Beautiful Day!

I just returned from a walk along the Rio Grande. What a beautiful day it is! I need to make my walks along the river a daily thing again. It has been way too long! No wonder my mind has been racing with thoughts and worries. All it takes is twenty minutes among the trees, birds, squirrels and rushing water to clear my mind and make me feel totally at peace with the world. I know this, so why do I let months pass without these wonderful calming walks?

How many people out there spend their lives without ever stopping to see all the little details of nature? It makes me sad to think of these people, rushing around, to work, home from work, always hurrying around for this and that, never stopping for a second to appreciate the beauty in the little details of life. The veins in a single leaf, the ripples in the water, the clouds in the sky with all their wonderful shapes!

For some time now I have been struggling with my subject matter as an artist. What shall I paint? How shall I paint it? Should I stick to realism or let go with an abstract. Today's walk made something clear to me, I need to let my art come from inside of me, and paint all the little details that everyone else misses. It's a mix of realism and abstraction. Those little details are all around me, but in my rush to live in this crazy world, I'd forgotten about them.

I love walking along the Rio Grande, especially here in Albuquerque. As I walk out of my neighborhood and into the trees, the sound of traffic is overtaken by the sounds of birds singing and wind blowing through the leaves, water rushing(or trickling as is most times the case these days) down to the sea. It's easy to forget that you are in the middle of the largest city in New Mexico! It often reminds me of walking through Central Park in New York City. If it wasn't for my walks along the Rio Grande, I don't know if I could live in the city another day. Of course, my ultimate dream is to someday live far, far away from the city, but until then, walks along the river will have to do!

Now, off to the studio to paint!

Waiting for the gesso to dry

While I wait for my gessoed canvas boards to dry, I decided to post this painting that I finished a couple days ago. This is H2O oils on canvas board, small size of 4 x6 inches. I'm going to list this on etsy for the awesome price of $10!

No Motivation!

I am having a very difficult time building up momentum today. No motivation to do anything. I haven't painted in too long! I have spent the last couple of days getting canvas boards gessoed so I will have something to paint on, other than that, I'm lost.

To any other artists reading this; what do you do to inspire yourself to create?

I usually can make myself start painting and then it just seems to flow. For some reason that isn't happening today. I don't know why. I have no ideas for paintings, actually I do, they just aren't appealing to me today.

I think I've been closed up in the house for too many days straight. I'm feeling a little stir crazy. We haven't been hiking in way too long. The weather hasn't been cooperating, not to mention we've been working 7 days a week since school started.

Yesterday was my middle son's 16th birthday.....I'm feeling old! My baby will be 14 in November! Where did all the time go?

I guess I should stop feeling sorry for myself and cheer up! My life is more than great and I have nothing to complain about. I guess I'm just in a funk right now. That settles it, I think I'll go for a walk down by the Rio Grande and perhaps take the camera. Maybe I can find some inspiration down there?!

Gearing up for the State Fair

The next two weeks are preparation time! On September 8th, the New Mexico State Fair begins and I will be there with my art! I had a booth last year for the first time, and boy was it a blast! People come from all over the state to join in the festivities! This year will be even more fun for me as I will be sharing a booth with my artist friend, Josephine Brionez de Flores. She does wonderful work with feathers. The only other show she sells at is the Spanish Market in Santa Fe. This will be her first year at the Fair. I plan to get some photos of her work posted here in the near future.

One of the new things I plan to have this year is my photography. I have been taking photos all my life, I received my first camera when I was 8 years old. Up to this point I have always used photos as reference material for my art and never considered selling my photos as art on their own. My grandpa was a wonderful photographer and he even owned his own printing shop. So, I guess I'm following in his footsteps with the photography. I only wish he was still here to see the work I've done. I only hope he's smiling down on me! :) Below are a few of the photos I have already printed. They were taken this summer at Arches National Park. I will post more as I get them printed.

I also have a series of cloud photos that will be shown for the first time at the Fair. I hope to have the photos printed as matted prints as well as notecards. I will post the cloud photos later as I am having trouble with blogger at the moment.

On another note, my middle son turns 16 today! Poor guy, he's home sick today with a nasty cold/flu thing and a high fever. It seems like only yesterday he was a little boy!

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One Painting a Day

Recently read an article about artist bloggers posting/selling a painting a day on their blogs. I have had a few of these blogs bookmarked for some time and have been contemplating doing something similar for a while. My problem is getting into the habit of painting everyday. Heck, I'd be happy to be painting 4-5 days a week. I had already decided that I would put all of my originals up for sale on my blog from now on. I've thought about dumping ebay completely, but I may keep putting the originals on ebay so I can use the auction format. Although I have also considered setting a flat price and selling them directly on the blog. Check back soon and find out what I decide to do. I plan to decide and start posting originals here within the next week or so. I have finished some painting projects this week. More trinket boxes and I even have a birdhouse to paint today or tomorrow.

