Time to Chillllllll!

Life is good and all that jazz. Had a message from my body this past week, telling me it’s time to chill and take it easy for a while. I’ve been feeling sick for about a month now along with some abdominal pain, so I decided at the urging of friends and family to go see a Doctor last Friday. Turns out I have gall stones and will need surgery to remove my gall bladder. So, I’m scheduled for surgery March 31st. Of course, wouldn’t you know it, the Wednesday before my featured show in the gallery not to mention our 2 year anniversary show and open studios at the gallery! So, somehow I have to figure out how to get a show’s worth of new art work, plus get everything ready and still take it easy on my body for the next month. Thankfully, we have some really incredible people in our community of artists and I have had numerous offers of help for the preparations. I am so incredibly grateful for all the wonderful people around me! They can help with getting the gallery/studios ready, but I still have the art to make. Luckily, that is a relaxing activity for me! So, today I plan to spend the day, or the rest of it anyway, in my studio, painting for my show. I have so much work to do for the gallery, but I will postpone it until next week after a couple days off. I didn’t get much downtime this past week and I really need the rest!

In other, family related news, my youngest son Nate, the jock of the family, was visited at his high school this past week by a college football recruiter! He has always dreamed of playing football in the NFL and has played off and on since the 5th grade. This past season in his high school league, where he played quarterback, he was ranked as the number one quarterback! He goes to a charter h.s. and the league is small, but still he attracted the attention of the UNM football program! The recruiter told him they have seen his video from this past season and they will be coming to some of his games during his senior year! So, it looks like he may get to move on to the next level and play college football! I’m so very proud of him and he is beyond ecstatic! We’ve always encouraged the boys to follow their dreams, it’s just so amazing to see them going for it! My oldest son is now working as a concept/storyboard artist for a local independent movie studio! Something he was unsure he would make it into. It makes me so happy!

Just proves that anything is possible all you have to do is set goals and follow your heart! Dreams DO come true!

More Progress

Added some yellow today;

In progress, acrylic on guitar

Guitars! Progress photos!

In progress

In progress

Switching gears, somewhat, this week. It’s been a while since I painted a guitar and I have been meaning to get back to this series for some time! I did a quick google search for painted guitars yesterday and found a blog post with a photo of my first painted guitar! I was looking for inspiration and that did it for me! I have done a few painted instruments in the past. With a musician husband I tend to acquire discarded guitars on a regular basis! The last one I did was a mini guitar. This one is a 3/4 size. The next one in line is a full size. So, there will be a bit of variety in size and price. The first couple photos are the current guitar in progress. The last photo is the first guitar I painted several years ago. I have a dream of painting guitars on commission for rocks stars, if you know any who might be interested, please send them my link!

New Mexico Guitar

Finished with Love!

Just completed my latest painting! Working title is “Love”, but I am still unsure if that will be the finished title. Love just seems a bit too obvious. Also, I have framed a couple of my mini (6 x 6″) prints and am offering them for only $20 a piece. Any of my mini prints are available framed. They will all be available in my Etsy shop. “Love” is also available, but it will be hanging in my April show, so I won’t ship it until after April.

Love, 22 x 22" oil on canvas, $600

International Peace mini print framed, 7 x 7", $20!

Vortex mini print framed, 7 x 7", $20!

Latest Progress; Continuing the Love Theme!

In progress, 22 x 22" oils on canvas

Now that the Peace and Love show is up and open, I’m moving on to working on paintings for my April show. I’m still working in the Love theme though. Once the show was up I had a vision for this painting, so I figured I’d go with it. I always pour love into my paintings, so it makes sense that this one is actually centered on the actual word “Love”. This painting is still in progress, and my original vision was to obscure the word love into the background. Still unsure if that will eventually happen, it really wants to be front and center in the painting. Only time will tell, because I let my paintings take me where they want to go. It’s been slow going this week as I have been feeling a bit under the weather. Finally broke down yesterday and stayed home in bed for a bit of extra sleep. I about went nuts once I woke up and didn’t end up resting all day. My mistake, as I am now feeling ill again. Perhaps I will get some real rest in this weekend! But not until Sunday as we have two concerts here at Chroma this weekend, one tonight and one tomorrow night. Not even mentioning the fact that my brother’s band, Wormhole, is in town tonight to play at the Atomic Cantina! Still unsure if I will be able to stay awake until their midnight start time! UGH! I’m going to try though! Haven’t come up with a name for this new painting yet, ya think it will have the word love in the title? Maybe…….I’m thinking of titling it something totally off the topic. Who knows!!

