Updates and more

Its been an odd week. Monday I had a physical therapy appointment that ended up irritating the problems in my neck. They only had orders to work on my lower back, and didn’t seem to take into account that the exercise for my back my mess with my neck. It’s taken me all week to get back to where I started before the physical therapy, which isn’t great to begin with. Tomorrow I see the Neurosurgeon. I’m hoping he will have some answers on how to fix my spine.

To start, here are a few things of interests:

Utrecht Art Supply has been featuring Artists on their Twitter Background. My painting the Last Green was featured earlier in the week.

If you are a book fanatic like me, you might want to follow Penguin Group (USA). They give away free books in mini contests on Twitter. I won a book just yesterday.

For those of you interested in my writing journey, I just completed a short story called Lil’ Red. I wrote it for a fun challenge on a writer’s forum.

And now, the commission I neglected to post (since I was paralyzed with pain on Monday afternoon):

Mount Yonah

22 x 15 inches

acrylic on wood

Must Have Mondays

Must Have Monday’s – That’s team EBSQ-Etsy way of featuring the myriad of artists who call EBSQ and Etsy home. Today I am one of the three featured artists. They chose my painting Well Traveled Memories as a Must Have Monday!

Available in my Etsy Shop

Holiday Weekend Sale

I woke up today and thought, it’s time for an Etsy Sale.

Everything over at Nature’s Charms is 15% off from 3rd July through 6th July.

Nature’s Charms has an eclectic collection of jewelry and art with prices that can’t be beat! To receive your 15% off make your purchase as usual but hold off on paying the invoice. I will send you an updated invoice with the sale prices.

Have a wonderful Holiday Weekend and Happy 4th of July!

Commission Update 2

Just another quick update on that commission. I filled in the trees and the underpainting for the field. May work on this some more later, otherwise I will finish it up tomorrow.

Mount Yonah with Bears

Trivia Winner

And the winner is . . . Robin Cruz McGee!!! Robin’s prize is a free, original ACEO created by moi. Pics to come later!

Robin is a fellow Artist at EBSQ where he delights us with his creations in metal and on paper.

I can never remember a time when I did not know I was an artist. Yet, for many years I believed I would earn my living elsewhere. After time spent in those other avenues, I eventually came back around to pick that thing I had kept only for special occasions and became an artist.

I was afraid after a day of little interest that my trivia question was too difficult, but I just knew there had to be someone out there who had passed through North Georgia. Yonah Mountain is well known to anyone who lives near Cleveland or Helen.

As it turns out, Robin did some repelling off the cliffs around Yonah Mountain as a young man. How cool!

Photograph by Jonathan C. Nilson

Yonah is the Cherokee word for Bear. It makes a perfect backdrop for my Black Bear family that I will start painting today. And yes, there are Black Bears in Georgia!

Commission Update

It’s been a slow week so far. Yesterday and today I’ve felt pretty ill – just the autoimmune goblin wreaking havoc again. Nevertheless, I’m determined to finish a commission this week. I even went to bed last night without my usual reading time, but was woken a phone from my daughter. She was crying and saying she missed me. It made me weepy and sad. I didn’t sleep well the rest of the night.

Slept in till 9:00 a.m. but still got started painting at 10:30. I’ve been pushing myself hard today! The top half of the painting is mostly complete. Tomorrow I’m going to work on the trees at the base of the mountain and begin the area of the field behind the bears. Yes, bears! It’s a family too.

I apologize for the crappy photograph. It’s not easy photographing these panels till they are completely covered in paint.

Trivia Time: Do you know what mountain is featured in this painting?

Hint: It’s somewhere in Georgia.

Leave a comment here with your answer. The first person to get the correct answer wins a Free ACEO. I will paint the ACEO on Friday – July 3 and mail it on Monday- July 6.

**Only open to US residents this time around – sorry!!

Link Salad

rt and Social Business – a great article from Natasha Wescoat. This was featured at the EBSQ blog in May. If you missed it you can read the full article on Natasha’s site. Any artist with an online presence should read this!

A Writer’s Troubleshooting Guide by published author,  David B Coe. Great article with helpful tips to fight those bumps in the road.

Featured Artists at EBSQ – Yes, that’s me. You can also see me on the front page just below the Art of the Day with a list of past Featured Artists. Thanks EBSQ!

Creating Worlds – My new blog on LiveJournal devoted to the novel I’m writing. I wanted to keep this separate from my regular blog, which is mostly devoted to my artwork. So you can go there if you are curious what I’m writing, how far I’ve gotten, etc.

Art on Zazzle

Love Earth Magnet by makepeaceart
Design a Magnet at zazzle

Yes, I have a Zazzle shop. I decided to open one a few months ago and so far I’ve had nothing but great experiences. My shop is a mix of my art and photography. It’s a great way and often an affordable way to purchase prints of my artwork. I sell them on mugs, magnets, postcards, greetings cards and more.

Pictured here is one of my favorite pebbles paintings as a magnet. The words ‘Love Earth’ seemed so appropriate, because it’s what I feel every time I paint pebbles.

Friday Five

1. I am guilty of shameless self-promotion on Twitter, but I do try to keep it at a minimum. The endless stream of promotions from Etsy, ArtFire, Silkfair, and Byhand has become almost obnoxious. It seems as if some twitter accounts are set up for just this purpose and nothing else. I do understand though. These are tough times. I haven’t sold a single piece of Art in months. If I don’t sell something from the few I’ve been listing recently I won’t be able to pay my Etsy fees. Regardless, I have more to say in life than just what I have in my shop.

2. The One Pebble Project has been going strong for nearly 5 months!! Wow! I can’t count the number of wonderful pebbles I’ve received from across the globe. Keep ‘em coming folks!!

3. I came across a blog by a group of authors and read a post that got me thinking. ‘What we Bring to the Books we Read‘ – I read it both from a writer’s viewpoint and a reader’s. It was all about books that change people, move them on a deep emotional level. For me, the ones that stick out the most were Walden by Thoreau and The Awakening by Kate Chopin. I read them when I was 17 and they were fundamental in the formation of who I am today. What were the books that changed you?

4. Some legends left our world this week. If any of them made an impression on me, it was Michael Jackson. When Thriller was released in 1982 I was only 7 years old, but it made a huge impact. I had the vinyl album and was just enthralled with the zombies in the music video!!! Michael Jackson was the 1980’s. Farewell.

5. The last thought for today is on Nature vs. Humans. We are the only species (as far as I know) that will continue to live in an area that is under threat from Natural Disaster. I’ve thought since I was a child that this behavior was bizarre, but I guess people will live where they want to live. The people who owned cottages in Chatham, Massachusetts got a taste of this firsthand:

Photo by Vincent DeWitt of the Boston Globe

Have a safe and fun weekend.

The Sun, the Moon and the Mother

In other words, new ACEOs. I will be adding these to my Etsy shop – Nature’s Charms – over the next several days. Each ACEO was painting with Artist Grade Watercolors on Fabriano Watercolor Studio Paper, 300g/m2, Cold Press, Acid Free and pH neutral. They are $8.00 each and come in a hard, plastic sleeve. From left to right: Rising, Setting, Last Flight, Big Moon Rising, Moon Child.