Me, Donate??????!!!!!!!!

I was at the usual coffee hang out today, and I had just finished a new painting, when a person came up to me and asked me to donate a painting to the Academy of Arts and Dance.  How cool!!!!  It would be auctioned off for money to be used by the school.  I have until the end of March to make up my mind, so as I feel right now, I think I'm going to do it.  The painting is of the Grand Haven pier at sunset, and I really didn't like how it was going when I started it, but it seems to have worked itself out.  You tell me what you think.  My friend thinks it's a good Idea to donate a painting to get my name out there, but will anyone really buy what I do?  Who knows, I'll get the details about what they are going to start auctioning it off for.  She thinks that at least someone will see my art and pay for it.   It's not a matter of being seen or becoming famous to me, it's just a matter of getting them sold to get back some of my costs, and with donations as they are, I won't see a penny from it.  I think that however, what goes around comes around.  I can afford to give to a good cause, especially since it's a school.

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow

OMG.  The snow is coming down really thick and fast.  It's like snow drifts dropping from the sky.  I hate to say this, but it's really beautiful.  I always get kind of excited when the snow starts falling.  It's like a new cover for the ground.  It looks like there are a lot of closings coming across the t.v.  Another snow storm, yeah, I guess.  I knew it wasn't done for the season, as a lot of people had hoped.  We still have a couple of more months of this stuff to deal with.  I don't mind the snow, it's the cold that I don't like.  I get chilled to the bone.  Even though I have some extra weight on for this year, I still get cold very easily.  I kind of wonder what it would be like to have no snow for the winter, and be like tropical weather in the Virgin Islands.  Some day I will experience a whole season without snow.  Two years ago I went on a cruise to the Caribbean, and it was in January when  it started to get really cold here in Michigan.  It was quite nice to not have to wear a coat, and the sun shined every day.  The islands were beautiful, and the snorkeling was great.  The water was just the right temperature, and very warm.  The fish on the corral reef where very colorful, like neon blue and black.  I also saw an octopus.  Some of the fish were neon yellow.  It was a great time.  The food on the ship was outstanding, and so was the entertainment.  I think I might want to go on another cruise again, some day before I die.  This time to maybe the French Riviera.  That would be exciting.

Some kinda wonderful

I don't know why I put that up, just a song stuck in my head.  The weather is warmer today, but really windy.  I had so many errands to run today, I'm glad I got them all done.  I had to get some more paper for the business cards, and this time I got the right stuff, thank God.  It seems like it's time for spring, but in all reality, we have a couple of months more of this cold shit before spring is really here.  MMMMMM, this coffee is good.  I should have called this blog like Melissa's, but a Very, Very, Caffinated Me.  LOL.  I think I'm going to paint tonight.  Thinking about doing a pier picture with a really cool back drop of different colors.  Yellows, reds, and purples, or least I think that's how the picture looks.  The pier pictures sell the best here in the big resort town of  Grand Haven.  I just think that the multi-colors would look kinda like an Andy Worhal painting.  That would be cool.  I think I need a refill on coffee, this one really rocks.  It's chocolate, raspberry and vanilla. MMMMMMMM!!!!!!
 

New business cards

Wow, my best friend, Melissa did my business cards on her computer for me and they look great!!!!!!  Thanks Melissa!!!!!  The next two weeks are going to be hell with work, I have to fill in for a guy who's wife is having a baby.  The money will be great, but I'm getting too old to do split shifts, it just may kill me. LOL.  I'm sure I'll get through it, it just won't be a cake walk and I know that.  I just have to go into it with a positive state of mind.  It won't give me much time to do any painting, but I plan on getting some more supplies this week to do more pieces.  Maybe something will inspire me in the mean time.  Who knows?

some new ones

Okay, here are a couple that I haven't had on my blog, one is the barn on display, and the boat is my most recent painting.

This one of the cabin is a chistmas card that I had made.  I can't wait to get a frame for the sailboat.  That one will probably be put up in the spring time.

Just another sunset

I just finished a painting of a sail boat at sunset, I only used 2 colors, black and yellow.  It turned out pretty nice, just need to get my friend Melissa to take a picture of it so I can post it on my blog.  It's really a very simple painting and it only took me a couple of hours to do it, unlike some of my other works, that seem to take for ever because of the detail.  Maybe Doris, the owner of the  Jumpin Java coffee shop will let me display this one too.  It should look very nice in a black frame.
AAAhhhhhh, what to do next?  I really don't know.  Maybe another winter scene.  Who knows, maybe another barn or wooden bridge in the winter time.  That would be really cool.  I just need to find a good pic to work from.  MMmmmm, hunger strikes again, off to Rios, Mexican restaurant.

