A Shiny Morning

I'm doing a blog post! Look at me go! I really do feel like this is an accomplishment. I tend to let all of the every day things get in the way of doing this. I'm working on that - and some new paintings. So many wonderful things are going on here. I've been enjoying changing up my painting a bit by taking some online courses. It's amazing how learning new techniques and seeing someone else's vision can change your perspective. I need so many more hours in the day to work on all of the idea's I have.

On top of all of the arty goodness are my fitness classes. I enjoy teaching so very much. I've met some of the most amazing people on the planet that way. Zumba® is one of my favorite parts of most of my days. SO. MUCH. FUN. It's how I finally got into fitness and how I've kept my weight off. People in my classes ask me for my playlists constantly. I keep meaning to post them here and I haven't. Boo. But here is my current list for you sweet people who keep checking!

One of these days, I'll figure out the best way to post this. :) This is mostly the list I've been teaching for the last couple of weeks. A couple of the songs here are by my LOVELY DARLING SWEET GORGEOUS friends, Kelly and Shonda. They are the driving force behind Co-Motion in Edmond, OK.

LOOK AT THE CUTENESS!!




All of these ladies are amazing! I am inspired by them every day. :)

I hope you are finding joy and inspiration today.

Art love.

Happy Monday! If you're like me, you've survived Spring Break with your kids and are probably feeling a little guilty that you're glad they're back in school. My kids are darling and it's fun to hang out with them, but I do enjoy the quiet that comes with them being in school. I'm in that strange middle land between them being sweet little kids and them being practically grown up. It's interesting sometimes. I also had to cover a lot of extra fitness classes because people were out of town for the break. My body is a little irked at me right now, so I'm just going to enjoy a rest day today and do a lot of sitting and painting.

My mom and I were chatting this morning and she mentioned Jennifer Lanne's blog and her new paintings, which are amazing. Per usual. I am fortunate enough to actually own one of her paintings.

It makes me happy every time I walk past it. So, I thought about all of the other art I have that I adore. I've already talked about my favorite painting and my darling friend, Kristy Gammill here. She is just adorable and so dang supportive. I heart her very much.

Another sweet artist I feel lucky to know, well, sort of, we're internet pals, is Aimée Wheaton. She is darlingdarlingdarling. I am lucky to have this piece by her.

I LOVE this painting, too. I'm lucky. Aimée is one of the nicest people you could talk to, plus being a huge inspiration for me. 

One of my oldest internet inspirations is Danita. She's just the cutest. I've followed her for years. Her originals sell so fast that you almost have to be sitting at your computer when she lists one in order to snag it. I tried to buy one for over a year before I actually ended up with one. 

I love my Danita girl. She does so many amazing things. I'm inspired by her and her spirit almost daily. Her pinterest boards make me all verklempt. 

There are so many artists I would love to have an original painting from. Every time the lottery gets really big, I buy a ticket just in case. If I won a big one like last weekend's amount, it would be scary how much Etsy would blow up with my purchasing. I didn't win. Maybe someday. 

BUT! I did get mentioned in a sweet post by Deborah who chatted about her new painting from me. That was lovely and I SO appreciate you!! xoxo

Time and fun

Why does time move so quickly when you're having a good time? For what seemed like forever, I was stuck feeling really unsure of what I should be doing. I didn't feel like my art was worthy of doing because I was comparing myself to some really amazing people. I tried to set it aside and be a "grownup" and work on something smarter.

But I kept making things. I finally got smart and just embraced what I want to do. I don't know what level of success I'll get to, but I am completely enjoying every single day now.

Sometimes, I wish I could just go back and shake myself, but, every day teaches you something good. I am looking forward to seeing how this goes.

Vacation time

It's Spring Break here and I'm thinking of it as a vacation. Any time I don't have to think very hard or watch my schedule like a hawk is a vacation for me now. My kids are thrilled to get to sleep late. My plan this week is to organize all of my art and business things. I don't know how lofty this idea is since I've just started. I am also trying to do all of the little projects I have and mark those off of my to-do list. I managed painting some of my wire baskets:

Red and aqua blue are my go-to colors. I used Valspar's interior spray paint for the first time and I really like it. I'll be using it again.

Along with organizing art supplies and kids stuff, I'm working on my blog and online presence. I noticed that I have to change some things such as my feed. I'm on Bloglovin if that helps. :) I'll be working on icons this afternoon between all of the other things going on. My kids are just enjoying hanging out.

I also have a couple of commissions to knock out. Exciting and kind of intimidating. One painting on three 24x36" birch panels. Yay.

And finishing a bunch of sweet things in my Mini Garden Series.

And blogging darn it! Less time on Pinterest because that's all kinds of addictive. Seriously, some artists are so dang amazing! Time seems to go by so fast when you're having fun. I hope you're enjoying a lovely day!

Too much to do.

Again, here I am trying to make sense of all of the things I do every day. I've had a lovely couple of weeks. I'm trying to make lots of new art pieces so I can take photos of a large wall of them. Ironically, I keep selling them. That's a happy thing, believe me, but it's keeping me busy. I am really looking forward to next week. My kids are on Spring Break and that should help me gain a little ground on my to-do list. I have so many ideas, it's driving me crazy.

I am working on building several online shops for my work. I have some prints to add and new paintings to upload.

I have been having so much fun painting lately. I spent some time worrying that I should be evolving and doing better, but this is what just comes out of me. I'm embracing that. :)

With my kids being busy and me being busy teaching fitness classes, I haven't found the time to do other things. I'm trying to get better at that, too. Inspiration is always a good thing. The other night, my daughter and I ran to pick up pizza. Instead of just sitting and waiting, we walked down to a new shop here in Oklahoma City we hadn't been able to go to yet.

