rainy days are perfect for painting.

It really does rain in the desert, and today was one of those days.  

I've mentioned here previously that the kids & I do our week's worth of school in four days, so Friday is available for other things.  Naomi & Joshua were doing some math they didn't finish earlier in the week, but other than that we didn't have any other schoolwork going on.

So I got to put on my artist "hat" today! I started this painting two weeks ago today and hadn't done anything else to it until this afternoon. 

Took a break in the midst of today's work to be chef, but was able to complete it today.  I'm calling it done. Feels good! :)

night at the (art) museum.

Something we love about Phoenix is its First Fridays event on the first Friday of every month.  Art galleries downtown have evening hours and the Phoenix Art Museum offers free admission so that people in the community can enjoy the downtown art scene. We don't make it every month but love visiting the art museum a handful of times a year.  They change some of the exhibits, so there is a bit of variety from month to month.

These photos are from our last visit, in December.

Naomi loves having her photo taken. ;)

In the modern wing of the museum.

This was a mixed media piece with objects such as old books affixed to the surface.

Can you tell Matt just *loves* selfie time?  He's a good sport. ;)

Photogenic girl asked me to take her photo by this lady.  (Really quite an impressive painting, a portrait of a wealthy lady long ago.)

Did I mention our daughter loves to have her photo taken?

This enormous painting is one of my favorites in the Phoenix Art Museum.  He is larger than life, and I just love the leeks in his hand and basket.  Such an amazing piece.

I call this "Family Abandoned in an Art Museum."

In the Southwestern part of the Museum. Lots of older Southwestern paintings, as well as more contemporary ones.  I love this.

I suppose it's bad that I haven't acknowledged the artists whose works appear in these photos, but there you have it.  

I can't even begin to tell you how much more I love visiting art galleries and museums than I did as an art student! (Sometimes I wish I could take those required art history classes again, or at least go back & somehow get the younger me to care more about them.)  I am ever so thankful for the art scene here in Phoenix and am glad we can enjoy it. :)

i feel dizzy.

Well, I don't feel literally dizzy.  But life is flying by at a dizzying pace, and it feels a little crazy when I stop and take it all in.

Marissa with bestie Sydney (and David) in Marquette on Saturday.

Marissa is in Michigan right now for a scholarship competition at our alma mater, which just so happens to be the university David attends.  The competition finished up today and she has a few more days with David before flying back here on Thursday.  It all feels like a foretaste of next fall, when she will be off at college.  Yikes!  Where does the time go?

In my booth at Carefree.

I had another art fair the first weekend of the month.  It was a really good quality one with really good artists, and I felt honored to have been juried in.  But it was a bit slower than normal according to artists who have done it many years.  I didn't make my booth fee, so I was rather discouraged.  I still am.  (Just keeping it real.)

She's a cute little fluff.  Still working on the name...

We got a new puppy last Thursday night.  For years I was perfectly happy to only have one dog at a time, other than the short overlap of two dogs before Jack died.  But my mind was changed recently.  See, Zoe has "social issues" as we like to say.  She's great at home with us but goes crazy when she sees other dogs.  About a month ago, we started talking about getting another dog so she would be better socialized with other dogs.  And when we were in Flagstaff a couple months ago, Matt & the kids met a Wheaten Terrier at the art fair and fell in love with it.  

So we started looking for Wheatens on Craig's List and found this one last Thursday.  She's six weeks old, 3/4 Wheaten Terrier and 1/4 Rottweiler, and doesn't have a name yet.  Zoe isn't quite sure what to think, but we think they'll be good friends after she gets used to her.

A hike in Marquette on David's birthday, with three sets of siblings, all good friends... Kayla & Micah (outer edges), Sydney & Calvin (center), and Marissa & David (2nd from left & 2nd from right).  It was fun to get a text with a few pics from his big day.  Made me smile. :)

David turned twenty on Saturday!  Lately people have been saying when they hear that our oldest is twenty that I don't look old enough to have a 20 year old.  It's fun to hear and I always smile when they say it. :)  It's pretty wild to have a son in his twenties now and to remember that six months after I turned twenty, Matt & I were married.  Wow... time really does fly. :)

Naomi fractured a bone in her ankle yesterday.  She fell down the last five stairs at home, and was in a lot of pain, not wanting to put any weight on it.  I took her to urgent care today and the x-ray showed a little crack in the bone on the inside of her ankle (the bottom of her tibia).  So she has a splint (which makes it feel lots better), crutches and an appointment tomorrow with an orthopedic doctor.  They say it will take 4-6 weeks to heal.  