The new painting

I think I found it.  I was looking at some photos, the other evening with Melissa, of the Grand Haven Chamber of Commerce publication, and I found one that was of a boat and it was in the sunset, so all the colors are yellow and black.  I did a light house at sunset once, and it turned out really cool.  I can't remember what I sold it for, but it was the same colors, just yellows and blacks.  Of course different shades, but it was really nice.  I displayed it at the Arts Council 3 years ago.  This one is of  a tourist ship with sails that does charters.  I think I'm going to do it on large paper, 18x24.  Seeing as how the winter is in full force, and only a couple of months more, I think I will also start some type of spring paintings.  The seasonal ones seem to sell the best, and spring can be really beautiful.  So, I have some work cut out for me, and I hope that I can live up to the self imposed challenges.
 

I have the day off!!!!!!!

I thought maybe I would have to work today, the guy on days, him and his wife are expecting a baby.  The due date is today, but no call as of yet.   He's taking two weeks off, what a pain in the ass that will be for me.  I have to cover and work some split shifts.  So I'm still on call for tomorrow as well.  I hope the baby is at least a week late, that way I get my weekend off.
The sun is shining bright today, maybe some of the snow will melt.  We have had enough this year already to last us until summer.  It's not that I mind the snow so much, it's the cold weather that comes with it.  I feel like I'm getting too old to experience the seasons of Michigan.  My body just can't take the cold anymore.  Some day I may move to Arizona.  Hot and dry there.  It would be hard to get a job any where now at my age.  There a lot of younger more qualified people out there with out jobs, so I guess I'm grateful for the one that I have.  Especially in a resort town like Grand Haven.  Hopping for 3 months, then dead for 9.  At least at the nursing home it's not cyclic like the restaurant business.  There are a lot of aged people here.  That keeps the nursing home quite busy.

What is famous

I feel famous now, although many people may not know me by my initials and last name.   What is famous anyway?  I won't be famous for my art until I really sell a lot, make it into the artists registry, and die.  For now I think that I'm infamous for  my personality and my current art projects.  I haven't felt this way since I was on display at the Grand Haven Arts Council 4 years ago.  That was really exciting at the time and even though I felt like I didn't belong, because of the quality of the work I was displayed next to, I did enjoy the comments some of my friends made, like they didn't know I was that "good'.  That made me feel like I was at the right party and dressed for the part.  There are so many artists in this world who are so well practiced, and can look at something and paint it to look like a photo.  Even though I am told that art is subjective, I still feel a pang of not belonging.  The fact that I haven't painted for two years is part of that sense of not being "good enough".  I have to learn to feel more secure about the paintings that I make and believe, that above all else, I did my best.  Besides, I'm not doing it for the acclaim, but for the enormous calm that it brings over me, and  the sense of purpose that seems to find me.  Now when I look back, over the last 7 years I have produced many pieces that I have sold, and long forgot about.  Those should be the reminders that some people do enjoy my work, and are willing to pay for it.  That still seems like a big wow, that people have actually paid me for some of my paintings.  How cool.  I never thought that I would be painting, let alone selling them.  I had this mid life awakening that I wanted to give water colors a try, when my only other experience with them was an art class in high school.  So 7 years ago, my mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and I said paints, brushes and watercolor paper.  Now here I am, blogging about it. 
 

They are displayed

Wooooooo hoooo, the paintings are displayed!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Now I feel like a celebrity, and as soon as Melissa gets her computer to cooperate, she is sending a couple more picks so that I can post them on my blog.  I bet your wondering about my grey fleece that I'm always wearing.  Well it's one of the few that I have that fits, and being as cold as hell in Michigan, I wear it under my coat, and over my work uniform.  I usually go to the coffee shop right after work, so I don't have time to go home and change.  Okay, so you were'nt wondering, maybe I look as poor as I feel sometimes.  Oh well, boo hooo, hugh.

The new business cards that Melissa is making are on their way.   I did one more painting since my last post and it's a small one, of a cardinal.  The pic I looked at had it in the winter time on a snow covered branch, but I just left the snow out.  I really like to do winter scenes;  they take less paint, and are a little easier than the woods with leaves on the trees.  Okay, ready for more pictures?  Here they come.  Okay, one is of the one painting on display, the cabin  next to the stream at nite time with the moon is one I had a printing company make into a christmas card, and of course the cardinal is the most recent.

Thank you

Thanks Melissa, the cards will come in handy.  I was going to just make some, but that would look tacky.  Thanks again.  I dropped the paintings off today, and Doris said that she would put them up tomorrow.  I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!  I hope she doesn't put them up in the bathrooms!!!!!!!!!!  Oh well displayed anywhere is better than no where at all.  I hope it's right out in the open, one can dream.  Steve seems to like them as well, I just don't know what I'll be painting next.  Mom has been excited about me painting again, and of course, she has all these ideas for me.  I have to paint what I feel.  I know she was trying to be helpful, but sometimes she can be a little pressuring.  She has this distorted opinion that I can paint anything, which is not always true.  I learned that from experience.  It does have to be something that I'm capable of doing.  Who knows what will be next.