Plenty Mercantile is just amazing! We are in love. I am thrilled with how Oklahoma City is evolving right now. 

So much pretty art!! I want it and I need it! I also need more walls in my house to display it. I have such and art wish list.

I will finally get to do my re-vamp of my blog and shops in the next few days. Please let me know what you think. I hope you're enjoying a lovely Friday.

Accidental Daily Creativity

I have a bad habit of putting my stuff last. Dealing with the kids, and teaching fitness classes, and just taking care of life always seems to come first. Most of the time, all I want to do is paint stuff, but I do everything else first. That starts a snowball of never getting around to doing what I dream about. No painting, no blogging, no fun. I'm trying to flip this around. If I make painting and creating my daily focus and get other things done around that, I'm hoping I'll start accomplishing some of the goals I've had for years. This has led to me trying to think of creative ways of feeling a little accomplished. I'm in awe of darling artists that paint or journal every. single. day. How do they do this? I decided to start small and work my way up. This had inadvertently led to me getting a tiny painting done every day this month. I know the month is still young, but now I want this to happen all the way through March. I can't tell you how much fun I'm having.

I'm working on Day 5 right now. I would love to create a wall full of tiny paintings. This is a good thing. :) I'm putting these in my Storenvy shop if you're interested. I hope you all are enjoying a LOVELY day!!

I'm worried I'm what I appear to be.

The internet is a funny thing. I'm in crazy love with it. I've met some of the most dear people there. It's fun, full of inspiration, and can be very entertaining. It can also show you glimpses of what other people are doing.

THAT can be good and bad.

I know you've done it. You've seen something on facebook or pinterest or on someone's beautiful blog and you think, "I wish I could be like that." I ponder this all of the time.

So. Very. Too. Much.

It has kept me from blogging here. I really don't feel like I have much to say. I'm busy with my life. I am in awe of everyone who has the ability to make their lives appear so amazing. How do these artists do it?!? Seriously, HOW? How do they have time to make things and raise beautiful children and keep their home so lovely? GAH! I've seen this come up before, either as "blog envy" or, and I love this, "fakebook." But it seems to be everywhere right now. One of my facebook friends had this post on her wall today. Sarah Emily Tuttle-Singer writes a great post that really struck me again. Whether you're talking about your family, or life, or career, we can all fall into this.

This has bothered me for months. People have told me I'm too insecure. "Just put yourself out there!" Boo. No. How am I supposed to come up with a beautiful post when I've spent the day in my pajamas listening to my teenagers do their thing while trying to be creative and feeling guilty that I haven't accomplished more in a house that might need cleaning and is, frankly, kinda smelly at the moment? I blogged about this over on tumblr a while ago. Here's me on the verge of tears about it:

Seriously?!? I have let this be a thing for way too long. I'm done. I'm just going to embrace what I am and learn to take really good instagram pics of it. So, today, I've done laundry...

I do have a red washer and dryer, that does help make me feel a little cooler. And I painted for a bit...

I like how this painting is going. Then I put posts and pics all over the internet like a good citizen. Oh, and here's my face...

because I like it today. Yeah, filters are my friend. We're going to see how many creative ways I can photograph my boring life. This will probably require the assistance of my put-out children and darling friends, but it will be worth it. :) PLEASE let me know if you feel the same way. We need to be cheerleading each other.

It's Friday!

I love Fridays. I don't know why. Maybe it's because everyone's mood seems to get better. Today, I got to enjoy so many of my mom's sweet followers. Thanks so very much for checking out my blog. My mom, Bev at 44th Street Fabrics, is the sweetest.

A little something I was working on today...

Along with doing my art, I am also a Zumba instructor. We are having a Zumbathon tomorrow at our YMCA. Hopefully I won't be too worn out after to finish this painting. :)

I'm wishing you all a lovely weekend!!

A little progress.

One of the reasons I haven't kept up with my blog is that I really don't feel I have much to share. I guess I need to think bigger. That's on my to-do list. We had a cold and dark day here. Luckily, I got to paint a bit.

That's always a fun thing. But, I was interrupted by hungry kids. I made one of their favorites tonight:

Source: tidymom.net via Gina on Pinterest

I know that there are a lot of pins that don't quite turn out the same way in real life. Fortunately, these pizza rolls are so good. I was going to take a picture of the ones I made, but the kids ate them too fast. I've got to get better at getting those blog fodder pics. I hope you all are enjoying your day.

How and why.

I'm in awe of people who manage to blog all of the time. I have spent the last few months feeling like the most uninteresting person on the planet. I may also be a bit dramatic. BUT, blogging can be good for you. It helps me organize things a bit. I've spent a lot of time on another blogging platform. I felt like it was good to separate the goofy me from the "professional" me. All that has done is keep me from blogging over here. I've decided that that is silly. I am a goofy person with no elegance whatsoever. To hide that on my art blog is probably the most detrimental thing I can do.

So, here's to messy, unprofessional, but actual me blogging. We'll see how this goes.

I have been painting a lot, but getting nothing done.

This is a big painting in progress. I assemble them with paper and add paint and texture.

I've been doing this for a while. Things seems to be evolving and changing. I constantly question whether I should keep doing this. Do you ever have one of those days? I've had a whole year of that. While I question my existence, I still keep painting. So, I believe I just need to keep going with it. I'll work on blogging better. If you've read this, bless your heart and I hope you enjoy a fabulous day!!