuilding my life into something I can enjoy and live with. This means I have lots of flowers planted outside and I eat most of my meals outside. This means I'll be doing larger paintings that may take me 3-6 days to complete, plus additional time to do the prep work. And this means that these larger pieces will have larger prices. While I still will be doing some smaller pieces, most will be larger. And I'll be only be listing 2-3 pieces a week -- 1-2 larger ones and then smaller ones.

And now, it's time for a nap.

Bad News about Sammy

I really don't feel like writing much, but I also feel guilty about not writing. Things haven't been going too well here.

As I wrote some time ago, my cat Sammy had a small growth removed. Well, it came back and spread. It spread to the inside of his mouth, among other areas. Figuring out what he can and cannot eat has been a challenge. My vet, a homeopath, has no more medicines to try on him, so I'm on my own. For the last week or so, I've been using creosote tea on his tumors. This has slowed their growth and spread down and helped make him more comfortable. (He isn't sitting around looking miserable with his tongue hanging out since I started using it.) The problem is the tumors in his mouth -- how does one teach a cat to gargle with a nasty tasting herb tea? There's a couple of other herbs to try but I'm worried about running out of time.

Unless one of these herbs works, there will come a time where I have to choose between euthanizing him or putting in a feeding tube to give him one more chance. Right now, he's active (as much as he ever was), he's interested in eating even though it's painful, and he seems like he wants to live. But if these things change, then I have a decision to make. I'm not thrilled with making this decision alone, as hubby will probably be on the road.

Needless to say, I haven't had much energy left to make art, or list things on eBay, or do anything else. And my attitude is bad as I'm tired of people saying stupid things, when they even bother to talk to me. (It's amazing how people stop talking to you when you have a dying cat!) I'll get thru this somehow and I'll get back to doing art. But there will be changes -- no more daily listing on eBay, no more 'giving' my work away, more important/personal art, and more time for me.

So, if I don't write anything for another 2 weeks, you can guess as to what happened. Maybe you'll be wrong and the 'voodoo' herbs will work. I hope so.

Groan and Whine!

Today was just not a good day. I was busy doing stuff most of today, but I didn't get much done. And I really didn't feel like doing anything about that! I guess I do need to take a day or so off and I should have taken today off instead of half doing today.

My big accomplishment is listing my artcard for today:

This the orchid Lemboglossum cordatum. It was done in oil on 100% rag matboard. I really like the way it came out. And it was relatively quick to do. (Go bid! Like that sales pitch?!)

In a number of groups, artists are talking about how art cards are great for marketing and how some people actually are powersellers with just art cards. Others are talking about a new gimmick, OSWOA -- Original Small Works Of Art. (By the way, it's a trademarked term, so you have to belong to the group to use it.) This is art that's original and 4x6 inches, with the idea they can be sent as postcards or put in a photo album. Supposedly this is another great marketing tool.

Well, I suppose both formats are useful in introducing your work to new clients. So I'm toying with the idea of doing some of each on a regular basis. Maybe one each a week? They are a lot of work for little return, although I'm seeing more and more starting at higher prices. (And more and more of thee not ending with bids!) Still, I'd like to expand my active client basis so it may be the price I have to pay.

March Madness

Yep, this is the time of March madness. But in my case it has nothing to do with basketball. It has to do with all the whackos out there in cyberland!!!

Here's a short list from this week only:

• someone wants me to end an auction early so they can buy the piece for half the auction price


• I join a printmaking group and then am thrown out of another group because the latter group says you can't be in the former even though the group leader of the latter is in the former so she can monitor who's in both and throw people out


• in one eBay group I'm accused of being abusive because I quoted what one person said and then asked a question based on her own words


• a person offers me $15 for a $250 painting I have in my eBay store


• I emailed a website asking for the shipping on an item (it's overweight, so there's extra postage) and get no reply until Friday when I get a notice from them that my account is past due. Huh? I never, ever ordered anything from this company and it doesn't look like I will.

Maybe last week was National Whacko Week and no one ever told me! I don't know. But it really makes me suspicious when I do get emails with offers from legitimate people. I then to treat them like they are a whacko too, which really made me feel bad when the one this week turned out to be a serious, realistic offer.

Anyway, I did finish one commission yesterday.

Yep, it's a tree. This is an award-winning bonsai tree named "Sweet Thang". It was done in acrylics, although I would have prefered to do it in oils, but time was an issue. I think it came out fine although the photo above doesn't quite capture all the details and colors. It is 16x20 inches on canvas, so there are a lot of details.

Now, that leaves only 4 older commissions and the one new one from this week! One of these days I'll get caught up -- I hope!

Maybe This Weekend

What a day. I've worked, mostly on this computer, from 7:30 this morning until now. And I'm tired of it. I'd much rather be doing some art, but nope, I'm stuck dealing with....

No, I won't go there. I'm trying hard to be positive and there's no use in whining on about things or people that I can't change.

Let's talk about something more pleasant.

I have new plans to do some more prints. I really enjoy printmaking, although I'm not as creative as some when it comes to it. I like crisp lines and well defined images, much like the early woodcut prints. I'm planning on using my pickiness to an advantage and try the Japanese method of printmaking. It involves multiply block, watercolor paints, and careful planning. That should fit me!

I also like mezzotint, because of it's dark tones, but I need to buy the mezzotint rocker. They run about $125, so that might be down the road. Although, I think some wonderful mezzotints of horses or alpacas would sell. I'd only need 5 sales to pay for the rocker.

In the meantime, I'll stick with the woodblock print. I do have a new block cut and ready to print, but I never seem to have the time. Well, I have the one commission almost done, so once I finish it up tomorrow, maybe I'll actually print the block up this weekend.

Just Maybe...

Okay, I took one of my blogging vacations, again. I'm bad and I'll stand in the corner for a while, later.

What I have been doing is trying to finish up some portraits, doing stuff (or at least listing things) on eBay, and, (this is the fun one) diagnosising my husband's truck's electrical problems from 1000 miles away. So, how am I doing?

On the portrait front: I have another one almost done and am ready to start on two more. I think working on portraits in pairs is a lot easier than one at a time. That way, when I get annoyed with one, I can work on another. And with this pair, one is a pencil portrait, so that's very relaxing!

On the eBay front: I have managed to list things about 5 out of 7 days. Although, I'm going to skip a few days now because I need to string out the eBay pieces a bit because I really haven't had a chance to get too much new stuff done. I'm hoping that in a couple of days, I'll be able to get the portraits under control and get back to at least doing artcards.

On the truck front: I'm good!!! Hubby's been having weird electrical problems and he's been spending bunches of money to have it repaired. The problem is the mechanics kept repairing the symptoms and not the underlying problem. I finally got out the electricl schematics, traced the problem circuits, and they all met at the C8 ground stud. Then I spent most of last night (1 am or so) reading up on automotive electrical systems to confirm my diagnosis and learn the lingo. Today, hubby gave his cell phone to the mechanic and I told him exactly what the problem was, how to diagnosis it (if he wasn't convinced), and where the problem was. And I was right!!!

