2024... A Year Of Transitions

 

"An After Christmas Treat!"

Merry Week After Christmas!

Incredibly, it has been almost an entire YEAR since I last wrote in my blog! But I'm dusting it off at the beginning of 2025 in an effort to get back to what I truly enjoy... telling life stories and illustrating them with my silly art!

A very BIG change for me midway through 2024 was that I closed my Etsy shop. Much as I enjoyed feeling like I was part of a bigger handmade community as an Etsy seller, my art sales were low and the amount of work involved in running my shop was high. Designing, painting, photographing, scanning, listing... it all added up to a lot of mostly non-art time. I'm sure I could have been more successful sales-wise if I had been willing to post regularly on social media and if I'd pursued online community more diligently... but I honestly just didn't want to do that. I wanted to be spending my time making hands-on arts and crafts in real time rather than promoting what I made online. In some ways, closing my Etsy shop was a hard decision... I'd been an Etsy seller since Etsy's early days. But in other ways it was an easy decision to make. Being an Etsy seller just didn't feel life-giving to me anymore... and so it was time to move on.

2024 was also the year I turned 68 years old. This was a harder birthday for me than most. I started realizing anew that my time here is a lot shorter than it used to be... and I want to be making that time count for something meaningful and good. I want to be using my art skills to bless other people and bring them joy!

So, after taking some time to explore my options, I decided to pivot... and I'm happy to say that I'm now creating one of a kind mixed media cards that I donate to Creative Kindness' program called Cards For Kindness. This is one of several programs that Creative Kindness offers to"help people find happiness and healing through the creation and donation of handmade gifts." ...and it's just what I was looking for!

Over the next few months, I'm going to do a bit of housekeeping on my blog. There are things here that just don't apply anymore, and more things I'd like to include. So please bear with me as I do some dusting and reorganizing and tweeking (I just love that word!). 

Wishing you a cozy week after Christmas! I hope your days are filled with creativity and happiness!

Why I Don't Do Social Media Anymore

 

Social Media Icons from Rawpixel.com

 

 

I've been thinking about writing this blog post for a very long time. And I need to say from the get-go that I haven't deleted my Instagram account because I still I love to see photos of my granddaughter on there. But I don't post anywhere anymore... and here are my reasons why not. 

(Just a little warning here... This is gonna be loooong!)

Back before the 2020 election here in the US, I was using Facebook regularly and was involved with several art-related groups there. I really did enjoy the feeling of "hanging out" with other artists online. As an introvert, it was easier for me to find and make friends with other creatives online than it was for me to do that in real life. But at the time, I was also aware of the amount of time my Facebook involvement was taking from my creative life... and from my day-to-day life. And it just wasn't sitting well with me. Still, I stayed involved because honestly... FOMO! I was so used to having all the input all the time that it felt really hard to back away from it all. What if I was missing out? (Heaven forbid!) Plus, everybody else was doing it (and when has THAT ever been a good reason to keep doing something?).

Then came the pre-2020 election ramp up with all its divisiveness and unrest and argumentativeness. Facebook just didn't feel like a safe place to me anymore. It felt like a platform that encouraged hatefulness and schisms, both in the US and around the world. The anger there was palpable and it seemed to me there was no end in sight. The atmosphere there was anxiety producing for me. So, after much deliberation, I "abandoned ship" and deleted my Facebook account. It was a hard decision... and I experienced a sense of loss after doing that. But as time went on, I felt lighter and happier, freer and more alive. And I haven't looked back since then.

When I joined Instagram (sometime quite a bit after I joined Facebook), I carefully curated the people 

and businesses that I followed. I followed artists I admired and creative businesses that peaked my interest. I enjoyed posting about everyday things in my life, as well as art I was creating for my Etsy shop. I can't say that I was much of a marketer, but I did think (in the back of my mind) that Instagram was a way to "get my work out there" for other people to see. And that was OK for a while...

