My Actual Paintings Are So Much Nicer Than the Photographs On My Website. (Or so I've been told.)

I know how long it's been. I used to post two or three times a week. I have no idea how I did that. I guess it was the novelty of a new blog page. Again, I apologize to those who almost have given up on me. I am still painting, but not as much.

Below is a picture of my latest painting. It's only the second time I've completed one this big (48 x 36 inches). You don't just sit in one place with this size, but need to move around the table (forget the easel - wouldn't support it) to reach the whole surface.

Hope you like it. Really don't know how I feel about it yet. Still tempted to add one of my little houses. You know I'm a little house freak. My photograph doesn't do it justice. I really am the worst photographer. It means you need to use your imagination a lot when studying my pictures. I know that often the first thing customers say when they receive their art is that the painting is so much nicer than on the website. Well, I knew that.

I called this one "Big Sky" and it's available on my site at Etsy. Yes, I'm back with them again, although I'm not sure why. Think it's the companionship. Lots of chatty people on forums at Etsy.

Ill health this year, and for a person who didn't get sick (not even a cold), it was a shock to me. I am apparently vulnerable just like everyone else. Had no experience with such low energy and did a lot of sleeping. I always thought that the first thing to go were the legs (and that's a whole other story). Anyway, I'm almost back to my old self again. Almost.

Found a new art site I'm exploring. Will let you know if it's a good fit for my work. We poor artists are always on the lookout for The One, like a young girl looking for that one really nice guy. A new  art site is always exciting, not forgetting Etsy. of course, always there, like an old standby-last-minute prom date. I've even started some new paintings - working on three at once right now. I've done this before, but wouldn't recommend it because it can become a bit frantic, but the mood hit me. Looked at the canvas and couldn't decide which of three ideas to go with, so I started all of them. Oh, and definitely saves on paint.

Talk soon. Waiting for the New Year when the world should  be a Better Place.

Be happy. If you're really stuck, there's a perfume for that.

Latest Painting (I'm on a Roll) - "The Usual Stragglers". Because I Love Sheep.

The last couple of years had a strange effect on me - as it undoubtedly had on many of us. The world changed dramatically. It became far more stressful, more worrying than anything I could recall. I reached the point where I just didn't need to hear the latest farcical news reports even as I was always a news addict. Finally I developed the ability to look at the headlines and move on. I've become a bit of an ostrich. Most shocking of all? CNN no longer holds my attention. Why add to the day-to day challenges we face in our lives? There were some personal difficulties during this time, too - illness in the family, the usual life upsets, and my own self-made, pointless pressures. These were enough  to leave me without much energy to create anything new, and then Global Affairs threw in its two-cents' worth.

I was unable to write or paint. I felt I had nothing to say. What could I offer when things seemed out of control?  I retreated to knitting, watching movies, and gardening, rather obsessively. Oh, and napping a lot. All things little old ladies do, right? Not this little old lady. I was always a bit of a rebel, a little eccentric (ask my kids). I decided this bit of history we are going through was not going to dictate the way I live my life.  I've come back to my first loves. Not so much the writing, although I've been doing a lot of mental composition - sometimes jotting things down, but mostly believing I will remember the ideas, the lines of dialogue, whatever, when I'm ready. But the painting is back. Thank you, Gaia.

It's a relief to know that the pure absurdity of what's happening in politics hasn't changed me. It just numbed me for a while. I actually laugh a lot these days, even if it's sometimes a touch cynical. It's  ridiculous to be ruled by forces I cannot influence (so much for voting). So I reject the hype, the babble. And I am back, ostrich-like though I may seem.  I needed to say all of this today, even as I appreciate that we all have much shorter attention spans than we once had. We ordinary people have so few outlets for venting. Luckily I have my blog. Thank you for reading. I will bore you no further on the subject.

My new painting, "The Usual Stragglers" is lighthearted, peaceful, and calming. I hope you like it. Perhaps you'll smile.

"The Usual Stragglers"
Acrylic on 16 x 20 inch canvas

I told you about my new sales site in my last post, but I've now found one I like even more. Check out my gallery at Daily Paint Works.  Not only is there NO commission for direct sales, but it also offers an auction service (for a tiny commission), separate "store" pages for sales links to prints of sold work, and a page where I have linked my novels for sale. I've had such fun setting this up, and there is so much at the site in terms of reports, tracking, feedback, etc. I highly recommend it.

I've sixteen paintings listed there at present, including "The Usual Stragglers" above, but I'm gradually adding more. Perhaps nothing will sell - the art market is a mysterious one, after all. But it is pure pleasure to know that my work is out there, available. And I've become a bit more entrepreneurial - I now regularly plug myself on Facebook and Twitter. Why not? If I don't do it, no one else will.

Until next time...