So I feel kind of tired and emotionally spent today.  I normally don't like to post when I feel that way, but sometimes I think it's good just to be real.  God is still good even when I'm not feeling all put together.  And I am ever so thankful for that. :)

three years.

It was three years ago this month that I decided to start back up with my art again.  My first painting was of pumpkins, and you can see my post about that here.  Last week, I did another pumpkin painting and thought it would be interesting to get my first painting back out for a comparison.

 

I knew that the new painting was better, but I am astonished at the difference.  Sort of dumbfounded, really.  And, I have to admit that I felt slightly embarrassed that I thought I could sell art with a painting like that.  But I guess that's all part of the learning curve.

It has been quite the journey these past few years as I have taken up a medium--acrylic paint--that I didn't use much before and gotten to know and love it, to train my eyes to look at things a bit closer to see what's really there so I can capture it in a painting.  It's been such a stretching, challenging, gut-wrenching, personal and emotional experience for me so far getting back into art and making a business of it, and I know the journey isn't over. I've really grown to love art in a way that I didn't before.  Not just to make art myself, but to appreciate the art of the past as well as what's currently being created.

It feels like I'm right on the edge of this art business really making it.  I'm getting into juried art fairs now.  One week from today is another one, and I'm praying this is the one that begins to show a profit for my art business.

Whatever happens, I am planning to keep painting, to keep trying to find my niche in the art world.  Wherever that is.  And I plan to keep learning, improving, discovering and loving art. 

flagstaff art in the park.

This was my second juried art fair.  Two years ago, when I was in the beginning phases of learning everything I could about art fairs, we were in Flagstaff and checked out the Flagstaff Art in the Park 4th of July event.  At the time, I was taking lots of mental notes and thought to myself, maybe next year?  Maybe by then I'll have a display put together and enough art and get into this art fair.

So, two years and a couple of months later, it was pretty cool to be juried into their Labor Day event.  

We borrowed a big white van from friends and took out the middle two benches so we could put my art display in the center.  It was pretty funny-looking, having the kids so far back from us, but it worked really well. If this art fair business takes off for me, we might be in the market for a 15-passenger van. :)

Pringles duck faces when we were out running errands before loading the van. :)  I forgot to take a photo once we had everything loaded in, but this is where in the van the kids were seated.

My artist neighbors' booths to the left.

Neighbors to the right.

First day booth shot.  Before the downpour.

After the downpour.  Thankfully, the two ladies who had sought refuge in my booth during the storm were very helpful.  As we watched the drips in my display (which Matt & I had taped off & sealed beforehand) multiplying rapidly, I remembered a roll of 3.5 mil plastic painters dropcloth I had bought "just in case".  We installed it as an inner roof, and my paintings were saved from the dripping water! :)

Matt & the kids, later on in the day.  They had been out when the downpour happened and got to me as quickly as possible.  There was so much rain, Matt said he was almost afraid to drive in it... the puddles were the size they always say you should not drive in.

After the downpour on Saturday, it rained most of the rest of the day.  This is quite a gloomy-looking shot of the row I was in.  Thankfully, the remaining two days turned out so lovely! :)

I wasn't sure going in how I'd do at this fine art & craft fair, being more on the "fine art" end of things.  It seemed that the lower-priced items were more popular with the patrons of this event.  We had a major downpour on Saturday, which definitely hampered things.  It was amazing to see how many people came out after the heaviest rains were over, carrying umbrellas and wearing raincoats.  These people didn't seem fazed by rain.

