I have to apologize for my lack of View Friday this week, been so busy preparing for my show. We hang our work on Wednesday so if you stop by the Salt Creek Wine Bar in Brookfield anytime after that you will get to see my artwork.

Here is a little glimpse of all I have been working on this past week…

And now time to get back to work…

My promo cards came in last week, haven’t really had the time to get a photo of them until today. I did create promo cards last year, I ordered quite a bit too. They are all sitting in a box under my bed, I never sent any out. I was too scared. So you live and learn. I didn’t order that many this time around, and also took the time to look into contacts and got a bunch of names and addresses together. I spent much of my late morning and early afternoon addressing and stamping about 100 of these.

There they are, all ready to go out. I am actually taking a walk in a few to the mailbox and dropping them in. Off they go to the hands of people who can really change my future. It is scary, I am trying to let go of the perfection of it all. I don’t feel ready but I don’t think I ever will, and even though I don’t think they are perfect, I have to start somewhere, and that somewhere is right here and now.

This is where it all begins, right here today!

Now back to getting paintings ready for my show next month. I have a week to get everything done, framed, and ready to hang up. Eeek!

Two years ago we planted a tree in the backyard, a pear tree actually so we can have fresh pears. (one day) It has been fun to see how it has changed so much in just two short years.

Here is a photo from when it was just planted…

You can just barely see it there, it is like a twig stuck in the ground. Over the years though it has gotten tougher and bigger, and fuller with more leaves.

This is the tree today…

It doesn’t blend so much in the background. We also planted a Maple Tree out front last fall, it is still a little twig, but getting stronger everyday. Will probably wait until next year to compare its growth.

Planting trees is so much fun for me, I love gardening but trees are just big substantial plants that can still be standing in fifty years. I really hope at least one of these two trees makes it for a good couple of decades before either new owners cut them down or some act of nature takes them. It is fun to see trees grow from just tiny little twig like trunks to massive ones that you can’t even get your arms around.

Trees are fun, you should go plant one and have some fun too!

Funny how it is something we see everyday, there are at least three of them I must pass just to get out to the main streets here in my neighborhood. It is something we should be reminded to do once in awhile. Stop and really appreciate every moment. I know I don’t, I find it easy to get lost in this world of cell phones, television shows, and deadlines. It is funny that my calendar is so written up with deadlines, and events I need to attend, and other important things going on that I wonder what it will be like when October gets here and it all comes to a screeching stop.

Or will it just keep going. It has been so nice to be so busy and have more than can get done in a day. Especially considering my current employment status, and one would think without work to take up much of the week that there would be a considerable amount of slack off time. That really isn’t the case though, my days are more laid back as far as a schedule goes, but they are full. I have been in the studio painting up a storm for a few upcoming shows, as well as other personal work, I finally am up to date with all my record keeping, I am proud to say all my paintings are currently accounted for. Don’t get me wrong I have been taking time to myself like currently getting obsessed with the series Weeds which I got on dvd the other day, but also been getting back into pilates, and into a healthier routine for me.

I suppose stopping once in awhile to just take inventory on my life is something I need to do more often, it really helps me find my bearings and stay on course whether I can see over that next big wave or not.

from my recent trip to Door County…This taken in Fish Creek, WI.

This photo made me think of this excerpt from the book “The Sheltering Sky” by Paul Bowles.

“Because we don’t know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that’s so deeply a part of your being that you can’t even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more, perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless.”

I feel like I can never keep up on here, I always have something I want to blog about but then life gets in the way and I forget and next thing you know a week has gone by. I started View Friday for this reason I thought it would help me to try to at least post a photo once a week, and maybe help me to remember to write something here once in awhile. I hope to have more consistency in my life soon, although the next couple months are just shaping up to be downright insane. I have never had this much going on with not only my artwork but also my personal life all at once. It is exciting, scary, and hard to keep up with all at the same time.

I run a gamut of emotions everyday and constantly have that horrible self-doubt creep in and sometimes keep me from getting things done. Not to mention taking a nine day vacation kinda put a wrench in things for a short time. I am back and the past few days have been spent getting my bearings straight, and now I feel ready, ready to paint, ready to frame artwork, ready to get all this stuff done that has been nagging for my attention for weeks now that I just didn’t want to give it.

Thank you to everyone who stops by here to check out my blog, and see if I actually post. Sorry to be so lousy at keeping up with this lately. I have plans to make my blog more of a part of my daily routine rather than just a side note. So please bear with me and keep on stopping by!

That photo above is what I slept inside for four days. This is why…
The first night was quiet, without incident. The second night I awoke around two in the morning to the flutter of wings and the click-clacking of tiny little nails walking across the floor. I then shooed something away from me that I thought was a moth. The continue of tiny little footsteps on the floor led me to believe there may be a mouse on the loose. I called for reinforcements (my dad) who turned on the lights and inspected the room. There he was a little bat hanging from the eaves between the roof and fireplace. (didn’t think to take a photo at the time) We were in shock that a bat made it inside the cabin.  So I grabbed CJ’s dog bed and put it inside my parents room where I slept on the floor for three nights. Needless to say it was uncomfortable and CJ was a little peeved to not have his bed. So off to the store we go in search of something to maybe hang over the bed to keep the bat out. A screen house is the cheapest thing we found. So now I can sleep without fear of getting either bitten by a rabid bat, or just it flying around over my head. The weird thing is we haven’t seen the bat since that night…elusive little bugger.

View from the ground of the Vulcan Statue, Birmingham, Alabama

Pathway, Chicago Botanic Gardens

12″x9″ Acrylic on Paper

Feeling stuck, again. For the hundredth time in the past few months. Working on a bunch of new stuff, trying to get it all done before September and that date is coming up quick. I find myself having less time to paint lately too.