Yesterday morning found me wanting to spend the day in bed watching t.v. (can you say avoidance). I decided art was the activity I was avoiding. This meant that art had to take the highest priority, with other activites thrown in for good measures. I started with a safe little housecleaning task and mixed it up all day. By the end of the day I had finished 3 more mini collages (see pictures on the left) and done all the laundry, changed the bed and even had time for a long luxurious hot bath. yeahhhhh I declare the day a great big success! I've learned that if I find the magical and elusive combination of
work, play, and rest the day (or weekend) feels very long and very satisfying. 

Well, today is a day-off from my day job. My Plan???? There are numerous choices....clean and do laundry, lay in bed all day with my three kitties watching t.v.(this sounds the most inviting), make art, etc. It's already 10:30 and I am out of bed(not dressed) and have had a cup of coffee, but nothing else. All I know at this point is my inner sabatour is strongly inviting me to total distraction. I wonder how others are successfull at taming the sabatour. Finishing some art and getting them on my etsy store (ellisonjames.etsy.com-hint) would bring me closer to my dreams and goals. Maybe a little of each will bring some satisfaction.

Here are 3 of the 13 pieces I did in an encaustic class last weekend. They are my favorites and even though friends are encouraging me to sell them on etsy or ebay(ellisonjames.etsy.com). I may have to keep them for a while. They are on old pieces of barn wood (too bad you can't go to the craft store and buy very old weathered wood and large pieces of old rusted metal). hmmm maybe there is a nich for me-teehee. Two of them have real feathers and one has a real twig (for the crows to sit on). They were so much fun to make. You know when you are in the creative groove and it justs kind of makes it's self. Fast and easy and lots of fun. Those are always the works I end up loving. Now if only ALL the work came that way.....instead of the struggle using my head...to make it perfect-UGH. I'm working on it.
 

Happy Friday!
I'm having a hard time feeling the normal joy I feel on Friday. Yesterday I got a call from my older sister informing me of a family crisis. I started to go into all the details here,to share all my feelings, then realized this is public and maybe those involved wouldn't want their story public. All our new technology sure challenges our definition of boundaries or at least good manners. Life is moving so fast, I don't know if I can keep up. My brain keeps urging me on," get a blog, get a website, get a digital camera, learn all the new stuff, hurry up- we're falling behind." My heart, whispers softly "slow down, be silent, listen, go back to the earth." The trick now-a-days is to figure out how to both, each in their own time.

Happy Thursday. It's a nice cool overcast day here in the Pacific Northwest. It would have been so easy to sleep in today. Then spend the rest of the day sipping hot beverages and watching old movies on t.v. I only have to work 5 hours today, so it's kind of like a day off. Then off to try to get my first business cards made since becoming a professional artist (I sold my first piece last week)-lol. Yesterday was my day off from the day job, and I spent way too many hours trying to make a card at home.....a computer geek, I'm not. It was so frustrating knowing exactly what I wanted and even getting it all layed out in PrintShop(that was the problem) and I couldn't get them to print out correctly on business card paper. It was perfect on plain computer paper. I'll post one when I get it right. Have a great day. Feel free to post a comment, especially if you know any good tricks about business cards.

Here is the begining of an encaustic piece from the class I took last weekend. It's not finished yet, but a good start. The class was so fun and I learned some key skills I'll need to continue. I did 13 pieces (shock), so more pictures to come.  

Here are my three babies. Don 't ya just hate when people talk about their pets as if they were their children-teehee. They are all old and falling apart, but I love them soooo much. The top one is Vicki(aren't her blue eyes gorgeous?), the calico one in the middle is Peanut, and the bottom orange tabby is Tin-tin(after the French comic strip). It was quite interesting to try and get close up photos.....they were way too interested in the camera, to hold still. After several attempts, I figured out to switch to sports mode on the camera. This past weekend I made an encaustic collage out of all three pictures. As soon as I can get a photo, I'll post.

Happy Monday! A couple of years ago Oprah had a theme year. Each day had a different theme and it was money Monday. I always liked that, so I think I'll continue the tradition here. So I ask myself, "what does today have to do with money for me?" Hmmmm, this weekend I took a fab encaustic (wax) art class. I ended up making 13 pieces (shocker for me). Some need some tweaking, some where a "good learning" experience (which means what in the heck am I going to do with this-LOL). There were 8 that are ready (to get ready) to sell. I set my alarm for half hour early, so I could get up and take some pictures in the good morning light. I work the next three days from 9am-9pm, making it hard to take care of business. Guess how many times I hit the snooze button? Hmmm, big suprise, I missed the time to do the activity I wanted to do, that would also possibly bring in some income. Boy, is this a familiar old pattern. So, the question for MONEY MONDAY is "What old patterns/habits are keeping me/you from improving my/ your relationship with my/your mondy?" Hints:not balancing checkbook, late fees from "forgetting" to pay the bills, not promoting myself/ yourself, using a credit card if I didn't have money,not getting around to putting $ in a savings, etc.,etc.