All this has left me tired, beyond my normal tiredness level. But since I'm making some progress in each area, I don't feel down. I'm just getting frustrated that I'm not getting more art done. Or my website redone. Or the bookshelf built. Or.....

New Auction Format

It's finally the weekend. I'm not sure why that excites me, but for once, I'm glad it's here. Usually it doesn't make any difference -- I work basically 7 days a week until I need a break. Maybe I'm hoping my auctions will pick up?

Speaking of auctions, I'm trying out a few new things with my auction format.

1. More photos so people can see the details
2. A 'photo' of the piece framed -- this is a created photo (cut and paste), and supposedly it will encourage people to buy the piece.
3. Something interesting about about the painting
4. On large canvas pieces, I'll probably include a side photo and a created 'if the painting was on your wall' photo

All this is suppose to increase sales, but who knows? If you look at the eBay Powersellers, their listings range from nothing but one photo and text to really fancy listing templates. I'm not convinced it will make much difference, but the framed shot does make the piece look nicer.

Here's a northern flicker framed:

I just finished this painting today and then listed it tonight. (Click here to see the auction.) It's watercolor on print paper, 11x15. The original looks pretty good sitting on my drawing table, but it really looks terrific framed. So, okay, maybe it will encourage people to bid.

Speaking of bidding, I should go and check the marsh wren that's ending soon. I'm hoping for a bidding war.

Rethinking My Web Site

Hey, I'm doing better. It's only been 5 days since I last wrote. That's better than my week or more off at least. I really do need to write daily as I see from my web site stats, this blog does get people to look at my web site.

That is another thing I need to work on -- my web site. I've been trying to figure out what exactly I should do with my site when it comes to sold work. I mean, if I do paintings daily and I sell them regularly on eBay, do I want extra pages on my site for unavailable work? And what should the relationship be between my web site and my eBay store?

Thanks to a couple people on various artist boards, I think I have answers. I don't know if they are THE answers, but they make sense.

Basically, my web site has three parts, so there's three different plans:

1. The Learning Center -- The purpose of this section is to pass on some of what I have learned. Maybe help some new artists. This section does come up very high in various searches. I probably will add some affiliate banners and maybe Google ads in the hope of getting a bit of revenue. I'll just keep adding to this section and nothing will be removed.
   
2. The Portraits -- Since portraits are sold on past work and not on available work, I'll pick out 8-10 of the best in each medium, plus 1 or 2 recent ones. The rest will be removed. The reason to include the recent ones is that people do like to see their portrait on the Internet. (I also need to get back to featuring them on the home page.) Having about 10 excellent examples should be enough for anyone to decide.
   
3. The Non-Portrait Art -- This is the section which is a problem. While having lots of sold work is nice because various things come up in search engines and hopefully people visit the rest of my site, I feel the for-sale art is being lost. There's some much sold work that the few pieces which are available are hard to find. So, I'm going to be watching the web stats and check out my Google rankings, and then remove those pages for sold items which get few if any hits. Eventually, I may get down to only available artwork plus 2 or 3 excellent, but sold examples. I can always use the sold pieces in various places across my site.

Now, the one problem I have is with the botanical watercolors. I think of them more as plant portraits, so do I treat them like the other portraits? If I got decorators to come to my site, would they like to see the range of my botanicals or would they just be interested in the available pieces? I wonder if I called a couple decorators if they would talk to me about this?

I'm thinking my site should have a lot more background and info on me and my portraits, plus few exclusive pieces, as opposed to my eBay store. The store will be the main sales location and I will have some links from my site to eBay and any other web sites that I have artwork on. This makes sense, but I'm not totally clear or convinced that I like this. I need to think about this more. (Besides, I'm still trying to figure out how to get my web site back on my computer so I can actually update it!)

In the meantime, I have been working, even though I haven't posted stuff here. This weekend, I finished two pieces.

This is Clara, a cute bulldog. It's oil portrait on canvas and goes to one of a wonderful client. She was VERY patient with me as I struggled with this portrait. Basically the problem was, she took the photo with a flash which washes out colors, gives the dog red-eye, and creates bizarre shadows. So, after doing it once (actually twice because I first screwed up the proportions), I didn't like it because of the shadows and I redid it. They say three's a charm and in this case it was. She loves it! And I'm relieved. In any case, I have to think of some way to make the delay up to her.

This is a marsh wren in acrylics on canvas. I did it as part of the PAAO Theme Week Contest, and the theme was "W-Z" animals. I think it came out fine, although I almost quit on it half way thru it. I didn't like the cattails, in part because there was a big white hole for where the wren was going to go. I kept working on it and then finally put the wren in and, like magic, it all worked. What people don't realize is that the background took about twice as long as the bird, and yet the background is not really important unless it detracts from the bird. It's kind of annoying! Anyway, it's up on auction until Friday, so take a look and bid!

And now, I had better go get back to work! I still have 5 commissions to do plus new stuff for my eBay store.

Creating My Own Headaches

Okay, I'm insane. I admit it.

If you look over my blogs, one common theme is that I don't have enough time to fit everything in. I'm trying to create stunning artwork daily, make all my food, care for 5 acres of fruit trees, care for cats and birds, read, .... Yes, it's 2 platefuls of stuff to do.

So, what do I do? Instead of scratching something off my list, I add to it. I created a group of artists, Artists2Watch, on eBay with the idea that we can all work together to be successful. It's a sound idea, but I'm finding out how much time running a group takes up. It's not like being a member of a group, where I can not show up for a week. Nope, I have to be there, daily, or twice-daily.

What's really interesting is that since I started the group, I've gotten 3 portraits done, 2 small paintings, and one art card. That's a lot for me, especially when I'm spending hours hunting for quality artists to invite into the group. I'm suspecting that it has to do with being a bit more organized and just doing it now. (I don't have time to sit around and think about what to do next -- I just need to get it done!) Things are still a bit hectic, but I think in a few days, that will settle down, especially when I get all the portraits done.

Maybe this is a key to getting more stuff done? Try doing more? Hey, I never said I was normal.

Rethinking the Balance

I think it's all the stress of late because I never could really get going. And I'm sleepy already at 6pm.

So, I took most of the day off and finally installed the CD-burner software. Then I burned a couple of CDs with photos of my artwork and, of course, I crashed my computer. Nothing major -- just some warning about the system being unstable. Maybe it has something to do with my system barely being enough to run the software?!

I did work a bit on a dog portrait and a small still life of a gourd. Both are coming along well, and I hope to have them done by Friday. I really will be glad when I get these portraits done, so I can take a break from them for a while. I want to get back sculpting but as long as I have these commissions, I don't feel like I should take the time to pound on a rock!