But eventually, I realized that I was very susceptible to comparing myself and what I created with what other artists posted on Instagram. Sometimes I was inspired by what I saw there... but other times I could feel an ugly competitiveness rising up within me, or the feeling of "I'll never be THAT good" that led to discouragement and inertia. And I also found myself feeling like I was scrolling, scrolling, scrolling my life away, rather than being rooted and grounded in my real life here and now.

So, a couple of years ago, I abruptly stopped posting on Instagram. No more show & tell, no more thinking, "That would be a good Instagram post." I still lurked (though less and less over time)... and I found that I was relieved not to feel the pressure to post or learn how to make reels or keep up with the latest Instagram algorithm or the newest platform changes. I felt more focused and centered and engaged with what's going on in my one and only life.

 

Today, I still enjoy seeing all the cute things my granddaughter is doing on Instagram. It's a way I can keep up with her as a long distance grandma. And truthfully, I still struggle with scrolling... though I try to be aware of it and cut myself short when I realize what I'm doing. It's addictive and I'm certainly susceptible to the mindlessness. 

All this is to say... This has been my experience with social media. And these are the conclusions and the actions I have taken. I am certainly not condemning other people who choose differently than I have chosen. We all need to make our own decisions... and I am comfortable with the place I have landed regarding social media in this ever-increasing online world that we live in.

 

My Favorite Paintings of 2023

Before we get too far into the New Year, I thought I'd share my most favorite paintings from 2023!... kinda like Instagram's "Top Nine" without the Instagram! *wink!*

Looking at all these paintings together, it's hard to miss that I'm a lover of primary colors! I'm also a bit of a minimalist when it comes to my designs, and that's OK with me. Over the past year, I did a lot of experimenting with texture in my backgrounds... mark making and using words & lettering. I'm pretty happy with the results and can't wait to find more fun ways of making my paintings playful & creative in 2024!

Wishing you lots of JOY in your creating in the coming year!

BTW... I used the free Collage feature at BeFunky to create the photo collage above... Easy Peasy! Their free tools are limited, but they do have an upgraded version with lots of options.

Santa's Gonna Be A Little Late This Year...

 

Well, it was bound to happen eventually. In our 44 years of marriage, my husband Joe & I have always been able to celebrate Christmas with some branch of our family on December 25th. We've packed the boys up in their jammies in the middle of the night and driven to New Jersey to have Christmas with my parents and siblings... We've  gone over the river and through the woods to the Moore family farm in Virginia to celebrate with Joe's kin... We've had Christmas at our house with excited little boys who got up waaaay too early in the morning to open presents... and we've had Christmas in the mountains of North Carolina with our now grown sons and their families (including our brand new grandbaby!).

But sometime mid-November, Joe & I got out our calendars and realized that for Christmas 2023, we'd be home alone for the very first time.

It turned out that this is my oldest son & his family's year to head south to Florida for Christmas with my daughter-in-laws' family... and my youngest son and his partner had made plans to celebrate Christmas day with her Mom & Dad in Eastern North Carolina.

OK, no problem. We just needed to set expectations and come up with a fun Plan B for Christmas day. We thought about going for a hike with our dog Jake, or volunteering at the local homeless shelter. We had all kinds of options that might be possibilities...

...and then I came down with a doozy of a case of bronchitis & walking pneumonia. *cough cough*

So now we're on to Plan C, which includes staying home from Christmas Eve service at our church, snuggling up on the couch and watching football & movies together, drinking more French Vanilla tea with honey than I ever imagined I could, and waiting for the antibiotics and steroids to kick in. While I wait, I've been having fun creating some Christmas doodles in my sketchbook, reading a fun mystery series, and crocheting hats for little noggins for World Vision. Oh, and eating too many Christmas cookies that my husband baked!

Plan C also includes bumping our Christmas celebration to the following weekend when we'll be opening presents with my youngest son and his family.

