Random Thoughts

I’ve decided to start sharing entries from my morning journal. Here’s the first.

Stuck.

What do I really want?

Feeling blah today. No painting ideas just yet.

What is my true, real purpose? Is it really to make art? I don’t know. I need to get my self back or do I? perhaps I need to just “BE” right now. Not sure. Of course I love painting and being an artist. Kinda not into the selling etc. anymore. Tired.

Maybe I’m just avoiding my obvious next step. To take it to the next level.

Afraid of rejection as always.

Feel the fear and do it ANYWAY! Right? Should be, perhaps, but I don’t know.

We had a stray puppy distraction for a day. She showed up on our back step yesterday morning and as soon as we decided to keep her, she disappeared just as quickly as she had appeared. Mini is what we called her. I guess it wasn’t meant to be.

Why am I down today? PMS?

Maybe I’m just losing my mind.

Missing dad.

Overcast skies contribute to my gray mood.

Disappointed in myself for not following things through. For encouraging others, but not myself.

Do I dare publish my thoughts for all to see? Then I would have to be honest with myself. Don’t think I’m ready for that yet. Good reason to go ahead with it.

Still growing on the inside.

Envy creeps in though I fight in back. What an ugly thing, envy…

Love, hope, happiness? From where do these 3 come? self? other? God?

Alone with myself…..I longed for this, waited, wished and dreamed.

I know where I’ve been, had a vision of where I was going, but it’s not as clear now after time has come and gone.

Is it possible for a rebel, risk taker, one who always went after the dream…….to have a midlife crisis? I didn’t think so, but maybe…..

No, it’s just a gray day.

The sun WILL come out again.

Craaaazy!

What a crazy time it’s been this past month and a half! The mural is long done, the dedication ceremony was last Wednesday. I have a few photos to share, which I am just now finally getting around to! The week after I finished the mural it was time to jump into our 1st annual “ChromaFEST” weekend, which happened the first weekend in May.

Finished mural, entryway

Finished mural, Lambs and Jesus

The same weekend, my youngest son found his first apartment and moved out. YAY! It took us a week to recover our house and rearrange furniture in the extra space he left us. Of course, he left a mess for us to clean up, but we were so excited about our nest finally being empty, that we didn’t mind cleaning up after him this one last time.

The preschool kids sang “Jesus Loves Me” for the mural dedication ceremony. It was so CUTE!

Now that the house is CLEAN and actually has stayed clean, it’s time for me to get busy in my studio again. I am itching to get back to my easel, it’s been WAY too long since I’ve painted.

Flowers given to me by the preschool kids, so sweet!

One last photo, me standing in front of the mural.

Now that I’m back to my regular schedule, I am getting back to my weekly auctions. After thinking about it for a while, I’ve decided to raise my starting bid to $20. Still a really great deal for an original painting! I have sold off most of my older paintings now, so from now on, the weekly auction will be a newer piece.

“Anticipation”, 8 x 8″ oil on canvas board, $20 starting bid.

Chroma Fest begins tonight! 5-9pm

Reblogged from Chroma Studios:

Our first annual Chroma Fest begins tonight with an art show/open studios event at our Central location (1606 Central Ave SE suite 201). 5 – 9pm we open the doors at our artist studios, several of the resident artists will be there to share their studios and work. We also have a handful of artists that previously showed their work with us at Chroma Gallery.

Read more… 87 more words

Chroma FEST! May 4th and 5th!

Reblogged from Chroma Studios:

We are extremely happy to announce our next event! April 2012 marks our FOURTH anniversary in business and we want to celebrate with all of our friends, past and present! This is a two day event that we are calling “ChromaFest”.

May 4th, 5 – 9pm, Friday evening; is our open studio/artist reception at our Central location (1606 Central SE ste 201)

Read more… 174 more words

Our next big studio event! I will have a few new pieces in the art portion of the show.

Getting SO close!

The background is all complete now! Our day was shortened again today by wind and clouds and possible rain. We did get quite a lot of progress today however. Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will work on the details, painting in the lambs, grass, flowers, tree, plus we are now adding Jesus to watch over the flock. He will sit on a back hill looking towards the lambs. The preschool director came to me yesterday afternoon and asked if it was possible to add him in, so of course, we are happy to oblige. Here are today’s progress photos.

Today while I finished up the sign, Bryan worked on the back hills

Sign is now 100% complete!

Finishing up the sky

More progress on the hills and sky is done!

After Bryan filled in the big areas on the hills and I finished the sky, I went back in to fill in the edges (while fighting the wind in my hair!)

Done for the day, tomorrow it's on to the detail work!

And the main wall...

Lamb close up, tomorrow I will paint in the sketched lambs

More Mural Progress Pics

So far we’ve put in 16 hours on the mural, plus logo and sign on the other wall. Here are progress photos from today. Hoping to finish up the main part of the background tomorrow, then it’s all detail work!

Started out by transferring the lamb sketches to the wall

After a little while, Bryan figured out a better way to get down low!

This is how far I got yesterday, working on the lettering and logo for their sign. Just a bit o' Irish humor!

While I worked on lettering and logos, Bryan finished up the second level of blue in the sky

the lambs are starting to be defined at this point

and a shot of most of the wall with the second level of blue done

Tomorrow we will finish up the background hills, but for today, Bryan outlined the lambs with the dark green so we can start right up tomorrow.

Finishing up the logo

So happy to be done with the hand painted lettering!

Almost done with the sign, still have to draw a shepard's staff where the f goes

And that’s all for today!

Mural Project has begun!

Before

Signed the contract on Monday and started priming the walls on Wednesday for my very first mural project! I’m so excited about this whole thing! My eldest son, Bryan is helping me with it all which has been a lot of fun. It’s been a long time since we’ve spent this much time hanging out one on one and now that he’s an artist too, we are discussing doing more mural projects together.

getting started

Painting began yesterday, below are progress photos we took along the way. Today is a studio day, working on sketches that we will use to transfer drawings of lambs onto the wall before painting them. Having so much fun! Enjoy the progress photos and stay tuned for more.

sky test

starting the sky

finishing up for the day