Then again, maybe I should. There's a book, Coaching the Artist Within by Eric Maisel, which I've been reading. While some of tiredness is physical (the neighbor's dogs barking most of the night doesn't help my sleep at all!), most of it is mental/emotional. According to Maisel, one reason for this lack of energy is a lack of passion and belief that what I'm doing is meaningful. I will admit that I don't see art as very important, but I guess that my art does move people, so okay, it's meaningful. (Yep, I'm trying to convince myself!)

As for the passion, that has kind of been lost in most part. I think it has to do with my focus on making this a profitable business. It's widely accepted and partially true that pieces which an artist finds meaningful often are not commercially successful. If an artist wants to pay the bills, then the choice is a day job or doing saleable artwork. When the saleable artwork is the only thing I do, then I get to feel empty and tired. And since I don't 'allow' myself to do the sculpture or paintings are meaningful to me, I don't recharge my spirit.

Now the problem is balance the needs of portrait commissions and work for eBay against sculpture and paintings for me. Afterall, there is only so many hours in the day and I literally have to do everything by myself around the house. I thought I had this balance figured out, but the business side seems to have taken over again, so I have to rethink the situation.

And while I'm thinking, I'm going to go make supper and then watch a DVD tonight with my cats. (They get a yummy Valentine's Day treat -- raw liver. Yum.)

Another Day, Another Computer Glitch

Here it is -- 8:18 pm -- and I'm still working. Still not had supper. And still having computer issues!

Today's computer fun involved a floppy disk. I wrote something out, copied it to a floppy, and went into the library to print it out on their nice printers. I put the disk in the computer and it says that it's not formatted. Huh? An hour before, all the data was there. Now it's gone. I came home and tried the disk. Same thing -- no formatting. I don't know what happened, but this has happened before at the library. I suspect that their computers may only allow you to copy stuff to a disk and not copy things from a disk to their computers. Makes sense, but I sure wish they would warn a person! (So I never did get it printed out.)

And my website is still not functioning!

One pleasant thing is that the burrowing owl is getting a decent amount of views, and so is the green pear. I'm rather surprised with the latter, but I'm not complaining.

This green pear was one of the first of a series of palette knife paintings in oils which I did last month. While it's not the most spectacular of the bunch -- the others are more colorful -- it is charming in it's own way. In life, the textures are really nice.

I also put up an older, but very nice botanical watercolor.

I don't know if anyone will bid on it or not, but I do need to get back to listing things daily and to build my store inventory back up. And who knows, it just might sell!

And now, I think I deserve to have something for supper, if only a bowl of cold cereal!!!

Just About Had It!!!

I can't believe the last 3+ weeks. Between computer meltdowns and hubby's truck problems, I'm just about ready to give up and go flip burgers!

Here's my last 3+ weeks:

• computer 'smells' -- get new power supply and hard-drive. Small bill.
• hubby's truck has no turn signals, sometimes -- his truck has intermittent problems with turn signals so he stops and has it worked on for a day. BIG bill.
• computer stops working -- 2 days out for the shop, the computer decides it doesn't have an operating system, so back to the shop. Tech guy saves most of data, but not my emails, when he reformats the hard-drive. Small bill.
• hubby's truck still has no turn signals, again -- 50 miles from the repair place, they go out again. Owner says he can't do anything else, so take it to a truck dealer. Stops at dealer and they have no clue either! Medium bill.
• computer refuses to send or receive photos -- my ISP claims it's software and Microsoft says it's ISP. Take it back to Tech guy and he reformats hard-drive again. I get to install all the software again. Small bill.
• hubby's truck has no turn signals (while driving in L.A.) and now has a power drain -- he comes home. Truck refuses to start so we charge the batteries (4 of them) with my motorcycle battery charger. Get it started and we take it to our local diesel mechanic. Was in the shop for 3 days -- warns us he's not sure if he fixed it. HUGE bill and, because of a bank problem, we have to pay by check not credit card.
• computer works fine, but ISP doesn't -- for some reason the ISP keeps not recognizing my dial-up number. Finally, after 2 hours on the phone, my computer doesn't think I'm calling a new number everytime I connect to the internet. No bill.
• hubby's truck smells -- he gets up one morning to find a battery leaking. Gets a new one ($200+ if you want to know) and everything seems fine. Small bill.
• computer works, but web site missing -- a friend emails that my site is down. That was on Friday and it's still down. So I spent the weekend moving all my eBay store photos to an independent server and then revising all the listings to point to the new photos. No bill, but 3 days of work!

Now, haven't I had fun? All totalled, these two electron problems cost us about $3000, a week of driving for hubby, and 2 weeks of working time for me.

And somewhere in all this process, I'm suppose to be creating wonderful art, finishing up some portraits, doing some sculptures, and planting fruit trees. Well, the trees aren't going to get planted since I don't have the money to buy them. The sculptures are going to have to wait because I don't have time. The people waiting for the portraits are already pissed at me, so what's a bit longer? And I did do a nice burrowing owl, somehow. (Now if everyone bids huge amounts, maybe it'll pay off the bills from the last 3 weeks?)

Burrowing Owl auction

To say that I'm tired is an understatement of huge proportions! I'm mentally and emotionally exhausted. This is why, despite everything I'm suppose to be doing, I have been taking time out to draw leaves (very meditative activity) and read. I'll get thru this somehow -- I always do -- but I relly would like to take a week off and go pound on a rock.

Instead, I need to go list something else on eBay.

A Few Tiny Steps Back to Normal

I'm making tiny steps back to having a functioning computer. I spent most of today trying to convince my ISP program that it was me and that I hadn't changed the access numbers. I think I have finally did it. At least I'm convinced enough that I went ahead an installed my website software and the photo editing software. Both work fine, except.... almost as naty a word as but ... I have to go thru all the website files and uncheck the read only box in properties. Once I do that, everything seems to be fine. At least it was for the web I use to create auction templates. For my web site, www.lmhornberger.com, I have to uncheck about 350 files! (Since I'm not planning on doing much website updating in the next 24 hours, I'll leave it for later.) Tomorrow, it's Mr. Scanner's turn to be introduced to Mr. Computer.

I did get an auction listed today -- because I can really use the money! It's a very detailed pencil drawing of an old Mexican lady.

To bid on the Auction for this drawing.

I had planned on listing a series of birds from A-Z, but with the computer problems and with a couple of commissions, that plan is on hold. Besides, I'm still very tired -- okay, depressed -- and I don't really feel like doing much of anything.

As for this depression or blahs, it's a bit better. Once I get back into the habit of doing art, I'll feel better. Hopefully that will happen this weekend, although, with hubby coming home for a few days, I don't know how much artwork I'll get done.

Lightning Strikes Twice

And they say that lighting doesn't strike twice. Ha! It did!

