I'm back!

Hi!! It's been a very long time. Doesn't bode well for my new year's resolution.

"Write at least one blog every week. Stay after work to use a computer that works (not my laptop at home!) and write one blog each week."

Well - that didn't happen.

And, to be honest, I don't even have a good reason.

BUT I have been busy - painting. I started up what I once put down about a year ago. I grabbed my alcohol inks and some tiles and started having fun - well, it didn't start out fun. I had totally forgotten how to work with these crazy inks. Nothing came out inspired, nothing looked good. So back to a DVD lesson and it all came flooding back! Then it became fun again. My family booted me to the basement because my gear was taking up the dining room table on a continuous basis. My very neat and tidy daughter was getting very stressed out by it. So down I went. The basement has a great big window which is nice and it gives me a chance to run Netflix and watch Grey's Anatomy - yup, I have a bit of an addiction!

(Sold this large art piece - my first large piece!)

So with the painting in progress and a laptop at home that is virtually useless, I have not been blogging. Instead, I have finally added an art page to this blog. So if you are curious as to what alcohol ink might look like - take a peek at my Art page. Everyone has different techniques and styles - same as all the art forms out there!

(A set of three evergreens that I donated to Nick and Rayzanna's social. They were won by Klose Chen!)

Art is an amazing thing. What fascinates me the most is how different all of our tastes are. Even in my own work! I had someone come down who wanted to purchase a few pieces and while she is perusing my selection, I am amazed at what she liked - because some of those were not my favourite - at all! But she loved them. I went to an art show recently that my mom and Jozanna were displaying in and again, fascinated by the variety of styles and mediums. All creative and unique - but some I loved and some... ah, not so much! HOWEVER, the next person is loving it! My daughter is experiencing this with photography as well. The poses and shots that she loves the most are not always what her clients like - and what her clients ask for isn't always what she loves to photograph.

It's kind of like life. The things I love to do I don't always get to do. The things I hate doing, I sometimes just have to do. The drudgery of cleaning for me is for me a necessary evil - but for Rayzanna, it is a pleasure and joy - she loves that finished masterpiece! Yeah, I love it clean, but to go through the crumbs to get to the clean counter? sometimes it is challenging! As we start jobs and careers we soon discover that the 'ideal' is sometimes not what we hoped for. Sometimes the job/career has so many perks and joys that we can get through the hard stuff - the 'unfun' stuff. However, sometimes there is so little 'joy' in our jobs that maybe we need to reconsider why we are there? There is this pressure to stick with a job - come he?? or high water - but at what expense? Our emotional selves can only trudge through so much - maybe, if we can (and I know we can't all just change jobs just like that!), we need to find the courage to say - hey, this just isn't me. I can't imagine how hard that would be if you had a degree you had worked hard for and found out after - nah, this just wasn't your thing.

However, I have watched my husband do jobs that gave us a fantastic income but made him miserable. It took courage to go out there an look for something else and it took a ton of courage to take a job that paid a lot less in order to find contentment. Those are hard choices - those were hard choices. Not everything is greener on the other side - but when we are so discouraged and so down - are we really filling our jobs with our very best? are we giving our friends and family our very best when we feel ourselves drowning?

Anyway - somehow art got me to this point. Again - we all see something different in art!!!

(Three trees with Bible verses. $150 - Or I may just keep it... hmmm we will see!)

So with that, I will leave you to look at some artwork and get some more coffee!!