Not the Christmas we had planned, but I'm oh so grateful for an understanding husband, wise doctors, improving health and the unexpectedly restful pre-Christmas season we've been given.

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!!

A Prayer For Peace

Every year when my family exchanges wish lists for Christmas gifts, on the top of my list is always World Peace. This year I long for that peace even more as two wars are being fought at the same time here on Earth. 

As we approach the Christmas season of "Peace On Earth and Good Will To Men," my heartfelt prayer is that forgiveness and mercy would triumph over hatred, that love and goodwill would abound, that families and loved ones could gather in peace in homes that are safe and without fear. Let us all seek to be healers and peace makers. Let us seek justice for those who are oppressed. Let us love and care for the poor among us. Let us discover the humanity that we all have in common and give each other grace. We were made by God's great love and creativity for His love, joy and peace. We were made for relationship with our loving Father who loves us more than we could ever imagine. Let us seek to love Him more and more each day by fixing our eyes on Jesus and walking close to Him, courageously caring for the people He made and loves. Let us seek to be Jesus' hands and heart to a broken and hurting world.

Let it be so!... Amen.

Happy (Almost) Halloween!

October has always been my favorite month of the year with its bright blue skies, crisp-y air, and all the glorious colors of the changing leaves! Our neighborhood is decorated with the reds, oranges and yellows of the Autumn season, and I'm loving it!

 'Most every year, we fill our big treat basket to overflowing with sweet goodies for the Trick-Or-Treaters and enjoy the parade of princesses and pirates, ghosts and ghouls, robots, dragons, monsters and more who come to our house looking for a treat. We even have quite a few grown-ups who dress up with their kids and make the rounds!

This year will be a first for us though, as we head up to the mountains to take care of our little pumpkin of a granddaughter over the Halloween weekend. Can't wait to spend some Mimi and Opa time with our happy, busy, music-loving, dog-snuggling little munchkin!

No matter what your family will be doing this Halloween... whether scaring up treats in the neighborhood or hosting a crowd of Trick-Or-Treaters at your house... or like us, doing something entirely new for the very first time, I hope you have a happy & safe Halloween!

Happy Halloween Friends!!

Summer Experiments... My First Abstract Paintings

"Summer Splash"

I've been playing around with a little bit of abstract art this summer... and I think I might have a brand new art love!

It all started when I found Australian intuitive artist Deb McNaughton over on Instagram. Deb uses acrylic paints in bright happy colors to create her signature whimsical abstract designs. It looked like so much fun that I decided to give it a go too!

"Crazy Quilt"

For both of the paintings above, I started with a 4x4 inch canvas panel. I decided to limit my color palette to two or three colors plus white.

To begin each painting, I randomly added shapes of color in acrylic paint to the canvas. Once the canvases were dry, I went back and added a variety of mark making, also with acrylic paint. Mark making can be done with all sorts of media (like Posca pens and oil pastels)... but I decided to stay in my comfort zone this time and use my trusty brushes and acrylic paint!

I had lots of fun creating these paintings, just following my intuition while adding color, instead of planning out my designs ahead of time. I enjoyed the freedom of playing with color and putting down paint. These paintings are only my first attempts at abstract art, so I know I've got a bunch to learn!... but I'm certain they won't be the last!

Thanks so much for the inspiration Deb!!

Deb McNaughton

Learning Furniture Painting By Trial And Error

 Above, my Farm Chair in the "During" Stage

I have always wanted to try my hand at painting a piece of furniture... and in my head, I thought I knew kinda-sorta what would be involved. So, when I was asked last fall (2022) to paint a child's wooden chair for our church's Vacation Bible School auction, I didn't hestitate to say "Absolutely!... I would love to!" The auction isn't until this coming spring (2023), so I knew I had lots of time to figure out how to go about painting the chair. Plus, it was for a great cause!... The VBS kids planned to raise money to pay for cochlear implants for children in the Dominican Republic who are deaf. I was so confident that this would be easy-peasy that I volunteered to paint THREE chairs of varying sizes. Yup!... I was sure I totally "got this!"

