5 States, 7 Days and Home Again

My family and I took a lovely vacation to Grantsburg, Wisconsin last week and returned yesterday afternoon. We drove from Columbia, Missouri, to Prairie Village, Kansas to drop off our sick car so my awesome mechanic brother could work on it. Then the four of us hopped in the mini van and headed North.

The first night we stayed in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The next morning we explored the Mall of America for a couple of hours (man! that place is huge!) then headed to Grantsburg, Wisconsin. There we spent 5 nights and 5 days at the Luther Point Bible Camp for family week. It was a lot of fun and we met many, many wonderful people. Minnesota and Wisconsin are such beautiful states in the summer (not sure I could handle the winters there). I loved the landscape of trees, hills, beautiful big barns and acre upon acre of corn and soybeans.

On Friday, we said goodbye to our camp friends and drove the mini van to Des Moines, Iowa. I love Iowa too. On this trip we saw a couple of wind farms, which I had never experienced before. Those "windmills" are awesome and HUGE. We had to stop for a minute to take photos of them. I know that probably sounds silly to some of you, but I'd never seen them up close and personal before. I thought they were amazing.

6-ish hours later, we walked through the doorway of our home sweet home and to our wonderful, fuzzy black cat, Davis. It really was a good trip.

Now, I'm trying to get my mind organized so that I can start some projects that will (hopefully) eventually make me some money. Our budget requires that I leave my "life of luxury" and get a part time job. I'm still hoping to find something a little unconventional and creative that I can do from home. A girl has got to have dreams...

One thing I'm looking into is leading a couple of workshops at a cool new store that opened up in town (have I mentioned Artlandish Gallery before)? I'm doing internet research on where to find the best prices for art supplies. If you have any suggestions for me, please feel free to leave me a comment.

I just wanted to check in. I'm working on a linoleum block print and I'm almost finished. I'll be sure to post a photo of the finished product!

Going to the Birds

I sold one of the suns from my last post (the painting with the four blocks and the sun in the middle). After the sale, I immediately went to the ARTlandish Gallery and put the other two up for sale. My hope is that someone will fall in love with them and want to take them home :) !

I continue to purchase wooden objects to paint. I think I'm obsessed! I have two boxes full of things I want to paint with funky designs and bright colors. I keep thinking if I do that, surely someone will want to buy them. I hope so anyway. I don't have enough room in my own house to "show case" all the things I plan on painting.

One of the things I've been really having fun with is painting bird houses. I can't explain it, I just love doing it. Here are some photos of a few of the things I've been working on. Some are complete, others need more work:






These were really fun to do and I'm currently working on another. I will post it when I'm done. Thanks for stopping by.

Something New: My Three Suns

Hi. I have wanted to write for so long...well, I guess that is not entirely true. I have been thinking that I should write for so long, but haven't been motivated to do so. Many of things have been happening, which has required a lot of work on my part (and may be why I'm lacking in motivation-I don't have the energy to do all the things I need/want to do).

Last month, I was blessed enough to have several pieces of art hanging in the Solar Gallery of the Unity Center in Columbia, Missouri. There was an artist's reception at the beginning of the month and I was able to meet a lot of people there. It was so much fun. In many ways, I have lost the art of conversation, especially when I meet people for the first time. However, where art is concerned, I always have more than enough to say and I don't seem to feel shy about saying it.

One of the women I met at the gallery showing, had asked me to make a custom sun picture for her. I painted 3 pictures for her to choose from. Here they are:



It will be interesting to see which one she picks. I hope she will feel like she has a good selection to choose from.

I'm working on my shop, art and business again. Honestly though, I'm not all that organized with this stuff and I have a hard time focusing on the business aspects of it. Also, I'm not really business minded (which I'm sure I've mentioned before), so I have to look around for a lot of information. I want to be dedicated to this and to make a business of it. Wouldn't it be great to be a full time artist? Can only imagine how that would feel! :)

Gotta get myself to bed. Don't want to be too grouchy tomorrow!

The Token Post

It has been so long since I've written, that I thought I'd better check in so no one thinks I dropped off the face of the Earth! I am still here, just feeling overwhelmed, undisciplined, unmotivated to write.

I've had several things going on (or so it seems). Currently, I have some pieces hanging in a gallery at the Unity Center in Columbia, Missouri. It is so exciting to walk through that gallery and see half of it filled with my art.

The other half of the gallery is filled with fiber art by a woman named Janet Ghio. Her pieces are beautiful and amazing. You can visit her website at: http://www.janetghio.com.

So, I just wanted to stop by. Eventually I will have some photos to put up. Thanks for not giving up on me!

Another Two Weeks Gone By...

Well, I guess I'm on the two week schedule for writing in my blog. That is such a bummer, who want's to read a blog that hardly gets written in? It is very late and I'm about to fall asleep on the keyboard. I would hate to drool on the keyboard and electrocute myself. Not to mention that I would look pretty silly with computer key impressions embedded in my forehead.

Here is the Reader's Digest version of the past two weeks:

• Had an artfair which was held on Saturday, May 9th. Met some nice people, sold a few things and had fun.
• May 10th was Mother's Day. My hubby had taken the kids out of town for the night on the 9th, so I was able to have some quiet time. I ended up staying up too late, which is fairly easy for me to do. On Mom's Day, hubby and kids came home around dinner time, which was nice. They were very good to me.
• My 46th birthday was on the 14th. It wasn't an easy birthday, but I survived. I got to watch my boy play t-ball then after wards I got to go home and eat chocolate cake with chocolate icing.

I thought I could finish this post, but I'm wrong. I'm very tired. I'm sorry this isn't a better post, I'll be better next time. For now...sleep well, I know I will!