Buy one get one Tree

So I think I have only had to play the Laura song twice in the last few days as a pick me up. On the plus side I got some slightly frustrating news in the week which did make me annoyed enough to get the paint box out. (The only time when irritating news is a good thing)

At the moment it is working that "ooh I am happy" lets paint a picture

"Ooh I had an inspiring holiday" lets paint a picture

"Ooh I am fed up" lets paint a picture. This at leasts explains why I currently have 23 paintings up for sale. I am either a very happy person, had a very good holiday or am frequently bored. No comment.

One of my new paintings did its usual 'paint me, paint me....mwahahaha.... I look completely different to what you were expecting. Hate me, hate me.'

Everyone else seemed to like it.

Then, after a few days of looking at it, deciding it was not that bad. Thinking hmmm you would look good on my wall. I WANT TO KEEP YOU, where does that leave me? That is the problem with not having a studio - all my paintings invariably get hung up so they are out of the way and safe. The problem with this is that then I either want to keep them or burn them (and I can't remember the colour of my walls).

I don't think this is good sales practice. Maybe I need to offer a half price sale on selected items only soon. Maybe. Fingers crossed I have someone coming over later today who might buy one. Let's see if I can charm them into getting one of the ones I don't like :-)

Milly Molly Motivated

Milly Molly Meltdown turned into Milly Molly Motivated as I found time to squeeze out two new paintings in 3 days, and watch the last Twilight film (for shame) but more about that later (maybe).

I don't know if anyone remembers reading about an experiment I started a while ago? No? Me neither, anyway it is on here somewhere....near the beginning. As a synopsis - I signed up to sell my stuff through three different types of websites with varying sales techniques, commissions etc. with a view to seeing which one worked best. (For a long time none of them, BUT....)

I had a little bit of a result selling a few cards through Fine Art America last week! Woo! Premier Gallery also runs a monthly competition with a small cash prize which I have won both times I have entered. At this rate, with the prize wins and the card sales I will be able to buy a boat in 5365 years. Get in.

It is a start though, and not a bad one. I was also introduced to a new motivational song for when I get flat, and I mean pancake flat as a pick me up. It was written about me right? Here's to pretending. (Pretending about the words by the way, not the video. The video I do not get!?).

Milly Molly Meltdown

I haven't felt the need to paint for a while which is strange. I think it is one of the first painters blocks I have had since I started all of this up. The best thing is, that that block has broken today! Today when I have so much stuff to do I am in danger of becoming Milly Molly Meltdown. So now that I don't possibly have any time to paint, the weather is atrocious so there is no chance of a photographic expulsion what am I supposed to do? (Milly Molly Meltdown, tra la la laaaaaa!)

I am also conscious that I haven't really facebooked or blogged recently and Christmas is coming. There is a bandwagon to jump on here BUT I DON'T HAVE TIME! I say this and probably once I hit next week I will have too much time on my hands, but that doesn't really help me now though. Oh dear, I feel a few sleepless nights coming on until I get that next picture out.

Frustrating.

Who'd be creative? Torturous.

Anyone else hear that roar?

Well, my next picture, at least for the moment, is still nature based. I went for a few hikes whilst I was in America, specifically one on my own through the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park. Once I got over the warning signs at the park entrance - you will die of: snake bites, cold, dehydration, exposure, mountain lion attacks, and stopped worrying about the fact I had left my phone at home, hadn't told anyone where I was going, have the direction skills of a bent compass and a lot of lion tasty pastrami in my backpack for lunch I was fine. Well, fine once I caught my breath after the 'steep' section. Steep!? Steep?! My heart almost burst and I am no shabby walker. It was a beautiful hike though, one of those, stop,

listen

...absolutely nothing.....perfect moments.

(except there is no one around to hear me scream, and those birds, that keep circling...).

But that is fine, I felt quite serene and calm whilst I was up there, which is how this painting feels. I hope.

Laguna Matata

So I haven't blogged for a while because I have been on holiday. One of those holidays that makes you feel like you have changed beyond repair when really you are probably just dealing with the age old; holiday good, real life bad. I was pleased to see that whilst I was away all of my art stuff died. I keep tabs on the page views of my website, deviant Art, facebook, this blog, a few random sales pages and they all came to a bit of a standstill. This does at least show that the effort I normally put in is not a waste of time, everything has picked up since I got back. I am going to take this revelation as a good thing (and try a bit harder).

Having said the above, I think the holiday may have altered me a little, not least because now when I go underwater I don't panic and breathe in, and long flights? EASY. But painting wise (I am an artaholic afterall) the painting to the left is not my usual style, and bizarrely unexpected. I sat down to paint a Mormon Cathedral I saw in San Diego.

This is not it.

This is a Laguna sunset.

A beautiful drool worthy Laguna sunset I can still feel.

I have never seen anything like it, and whether I wanted it to or not, it obviously needed to be painted. I am intrigued now, my holiday was very much nature orientated and I normally paint buildings. I wonder what this means for my next picture....