Spring Cleaning

I usually take a week off after my spring shows.  The only difference this year was that I did only one show.  Then one week off became two.

My husband and I spent the last two weeks catching up on all the projects we've put off the past year or so.  Ok, not true.  We didn't catch up on all of them....but we put a good dent into them.

My favorite has been the yard.  I love gardening, but due to an accident nearly 5 years ago, I was unable to do much for quite a long while.  I hurt my lower back and tailbone in a skimboarding mishap. Can you imagine a banana peel under my feet?  yep, that's the image...straight up, then slam! down on my butt on hard, wet sand.  I was hurt, but laughing so hard, my friends didn't know quite what to do when I couldn't get up right away....ah, sweet memories.  I spent the rest of that vacation sitting on an inflatable tube float my favorite child Alex thought would be funny to give me.  It was perfect actually, because I was NOT giving up my beach week.  But, I digress.  After 3 years of yoga and finally getting back to the gym with the best personal trainer in existence (yes, Keith, that's you) I am now as close to normal as I'll get.
Want another visual?  Four years ago, I was doing yard work and at that time, if I bent down for more than about 10 minutes, I would "freeze."  Nope, no warning, I'd just try getting up and I'd be stuck.  Now picture me planting flowers IN MY FRONT YARD, no less, and finding out for the first time I couldn't get up. First I panicked. Then I figured I couldn't just sit there all day,  so I rolled.   Laid down on my side, rolled around to get to a place with leverage, then hoisted myself up onto stiff feet and hips that didn't wish to move.  I only prayed no neighbor was watching or would drive by - I had to look like a crazy woman, rolling in the grass and mulch. I'd get to the porch, lie on my back until everything relaxed, and duh, do it again.   ahhh, MORE sweet memories.

Back to the point - now that I can move again, I decided to remake the front flower beds.  Keith, aforementioned personal trainer, helped me dig up and compost the bed last fall.  Oh, you thought this was going to be all words, blah, blah, blah.  Nope...here come the pics.  Befores and afters.

This is the front bed after everything but a few trees and shrubs were taken out.  I used to have my own version of an English garden - a mass of crazy plantings, basically.  This has been tilled with organic compost/topsoil and fertilizer.









Same view, with the new plantings mixed in with plants saved and replanted.  Plus new stepping stones.



While I'm thinking of it..this blog likes to move my words and pics around....I tell it where I want it, but once posted, it takes on a life of its own.  My apologies for the vast amount of space between some lines and photos.

Ready for work. 

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and today...after a week of mulching and adding in zinnias and million bells and sweet potato vine to take over once the pansies die back. 

What will I do today?  After posting this, I'm headed back to the studio.   I set up my palette this morning.  It's time to paint.  

After the Festival

An art festival from an artist's point of view. 


The Gosport Arts Festival is a show I have done for years and enjoy doing because the promoter, Millie Johnson, is wonderful and treats the artists with respect and dignity.   She has to be the kindest show promoter ever.  Some promoters seem to forget that the money they collect is already paid when we apply for the show, but nonetheless can make an artist's life miserable in various ways.  Millie does everything possible to make her artists happy, which in turn helps us have a good weekend and positive attitude to do what we are there to do: show and sell our art.  
Millie, Thank You, for promoting a quality show and taking care of us.  Thank you to all the Gosport volunteers who put in amazingly long hours to make the artists' lives easier.  


I also do this show because it's "home," or near where I lived most of my life, so I'm able to see a number of long time friends who may stop by.  

As for the show this weekend, well, the weather wasn't the best.  We had horrific winds which took their toll on us on Saturday.  Rain is tough, cold is not fun, but winds are an outdoor artist's nightmare.  ughh.   Watching your tent "walk" when it's blustery can be heart-stopping.  For artists not prepared the wind can destroy a tent or the contents.  In addition, Saturday was hot, muggy and attendance was minimal.  Sunday was a much better day.  The winds shifted, it was cooler and gorgeous.  Mother's Day typically is quite busy and sure enough, we had plenty of visitors.  Not as many as in some years past, and not everyone purchased, but considering the economy now, it was a decent day.  


Once back home, the next day is a full workday, returning art to gallery and studio spaces, doing paperwork, taking inventory, getting everything put away, and so on.  As every exhibitor knows, the exhibition weekend is fairly easy compared to the prep beforehand and the followup after.   That's ok.  It's all usually worth it.  

Getting Ready for Exhibit

It has been a whirlwind week.  I've spent as much time in the "office" as I have in the studio.  I've completed 5 paintings on canvas. (pics below)  I had begun all but one of them awhile back, some as long as two years ago.  It seemed a good time to finish them since I had a show coming up and not much new to take.  It's imperative to take new pieces to an art show, and I've always been up front with my clients that I paint for shows in April/May and August, but since I'd been concentrating on commission work, I hadn't really finished but a few pieces in the past year.  Last year I only exhibited in one juried show, plus a few benefit exhibits. A typical year may include up to 6 juried outdoor events. 


I do art shows for many reasons.  Since I don't take commission work any longer, I know my clients probably wonder why I bother to exhibit.  I do art shows to sell what I have and to see what resonates with the public as well as my peers and the show judges.  For me, it's never been about making a fortune, though wouldn't that be nice?  It's been about painting because I can't help it and wanting to support that calling by selling some of what I create - a self-sustaining habit, if you will.  Those who've followed me for a long time know I began with  seascapes, genre paintings, florals and pastel work.  The animals have been quite recent. 


OK, it's nearly midnight and I think I'm rambling. 
This past week I've been up until 2 a.m. - painting much of the day, breaking periodically for my pups to go out and to eat.  Late at night I get on the computer and print notecards, business cards, title tags, check emails, then pop back into the studio to finish up paintings, etc.  While folding and bagging notecards (so far, total of 4 hours doing cards and more to go)  I've watched a couple of shows (don't laugh: I like Celebrity Apprentice and American Idol as my version of easy listening.)  


Here are some pics of completed work, and I'm going to get some sleep. Tomorrow I have a visit to the vet with two furkids, have to round up paintings from galleries and get the house tidy.  And finish getting ready to show.