As I wrote last week, I spent almost a week without a computer thanks to a problem with the hard-drive and power supply. I got it back mid-week and fried it on Saturday. (Or was it Friday? I don't know -- it's all a bit of a blur.)

I had gone to a website that suggested using the latest version of Internet Explorer, which I can't because I have an older computer. Usually this kind of warning only means something won't work or look pretty. Well, in this case, it froze up my browser to the point I had to physically turn the computer off as opposed to shutting it down properly. Then when I turned it back on, no Windows! Well, actually, it had Windows but kept asking for the key code, which if I entered would basically reformat my hard-drive. So, back to a computer store -- I went to a different one because Mike (the guy who fixed it the first time) was off until Tuesday or Wednesday and I didn't want to wait another week. Well, Ted checked everything out, saved some of my data, and reformatted my hard-drive.

So, I'm back to square one. I lost all my email addresses, most of my photos not on my website, and all the software I had installed. I've spent most of today trying to get my computer to talk nicely to the internet. So far, I can browse and get email. One tiny step at a time. Tomorrow, I may introduce my computer to either my scanner or maybe my website software. Such excitement, huh?

I know I really need to buy a new computer and I'll start looking for one. I also will start backing up everything. (That's the ironic part of this tale of woe -- I was going out that afternoon to buy writeable CDs to save my photos when I had the problem in the morning. 24 hours later and things would not have been lost.)

I'm exhausted! I suppose it's just the stress. Not only do I have to deal with computer issues, not being able to list auctions, and figuring out how to get hold of a couple of clients, but hubby's truck has developed a electrical problem and a transmission problem and Sammy (my cat) now has several more growths on his chest. I honestly feel like just going to bed and waking up sometime this summer!

Needless to say, I haven't done much artwork. I know I should be working on several things, but I can't. I'm too tired. Last time I tried doing stuff when I was this tired, I really messed things up. I know getting back to work and doing some art would help me, but it's hard to not feel like the world is falling in on me. Maybe tomorrow will be a brighter day?!

Back to Cyberland

Well, I'm finally back and my computer is now functioning.

As some of you know, last week I had the wonderful experience of burning up a hard-drive. This is the second one in 6 years. So, for about a week, my computer has been in the shop getting a new hard-drive, a new power supply, a new floppy drive, and a CD burner. The last two things were things I wanted for some time, so while Mike was working on my computer, I had him put them in. What was totally surprising was the bill -- only charged me $30 for the labor. (The hardware was a whole lot more since I have an old and somewhat special computer which takes expensive, non-standard parts.) So, if anyone is near Yucca Valley, CA and needs a computer fixed, go to Computer Zone!

Anyway, it was rather interesting to live without a computer and tv for a week. The only computer I dealt with was one of the public computers in the library to let eBay buyers know that I was computerless. Other than that, nothing. And I'm still refusing to watch tv (I should explain why someday).

At first I was panicky and really agitated about not being able to check my email, auctions, etc. I discoverd that my whole day was structured around reading emails, listing auctions, and checking auctions. Without a computer, this structure was gone. But my mind kept saying, "Time to check the auctions." It was an interesting tug-of-war that left me nervous and confused. And I will admit that I was bored at times.

After a couple of days the panic left and I really began to enjoy the extra time I had. I figure that not having a computer opened up 2-3 hours a day to do other things. I read 2 books, watched dvds, cleaned my house, fixed gourmet meals, and started on a built-in bookcase in my studio. These are things that either needed to be done or I had wanted to do, but never had time to do. It was a shock to me once I realized how much of this other stuff I was getting done. I knew I was on the computer off-and-on during a typical day, but I never realized just how much time (and energy) it took up.

But there was another interesting effect of having no computer or tv. My mind became calmer and I felt more rested. It took a few days for this to really become apparent, but then I noticed that not only was my mood brighter, but I felt physically better. I presume some of this had to do with me eating better and not sitting in front of this keyboard, but I don't think it totally explains it. I also had a minor burst of creativity -- the small palette knife paintings easily happened and I came up with tons of ideas.

And then the computer was back from the shop. I confess, the first day back, I overdosed. Not only did I have to deal with some problems (partial recovery of data from the old hard-drive is NOT fun!), but I had a list of things to check on the internet and about 175 non-spam emails to deal with. I would say within 3 hours, my mind was back to where it had been before the meltdown.

So, what do I do now with this interesting experience? I don't know. I would give myself computer holidays, but I make my money from selling art on the internet, so I can't really say, "This May, I'm not using my computer." (Well, I could say that, but I also like to eat!) I think the best I can do is to become more aware of how much I am using this computer and try not to use it to entertain myself when I'm bored. There's a number of other activities, such as reading, cooking, building shelves, etc, which are more interesting (and useful) than putting puzzles together online or playing solitaire on my computer.

Better Late, than Never

Yes, I know on Saturday I said that tomorrow (Sunday) I would explain what I had plan for next month. And now it's Tuesday. So, I'm late. Give me the tardy slip and I'll go to the principal's office!

And yes, I'm in a rather happy and therefore totally obnoxious mood.

I can't explain it, but I sold 6 things out of my eBay store, got 2 commissions for bonsai paintings, and someone wants me to build them a website. It really is strange to me that all this is happening at once. Hubby says, "It's about time you get noticed!" (He's a tiny bit biased!) I don't know if it's the listing 3-5 items a week or just that half the country is stuck inside because of nasty weather. Only problem with the latter explanation is that the lady who bought 5 store items is from Australia, where it's summer!

Besides the sales, I also finished a portrait -- well, actually I'm setting it aside until I put in the final details.

And I did another little palette knife painting, which came out quite well. So, needless to say, I'm a happy camper!!!

Okay, back to February. February has 28 days. The alphabet has 26 letters. Hmm.... That got me thinking. What I came up with is this: In February, I'm going to do birds from A to Z. One a day. In a variety of sizes. In a variety of media. It's going to be a lot of work, but why not? The birds have been a good seller. And doing something weird like this might get me a bit more attention. Sometime in the next week or so, I need to send out emails to everyone on my mailing list and promote this project. I'm also going to create a special page in my eBay store to feature this project. It'll have small photos of each with the ones up for auction listed below.

The only problem with this project is I work slowly. When it comes to larger pieces, I'm just going to have to start those a day or two in advance of when I'm doing that letter. Also, I have to think what to do about oil paintings. While I can paint them a day in advance, so they will be dry enough to scan, I can't varnish them for a month. Guess I'll just have to say something in the listing about it either being unvarnished or I'll hold it until it can be varnished.

Oh, then there's the ablatrosses -- the backlog of portraits. This bird project is strong motivation to get those &#^$*$ portraits done NOW! Since I got one done, that's only 3 to go. I'll finish another one by Friday, so that leaves two for next month. I can do it!!!

