one of those days

It's been a while, I've been busily working on my commissions. Finished the second pottery drawing for the first commission, I will post it later. I'm close to finishing the portrait for the second commission also. Looking forward to finishing so I can get back to my own work. I have been making jewelry while working on the commissions. Mostly hemp with beads. It is a relaxing hobby to do while watching tv.
Today started out as one of those days, until I received a couple of kind emails from collectors of my work. It is amazing how a simple email can make my day when I'm feeling a little blah! I think that is my favorite part of being an artist. Getting letters or email from strangers who have been touched in some way by my art. That's why I do what I do. It is inspiring to know that I can have an effect on people I have never and may never meet. Although it can also be a little embarrassing to have someone go on about my work, it truly makes all the hard work and rejection worth while!

Working in the studio

It feels great to be back in the studio everyday! Even though I am working on commissions and not my own work. The commissions I'm doing are two of my favorite subjects, pottery and portraits. Once I finish the 2 drawings and the painting I have to do, I will get back to my peace flower abstract series. I also would like to do some more rock paintings and nudes. I'm just so excited to be back!
This morning I'm working on getting my computer work done. I have many prints to get into the Ebay store and I also hope to get my website updated. The website update will probably take more than a couple days as I am completely remodeling it. It needs it! While searching my name a few weeks ago, I found a site that reviewed my website and it wasn't a nice review! The reviewer loved the art but said it was a shame that the site was so bad! So that was a wake up call for a complete overhaul. I've been wanting to do it for some time, I just haven't had the time to spend on it. I only have one week of uninterrupted time before school ends and Aaron and Nate will be home all day, everyday. While I love having them home and not having to get up early for school, it makes working from home much more difficult. So with that, I'd better get to work!

Summer is here!!

I just came home from my final final! The semester is now officially over!
I am looking forward to getting back to business now. Actually, I've been easing back into it over the past week, between studying for finals. I will be posting alot of new things in my Ebay store and plan a complete overhaul of my website. I have quite a bit of new work that needs to go up. I have already started putting my new jewelry into the Ebay listings and have much more to do. So I guess I had better get to work!

Paula :)

Almost Summer!

One more week until my summer begins! I am so looking forward to getting back to my art. I don't know what I was thinking, going to school full time and trying to work full time! The good news is I have discovered alot about myself and realized that college is not for me! I do have a degree already, I thought I wanted to go back to get my certification to be an art teacher. What I found is that I am an artist pure and simple. While I love working with kids, I don't have to be a full time certified teacher to do that. Knowing as much as I do about the profession of public school teaching, both my parents and my husband are public school teachers, you would think I would have been scared away from it long ago. A big part of my decision came from writing a research paper for my English class on the No Child Left Behind Act. I didn't know much about it until then and that was enough to push me off the fence of uncertainty.
I had already been considering my motives for becoming a teacher; trying to please my parents, feeling like I don't contribute enough to our finances, feeling like a bad person because I only have an Associates degree. I'm not doing it for me!
Why should I care if I'm the first one in my family to NOT earn a BA degree? I have known since I was 13 that I wanted to be a professional artist. Being an artist is the only "job" I've had that I can work at for 80 hours a week and not feel like I've worked at all. I guess the only problem is that I don't earn an hourly wage! I guess that is besides the point because I am doing what I love and I need to stop letting other people make me feel like I don't work. I work harder at being an artist because it's my dream and I love what I do. After all, isn't that most important? For me it is! Life is too short!

Below is my first finished piece in months! I just finished it today and boy am I happy! It took waaay too long to get this one done. It is a commission piece. This is a pencil drawing of a Mata Ortiz pottery piece. I still have two more drawings to do for this commission, then on to another commission, a portrait.

Blog Replaces Newsletter

It has been a couple of years since I published my last newletter. I used to send my newsletters out quarterly on a very regular basis. Now that I have discovered blogging, this will replace my old newsletters. I plan to use my blog to keep everyone up to date on my art activities. As my first and last semester back at college (it's a long story! maybe I'll get to it later) is soon to end, I will have much more time for weekly and possibly daily posting. Daily is probably a little far fetched with my habits! I hope to put up pictures of my latest artworks and discuss some of my ideas for future art. My primary goal is to make this a forum for keeping in touch with my art fans and giving them a little peek inside my head. This could get scary so watch out! It seems everyone loves a little reality show these days! So please come back often and if you plan to reply to my posts, please be nice! We artists can be sensitive! :)

Sincerely,

Paula :)