Just when I thought things were going to get a tad easier. OH, and did I mention I’m running full speed ahead with a brand new offering? Yeah – It’s gonna rock, but I don’t want to spill the beans too much. If you join my mailing list, you’ll be one of the first to know!

To get myself moving (since I have a hard time getting stuff done on my own) I’m doing a few new things. I’m a part of a “Success Team” run by a fabulous lady – where a group of folks get together to share their dreams & we all band together to help each other out with ideas & accountability. I’m also taking the “Complete Idealist Blisness Action Camp” from Artella, and lastly, I’m being NAGged by the ProNagger, Rachel. I’m getting stuff done & it makes me feel good!

And as a lil’ bonus, Artella’s got another really cool class coming up. It’s called ” Make Change with Your Muse!: Mixed Media Art Projects to Attract Prosperity and Change in Your Life” and not only includes all the course materials but a goodie bag full of ephemera & stuff to use for your art via snail mail! Everyone loves snail mail, right? And if you sign up by May 3, you get $20 off for being a part of the pilot group.

I love Marney’s teaching style & so far all the e-courses I’ve taken (two to date) have been majorly helpful.

I swear I have a good excuse.

You see, this Tree – a red oak – was uprooted during a horrible storm with winds reaching 75mph last Monday April 13th (tree with a capital T since it’s 100 year life-span and 15-ton weight sort of make it a Tree). It fell in the direction of our neighbor’s house. It did not land on said neighbor’s house (that would have been bad for them, but easy for insurance to cover). Instead the Tree got tangled up in a pine about 1/2 the girth of the Tree and stayed there all week while the pine slowly kept bending under the weight.
All week our neighbors did nothing while we were stuck trying to figure out how to take care of this Tree. Insurance wouldn’t touch it since no buildings were damaged. Our neighbors wouldn’t touch it because it was “our Tree” although the law in GA says that what falls on your land is your problem…

Four tree service quotes later we found a service that would take it down for $1200 LESS than everyone else was quoting and wouldn’t completely screw up our lawn with a crane. It came down on Thursday. I suppose it would have been sooner if a) the Tree actually fell on our neighbor’s house and b) if there weren’t 17 kazillion other trees in the Atlanta area that fell.

Hubs and I ended up borrowing money from my dad to pay for this tree removal since we were not prepared for this in the least. It’s scary when you know something needs to be done about a precarious situation but you don’t have the funds to accomplish it. The Tree came down on Thursday, and the large parts went to a craftsman. I’m glad the bulk of that gorgeous red oak went to a good use.

Where that huge tree stood for 100+ years is now a bare patch of earth with roots sticking out of the ground. The last barrier between us & our neighbors has fallen and we’re not too happy about that. How does the saying go….? Good fences make good neighbors? Well, we’re going to put one up. As soon as we have the money.

We were supposed to drive up to New Jersey for Pascha (Greek Easter) on Thursday but that’s when the tree service folks came to remove it. So Easter was downsized… I made some killer lamb chops, but nothing could possibly compare to what my family had without us…

So it’s been a rough week, and I’m still coming down from it… I have 3 shows in May as well as my first Tiny Art Make & Swap class at the local community center, and I have a feeling I have overbooked myself. I’ll try to make it here more often but I can’t promise.

Send some vibes this way if you can – I’ll need all the positive energy I can get to push through the rest of this and next month.

Read the article at UnitedStatesArtists.org.

To my surprise, my painting won First Place in the Acrylic & Oils category!

My two books, “Snake” and “Light” won Third in the 3-D category.

Needless to say I was a happy camper! You can see everything on display (including the REST of the wonderful artwork) ’till October 20 at The Art Station – Big Shanty in Kennesaw, GA.

Oh, and pass by Art on the Lawn this October 18 & 19 at the same place. It’s from 10am – 4pm on both days, includes food, music, demonstrations & 20 local artists including yours truly. Since I’m on the board of the North Cobb Arts League, I know who the vendors are and it’ll be a fantastic opportunity to get a jump on your holiday shopping!

I love to teach – and I’ve been realizing this more & more lately. So I started a class based around an idea I’ve had rolling around in my head. It’s tentatively titled “Art Journaling for the Intimidated” but I’m not married to it. I’m taking about 12 people, some who haven’t even picked up a paint brush, through a process from writing, to doodling to a full-fledged mixed media journal page in 4 weeks. This is my testing ground. Students aren’t paying much in the way of class fees, but there is a supply fee.

My goal with this is to formulate a set class to teach elsewhere and to create an on-line class for those who can’t come to where I am.

I will still make & sell my journals, so don’t be too disappointed. I’ll probably only do 1 or 2 festivals a year and concentrate on actual art shows – showing some of the more elaborate journals and even my completed art journals. We’ll see how that goes.

I’ll keep ARRRT! updated as much as possible with details on how my class is going, where else I’ll be teaching, and when the online class is launched.

Here’s a peek at last year:

My family owned restaurants when I was growing up and Dad always sliced his fingers this way. Most of the time if the skin was still attached he’d slap it back and bandage it up well enough and keep working. He even took huge slice off the side of his index finger once – completely removed – dug through whatever he was chopping and found the missing piece. He cleaned the cut finger & slice thoroughly, stuck it back to his finger, wrapped it well with bandages and kept on working.

I figured since I didn’t completely cut off the tip of my thumb that I’d just do what my dad would, cleaned the cut and wrapped it up really tight with a bandage. I didn’t feel like waiting 8 hours in the emergency room so the doctor could do exactly what I did to my thumb.

You never really know how handy opposable thumbs are when you lose the use of one of them.

Ow.