A/c back to normal now. Finally fixed. Got a nice little vacation out of the ordeal, so not all bad.
Settling back into my studio once again, and being productive.

well it's been a busy week. The art prints are selling, and one turned into a big multiple sale; they are decorating their offices. So that was a nice turn of events. I'm selling more outside of Etsy than in it; it seems to be a good starting point for many of my customers. A group of them were for Mother's Day gifts, so that was fun. I still love the studies of rocks that I have been painting for years, and have built my resume/achievements upon; but these ink/watercolors are a total departure from that imagery and surprised me with how enjoyable they are. I still am so--amazed, touched--that these speak to so many and the touching and enthusiastic emails they send me about them.

For the first time, I finally am feeling truly in sync, connected to the Cycle; making art that emotionally satisfies me first and foremost, but ALSO hits a chord with so many others. Images that started as play, for myself. What appealed to me, my only concern.
It's been an incredible past year; moving from a structured work environment to one of total self-direction and a life focused on art. A long-dreamed of goal, a "one day, I will" wish, then a plan, and then living it, finally. It's like a dam has broken. It is hard to explain the change I feel inside, the amazement i feel when i look at what I've done in this past year; the fruits of all my labor. And it's true; you do work hardest when it is for yourself, your vision and goals. My days are finally, completely about Creation on so many levels. It still leaves me amazed.

I posted this in another friend's LJ, and decided to post this here too for the record:

I am currently reading "God's Brothel: The Extortion of Sex for Salvation in Contemporary Mormon and Christian Fundamentalist Polygamy and the Stories of 18 Women" by Andrea Moore-Emmett, and I highly recommend this book. I am sickened at what I am reading. I plan to take a look at the books you are speaking of here too. I don't have much formulated as to what i wish to say about all this yet, except that it is harrowing. And the quaint pictures we see on the nightly news about the FLDS 'raid' in Texas really don't give any hint to the outrages and abuse that goes on in these sects. The women may not even understand that their lives and treatment are full of abuse, but that is a product of the systematic indoctrination received since birth.

On another friend's LJ, there was a debate going on over why Law Enforcement in Texas confiscated ALL the children: why not just those who were showing signs of physical abuse, or just take the girls, but why take the little boys. . ..and why take ALL the kids? My feelings are that if Child Protective Services remove all the kids in a home when there is even an accusation of ONE being abused, then they are being consistent with their agency practices in this case too. Plus, the atomsphere of abuse is part and parcel to their beliefs/practices. Even tho the women and girls are the most obvious targets, the boys are raised in this philosophy, prepared to perpetuate the abuses themselves. And, in what i am reading now, they are also sexually abused as part of "punishment".

This whole thing sickens me.

Thanks to z111's post, this got me thinking about my own wierdness.
So, I confess:

1) Due to scholastic test scores, I was allowed to skip a grade in grade school, and from then on was always the youngest kid each year in my classes. That had its downside, socially, for years, however.

2) I don’t enjoy a pedicure as I can’t stand to let anyone else cut or file my toenails. I have no problem doing this myself, but I have a kneejerk reaction when someone else tries to do it. I have no idea where this comes from, as nobody has injured me this way in the past. I’m thinking maybe in a past life?

3) I have had 3 pastlife experiences revealed to me, and in each lifetime, I was deeply involved in the occult. I was killed for it in one of them, hunted because of it in another.

4) I pierced my own earlobes. It was a painful and bloody mess, and its achievement under those conditions are why I never wear tiny, dainty earrings. I only wear large and proud ‘trophy’ earrings.

5) I can cross just one eye.

6) I have seen a ghost.

7) My baklavah won the 1st Place Blue Ribbon at the Arizona State Fair.

8) I have met 3 people whom I KNOW I’ve been with in a former life.

9) I have a curvature of the spine, with my right hip being 1.5” higher than the other.

10) I removed my belly button piercing because it was painfully ripped partway out. This turned out to not be a good piercing for a fat girl.

Just a reminder that there are just 2 days left for the Talisman93 15% off sale, and that's with FREE SHIPPING too! (within continental USA)

http://talisman93.etsy.com

If you live locally, and want to pick up your jewelry instead of having it mailed, that's fine, just let me know and we can make arrangements. My Etsy store has just some of what was available; I also take custom orders.
Thanks SO MUCH to those who have purchased and placed custom orders; I really appreciate your business!

From April 24 through 30, all jewelry at Talisman93 is 15% off!

( Details here )

They've sold out!
All the ACEOs in my store sold out within 3 days, all I have left are some in bookmark format.
Got to get busy back in the studio with more of the ongoing projects from my recent painting trips.
I'm a happy face today!

Okay it's time for some art pimpage: my road trips to see the desert wildflowers, etc recently kept me busy painting. . . .

http://TheDesertStudio.etsy.com

Enjoy!

Well, here you go, a new children's book to explain your plastic surgery:

http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/2008/04/17/20080417beautiful-mommy0417-ON.html

When I was in Seattle and at the Daniel Smith Art Supply store, I picked up a handful of the Moleskine "Van Gogh" silk-covered hardcover small sketchbooks. If ordering by their catalog, you couldn't designate which colors you wanted, so it was nice to have that opportunity there in person. They are sumptuous and rich, and the colors glow as only dyed silk can glow.

I was playing yesterday and today with some of the supplies I picked up on that visit, and remembering the fun I had in that artist's playground up there in Seattle!

