It's all about playing

Hiya peeps!

I have been absent the past couple of weeks.  While I am sure no one really noticed, I did.  I hated it.  I wanted to be here, but my real job has been taking up so much of my energy - physical, mental, psychic - that I took a break.  The bad thing was that instead of putting my real job into perspective and balancing that better, I took a break from what I really want to be doing which is playing in my studio.

So, while I still have much work to do at my real job (which is great, just a bit overwhelming), I am taking a break from it and playing instead.  Awesome!

My study in texture piece now has some work done on the back.  I painted and added fleur de lis.

I don't think I'm done with the back yet, but I like the direction it is headed in.  I'll be sure to share my next steps as they happen!

So, I am on a mission to balance my real job with the things that make me the happiest (spending time with Joe, taking care of my health, arting, reading, writing, and occasionally doing nothing at all).  I'm worth it.  If you are struggling with the same thing, remember you are worth balancing things, too.

In light of my new mission, Joe and I actually went for a walk in this beautiful in-city park yesterday.  It was inspiring to see the gorgeous blues of the sky combined with the deep greens of the foliage and red of the rocks.  The picture hardly does it justice, but it is lovely nonetheless.  I hope you enjoy seeing it as much as I did being there!

I'm off to go play for a while.  Until next time, I hope you find time to play in your lives, too!

More is in, but there isn't any place to put the more!

Hiya everyone!

I've actually been avoiding my studio a bit lately.  Can you believe that?!  There must be something wrong.  And sure enough, there is.  I have been accumulating all kinds of goodies lately (I love garage sales and consignment stores!), but I haven't been purging anything.  I'm putting more in, but there are no more places to put the more!

At today's garage sale, I picked up some of that magnetic poetry you see everywhere (the artist's set, no less :-) ), and I used it to help put words to how I was feeling:

You see, even though I am a mixed media artist which means I need, well, lots of "media" to do what I want to do, it is good to go through the stash once in a while and move out the stuff you no longer find beautiful or useful.  It feels good to clear things out (less weighing me down), but it also feels good to share some good stuff with the world.  It could be that another budding mixed media artist is out there checking out the goodies I donated to the consignment store and deciding to purchase a few things to beef up her stash.  And the cycle continues.  

In addition to figuring out why I was avoiding the studio, I did add a few more fleur de lis to my texture piece: 

I am still adding them same way I did before...I took some copper block printing ink, spread it out on a paper plate, stamped my fleur de lis stamp in it, and then stamped the image on the piece.  I'm liking it...I hope you do, too!

So let's hope my studio is now back in psychic balance with a little less stuff, and I can spend more good times in there.  

Until next time, I recommend cleaning up and clearing out your space so that you can breathe once again! 

Happy Days to you!