Upcoming vacation

This month has flown by! Heck, before you know it...it will be Christmas again! ( : Gosh, I hope it doesn't go by that fast. I just wanted to let my customers know that from May 27th - June 6th, my Etsy stores will be in "vacation mode" and I will not be listing anything new on Ebay until after June 6th. I realized this week, that listing anything now, would have them ending when I would be gone. I am looking forward to visiting with my parents. So, if there's anything in my Etsy stores that you've been procrastinating buying, if you want it soon...better snag it now!
I am still working on the "rework" of the painting I started over on (with a much better canvas surface) and am nearly done. I think I may finish today. I usually start painting in the afternoon, but am tempted to just stay in my pajamas and start painting this morning! I will post a pic as soon as it is done. Hope everyone is having a good week!

Starting over...

I can't remember ever getting so upset with a painting that I had to start completely over on a new surface. The painting I started 2 days ago, got to be a big mess due to an awful painting surface. I had wanted to try Ampersand Gessobord afer reading so many good things about it. I am RUNNING, not walking, back to canvas. The surface absorbed my paint so fast, I couldn't blend anything. I tried adding a "slow-drying" medium to my acrylic paints, but that did nothing. I finally gave up after the paint layers started to build up and look chunky. It was FAR from smooth. It's hard to give up on a painting. I am not a fan of giving up, but I knew I would never be happy with it, and I didn't want to waste a good painting idea on an icky surface that was just going to quadruple my painting time. So, goodbye Ampersand. Maybe you work for oils, but acrylics and you just don't get along well.
On another note, my painting angst was quelled with an antiquing shopping trip with a good friend today, so I am ready to start over and relax. The Chinese takeout helped too. ( : Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Finally....

I finally started on a new painting today. So, I don't have anything to show for this week, but hopefully will soon. I plan to spend more time listing new paintings on Ebay. I will still list new prints on Etsy, but probably won't be listing my painting there. Due to some changes they have made over the past year, I have pretty much fallen out of love with Etsy, and don't know if it will ever be the same again. A lot of sellers are feeling the same way.
Since I don't have anything creative to show you, I will end my post this week with an impromptu picture I took of my cat last week. Consider this your weekly dose of cuteness! Have a great weekend! I have a date with a pint of Haagen Dazs and the DVD of New Moon. ( :

Crazy weekend....

This weekend has been...shall we say..."interesting." Last week, the front of our Mustang got damaged when a semi-truck kicked up a blown out tire at it. I had to take it to the dealership for body work. Thank goodness for insurance! So, they gave me a rental car...a Chrysler 300. Let me tell you...I think they should be recalled. On Sat., we had an appt. at 10 am in Orlando (a two hour drive away). We left in the rental car and shortly after getting onto the highway, we heard a horrible noise coming from the bottom of the car. I had to quickly pull off. A huge panel had dislodged from the bottom of the car and was dragging on the road. The pull had loosened the entire front bumper. If it had come all the way off, we could have had an accident, or cause someone else to. So, that had to get fixed. We had to take our Honda instead. Today, I hit a squirrel on the way to church. It was my first non-bird road kill. I cried. I think the rental car is evil, at this point.
So, this afternoon after church, I took a nap. After all the craziness, I figured I deserved one. Tomorrow is a new week....one that will hopefully bring no more car problems. It could be worse...my parents got snow this weekend ( in the middle of May! Crazy, huh?) and nearly hit a black bear while out driving today.
Hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day. I am just a fur-baby momma, but I did get some snuggle time with the kitties today. ( :

Frustration

I am completely confused at how some people do it. I tell myself every week, that this week, I will get at least 3 small paintings done. It is Thursday, almost noon, and I haven't had ANY time to paint this week. No matter what I do, stuff keeps happening to prevent me from having the time to do so. Between running errands, doing ALL the housework, cooking, making phone calls, keeping up with church stuff, keeping up with social networks (which are a must these days to get your work noticed), listings for Ebay & Etsy, car repairs, and more things than I could possibly list...I just don't have the time. I wonder...do these other people who do manage to get 3 or sometimes up to 7 paintings done in a week do any housework? Do they have assistants? Are they speed painters? Do they sleep? Cook? Does anyone have an answer? I just had to get that off my chest. I have been feeling overwhelmed lately, and feel like there are many things I need to be doing to further myself in my art career, but just can't.
Well, maybe someday I will have a room I can paint in at night when I should be sleeping. I think that is the only time I will have. Right now, my studio is the kitchen, so any lights or noises (we have a ranch style house) keep hubby up.
I had better go hop in the shower. It is nearly noon and I have spent all morning doing laundry, cleaning, and preparing a slow-cooker dish for tonight. After lunch I will have about 2 hrs. till my art lesson student comes, then husband will be home for supper. I think I need a chocolate bar....

New Auctions on Ebay tonight!

Late tonight, 8:30 PDT, I will have 8 paintings up for bid on Ebay. The auctions will run for 7 days. To view them, simply click HERE and it will take you there....or you can click on the button in the left hand column of my blog that says "My Artwork on Ebay." Remember to save me as a favorite seller! I want to have more of my original pieces on Ebay in the future on a regular basis. Hope your Monday wasn't too hectic!

My new shop on Etsy....

I finally got around to adding some new designs to my new store "HipHeart" on Etsy, and am gradually moving my graphic designs over from my ArtworkByLori store (which will now only house my paintings and prints of them. I hope that makes sense. ( : I am sharing some new designs with you, and you can visit my shop by clicking on any of them. I will be listing some paintings on Ebay this week. I had hoped to over the weekend, but decided to revamp my Ebay template, which let to an html headache. So, here they are....hope you like them!