On Sunday & Monday, we had beautiful weather and lots of crowds.  On Sunday, there was a farmers market nearby, so a lot of the folks going there came through the art fair on their way to and from the farmers market.  I had so much fun people-watching and dog-watching, and talking to a lot of people who came into my booth. On Sunday, a lot of kids practically dragged their parents into my booth to look at my avocado painting.  Funny thing was, I was slightly surprised that they seemed to like avocados as much as our kids do, but didn't really think any more about it.  On the next day I didn't have *any* comments on that piece.  I started wondering perhaps if it was because of all the farmers market patrons that came through on Sunday that I had so many avocado-loving kids come by that day. :)

Partial booth shot on day two.  It seems my booth is a constant work in progress during an art fair.  I sit there and notice things I'd like to rearrange, so I move things around.

After I was done for the day on Sunday, we walked around downtown Flagstaff and got pizza for dinner.  There are some amazing murals, and Jesse positioned himself so the NAU lumberjack was splitting his head.  (Yikes!)

After dinner, more fun with murals.  Matt & the kids were standing next to the mural people.  It was rather dark, so it didn't turn out so great.

We took the kids into this historic hotel downtown, and happened upon a group who get together every Sunday night for drinks & to play Celtic music.  It was such a nice surprise! :)

The three most commented-on paintings for the whole weekend: 
1. Wild Blueberries (which is for sure one of my best works)
2. Adirondack Chairs (I wish I could count how many people walked by and said, "I want to be there!" as they pointed at my painting.)
3. Horse Eye (either people loved it or it made them feel creeped out, but I had some truly heart-felt compliments on how I had "gotten" the horse eye just right.)

On day 3, we opened my booth up to the street behind me again.  It's how we originally started out before the downpour on Saturday, but I'd been afraid to try it again in case of rain.  I had paintings on the back outside wall, too.

Another shot of my booth on day 3.

As for how I did?  Well... I sold some smaller prints, but didn't come anywhere near to making my booth fee, let alone meeting my total expenses.  But it was still a lovely weekend, fun to visit with the other artists and talk with a lot of really interesting people who came by, a nice getaway for our family from the heat.  And, it was pretty cool being a part of the event that I had hoped to get into, back at the beginning before I had a display or even enough paintings to really contemplate getting into a juried event.

A shot Marissa took right before the end of the art fair, on Monday afternoon.  I enjoyed meeting my artist neighbors.  This particular neighbor (in the bright skirt) and I talked about a lot of things... homeschool, natural childbirth, baby wearing, life in the Midwest vs. life in Arizona.

 A shot Marissa took, looking down towards my booth (on the left behind the lady walking by) just before the end of the art fair.

I'm still trying to find my niche for my art, whether the art fair market is even the right place to try to sell my work.  But I'm not giving up on this art fair thing yet.  I've got a juried art festival coming up in a couple of months, and we'll see how I do there.  I just have to pace myself on applying for more art fairs, because paying booth fees without selling enough to cover the fees adds up pretty quickly.

life.

Time has been flying so quickly lately.  So, I'll just try to do a quick little update on life from our perspective.

My Grandpa went to be with the Lord three weeks ago yesterday.  
It was the first time that we weren't able to go to a funeral of a close family member, and I really didn't like the way it felt.  I am ever so grateful to my sister Becky, who took lots of photos.  It was so good to see the visitation and funeral, although it would have been even better to be there in person and talk with everyone.  But, flights were just too expensive and driving would have taken too long, not to mention our van has over 200,000 miles and shouldn't be relied upon for such a long trip.

There was one photo Becky took of my grandma sitting next to my grandpa's casket where she looks so forlorn, like she is alone in this world and not sure of how she's going to do it.  Then, a couple of photos later, I saw a photo of my brother Dean kneeling down beside her, with his newborn daughter in our Grandma's lap.  It just struck me as the way life is.  Life and death, all tied up together.  

We're back at it with school again.
Schools out here start early.  The public schools in our city were up & running on August 5.  Yikes!  Earlier in the year, I had looked at the calendar, figured out what breaks we would take and decided if we started on the 19th, we'd have enough time to do our year's schoolwork and still be done by Memorial Day weekend.  So that's what we did.

