Well, here I am and it's still March...okay, yes! I'm still practicing avoidance. I didn't mail out my journal pages today. If I don't get them out tomorrow I'll have to 2-Day it on Monday - there's some $$$ spent. - And tomorrow is looking doubtful. I start my new painting class tomorrow. It ends at 12:30 and the post office closes at one. We'll see if I make it.

I'm thrilled to be starting my new painting class, though! I love oil painting. My painting teacher, Gini Lawson, is just fabulous. Her blog is an encyclopedic account of the artistic process, if you ask me - self doubt, unreasonable hopes - everything.

And...I finally sold another piece of art on eBay! Albeit a small one. A little ATC/ACEO sold last night - my ZNE Prim Style Try piece. I called it "Odd Companions." Making ACEOs is a little bit like making earrings for me. They're small, presumably easier, and I should be able to crank them out - but I have the worst time doing so. I think I expect such tiny items to still say everything I want to say and so I overthink every little thing.

Okay, enough stalling! I'm off to work on my journal pages...

Avoidance, or I Might Even Do Dishes

I'm actually getting another post in before the end of the month! Of course this virtue is overshadowed by the fact that I'm using the blog as a method of avoiding finishing my current Cercles d'Ame project. I have been utterly devoid of ideas. I have managed to lay down some backgrounds on the pages and I'm toying with some things but nothing is thrilling me.

Besides practicing avoidance, I've been really busy the last couple of weeks helping my DH set up a presentation on Vintage Bicycles at a local library branch. Vintage (specifically, although not limited to, pre-war) bicycles are his passion. Several times a year our lives are consumed by his hobby. Last week was one of those times. The presentation was a fundraiser for a Vintage Bicycle Concours we put on at the LeMay Museum in Tacoma, WA. Here is a picture of the flyer he designed and made for this year's event. I think it's super cute and the poster he's designed for the event is amazing. It's not on this computer, but I'll post it as soon as he loads a copy in.

I did manage to make something for the Art Squared theme week (Cirque) on eBay. I used one of my favorite pictures of my grandmother from about 1944. I used the modeling paste again, in the diamond pattern, and I loved the finished product. Unfortunately, no one else seemed to love it as much as I did. I didn't even get one watcher. I think it was the price. I'm used to pricing things a certain way - I finally got over underpricing after all those years of selling jewelry - and I guess the general wisdom is that you underprice art on eBay until you're somewhat established. I read a great blog on being successful as an eBay artist - this woman has been know to sell 25-30,ooo a month!!!. I don't know that I can take all of her advice, but I think a lot of it made sense. I've relisted it, changed the price - actually I raised the price but took off the reserve that was higher, and I changed the heading to Children's Room Art. It's a gamble, but I thought it was worth a try. I've actually gotten some traffic and I didn't post my new listing on any of the eBay groups or ZNE. So that's encouraging, right?

Well, I better go work on my pages - I'll be up all night, I'm sure...Night everybody.

At last! A new entry...

I've been very remiss in my (non-existent) blogging habits. We're on a new schedule here now that Rexy is in pre-school 4 days a week. We've entered the No Nap Zone (cue horror movie music) and my free time has been somewhat curtailed.





I've also been laboring over my Cercles d'Ame round robin project over at ZNE. Of course much of that labor is time spent sitting at the table staring at various supplies and trying to decide on the perfect item to use. Essentially what we're doing is 2 groups of 6 people are passing around art journals/books. Our theme this time is "What do you love about life?" Each person starts a book and then sends it on to the next member on their list. After it has gone around to all 6 members in your group you get your original book back, assemble it and voila! A completed piece of collaborative art! This is the cover of my book. I used this really cool stuff called molding paste (or modeling paste?) to create the texture on the heart. That was tons of fun. When I get more time (???) I want to experiment with it. I also tore out bits of text on color theory from my old interior design textbook (that I used in 1984!) and glued them vertically. My favorite part of the whole thing, though, is the feather ribbon I used to separate the fields of color. Ribbon made of feathers! I'm totally in love with it. I found it at the local costume and diplay store, in all the many trips I've made to the craft and fabric stores I've never seen anything like it.

Here's a link to the Cercles d'Ame gallery on ZNE:
http://www.zneart.com/galleries/Cercles-dAme%2C-What-do-you-Love-about-Life

Only 3 of us have uploaded pictures so far, but I expect we'll have everyone's completed books in there by the end of the project.

I wrote a poem inspired by my sweet girl that I used inside my book. Here it is:

If my eyes were a camera - I would take a picture of you - every minute - of every day - So I could savor - the sight of you - and the light of you - in future times - and remember - how you look - right - now.

I couldn't figure out how to single space my lines so I had to use hyphens to show line breaks.

The sentiment of the poem is so true for me. I am constantly looking at her and thinking how perfect and sweet she looks right at that moment.