I've been framed!!!!!!!!!!!

Not really, but I did frame two paintings today.  They are the ones that I'm going to display at the coffee shop.  They do look really cool in frames.  It makes them look like they were done by a professional.  I wish that I could find some matting that will fit the frames, but when you matt, the frame has to be a lot bigger, and they usually don't fit.  If  I bring it to a framing shop, it would cost me more than what I could get out of the painting,  making the cost of the painting much more.  Then I would have to charge $200 for them.   I don't think they would sell.  Besides, I really just want to display them as cheap as possible, hoping that they would sell.  I think that would be more practical.  I've seen some people put their works in expensive frames, and never recoup the cost.   So, I still haven't come up with and idea for the next painting.  Maybe I will do some wild life, like some birds or something like that.  When I painted an eagle, his belly was a little fat, and it did look really funny, but I'll be damned, someone bought it.  Too funny!!!!!
I think that I'm getting addicted to blogging, damn you Melissa!!!!!!!  Anyway, I still need some business cards to put with the paintings.  That will have to wait.  I bet I could get the print shop to design some for me, but they would be kind of pricey.  Well, that's all for now.  Time to look at some pictures to get ideas for the next painting.

another Saturday

Well, I just bought 2 frames for the paintings I have.   As I look at some of my earlier works, It has been about 7 years ago, rather than 5, that I first started painting.  I need to print some business cards to put with them to try to sell them.  I think in the mean time, I'll get some card stock and make some by hand, I don't have a printer.  One of them is the last painting I did that you can see on here.  The other is a barn in the winter time that I painted 2 years ago.  I think that I'll sell the latest one for $75, and the barn for $50.  The prints of photos on display here at the coffee shop are selling for $125.  Wow!  I didnt know that you could ask for such a price for a print.  I guess you can ask for any price, but will some one pay it?
I have sold some of my other past works for as high as $100, but others that I see for sale range up to $300, and thats just for watercolor paintings.  I'm definately not in it for the money, but mostly for the therapy of it.  Maybe I can sell some more to at least get some more money to buy supplies.  The paper and the paints can get pricey, but at least compared to other medias, it's cheap.  How cool, I just talked to Doris, the owner of the Jumpin Java coffee shop that I paint at and she said to bring them in and she would find a place to hang them.   She has always been a big supporter of my art work and loves it when I paint at her shop.  How Cool!!!!!!!!!!!!  

wow, followers

Thanks Melissa and Max for following my blog, now I feel like a movie star!!!!!!  Lol, now I just need to figure out how to follow you two.

What made me do it

Yes, I confess, it was my best friend Melissa that "strongly suggested" that I start painting again.  We both play on the laptops, but have come to a conclusion that it was not very gratifying, and that she could crochet instead of doing the computer thing and that I could start painting again.  Well, we get alot of funny looks at the coffee shop that we hang out in, and our table has been dubbed the arts and crafts table.  Melissa does some beautiful work at the crocheting, and may even begin to start selling some things that she makes, like baby sweaters, baby hats, and wonderfully constructed scarfs.  I did ask the manager of the coffee shop if my friend who owns it would like to display some of my work and even price it to sell.  She has told me before that if she sees it first then I can display it.  Now I just need to get some frames and bring it in when she is working during the day.  "Doris has always been very supportive of my painting at her coffee shop, and I think she would love to see more of it.  At least Melissa and I have a great place to spend time doing crafts, and some great coffee to drink while we do it, and it also gives us a chance to talk about the days issues.  Now the big question is what do I paint next?  Hmmm, some more scenery?  Some wild life?  More barns and bridges?  I really don't know yet, but if I see a picture that catches my attention, that may be the next creation.  Some times I look at pictures, and then I paint the aspects that I like about it, rather than just to copy the picture, then I add some things that I like to it to create my own picture.  Sometimes I just start to paint and never really know where it's going to go until I put everything in place.  I paint alot of things from my mind as I see them, so it may not be very acurate.  I do like to work with pictures, at least that way the paintings will have some semblence of reality.  I don't draw them first, I just start painting.  I guess that makes me a not very good artist, but at least now, I'm starting to not really focus on what other people think, but to just do it for the calm that it seems to give me.

I can't say enough about starting to paint again after not doing it for two years.  It was a tragic loss of  a business that my best friend and I created, and as things would have it, the funding was pulled, and we were left with a huge empty spot that I know was tragic for my friend, and devastating for me.  It really took the wind out of my sails, and it has been all I can do to start the creative process again.  I am a very inexperienced painter that started playing around with water colors about five years ago, and found that I really enjoyed it, and  best of all, some people started to really like what I was painting.  Since then, I have sold many sceneries, peir pictures with Lake Michigan in the back ground, and still lifes.  I've also done some dragons and fairies for family members.  I don't consider myself an artist, although some of my friends do.  I consider it a creative outlet, to stop the squirrel cage in my head from turning round and round.