Quick Post Update

    It's been quite a busy few weeks: I went to the Adirondack's for the annual long weekend plein air trip, had my artwork accepted into two juried exhibits, became a social media "expert", attended a couple of art receptions, stopped in New Hampshire for a quick plein air trip, (I wandered through the woods of Vermont along the way there and back home for additional inspiration), and during all this time I've continued to paint and draw to my hearts content. Remember the checklist I was working on last time I blogged?...Still working it baby. Plein air trips and local exhibits.....check. I added "get interviewed by local women's magazine" to the list, and checked it off yesterday. I'll be the featured artist in the Sept. issue of ............stay tuned for an update on that!

    As the warm days of summer have turned even more humid I find it challenging to keep my acrylics wet. Being the creative thinker type that we artists pride ourselves in, I attempted to use hard pastel sticks instead. Alas that didn't turn out very well either. The spray from the close proximity to the waterfall I was trying to capture combined with the humidity of the day turned my hard pastels into mushy bits. Well, actually it turned my painting into a water spotted, muddy mess of artistic disappointment. Sometimes it's better to put the art supplies away, remove your shoes and dip your toes into the water, rather than the brushes you brought along to paint with.

    What about water colors you might ask? Well...I don't use them for plein air, I like the way oils and acrylics "feel" when I'm working outdoors. Water colors just don't seem to speak to me the same way. I know, I know they would solve my trying to keep my paint wet problem. Dried up paint? No problem with water colors, just dab on some more water and continue on your merry way, sigh. Maybe I should reconsider and give them another try? I'll add it to my list.

    Today I found out that two of my pieces were accepted into the Plein Air competition juried by OnLineJuriedShows.com and Plein Air Magazine! If you go to the website, click on the Plein Air Show, scroll through the images until you get to the "H's" and look for my name. "Badlands" and "Monadnock Waterfall" were both juried into the show. That's pretty exciting for me, it encourages me to keep doing what I'm doing, and it reminds me that it's never too late to fulfill your dreams. Write them down, set goals, work that list!

Staying Focussed Amidst Chaos

"Well, I finally did it" this simple statement can be applied to so many recent accomplishments in my life. I graduated from college (after a very long time away from school), I've set up/built my web site, created social media accounts to help generate business, learned how to use  the Creative Cloud suite of tools (OMG, there should be a warning for new users, "This product will consume many hours of your life!") All this has felt like chaos and as I take steps towards becoming financially independent, and a contributing member to our household funds, I keep reminding myself to stick to the list. Or in pirate speak, "stick to the code". Since I'm not a pirate nor do I play one in real life, I guess I must continue to keep my daily to-do list, sigh. Here's the thing about to-do lists; I don't like them, I think they're boring, and they make me want to pull my hair out. However, they do work. Shhhh don't tell my husband I just admitted that. Here's another little secret for you, I pretend to be a pirate when I'm working on my list.......where's the rum?

For awhile my list has been more like a jumble of runaway thoughts and ideas all focussed on being an artist. As I fine tuned and changed ideas to goals and untangled thoughts I realized, gulp, the leap of faith I'd need to take. I also realized I was already an artist, have been my entire life. What I was finally ready to do was to share my art with the world. Scary thought right there. We only get one shot at life and I say lets be happy while we're here. For me that means creating art and yes, sharing it with the world. I still have much more to-do on my list and I'm sure there are things I haven't even thought of yet. Stay tuned for more as I work my way through my list and the chaos it sometimes becomes..............

So with my list by my side the next box to check off is: write first blog post.