So, I put on my researcher's hat and started Googling furniture painting. Armed with my new found knowledge, I headed to our local Home Depot and purchased sample sized latex paint in a rainbow of colors. I set to work priming the little chair (which took a whole lot longer than I'd thought it would!). Next up... sketch out my farm design on the primed surface and start adding color.

Well, that was my first big mistake!... It turned out that I had not been thinking about all the white background around my farm characters that needed to be painted in with white latex paint. It was an unnecessarily tedious job that could have been a whole lot easier if I'd just given the whole chair two good coats of latex paint before I started sketching. *sigh!* First lesson learned!

After painting all my little characters (multiple coats of paint on each!), I outlined them all with my water based Sharpie paint pen. That was my second big mistake, because when I started to spray the chair with my acrylic sealant (Polycrylic), my nice crisp black outline started to run and smear! YIKES!! Apparently I should have used an oil based paint marker instead!

Needless to say, I ended up having to repaint the whole "MOO" and part of a flower on the top of the chair. Thankfully, though, I found that my Krylon spray did not smear the outline, so I gave the design a good coat of Krylon and then added the Polycrylic on top of that to make it more scuff resistant.

 

You might have guessed by now that I ended up painting just ONE chair for the auction. By the time I'd finished the farm chair, I was DONE, DONE, DONE with chair painting! I will say though that the chair came out pretty darn cute in real life... my photos really don't do it justice!

Will I paint another chair in the future?... well, I might someday in the very distant future for a very good cause. I sure have learned a lot this time around about what NOT to do!... and maybe the next time (if there ever is a next time!) I'll know a whole lot better about what I'm doing! *wink!*

A Quiet Sunday

It's a quiet Sunday afternoon. Last night we set our clocks ahead for Daylight Savings Time... and this morning the sound of rain outside convinced me to snuggle down under the covers and snooze a little longer. My husband Joe headed to church to teach Sunday School, but I felt fine about not venturing out of the house in the chilly rain. I really love having a quiet day like this when I have no where I need to be and nothing at all I need to do.

This week the cherry trees that line our street have been in full bloom. The forsythia in the backyard have also been blooming, along with the daffodils and hyacinths my husband planted in the side garden. The calendar says it's still Winter, but it sure looks a whole lot like Spring in my neighborhood!

** Thank you Lord for the peace and quiet of this Sabbath Day. Thank you for sleep and rest, for the beauty of "almost Spring", for gentle rain that makes everything grow. Thank you for a warm home that feels like a big hug on a chilly day, and especially for your presence in our hearts and in our home.

Happy Coloring!

 

So, recently I've started offering something a little different in my Etsy shop... or maybe I'm going back to something kinda similar to the digital stamps I offered when my shop was brand new. I've started creating hand drawn downloadable coloring pages for kids (and kids at heart!), and I'm having so much fun with it!

This all really happened quite by accident. At Christmastime, I created a page of Christmas-y designs to use as the background for the gift cards we'd bought for our family. I printed out multiple copies and taped the gift cards on the back of the design... just a silly way to add a little homemade holiday whimsy to ordinary gift cards. And I thought they came out pretty cute!

I got thinking about all the fun coloring pages I could make about holidays and seasons and the cute kid-friendly designs I enjoy making... and I just kept on creating these pages.

So now I'm hooked on drawing these silly coloring pages! Right now I have a total of nine designs in my Etsy shop... and the ideas just keep on coming! I'm filling up my sketchbook with snowmen and space aliens and leprechauns... and I'm looking forward to discovering what other cute creatures and critters will make their homes in my sketchbook! Stay tuned for more coloring silliness from me in the near future!

** If you're wondering where you can find my hand drawn kids coloring pages, just follow the link HERE