Because we're not all gathered up at the beginning of a school day to head out together, I don't have any of the group "first day of school" photos like most parents take.  But I did get some in-action school shots during our first week.  :)

Jesse (grade 5) and Joshua (grade 7) working on their math.  This year we're trying something new (for us) for math... it's called "Easy Peasy Homeschool" and it's a compilation of all free stuff online.  They are really liking it so far! :)

Random shot I took while on the floor, looking up at our school books and globe. :)

The boys reading a Winston Churchill speech up in their room.

Naomi (grade 4) reading aloud to me from a book about Benjamin Franklin.

Bible time on one of the first days of the new school year.

Joshua at Bible time that same day.

I'm working a lot on my art business.
I had an art fair over Labor Day weekend, but I'll do a separate post about that.  And I have another one coming up the first weekend in November.  I had to cancel being a part of another one I had been juried into, just because the cost of another booth fee was proving to be too much right now. :(  We're also contemplating looking into other ways to sell my art.  Like freelancing or signing on with an agent to find illustration jobs for me.  It's all been such a stretching experience for me these past few years, but I feel like this art thing is going to work, one way or another.

David started college.
It's true.  We are now the parents of a college student!  No longer are we just alumni of Northern Michigan University, but we are also NMU parents.  The first time the change really hit me was a year ago when we visited the Admissions and Financial Aid offices with him.  I'm sure being on campus with him next summer when we're up will be even more strange, when it will be "his" school and we'll be the outsiders.  Wow.  How can it be possible that the baby boy I gave birth to almost 20 years ago has been on his own for a year and is a college student now?  Time is weird.

Speaking of which, Marissa is a senior.
And she is full into searching for scholarships mode.  We have a stack of library books she found on the subject, and she's scheduled to re-take the ACT to hopefully bump it up even more than the awesome score she already got, to see if that will help with getting some good scholarships.  She's eyeing up a couple of schools in Michigan (yes, NMU is one of them) and will decide based on what financial aid comes in.  And, I suppose what her heart tells her, too. :)  In the meantime, I'm really trying to soak up our Marissa time, because in a year she will be out spreading her wings and seeing what God has for her.  Wow.  So crazy how quickly it happens.

Well, I guess that's about it for now.  Life is busy as always, but it's good.  And I'm going to write that post about my art fair. :)

thoughts about my art business and confidence.

It's fun thinking over the past two years, because almost exactly two years ago is when I first started thinking maybe I was ready to GO FOR IT and try for some art fairs.  I learned (sadly) that I wasn't *really* ready yet, but that was when I started making progress on the whole art fair business thing.

• I got my business name registered with the state of Arizona.
• I got my sales tax license with the state of Arizona.
• I bought my art display, complete with everything I needed to get started (other than the art).
• I started painting more. 
• I began checking out art fairs and taking lots of mental notes.
• And so on...

Lately I've been reading a lot online about getting your art business going... yep, there's a lot out there about it. :)  And it's helping a lot.  I have also noticed that the more I paint, the more my confidence grows, the better my work gets, and the more my confidence grows, and so on.  It's kind of a nice cycle, if you ask me. 

Here are some posts from that time two years ago when I was first trying to get this all started.  It's kind of nice to read them, now that I've been in one juried art fair and have gotten in to three more for this fall. 

A post about confidence (or lack thereof).
After I got my art display.
My first time setting up the display & taking a booth shot.
Not invited. (my first art fair rejection) Ugh.
Thoughts after my first non-juried art fair.

This is my most recent booth shot, the one that got me juried into these next three art fairs.  Quite a contrast to the one in the blog post above! :)

Now that I am actually being juried into art fairs and preparing for the three this fall, I feel excited because this is what I've been working toward for going on three years now.  But I also feel apprehensive about if it will really work, if we can make this art fair thing happen as a real source of income.  

I have to keep reminding myself that each art fair is going to be a learning experience, and after four art fairs I will still be pretty new to the whole art fair scene.  And that these feelings I have are normal for anyone starting out on a new business venture.  It's really pretty exciting. :)

delinquent blogger.

Yep, that's me.  