Hmm, and somewhere in here I have to work on the bonsai commissions. I'll figure it out.

And in the meantime, I'm off to have a cup of warm tea. It's still cold here -- one degree warmer last night. It could do better and warm up at least a couple of degrees more!

Frost on the Pumpkin... And Then Some

Okay, I live in southern California. And yes, I live in the desert. So, why is there snow on the cactus?!

Yep, snow. Yesterday it snowed and then, unlike normal when it does snow, the temperatures dropped so the snow stayed. I can look out my windows and see snow. It's really weird, since the purple mountains are now white. And the weather people are saying it will stay cold for several more days. Tonight is suppose to be the coldest, although last night it did get down to 17 degrees F. For here, that is VERY cold.

So, I stay inside and drink lots of hot cocoa.

Lately, I've been spending my mornings working on 2 different portraits and I'm almost done with both. Thankfully! They have been like a huge weight around my neck and I would like to finish them off soon. Then finish the next two. Then the final one. And finally I'll be done with my backlog.

One reason I want to get the portraits done is so I can do more of my own stuff. I presently working on a small series of palette knife paintings. So far, they have been all still lifes, but I won't guarantee that forever. (I feel bird and floral paintings coming on!) Just so we know what I'm talking about, here's one:

This is a small oil on masonite. Instead of brushes, it was painted with palette knives, which saves on brush cleaning! It also give the painting a vibrancy because it is only slightly mixed. This Sprouted Onion is one of the better ones. I did ruin a couple pieces of masonite because I just wasn't used to handling knives. But the one I did yesterday, which is still drying, is the best so far, so it looks like I'm learning.

Now the point of doing these palette knife paintings is to get faster. Because I can't add all the tiny details which I tend to want to put in, I have to focus on the main points. I'm hoping that after another 8-10 paintings, I'll actually be a faster painting.

And giving what I have planned for February, I had better be fast! But more on that tomorrow. (Assuming I don't freeze to death!)

Ugh...

I'm sick. Hubby came home on Tuesday and brought us a present -- a cold. Either that or we picked it up on Wednesday when we went grocery shopping. In any case, both he and I didn't have a nice weekend. He's back on the road and is doing better than I am.

I did manage to do a tiny bit of work. I sent out some emails. I gessoed some masonite for new paintings. And I planned a few paintings. Not exactly what I planned. I had hoped to get one portrait done and then work on another small oil or two.

Although, after this weekend, I'm thinking larger pieces. There are tons of people that are now doing small pieces. In fact, I know of at least 5 eBay groups that are dedicated to small paintings and one dedicated to minature sculptures. This all happened because several people mentioned that they were selling well with small pieces, so everyone ran to do them. This weekend, however, I sold a 16x20 and a 11x15. While these aren't large, even by my standard, they were larger than my normal offerings and larger than a lot of artwork on eBay. I do have another large bird painting planned but I need to stretch some paper, and then there's the landscape with moose, and then... So many ideas, so little time!

Well, I've got a terrible headache and I still need to list something tonight. I'd better get better soon, or I'll run out of older stuff to list!

PAAO Theme Contest

Like I said yesterday, I've entered the PAAO Theme Contest. Actually I have 2 entries. PAAO stands for Professional Animal Artists Online and is another eBay group. This month's theme is animals which begin with "T".

My first entry is this watercolor of a ruddy turnstone.

I personally think this turnstone turned out to be one of my best watercolors ever. I was a bit surprised that it turned out so well, as it was done on printmaking paper and not watercolor paper. That means the watercolor sinks into the surface a bit and can't be corrected at all. Anyway, the part I like the most is the fading out. It gives the piece a light feeling. I'm just hoping that some birder will buy it and appreciate it. If not, I'll be glad to live with it.

My second entry is this acrylic painting on canvas of a trout in a stream.

I did this one similar to a demo I saw in a book. While I don't normally use acrylics, I'm more than a little intrigued by how well this one turned out and have plans to do several similar pieces. Since this was acrylic on canvas and since I have no idea what to price it at, I put it up for $9.95 with a reserve. This is the first time I ever did a reserve auction, as I personally won't bid on a reserve auction. I just like to have an idea of how much I'm going to have to pay. But since I'm weird, I figured this might be the time to try a reserve auction. So far, so good -- 2 bids and lots of visits.

I'm really a bit disappointed in the quality of the other entries in the contest. Some are truly amateurish and some are okay. I wish the quality was better, so I'd be pushed more. Then again, I'm basically doing this contest (and their other ones) to get a nomination and maybe win a precious Artists Choice Award.

Another New Year

Well, 2007 is finally here, but, quite frankly, I'm not done with 2006. I had planned on getting all the commissions done, but I didn't quite make. I have several that I am working and these are a priority for this month. I had also wanted to do more experimental stuff, more marketing, more....

But that was last year and this is this year, so I get a clean slate.

And I have big plans for 2007. Here's a few things I'm planning for this year:

• Start doing some detailed wood carvings for shows and galleries
• Do some larger pastel pieces with the idea of entering them into pastel shows and perhaps getting some precious initials after my name (I'll explain this some day)
• Keep doing smaller but quality work for eBay and list 3 pieces minimum a week
• Contact interior decorators and see if I can find one on the East Coast to represent my botanical watercolors
• Maybe contact some magazines or book publishers and get some freelance illustration work
• Blog nearly daily

In terms of artwork itself, here's few things I'm planning to work on, which I never got to last year:

• Detailed wood sculptures
• Larger oil paintings of wildlife
• Highly textured still lifes
• Maybe a new print every month, but more realistically, one every other month

Yep, it's quite a lot to do. So, I'm planning on major rearrangements in my personal life to give me more time and mental energy. The main two things will be to cut out 95% of all tv and internet surfing and follow the FlyLady routines. (I'll explain the latter some day.)

Anyway, I had better get working on supper. One of my personal resolutions is to eat decent food, rather than whatever is quick and easy. Tonight is winter root gratin! Tomorrow, I'll post the two pieces I list for the PAAO contest.

Contests and Awards on eBay

Despite my best intentions of writing some each day, I blew it. Actually, part of the problem yesterday and the day before was that I was working until about 7pm and then I was hungry so I ate rather than write. Hey, my stomach comes first!!!

I'd show you all what I was working on but I'm too lazy to scan the new paintings in. I've got 4 new paintings done, so that's a lot of scanning, tweaking, and uploading. I need to work on my web site tomorrow so I'll do them then.

Also, tomorrow is the last day to enter another contest sponsored by another eBay group. I think just about every group has some kind of contest. Usually the winner is the one with the highest number of bidders. This contest is by the Professional Animal Artists On line (PAAO). Since I can start the bidding at any amount, I don't have to worry about a nice piece going for $3 (like my Nibblefest one did this month). Also, since critters are one of my main areas, this contest fits in nicely and gets me out of my cat/horse rut. The theme was animals which begin with "T", so I did a turnstone (shore bird) and am working on a trout.