Ebay fees are killing me!

Ebay is killing me with their fee increases! On top of the increases, my sales have plummeted! I'm trying to decide whether it is worth it to keep listing on ebay. I have already started listing on two other sites; etsy.com and ecrater.com because their fees are either low or nonexistent. Anyone out there have any suggestions? The hardest part of my decision comes with the holiday season quickly approaching. Ebay has always been good to me during the holidays. However, I know that the only way to truly let ebay know I'm unhappy, is to pull all my listings completely. I could email them and complain, post nasty messages on the forums, go on strike, etc, etc. But I seriously think the only way they will get the message is by losing my business completely. If they really wanted people to list more auctions and less store listings, they would LOWER their auction fees, not raise the store fees! Just another case of corporate America taking advantage of us little guys. Well, I don't think I will stand for it much longer! Just like I stopped shopping at Walmart, I think the only thing to do is stop selling on ebay.

Let me know what you think? What are you doing? What would you do if you were in my position?

New online venue

Ever since ebay raised their fees AGAIN I've been looking for another website to list my art on. I have found a great FREE site called ecrater.com. I am currently in the process of moving most of my listings into my new ecrater store. I will still have art listed on ebay and etsy, but if you are looking for absolutely everything I offer, head over to my shop at: http://manninglewisstudios.ecrater.com/

I plan to eventually have all my originals, prints, photos and notecards available there.

I just finished a huge order for matting, so once I get my studio back in shape I will be busy painting new landscapes from my trip to Moab and Mesa Verde this summer.

Another new thing I've created is handpainted jewelry boxes. I hope to post them in my Etsy shop by the end of the day. They will be selling for $20 which is a steal for an original piece of art!






















Other than all that, I will be spending the next few weeks getting ready for the New Mexico State Fair. I will have a booth for the second year in a row in the Enchantment Arts and Crafts area. If you are local or just in the area between September 8-24, stop by and say hi! I will be sharing a booth with my good friend, artist Josephine Brionez de Flores. She makes wonderful feather art; wall hangings, masks, and jewelry. I need to get a link put up for her ecrater store, but I need to find it first!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day, week and month! PEACE!

Strange phone call

I received a phone call yesterday morning that really shocked the hell out of me. I can't really be specific about who it was since I promised I would keep it secret for now. Basically, this someone read my art story and related to it on a very personal level. This person let me know that history was repeating itself (doesn't it always?) and that I was right about everything I had ever told them. The best part of the phone call was being told that I was right! Now, of course, everyone likes to be told they are/were right, but in this case, it REALLY FELT GOOD!! This is something I've been waiting for and never thought would happen. At the same time that I'm happy about being right, I feel bad for this person having to go through what they're going through. No one should have to go through that! Life is hard enough without having deal with the person you love screwing you over. In case that person is reading this, I just want them to know I am here for you. Heck, I'm here for anyone. I like to think of myself as a good person, and a good friend. So, if you read my art story and have your own story to share, feel free to drop me a line sometime!

On a lighter note, I am so excited! I was able to find my hubby a piano for free!! He has wanted a piano forever but we could never afford one. So, I signed up for a yahoo group called Freecycle and after about a month, I found Aaron a piano! Freecycle is a group that was set up to promote recycling instead of dumping in landfills. Follow the link to find out more. It is a wonderful group of people!

School started today, so I finally have the house to myself during the day again! I should now be able to get back into my groove and start painting, posting, listing, etc, etc. Keep checking back as I plan to have new stuff up here as well as on the website and selling sites. I have some new things I've been working on and I'm looking forward to getting some feedback. Hope everyone has a wonderful day! I will most definitely be posting more often now. :)

Summer break is over

Sorry about the gap in postings. I was enjoying the last week or so of summer break. My hubby goes back to school today and the boys go back on the 10th and 14th. So, back to work/play I go! I have lots of organization to get done today and probably for the rest of the week. I will be looking into a new selling website called ecrater. An ebay powerseller friend of mine told me about it. All the listings are free unless you use the featured listings. We shall see, I have to do something different, ebay is killing me with all their fee increases!

I am now making frames in addition to mats. I was lucky enough to buy out the equipment from a frame shop that went out of business. I am hoping to target other artists who need framing but hate to pay frame shop prices. Since I work out of my home studio, I don't have all the overhead, so I can offer wholesale pricing. I will also ship anywhere, so keep an eye out for my new frame listings.

Another new thing I started last week is painted boxes. I really enjoyed making them and I hope to list them in my etsy.com shop by the end of the week.

My boys came home from their visit with their dad yesterday. It is so nice to have them home. Now I don't have to worry about them anymore!

I may post more later once I get my thoughts together.