Happy Sat. I'm so excited....in 30 min. I'm leaving to go to PCNW (photo center north west) in Seattle to take a 2 day encaustic photo class. I'm not really sure what we will be doing, other than collage items are on our supply list (and that's right up my alley)....but my mind is already swirling with lots of ideas.

Here in the Northwest it is apparent that Fall is at our doorsteps. The days are noticeably shorter. The light comes from more of an angle (my favorite) and the shadows are longer. The bushes are filling up with spider webs. The plants are going to seed and I just harvested the last of my heirloom tomatoes. Time to hurry and finish any summer only tasks...I call this squirrel energy (watch the squirrels run around gathering up their stores for the winter). It's time to start eating root energy food (things that grow under the ground) ie: yellow onions, carrots, beets,etc. And things that grow close to the ground (squash) mixed in with the end of the summer harvest. This helps us slow down and go deep inside ready for the winter. Just look in your gardens, watch the plants. They know what to do as they start to drop their fruits (seeds) and pull their energy into the roots. What do you need to drop/let go of so you can have a nice peacefull winter. There is time for a last of the season garage sale........

This is my first attemp at having fun with photoshop elements. Hmmm, I wonder how my son will feel about being so blue? So many photshop options, so little skill-teehee 

Happy Tuesday! As we get closer to fall, it feels like time to take care of some old unfinished business and complete the activities/projects we had planned to do this summer. What could you do this weekend (or today) that would leave you with no regrets for the summer? I know that the old saying is spring cleaning.....but, it really feels like the time now. Could your house use a little decluttering?....or your closet, car, yard, garage, etc.?????? AS I look around there are unfinished projects everywhere. And it weighs heavy on me. Time to take a baby step, and see if that leads to a bigger project.

Good morning, it's money monday. How's your money doing? If you treated your friends the same way you treated your money would they still be your friends? hmmmm Even better, if you treated your money the same way you treated your good friends, would you have more of it?Do you have a stronger relationship with debt than with money? Maybe it's time for a change. For a great money management system check out The Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Ecker at Peak Potentials. See if you can do just one simple little thing today to have a better relationship with your money. How about finding out EXACTLY how much debt you have. There is power in knowledge. Ellison

p.s. Well, I finally did it, I posted my art to sell online. This has been a 2yr dream...with at least a year of serious procrastination (can you say chicken?). I'm so proud of my self. Check it out at ellisonjames.etsy.com

Happy Sunday
If this is a day of rest....how come my cats got me up at 6am? This is the day I figure out how to set up an Etsy account and by some miracle, get some pictures of my art on there and sell,sell,sell (I hope). Here is my mantra, used when the task at hand feels way too impossible. "Spirit wouldn't invite me to the party and then slam the door in my face" I can't believe any of us would be led to a task or situation and then not have the ability/help to finish it. I only "can't" do it if I "don't" do it. So keep your fingers crossed for me. On this end of it, it feels soooo scarey.

More mini canvases....I couldn't figure out how put them all together. 

Here is some of my art. They are mini 4"x4" up to 5"x7" canvases that are textured, painted, dyed, collaged and some are waxed. After many years of taking classes, playing around copying works I have seen, I have finally started playing around with my own expression. This is what I consider the first of my body of work. I'm so excited and know I still have a long way to go......but I am on the way.

OH MY GOSH!!!! This is sooooo exciting. I did it, I actually posted a picture and it was easy. This is a picture of my son, Saren. It's the first picture on my new digital camera....that I figured out how to put into my computer. It only took my 2 hours to figure out how to email it today(not counting the way to many to mention hours that I couln't figure it out yesterday). I now have accomplished two out of my three "come hell or high water" (as my mom used to say) goals for this weekend. ...and it's only Fri. The last goal is to take pictures of my art and post it on Etsy.com. Or is that two goals? I'm so proud of myself.

Yipeee...I did it...my first posting, on my first blog. I'm so excited! Now to figure out how to post pictures. When you see a picture, you'll know I figured it out. Just don't laugh if it takes a long time. Ellison