Okay, the real reason I'm doing this contest is to get my fellow artists to notice my work so that next year, I get nominated for the Artist Choice Awards. See, I know those awards are meaningless -- an unmitigated popularity contest. Unfortunately, the general public doesn't seem to know this and people that winner have better sales. So, one project for this year is to "be nice" in this animal group and hopefully I'll get a nomination for next year. I may have to join another animal group just to be sure. It's not something I enjoy doing, but this how the eBay game is played.

Maybe I should make my own group and hand out my own awards???

Boxing Day Update

Happy Boxing Day!!!

I'm finally getting back into the swing of things, after hubby has left. While there was a holiday, I just kept plugging away, trying to get some portraits done. And getting new things for eBay. And beginning some new major projects. Besides, like I said last time, I'll celebrate Christmas when hubby gets home. Hopefully, I'll have his present finished by then!

One of the new projects I'm starting on is returning to sculpture. While I do enjoy most portraits and I have fun doing the little paintings for eBay, neither is artistically satisfying. They are great in terms of building skills, but not in terms of creating deep, meaningful work for different reasons.

The problem with the portraits is that I do them from photos that I don't take. If I was in charge of taking the photo and could do some non-traditional poses and I had total freedom on how the portrait was done,... well, I'd be getting $800 for a pencil portrait and not $80! As it is, I basically draw the photo. I hate to say this, but it's almost mechanical.

Then there's eBay. Since I'm getting a minimum return on eBay for my efforts, I can't really spend 3 or 4 days working on one piece. Don't get me wrong, eBay has been a blessing and I'm still planning on listing stuff almost daily, but it has limitations. And one limitation is that people want bargains and will not pay a fair price for most artwork. (This problem was created in part by the artists themselves.) So, if I do a wonderful piece that took me 4 days to do, I really can't list it at $250 and expect it to sell immediately. Maybe it will in a few months, or maybe it won't. With a few exceptions, most art sells for $20-60. Until I become one of those exceptions, I can't afford to spend days on one piece and get only $50 for it.

So, I'm going to keep doing the portraits and eBay, but I'm also going to work on some wood sculpture. Besides the fact that I enjoy carving, I settled on the sculpture because it's something that is not commonly seen either in galleries or in art shows. Painters are a dime a dozen, but wood sculptors are exceedingly rare, so my work should stand out and I should have it a bit easier getting into shows and galleries.

The only problem with my plan is that my garage is cold! I plan to do most of the carving out there, because of the dust, but it's unheated and I'm a weather wimp! So, until the weather warms up, I making sketches and planning pieces. I'm still not sure whether to do realistic or abstract pieces as I like both -- or even if I have to choose.

This means that I'll have even less time to do "other" stuff. Okay, it really means that I need to stop playing solitaire on this computer and stop lingering over my coffee in the morning. What I need is a personal assistant. Any volunteers?

Back to Work

Well, it's been a long time since I wrote anything, so I'm not sure what I have said or not. Okay, I'm too lazy to read my blog!

Let's see. I did finish up the 4 portraits that I needed to get done by Christmas. Everyone was very pleased with them and I'm kind of anxious to hear about the recipents' reactions. Here's a scan of the fourth one, which I think is the only one I haven't posted.

I'm rather pleased with all four portraits. And I'm especially pleased that I got them done with time to spare!

As for the fifth portrait that I thought I was going to do, well, it never did materialize. I was joking with my husband that the photo would appear on my doorstep on the 15th only to have the mailman leave a large flat envelop on my door. It turned out to be junk mail!

Speaking of hubby, he was home for over a week. He actually just left yesterday. As I had said, his side window in his truck had been shot out. Also, on the way home, his windshield was hit by a rock and a crack began to run across it. So, we had to replace his front windshield. Then we had the side one replaced, but first we had to wait for the tempered smoked glass to appear. Then we had to wait for the glue to cure -- this took twice as long as normal since we've been having highs in the 40s and lows in the 20s.

But we had a good time when he was home. The highlight was that we cooked a huge Thanksgiving dinner! I know the rest of the country is working on Christmas, but we are a bit behind on the holidays. He'll be home in early January and then we'll have Christmas!

Needless to say, I haven't had much time (with hubby home) to do art and I'm anxious to get back to work. Today was the first day back and I made some progress. I worked on two oil portraits in the morning. And this afternoon, I did this bird painting:

I was thinking about listing it today, but I decided that Christmas weekend isn't the best of time. So, I'll probably just list it on Sunday or Monday. There's no point in "wasting" a good painting and having no real chance of a bidding war!

In the middle of all this I started restocking my eBay store. I'd like to have about 50 items in there at all times. I still haven't figured out what to do with pieces that have been in there for a number of months with little interest. I hate to take things out because the search engines have found most of the items in my store and I have no real alternative venues for these items.

Well, I suppose I should go and get to work on my supper. I'm still working on leftovers from our Thanksgiving feast (Tofurky roast), but I need to make another salad.

Yep, Another One

It's been a long day.

I'm working on another composite portrait -- 3 photos into one glorious portrait. It's really not easy to get the three heads roughly the right sizes. I've drawn and redrawn them several times and I think I finally have it. So, I'm letting it sit over night and hopefully it'll be fine tomorrow morning.

Once I got too frustrated to work on it, I switched over to another portrait. Another trio but this is from one photo. That is just so much easier!

And speaking of trios, here's the other one I got done the other day.

I still haven't heard back from the client on this one. She and I have a communication problem -- her computer doesn't like my emails with photos, so I'm posting this here and then will call her. (Hmm, hope it's not too late -- I forget what time zone she's in!)

Portraits R Us

I know I should be writing more often but I had a miserable weekend. One of my typical up and down rollercoaster rides.

It all started when hubby had a window shot out of his truck while driving thru Alabama. Other than having to try to get it replaced for less than $800, I thought it was more of an annoyance than anything major. (Okay, he'd be cold and if it rained, his bed would get wet, but nothing life-threatening.) Wrong! On Saturday, he calls up somewhat panicked because he can hardly breath and he had a hard time climbing in and out of his truck. Now, hubby had smoked for years and then quit. We know he's got some lung damage as he can't walk terribly quickly for long stretches. But this sudden development wasn't good as he really couldn't continue driving the truck and maybe not even living. And being the selfish person that I am, I figured my comfortable life was over as there's no way I can make $2400/month from my art as it now stands. I'd have to bite the bullet, quit the art, and go get a teaching certificate in math. I was depressed and upset. Then it dawned on me since he was also complaining of a headache and slight fever -- carbon monoxide poisoning! I finally got him to thoroughly tarp and tape the opening. The next morning, he was fine.