Lately, I've been busy with life and just haven't taken the time to sit down and write something here.  And, quite honestly, I can't really decide what the purpose of my blog is anymore.  Seems like when I look back at previous posts, it all starts looking the same.  I mean, how many times can I post about the same "anniversaries"... my brain surgery, kids' birth stories, our anniversary, Jessica's death?  And how many "we're so excited to be counting down to our vacation" posts can my readers take? 

At heart, I am an introvert and am constantly thinking deep thoughts--often being critical of myself--of how I need to be a better follower of Christ, a better wife, mom, teacher, etc.  But I don't really want to post these things on the internet.  So things seem a bit quiet around here on the blog because there's a lot going on in my head, but not much to post about. 

Anyway.  With that said, I will attempt to publish a post here that might be somewhat interesting to the few family members that follow me. :)

So.  What *is* happening around here?

 

We celebrated our 23rd anniversary in May with a quick little getaway to Scottsdale.  VERY nice! :)

family.
We are getting ready to leave for our annual Michigan trip.  Yay!  (There, I said it.)  We are counting down to our vacation, in fact Marissa is already *on* vacation.  She flew up ahead of us and is enjoying a week with David and then a week with her bff (that's best friend forever, in case you were wondering) Sydney.  

The rest of us will soon be joining her in good old GR before we drive up to Marquette.  I am SO looking forward to seeing David and finally checking out his apartment and seeing some of the cool stuff he's discovered up there since he's been living on his own.  :)  We haven't seen him since he was here for Christmas.

The boys, doing school papers.

school. 
We were planning to have it all wrapped up by tomorrow.  But then I realized that not all the things that were supposed to be getting done have been getting done.  (One of those I-need-to-be-a-better-teacher-moments, let me tell you.)  So we're getting the main stuff finished up today and will finish the odds & ends of other stuff this summer.  Not my favorite way to do it, but it will work.  We used to do school year round, so it will be fine. :)

art business.
I've been painting.  Not as frenetically as I was before my art fair in February, but I have been at it still.  I've been reading *lots* and *lots* online about marketing my art business.  The truth is, I mainly need to keep painting.  But deadlines are coming up for art fairs here in the fall, so I will be trying for some of those.  Tomorrow I am setting up my booth in the backyard for a new booth shot, and will be sending off four entries to art fairs before we head out on vacation.  (Trying SO hard not to be disappointed if/when I get rejections.  Trying so hard.  Pray for me.)

My most recent painting, "A Walk on the Beach."

vacation rental business.
We're in full swing with the vacation rental season, with our first guests up there right now.  I'm on call 24/7 for the rest of the season, until mid-October... I just never know when I might get a phone call about something that's gone wrong at the house.  And then of course, soon we'll be at the house for two weeks working on whatever needs doing.  We already know of a couple of jobs we'll be doing, and always something new will present itself once we're onsite.  Plumbing work, fixing some steps, a few upgrades here and there, the annual planting of flowers.  Stuff like that.  I also opened up reservations for next summer on June 1st, and we have already filled up from June 13-Aug. 29 next year!  It's *crazy* how quickly it all fills up.  We still have the "shoulder" season open, May, September & October.

financial peace.
So we just finished coordinating our second Financial Peace University class at our church last week.  It is always a help to us in renewing our resolve to get the debt paid off and work our way through the baby steps.  Which brings us to the plan.  

So we've got things pretty tight in our budget... there just isn't a lot we can do with getting our food, gasoline, insurance, utilities, and mortgage amounts lower.  We've spent a lot of time getting those pared down.  So we figured out if we could bring in an additional $800/month more than we are making now, that will help us make some serious progress on getting the student loan paid off, the emergency fund fully funded, and getting the mortgage paid off early.  

So, the thing I'm praying for is that my art business will really kick in this year.  That I will be able to sell lots of paintings at art fairs--enough to meet my booth fees and expenses, and to be able to help bring in that extra $800 per month.  It's not a huge amount when you're talking about a job, and I feel like I'm close to making this art business thing work.  So that's my prayer.  

bye for now.
Okay, well, I need to get downstairs and do Bible time with the kids and get the school day started.  Thanks for stopping by.  I hope your day is a good one and that you can fully enjoy the blessings God has placed in your life today. :)

spring.