I love Moleskine journals of all types. Here's a neat-o link to lots of tips to getting the most out of yours. .

http://www.43folders.com/2004/11/18/more-moleskine-hacks

Enjoy!

I'm in the middle of printing out the pics from the Desert Botanical Garden here in Phoenix. I went out there on Friday morning, and made a full day of it, exploring, sketching, photographing. I am not an "outdoors" kind of girl, especially when it's hot, unless it revolves around a swimming pool. But this was so enjoyable and engrossing the time flew by. I used sunscreen, but should have used the spray-on one I use when i go swimming. I am a little pink and my feet have "stripes" where my Birks straps covered them!
Crap, it's getting to be summer too fast for my taste.

Took a quick little road trip to Tohono Chul Park in Tucson. Went down yesterday afternoon and stayed overnight, and spent most of the day in the park today. The weather was great, only about72 degrees, breezy. I wanted to focus on sketching and finishing some earlier drawings I had started there. There were a lot of hummingbirds, and I was delighted when one actually came up to me and tried to 'sip' from some magenta 'tie dye' areas of my shirt! If you make their little 'bzz-bzzz' chirp, you can get them to come near you and hover as they try to figure out what kind of flower you are! It was delightful!
Some mexican food for dinner, and a stop at the ostrich farm to view the apiary with lorikeets on the way home.
It is so eff'ing awesome to be able to do this in the middle of the week, with no plans or schedules. This still blows me away.
that is all :P

I really love my Keurig coffee brewer. I've been cutting back on coffee-drinking, but even so, every time I reorder Kcups I choose different flavors, so it's interesting. I learned the "dark" brews are too strong for my stomach. But i do love those with vanilla, carmel, pecan.
So tonight K made me a treat; hot chocolate and vanilla cream blended together. Delicious!
The coffee was decaf, and the hot chocolate sugar free, so hope it doesn't keep me awake all night.

I've skipped coffee for most of the last two weeks, and when i've had any it's been decaf. I've been upping my intake of water by quite a bit, in addition to more green tea, both hot and iced.
I want to pick up more flavors of herbal tea when i go grocery shopping next week, and see which will make really good iced tea. Summer is moving in already.

Okay, so I ordered one of those "MagicJack" devices, and am pretty pleased.
It arrived quickly; was really simple to setup, and within just a few minutes was able to make long distance calls.
So far so good. I read good reviews of this thing, it had endorsements on it's website, and our local televison news program did a product review of it, and gave it a thumbs-up.

I like the price too. Essentially, only $19.95/yr for unlimited calls. Plus, can take it with me when travelling.
Works for me. . .

My eyes are burning like hell today. It's not windy today, but it has been breezy earlier this week and I was driving around with the truck windows down, enjoying the spring weather. At least the little bit we get before the summer heat arrives. Then drove into Phoenix twice, and the smog and crap in the air took their toll. I don't have allergies, but that driving around must have been what did this. Too much fresh air I guess!

To any of my local LJ friends:

Do any of you have suggestions for a good local recording studio, to get some vocal music recorded on CD? There's several listed but this is new territory for me.
You can reply here or to my email at blueswave at yahoo dot com. Thanks

I love Valentines Day. . . .
And I knew I had a true romantic on my hands years ago when my soon-to-be-hubby asked me if we dared to pre-empt our planned formal wedding with a wedding on Valentines Day itself. See, we had our traditional wedding scheduled for a Saturday, the usual weekend arrangement that enabled family and friends to attend. But we went with our hearts and had a midweek evening candlelight private wedding ceremony in the minister's study. Several days later, we had our formal ceremony and reception. The sweet secret we shared made this day even more romantic. . . .

We've had several other wedding ceremonies, but this first one, on Valentines Day itself, is the most meaningful to us. I say "Yay" to romantic secret plans!

I ordered some incense from the Fred Solls site a while ago, and have been working my way thru the various "flavors" I sampled this time. I think I have found my new favorite: Honey Amber. This is a stick incense, that is just awesome. It is 'sticky' with the honey and amber crystals/powder and is a wonderful powdery, soft, sweet amber. A little goes a long, long way.
He also has at least 5 types of frankincense sticks, again, crusted with the resin. What a luxurious incense.
But this Honey Amber is by far my favorite.

Road trip adventure yesterday to the Gem Show in Tucson was fun as expected. We limited ourselves to just one venue, but it was a huge one. They must have opened earlier than posted, as we arrived at 10 but the lot was almost full, yet dozens of people were leaving with bags galore. We had preregistered and had tickets in hand, so we were able to bypass the folks in line and go right in. I was able to locate several vendors I shopped from last year and pleased to find them there again. I am pleased with the 'finds' I made this time, again, and have plans for most of the material already in mind. We were out of there in a few hours, and then did some exploring in Tucson for the rest of the day. Late lunch, then some time at Tohono Chul park so I could sketch and birdwatch on the nature trails. I love spending time in that tranquil desert setting, especially in the cooler months. Then some galleries and a little shopping, then headed home to the Phoenix area. It had been a while since our last roadtrip, so this was a really nice one.

I have some jewelry I need to fire this weekend; I'm doing an experiment with some new material to see if I will be happy with the results. And I also need to finish up gathering some paintings together to bring with me for a look-see with a potential buyer this coming weekend. Beyond that, there's an unexpected prospectus from Coos Bay museum for their show again, but the deadline is very soon and i don't think I'll be able to finish to my satisfaction, much less photograph the two pieces I'd consider entering. So need to make some decisions there. I'm glad I'm busy in both areas, I hope this year is a good year for art and jewelry.