The funny/annoying/great thing about being an artist is that you can never get away from it.

I always think about vacations, and how when I travel "away from work", I can't go anywhere without visiting an art museum or schools with an MFA program.

If I sit on a beach and read a book (wow, that hasn't happened in a long time), I can't turn my brain off to quit thinking of images that I could use later. If I stare at the ocean, I'm moved by the colors that make up the water, and how they look against the sky or the sand, and how that expanse relates to a tiny figure bobbing up and down. And then I think about how I could make something using all of those thoughts.

Going through a normal day, every idea, every material might have potential.

Actually, it's really not annoying at all.

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First place will receive a special gift.

Photo by D. Yasko

When I was little, I used to laugh when a small segment of my mom's hair would stand up straight and do a little dance when the sunroof was open.

Ha! Whose hair does that?

Yep, mine does.

I couldn't go long without them.

The first has inspired a drawing I have yet to make.
The second, I've made a painting about.
The third makes me think of images I'll most likely never be able to express.
It works for me.

Here are some photos from the opening last Friday.

The paintings look great at Bliss. They'll be there this month, so please stop in to see them. Each painting is $55. 

Bliss Home 

29 Market Square

Knoxville 37902

with Cassie

Cara and Erik

with Tracy

Adam

love

with Amanda

My friend texted me last night:

"If I was Martha Stewart, tomorrow I'd be boat tripping and picnic lunching on an island in Maine. Oh, and doing yoga."

When I read the text, it was 4:30 am* so my brain couldn't register what she meant. Then it hit me that she was referring to the calendar in Martha Stewart Living where Martha tells all the normal people who subscribe to her magazine all the outlandish things she'll be doing that month. It's really good entertainment.

It would be fun to start posting a calendar of my own here, so I can have a visual of how much my life is not like hers.

Yesterday's entry would have been:

July 31, 2012
Make myself sick off BBQ nachos at Smokies baseball game

***

I'm learning how important it is as an artist (and as a human being) to write down everything I think about doing. Everything. I think I may have hit a level of "planner/to-do list lunacy" however.

I have a planner to carry around with me, I have physical calendars of each month til Dec 2012 hanging in my studio, I have a calendar online, I have a dry erase board at home and in my studio, I have a sketch book, I have a bulletin board, and I've become a post-it fanatic at work and home.

The outcome of this is that I'm actually getting things done. Well, no. I'm getting a lot of things started, which is more than half the battle in most cases. It feels really good.

***

November 17, 2014
Assess whether my life is moving toward or away from resembling Martha Stewart's

***

I could use a little more glamor in my life, and because of that, I can't say I'm never jealous of Martha's Month. I would never want too much glamor, though. That way, I can enjoy reading what this cat and Car Talk say about these sorts of things and also keep pondering the ramifications of such a lifestyle.


* August 8, 2012
   Consider prescription for Ambien

Proper business technique teaches that you're supposed to embellish the truth about how successful you are and not geek out over things like getting in the paper, but...

Look! I'm in the paper!