Category: dentist

February. Fun or Funk?

Hi Everyone!

How is your February going?  At the moment ours has been fairly mild weatherwise.  Usually February here is our coldest month and longest and dreariest. For a 28 day month it always seems to me it is at least 60 days long.  I’m writing this on February 2nd so we will see how I’m doing by the 28th.

I did work in a little fun this week when my BFFs invited me to join them on a ski trip.  Get this…yours truly went skiing in 10 degree temperatures (wind chills around -10)!  Yes indeedy.  Here we are.  Four layers on top, three layers on bottom, two pairs of socks, two pairs of gloves, face mask, toboggan and goggles made this a fairly comfortable endeavor. Fresh snow, great friends and no lift lines made it awesome!

Do we look warm enough?
Do we look warm enough?

I have managed to cram a full schedule into the February.  I’m going to visit my daughter in Charleston, SC next week.  It would be lovely to have about 75 degrees while I’m there.  The next weekend I start Bee School and that will last five weekends.  Of course it is time to start on the dreaded taxes. Yuck.  I am working on the bathroom remodeling and need to get new bee hives to put together and paint before bees arrive in April.  I have a list of sewing I want to do and last, but not least, I am working, working, working on new artwork.  Hopefully all this will get me through winter without going into my usual funk.

Many of you who read this blog are creative people with blogs of your own, artwork, writing, etc.  I would love to have your help and advice as I throw myself into my artwork and try to get it out into the world.

I am in the process of writing an Artist Statement.  When I read these at show openings I often find them dry and academic.  In other words…boring.  I suspect that is because they are just darn hard to write.  How do you write about yourself without sounding either conceited or weird?  I would like mine to explain why I create stuff and what it’s about without being boring, conceited or weird.  The challenge at the moment is just to figure out why I create stuff and what it’s about!  I am open to suggestions and would love to read yours or someone’s you think did a good job with theirs.

Do you sell work online?  If so, pointers on Titles, Descriptions and Tags would also be appreciated.  Creating art is not nearly as hard as writing all these things.  I am currently on Etsy, Fine Art America and now Red Bubble and Art Pal (still working on this one in case you don’t find much).  If you want to take the time to check these out and send me a critique, I will be happy to listen.

I am not sure what to do with my Etsy shop.  In my attempts to minimalize my life and stuff I am finding that keeping inventory is a royal pain, not to mention shipping.  The print-on-demand stores are very convenient and after the time involved in shipping, probably gives about the same return on investment.  Oh well, it’s there with stuff in it for the moment and I will ponder the future of it as I go along.

Please join in the conversation.  I have been writing this blog for a few years now and it’s lonely out here.  It is time that I heard from more of you.

Stay warm and in case I don’t get a Valentine’s Day post on here, give someone special a hug and/or kiss.  You don’t have to wait until the 14th.  Go ahead. Do it now!

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by Categories: art, beekeeping, connecting, dentist, learning, productivity, risk taking, simplifyTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

What I did in November

Now that the holidays are over and the cards have gone out, I wanted to show you what I did in November.
Town Christmas

This was the artwork for the Town of Kernersville Christmas card this year.  Thank you TOK!!!

Those of you from around here will recognize the entrance to the town on Main Street and Cherry Street.  This was a challenge for several reasons.  First, it was a fairly short deadline.  I think it was less than three weeks including a sketch for approval. The horse and carriage are white metal that have white lights around the edges at night.  All these years of drawing and painting and this was the first night scene I’ve done.  I didn’t want it to be just a black background either so I had to work on some color that would still make sense.

When I went out after dark to photograph the entrance for reference I discovered something else.  The Kernersville sign is NOT illuminated at night!  Heck, I always thought it was!  I also had to do some “landscaping” to raise the sign above the horse and carriage.  I put that “Creative License” they gave me in college to use.  This was a fun assignment and I appreciate the opportunity to do it.  Yes, Town of Kernersville, I would love to do another one if you would like me to.

As a side note: I have written and scheduled this post ahead of time since I am probably recovering from some dental work today.  This has absolutely nothing to do with art, just a shameless plug for sympathy 😉

Christel

 

by Categories: art, commissioned, creativity, dentist, notecardsTags: , , , , 2 Comments