I thought I'd pop in for a bit this morning to post some photos from life around here lately.  I can't believe how quickly the days & weeks fly by!  Now that I sit here to post a "few" photos, I realize a *lot* has been happening around here.  :)

Easter Sunday.  This photo literally just happened rather spontaneously.  We were walking out of the building, I asked Marissa if she had her camera with her, and noticed her friend Hannah was standing there, so I asked her if she could take our picture.  And there 'ya have it.  :)

He is risen!  :)  (Yes, Matt & I have entered the digital age... using the YouVersion app on our phones instead of paper Bibles at church.  It is *so* handy!)

Marissa (2nd from left) sang in a ladies' quintet at church.  (There really are five ladies there... you just can't see Hannah, who is also playing the piano.)

Matt was in a men's quartet on Easter Sunday.  :)

Yes, I've still been painting.  Not as intensely as before my art fair, but still painting.  The mushroom one is my most recent completed work, and we hung these three paintings together in our living room.  It looks like serious foodies live here.  Which I guess may be true, since I do seem to be pulled toward painting lots and lots of veggies lately.  I think it's time for some more horses...

Naomi has been practicing her braiding skills lately.  Pretty much every day, she braids my hair and then takes a whole pile of photos so I can see what it looks like on the back and sides of my head.  I like it because I love having my hair played with. Pretty hard to beat that, huh? :)

Well, as long as we're talking about braids, here's one I did on Naomi.  No, this is not an everyday occurrence... I'm horrible about not taking the time to do cool stuff to her hair.  We were looking up waterfall braids online and saw this variation.  I think it was called a ladder braid.

I love running errands with kids!  They notice stuff I never would. :)  Naomi spotted this funky bug outside Sam's Club and so we had to take a photo.

Was at our Wal-Mart looking at fabrics for my etsy shop and this one called out to me from the $2/yd. pile.  It wants me to make a swishy skirt out of it.  (Do you hear it?)  I think I will answer its call soon and go buy a few yards.

Went on a short road trip a couple weeks ago.  (Yes, that's my foot... sometimes I ride like that.)  We were saying, how lucky are we?  Matt gets paid to sometimes work in different locations in this beautiful state, and the kids & I come along and do school wherever we are.  This particular day, they were doing "car school" on the way to Safford, where he worked for two days while we enjoyed the town & the hotel pool. :)

We took a hike on Mt. Graham on that road trip.  I said to Matt when we were sitting here eating our lunch that it's hard to imagine that anything could be more beautiful or smell better or feel better than stuff like this.  But I've read that heaven is *way* better.  Pretty hard to wrap your mind around that!

Matt, Naomi & me at the highest point we hiked to that day.

Marissa on a big rock. :)

Some of us climbed out on a high rock, way high up there.  SO beautiful!

Yep.  I went out there, too.  It was scarier once we were driving back down the mountain and looking back where we'd been.

We saw snow.  And, since I was wearing flip-flops on this hike, Matt had to take a pic of me in the snow.  After this, we had a quick snowball fight.  :)

In the quest for better lighting to photograph my painting, I took it into the backyard.  Thought this was kind of a fun shot with Zoe out there with me.

Saw these platform shoes at Goodwill, and Naomi wanted to take a photo so Marissa (who was babysitting) could see them.  Don't you just love the expression on her face? :)

I think I have a new hobby... checking out the local art fairs to see if they're something I want to try to get into.  This was the Tempe Festival of the Arts a couple weekends ago.  I'm pretty sure Joshua's friend Caleb didn't know what he was getting into when he came along with us! :)

A "gas mask" Jesse made for Zoe out of a shirt sleeve and an aluminum can.  His mind is constantly inventing things.  And yes, she is a very patient dog. :)

Matt  & I attended the wedding of one of his co-workers at this beautiful church on Saturday.  Spanish architecture and very lovely stained-glass windows.

Our little extrovert, Naomi, befriended a neighbor girl over the past few weeks, and she has come over several times.  Summer is rather fascinated by all the painting I do, and the two of them created these two works together.  Well, last night Summer came along to the kids' program at our church and accepted Jesus as her Savior!!  The angels are rejoicing. :)