Radiating Love

So, I do believe I’ve finally completed the 16 x 20″ canvas, final painting for the Peace and Love show in February. This one is called “Radiating Love” for the feeling I held while painting it. This painting is meant to send love to all who see it. Love truly is all you need! Enjoy!

Radiating Love, Oil on canvas, 16 x 20", $400

Waiting for the Paint to Dry!

Worked for a bit on my newest painting this morning. I just LOVE the color combo of purple, yellow and red! Here’s the next progress pic!

In progress

Progress on a New Painting

Started this painting (16 x 20″) yesterday, here is the progress so far. Hoping to get this one done for the February show.

Peace, Love and Grief

Interesting how the brain works. As you may have seen from previous posts, I am currently working on paintings for my February show “Peace and Love”. All these thoughts of love and peace have stirred up feelings of grief and sadness in me. On January 9th, my beloved great Aunt (“Auntie”) Evalynn passed away at the age of 93. She had slowly retreated into the world of Alzheimers and it was a relief for the whole family that she was finally released from this terrible disease. My grandmother (her sister) also succumbed to the disease back in 2003. Thinking about her and how much I will miss her independent spirit has brought back thoughts of my dad, of course, and so I find myself once again dealing with grief. It’s interesting to me how one death can be so welcome while another is unexpected and like a slap in the face.

I still miss my dad, naturally, and at times like this I have a difficult time believing that we are coming up on the 2nd anniversary of his death! How could time pass so quickly and peacefully. My dad was right that life goes on, I know this now, but it’s like he was here just yesterday. I keep going through life, working, painting, loving, breathing, eating, sleeping, but he is gone, Auntie is gone, my grammy is gone. Are they really though? There have been so many times that I have felt them in the room with me, just like it felt when they were physically here. It always happens unexpectedly, when I am not thinking of them, busy in my daily life, doing mundane things. Then, out of no where, there they are, POP in my head, thoughts, feelings of love.

I used to believe that death was it, we live, we die, one life is all we get. I don’t believe that anymore, I’m convinced that we are spiritual beings having a human experience, convinced! How could it be any other way? I spent some time yesterday afternoon reading my past blog posts in the months after my dad’s death, revisiting the grief, it doesn’t change, the pain is exactly the same. I believe everything we go through in this life is a lesson, so what is the lesson in death? It’s so simple, appreciate every minute of this life, though it’s not truly all there is, it’s a one of a kind life, we will never relive this life, we may get another chance in another life, but this is it for this time around. I’m rambling on, I know, just dumping my mind out. So many people suffer here on earth, the earthquake in Haiti is just another example of human suffering, it’s part of the human condition. It’s part of life….and death. People die and suffer everyday, another thing my dad was right about, but it’s how we handle it that matters. It’s what we do with the death and suffering, dwell in it, sadness, depression, hopelessness. Or turn it around and appreciate the good in life, gratefulness for our blessings, look for the positive in every situation, enjoy moments of joy and love with our family and friends still with us. That’s what I choose to do most days, but I’m human and every once in a while I slip back into the negative aspects of it all. I did that yesterday and for a bit today, but now, I choose to be grateful, for the past, the present and the future. Life is beautiful, death is what makes it so, without death we would never appreciate the brevity of life, never go for the gusto, enjoy the moment! Thank you for that!

Getting closer to my goal!

Only two weeks left until the “Peace and Love” show has to be hung! I’m almost there, thank goodness! These progress photos are of the two paintings I worked on today. They are both very near completion, which means I am almost done with my goal of 9 new paintings for the February show. This week I will finish these up and be ready to go! Still unsure of what I will have on the easel next. I’m thinking about a couple medium sized pieces. Time will tell. Don’t have names for these two…..yet. Working on that!

in progress, 8 x 8" oil on canvas

in progress #2, 8 x 8" oil on canvas

In progress #3

In progress #4