Oh The Agony

I might be a tad dramatic. But it is the second day in a row I have woken up with intense lower back pain. For those of you who know me well, you know that is not uncommon to say the least. I've battled this back pain in one way or another pretty much since I hit puberty. So I've learned to cope with it with pillows and stretches and workouts and ice, but this past week has been off the charts pain wise. Nothing I normally do to alleviate the pressure has been working. I'm completely used to waking up to pain, and I can almost always fall back asleep after some cushion adjusting. But not lately. I've had to resort to medication, which I hate. IceyHot smells gross, and it's stuck to your body.. so it's you that smells. You can't walk away from it. Over the counter pills don't even begin to touch my back pain because I usually have ten other things that moderately ache, and I'm not one for anything stronger than that if I have to get it anywhere other than my doctor.

I'm pretty much just complaining now. I am enjoying my 4 day weekend. It'll end on Tody's birthday, and we have a small celebration together planned. I have a huge work weekend art wise ahead. I want to make honest efforts to frame and finish everything I have painted for the gallery. And I need to make the rest of the bracelets and necklaces I have planned out. I have two blank canvasses gazing mockingly at me, so I need to fill them this weekend. I liked my ink octopuses I did for the gallery, so I think I might do some ink elephants. I've noticed that the art I'm selling is sorely lacking for my favorite animal. If there aren't elephants involved how can it possibly be a good representation of me?! Lol.

The sun is shining, everything is drying and sparkly this brisk morning. I should take Dime somewhere. Perhaps a trip to the Reserve is in order today.

Check back soon for more art updates.

Sketch

is how I have been feeling lately. Sketchy... not fully right. But I've managed to get quite a lot accomplished in the past week or so. I paid some bills, and got new supplies. Tody and I have been hard at work experimenting with shirt making. Some went well while more are interesting works in progress. He's been so patiently photographing everything I ask him to, even if the wait for getting the pictures online can get long. But we are finally current on all my finished pieces being documented. That includes my new ones I have yet to post. I've been playing with ink lately instead of painting. It's a lot more kid friendly, so the boys don't feel the need to make a mess everywhere with my expensive supplies. But I have discovered the joy of paint pens, so we'll see where that takes us.

I've also been hard at work on the blog for Our Sunflower Gallery! It's still a work in progress. I have a lot to do with it before I'm truly happy with is as a good website for our art. I'm also going to be manning our Twitter account and perhaps updating the Facebook too. Next month is creeping up quickly and everything seems to be falling together quite nicely. Forms are being filled out, insurance was gotten, venues are being booked, art should be getting framed... it's getting down to the hard stuff now.

So naturally I have been hard at work. I'm stressing a bit about my framing. I'm low on funds and resources but I have a growing collection of pieces that are not sellable if they aren't completely finished with a nice frame. But my output is still going strong. I'm gathering advise on how I should price, I was even going to post about pricing tips on the gallery blog. I feel it would be helpful. But I have a lot to do before I can start doing silly stuff like that.

I thought I would share some doodles I have been collecting over the years. I have just started photographing all my journals and drawings from before college and while I was going, because I'm curious about what I am still attracted to and interested in. I find these pictures are a good source of ideas for new projects or techniques. I am still drawing the same things even years later, I just have slightly different ideas.