Needless to say this how episode really shook me up. The bottom line is that I'm going to continue with the art for the foreseeable future, but I'm also going to explore freelance illustration and I'm going to work on the math teaching certificate (including doing some substitute teaching). I now know how much I want to do this and I will do it to my fullest ability. I have some ideas on what to do, but first I do need to get all these portraits done.

To that end, here are 2 of the latest:

This is Hayley. I've done her brother and her dog, plus I'm working on another of the family's dogs right now. It was a fun portrait to do, but I do admit that blonde hair and fair complexion is a real challenge -- the details are so delicate.

This is Larry and Ericka. I really enjoyed working on this portrait as the contrasts between the dark skin and clothes and the light skin and clothes was a challenge to balance. This is also a composite portrait -- I created it from two separate photos of the two youngsters. The trick with combining two photos is to adjust the lighting and getting the faces the right sizes. Just for the record, both are adults now and this is Larry's Christmas present.

I also have another portrait done, but I'm waiting for the client to approve of it before I post it here. So, there's only 2 more pencil portraits to finish by 15 Dec. With some luck, they will be done by the end of the week. Then I can finish up 2 oils and 2 soft pastels, and start on another two oils. Maybe I'll get these done by 1 Jan, which is what I'm shooting for. In any case, after the two pencil portraits are done, I can go back to splitting my time between portraits and stuff for eBay.

So much to do!

Plodding Along

Yep, I'm still here. I'm just a bit busy what with 4 portraits to do by 15 Dec.

And yes, I said 4. I thought it would be 5, but no photo, no check, no commission. As I told you, last Friday I received a phone call from a lady wanting me to do a portrait for Christmas. We talked about it and I agreed to do it. I told her that she needed to send me the photo (and a check) by Priority Mail so that I could get started on it right away. That was on Friday and she said she'd send it on Saturday. So, it should have arrived on Tuesday. But now it's Thursday and still no photo. I guess I'm not terribly surprised as she had called me before to arrange for a portrait only to never send anything that time either. Part of me is kind of annoyed, because I could use the money, but another part of me is a bit relieved since I will have less work to get done by 15 Dec.

As for the other 4, I'm working on 2. I do one in the morning for upto 3 hours and another in the afternoon for upto 3 hours. These 3 hour periods is about my concentration limit on a single piece. Beyond that and I start getting sloppy. So I work on one, eat lunch, and then start fresh on a different portrait. For me, it works well. (Other artists will work on one portrait until it's done -- even if that's 8+ hours in a row.) If I hadn't had to go into town and buy groceries, I would have finished both of them. As it is, I'll get them done tomorrow and then put them away for a couple of days before doing the final touch-ups. In the meantime, I'll start on the next two.

I've basically decided that I need to finish ALL the commissions (except one) by 31 Dec and then after that, I will do portraits as soon as I get them. I'm tired of having so many laying around, although most clients are happy to wait especially after they see the finished product. (I'm slow, but I'm good!) Still, they act like a weight around my neck and cause me stress just knowing they are yet to be done. I may even start having a "by this date or 25% off" policy, just to get me to do them sooner than later.

Now all this makes it sound like I don't like doing portraits. And that's not quite right. I love them and I have them. The love part has to do with the facts I know I can do them well, I get paid a decent amount for them, and I don't have to 'guess' what the public will buy. The hate part is the "I don't want someone else telling me what to do" and with repeet customers, I have a fear of not living up to past expectations. I've been working hard on getting over these negatives, and I'm making good progress.

Still, I'm very anxious to get back to doing work which is totally my own. I have lots of ideas for still lifes, wildlife art, and even some abstracts. And I want to do some more relief prints -- but no one has ever asked for a relief print of their Uncle Bob!

Thanksgiving Report

Okay, I took a few days off from writing and suddenly several people are worried that I'm all depressed about the holidays. While it was nice to know more than 2 people read my blog, no need to worry. While I spent Thanksgiving alone (hubby was in Ohio to Texas), I enjoyed myself.

One of the things I like about holidays is the chance to cook. Most of the time, I take just enough time to throw something together, whether it's a salad or pasta. Basically, it's a main dish and a vegie. But when the holidays come, I enjoy the cooking part. I know many people dislike the cooking for the holidays, but to me it's a chance to try new recipes and revisit old favorites. So I spent most of Thanksgiving day cooking and created a very nice 4 course meal for myself. Perhaps the best part of the meal was the spiced quince and cranberry compote. Yummy!

Another thing I like about holidays is that I can't do anything (like run errands in town), so I get to work. I'm a coward when it comes to holiday store sales, large crowds, and crammed parking lots. I'd much rather stay home, order from a catalog (or make my gifts), and watch the mess on TV. So, while everyone else was out getting all these bargains, I was working on finishing up some portraits. I finished one, and almost finished the other 2. It was real nice just to work without interruptions or worrying about running to the post office or....

That reminds me -- it was a good thing I was home on Black Friday. I received a call from a lady who wanted me to do a portrait of her parents. Yep, another one for Christmas, but of the 5 I need to do, this one will be the easiest to do. So, Black Friday actually turned out to be profitable even for me!

So, that was my holiday weekend. And now it's Monday, and I feel like I'm back to the chaos. My email stopped working over the weekend. I 'lost' the task bar this morning. I had to run into town for cat food. And my reading light -- with it's special bulb -- burned out last night so now I need a new bulb. Other that all this, I finished emailing the alpaca people, I started on two of the Xmas portraits, and I'm now back to simple, quick meals.

Hey, if you want to feel sorry about me over the holidays, save some for my normal chaotic life!!!

What a Wonderful Day

Okay, there's bad news and annoying news, but surprisingly I'm not too upset.

First the annoying news. I'm trying to get started on 2 portraits for a lady this Christmas and despite having sent her 3 emails, she has yet to receive one. So, I tried calling her, and got only clicking -- no rings, no busy signal. It's like the Universe is stepping and preventing me from communicating with her. The only way I can 'talk' to her is via eBay. While I'm not quite ready to start on the final drawing, I'm hoping we can get this straightened out soon.

Now the bad news. I had a wonderful idea for the Nibblefest Contest, but I just didn't get to it today. Since all the auctions must end on the 27th, I'd now have to list it for 3-days which would probably be a waste of time and materials. While I have delusions of people being stunned by my work and mad bidding wars ensuing, reality is more like I'd get 1 or 2 bids and it would end at $5. So, I'll skip this month. I'll still do the drawing I had in mind, but it won't be listed at $0.99!

Usually, these two things would upset me, but I'm not. I had a wonderful day. I played with my 2 tame parrots. I read for an hour with 2 cats sleeping on me. I almost finished a pencil portrait. And I picked out several quince and persimmon recipes for tomorrow. It's really interesting how much I enjoy these small 'boring' things. Someone once said I lived a boring life because I just stayed home and worked on my art. Then again, someone else accused me of being a drama queen -- then why do I so enjoy things like reading with 2 cats sleeping on me?

