Sunday January 30, 2011

Whew~ another one of those long weekends, so that I feel like this going back to work tomorrow will be a break!  I've been painting in preparation for a few shows and opps coming up (not OOPS;  OPPS!) and feel like I'm kinda getting my grove back~

We are hopefully getting Duane's house on the market this week (and if you know us well, you know what a struggle THAT has been, and you've probably been over helping, so THANK YOU!) and he's actually over there right now clearing stuff up for the Truth In Housing Inspection tomorrow morning that my uncle Dick (who is in town from Baltimore because my 97 year old grama isn't doing well, and he just had dinner with us) said is unique to MN, lucky us.  It does feel like a ridiculous bunch of hoops to have to jump through, and we KNOW we aren't going to walk away from this house without damage, but I really appreciate Duane wanting to do it RIGHT and not just say "screw it".  Though I have to admit there are many (MANY) times that I feel like saying "SCREW IT!" at the top of my lungs.  I'm just sitting here, trying to focus on being grateful for all the glory in my life, and trying to keep the worrying at bay, because I do NOT know what is going to happen and if I keep looking at all the "what if?s"  my life will be full of a bunch of negative crap I have no control over and I'll be depressed and crabby and make my reality a hell.  SO I am choosing to be Pollyanna-ish and just hope for the best and keep foraging ahead.

Yup, that's it in a very large nutshell.

And this is my cat Toby...
he was my solace and comfort from my first apartment on my own to the first house my ex-husband and I owned.  I loved him a lot.

PINE CITY, Here I COME!

I spent the last weekend in Pine City at my friend's family cabin with a pack of my art-car-girl friends and it was WONDERFUL!  Aside from the smoke from the small kitchen oven (oven-mitts in there once, I think spilled-something burning the next time) which entirely filled the small space plus the wood stove's smoke, and the fact that I couldn't breathe until one of the women lent me her inhaler, it was stupendously productive for me, with 15 small paintings completed!  Three are commissions (one I can't post for a bit) and two others are of our accompanying dogs, and the other ten are all of the area around the cabin!

And here's the crazy thing, the thing I like the best, because somehow these things happen when you really don't try, and things magically come together and it really isn't a big deal but it is pretty cool, and here it is; I am having a SHOW at the Pine Center for the Arts in February!  I knew this before I knew where the girls' weekend was going to be!  And when I found out this wonderful symmetry, it just cracked me up!  And I was there with the perfect group of people with whom to chat and paint around a big table while they played Boggle and Frackle and other odd games!  I couldn't believe I got so much done- I can't wait to see them UP!  And it is so great to know they will be hanging in the area they were PAINTED!  Ain't that cheesy great?!
And I have been having a difficult time getting my painting going since X-mas...
whew!
So there it is!  I'll post a couple here~  and put the rest on my Facebook album!

...Yes, it is a new year- and I realized I didn't get June in on that last post!  So here she is~  I've been taking it a bit easy the last week, catching up and getting over a hacking, dripping, sneezy, crabby cold, probably caught from darling Max who Duane is teaching to cough and sneeze into his sleeve but who still mostly blows all over everything in his path including food and us.
I purposely left Jan open, and then jumped on a chance to have a show at the Blaine City Hall this month, with an opening on Jan 18th, 6-ish to 8 I think, with Layl McDill and Rita Schaefer-Seaton-  
To my surprise, Blaine City Hall is within a half an hour of our house, so if you are able to come for the opening, that would be great!
And then mom said she and I are invited to show at Bethesda Hospital this Feb and March, and I have a solo show at the Pine City Arts Center too in Feb, with that opening on Feb 11th!
Wow~  so much for trying not to plan anything...


And I spent some more time working on painting Max over break.  Not terribly happy-  really realizing I need to commit to painting daily again to keep this visual sense of color that I LOVE.  Too frustrating to let it go for a week and then try to pull it up again~
so, a possible "30 In 30" may happen this late winter...
kat~