First things first, a little update on the last post ~
I did some more searching at the grocery store last night and noticed that the Kasha that I bought was 'finely ground', and they also have a 'coursely ground' variety. I'm thinking a little bigger might be better. (I did also finally find a quinoa blend with rice & millet, vegetables & seasonings, but I'm really hoping to find it by itself first, so I can distinguish the look and taste)

Anywho...

This week has been another one of those crazy busy 'how will I get it all done' kind of weeks. I am flooded with ambigram orders and it looks like next week might be worse! I would take that as a prompt to raise the prices (and lower demand a little), but last time I had a few insane weeks, followed by a few nearly dead weeks, and now we are back to insane again, so I'm not rushing into anything!

The ambigram work by itself would not be bad, but more orders means many more emails to answer. The last few days I've probably had about three times more than normal. The first few hours of the day are spent slogging through all of those, and they keep coming throughout the day (ah, there's two more now).


And, in the midst of the hectic rush, yesterday I noticed that water was dripping from the ceiling in the back of the pantry/laundry room (back by the water heater). All along the ceiling and down one wall it is a giant water spot. Not a huge deal as a renter, but that did mean answering the door for repair men coming in & out all day.

They fixed a leaky cap & hoped that would take care of the problem because otherwise they are going to have to start cutting into the walls... and it is still dripping this morning so it looks like that is the next step. Hurrah! ;) I am going to have to call in a few minutes and start the parade of repair men once again.


Luckily, I did manage to finish up another painting before the week rush hit ~



I am feeling a little bummed that I don't have extra time right now to work on the next painting (which is currently just a bright yellow background), or time to prepare the paintings for other projects (I have a few plans in mind), but I'm trying to assure myself that I will have time for all of that soon, I just need to finish these orders first. Justin will be starting classes in a few weeks, which has made him very nervous about finances, so at least the abundance of payments is a good thing!

I had dreams of clearing out all of the unwanted fabric & supplies from my workroom tables, setting up paints, brushes and canvases, and *then* I would sit down and paint something. Well, we've lived here a few months now and I've barely made a dent in the pile (though I have been working on it), so I decided it was time to forget the dream and pick up a brush.

Luckily, 8x10 canvases are small enough to work on at my computer desk.
And that is, let's face it, where I would probably end up working anyway.



I am pretty pleased with this little painting. I free-handed the pattern on the wall as I went, not worrying about things matching up exactly, it was nice put aside the perfectionism for once. I've been thinking a lot about working with 3 or 4 bold paint colors, as solid as possible. I think I am really drawn to screenprinted work, but until I find a good class (or book or something) I am wary to give it another shot after the last disaster.


I struggle a lot with feeling like I haven't discovered the right medium or style for 'me'. Once I find a new artist I like, I am almost hesitant to look at any more of their work for fear that I will soak in too many deatils ~ or that the new style & inspiration will hurl me down another avenue that doesn't quite lead where I want to go, doesn't quite suit me.

I know most artists, as children, start off by doodling cartoon characters and models in magazines. We gather up information from direct copying, from the art around us, and over the years the information is sorted through and you start to develop your own style. But as an adult, I'm at a bit of a loss. It doesn't seem right to draw too much inspiration from any one source, I don't want to steal anyone's look. But then, I come across artist after artist with a similar style ~ not quite close enough so that can't distinguish the different artists, but I wouldn't be suprised if one was a strong influence for the other. And then I have to wonder if I am being to strict on myself.

And maybe we all struggle with these things.