And tomorrow is looking pretty good too. Yep it's a holiday and nope hubby won't be home, but I'm still going to enjoy it. I get to work on art, play with my zoo, and eat lemon glazed persimmon bars. Pretty nice life to me!

No Time to Relax

Well, I made some good progress over the weekend, so that now I'm only slightly behind. I finished off the knitting I had to do and shipped it off. I redesigned my alpaca art and portrait page on my website and put up some new portraits. (I still have several to put up, but I could only work so long.) I sent a newsletter to about 1/3 of the alpaca owners on my list -- trying to get me some business and helping Absolute Alpacas sell the Xmas cards I designed. I also worked on a pencil portrait and have it about done. (I need to get it done before I start on the Xmas portraits.) And I am almost finished with 2 oil dog portraits -- again, I need to finish these this week.

What I really would like to do is take a day off and just relax. But I don't dare. I need to finish those 3 portraits so I can work on the Xmas portraits and I need to finish emailing the alpaca owners. And sometime this week, I need to work on more knitting -- at least this bunch isn't a "I really need this now" order. It does feel good to be catching up.

Actually, I'd settle for a good night's sleep. The problem is Sammy and his cone. Since I put the cone on him, I don't dare let him sleep with the 2 boys in the spare bathroom because they pester him and want to eat the cloth strip I'm using to hold it on. So, I let him sleep with Emily and me. That's not bad because Sammy wants to snuggle to me. But with that cone, he keeps bumping into me. And then he decides that 3am is perfect time for a snack, so he tries to wake me up in the hope that I will feed him. He either paws at me or sits on my hair or licks my nose -- anything to wake me up. Now I have tried to lock him out of the bedroom -- Emily likes that idea -- but then he sits out in the hall and meows, jiggles the door with his paws, and bangs around with the cone. This just doesn't work for me. Thankfully, the sore is healing nicely and maybe by next weekend I'll be able to de-cone him and let him sleep with the "Boys".

One other annoying thing is that today is the beginning of the November Nibblefest Art Contest. The theme is "purple" and I have a good idea for it. I just don't have it done. If I can work on it some tomorrow and finish it on Wednesday, I can list it for 5 days at least. I would have prefered to list it for 7 days but 5 is better than nothing. My concern right now is what size to do it. I'd like to do it 11x14 but I'm back to being afraid it will sell for $5!

Well, I suppose I should go eat so I can do some knitting and still get to bed early tonight. I'd like to get the pencil portrait and the purple painting done tomorrow, so I need to be awake early and get working.

Catching Up...Sort Of

Well, I had a pretty good afternoon.

I would have had a good morning too, but I had to run to the vet. Some time ago, my cat Sammy had surgery to remove a wart and to sew up a hole he'd rubbed into his cheek while trying to get the wart off himself. The surgery went fine and so did his recovery. The stitches came out and then the problems started. He started to rub it. The vet suggested a couple of creams to put on it to get him to stop rubbing it. Didn't help. He kept working on and opened the sore up again. So, I sewed up a soft muzzle with padding where the sore was. It worked one night. By the second night, he had messed with it so much that he got the scab off underneath the muzzle. Talked to the not-so-helpful vet tech and she suggested making a collar/cone for him. Over the last few days I tried paper, cardboard, and an over-stuffed sock. Nothing helped. So, today I broke down and went to the vet and got a genuine plastic kitty collar.

And now Sammy hates me. At first he ran madly around the house, but now that plastic cone weighs so much he can't hardly move! He's sitting under a bird cage looking totally pathetic! The only time he perked up was when I got out the kitty treats. I'm hoping he will get used to it shortly and that it will actually prevent him from re-opening the sore. (It's now scabbed over slightly, so fingers crossed.) In the meantime, I have to check him every now and then because he has gotten stuck a couple of times!

So that was the morning. This afternoon I worked on 3 different portraits and made some progress on each. All three are coming out well and should be done -- except for drying -- by the end of next week.

And then I had to watch Dr. Phil with my new bird. Cory (the new bird's name) seems to want attention in the morning and in the late afternoon. I suspect that was before work and when his owner came home from work. So, we watch Dr. Phil. Actually, I watch the show and he explores. He has more fun crawling around on and under my shirt than any parrot I've ever had. He also said "hello" this afternoon -- about 20 times in a row. I just can't get over how tame and trusting he is. Getting this bird may have cost me a commission (something about not being responsible and wasting my time while I have other things to do, so give me my money back), but I'm so glad I got him.

Tonight, it's knitting time. I'm suppose to have 3 small scarves, 2 shawls, and 2 hats done by Monday. It'll be close and I might not make the second hat. Non-knitters don't understand that hats, especially with fine yarn, take a long time to knit or crochet. Take for example the wig hat I just finished. I probably took me 6 hours to do. Part of the problem with it was working with double pointed needles -- 5 needles around a 3" diameter circle is NOT fun! It was fun to do one of, but I don't think I'll be knitting these for everyone on my Christmas list! Anyway, here's a photo of the moi in the wig hat!

And just for the record, it's really tricky to take a photo of yourself from the side with a camera photo!!!

One Thing Done, 20 Left!

Okay, maybe there's not 20 things left on my to-do list. Maybe there's more, or at least that's how it feels.

But one thing's done. I finished the knitted hat for someone. I'll take pictures of it tomorrow and talk more about it, but it's weird!!!

I still have a long list of things to do, but I did make some progress on several items today, so I feel better. I know I shouldn't let commissions pile up and once I'm done with all of them, I will do them as soon as I get them. It just always seems that something comes up and I get distracted.

Part of the problem is that for most of my artwork, I'm not getting nearly a living wage or even minimum wage. Since hubby's truck had problems a few years ago (blew an engine -- $20,000) and we built up a fair amount of credit card debt, I feel like I can't turn down any opportunity to make money. Hence, I end up doing portraits, logos, websites, knitting, and other art all at once. If I was getting even $10 per hour, then I could pick and choose to some degree. As it is, only on the portraits do I make about $10 per hour. The botanicals come in at about $5/hr, florals at $6-10/hr depending on medium, still lifes at $3-5/hr for the smoothly blended ones, and about $1-3/hr for sculptures. The last item is why I'm not doing any sculptures right now -- I can't work long enough hours to make even a tiny dent in the credit card debt.

On the other hand, I get about $25/hr for logos and websites and about $10-15 /hr for some knitting. (The hat I just finished would be about $2/hr, because it is knitted fairly tightly.) Unfortunately, there are already too many people doing websites and logos to make that the major part of my income. Also, there's my lack of interest in doing either full time.

So, I'm left piecing things together to make a living. While I would rather make my living from selling 4 or 5 paintings a year, I still would rather do 20 different things at once than get one of those "real" jobs.

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.