Working Through The Pain

Displays.  I woke up this morning with a pounding headache and convinced myself I could make it through the day without letting it affect me.  Ouch.  Easier said than done.

I worked on the displays this morning.  I think I'm going to do a zipper display for the Lust Charms.  Initial concept on the left.  It will look better than that when finished.  I also think I'm going to make it two sided so I have womens charms on one side and mens on the other.  I was cracking myself up trying to come up with tag lines for Lust Charms.  I thought "for sexier unzipping", but the BF came up with "unzip your passion".  He also came up with a fabulous idea for a 2nd product under the "lust" line.  I have met my match creatively!

The 2nd display above is for the Art Charms.  I kept the same display I started with, but took off the charm bracelet and hooked a key chain to the hand.  I think I like that better.  The one on the right will be the "fashion charms" or "style charms".  I'll do the display a bit differently with pegs to hold the charms, like the other displays, but I think the headless torso will be similar.  I think i will offer two types of necklaces for sale along with the charms on the fashion display.

On the good news side of things....I got an email from a gallery I work with in Poulsbo, Washington.  They offered my name as an artist to display in a crepe shop closeby.  Because they are so far away, they have an inventory of my paintings, I think about 10 of them, so the idea is to take the ones they are rotating and hang them in the crepe shop.  I hope it works out.  I'm waiting to hear from the Crepe owner.

I also got a call from a fellow artist and was asked to participate in a one day art show in the Medford area.  She said the manager of the locations saw my paintings and liked them.  That is just the type of thing I like to hear.  :)

The Absurdities of Life

Life really is absurd at times.  Which I love.  That is I love the good absurd, not the painful absurd.  Here is my absurd day.  Spent half of the night getting up with Gramma who was hallucinating about my Grampa on the fishing boat.  Grampa passed away about ten years ago and I didn't want to remind her so we just talked about Grampa.

Morning,  did the girl primp thing, while at the same time emptying the commode and all the fun caretaking duties.  Into the nursing home to drop G off at Respite.  Got a call from Margo at the gallery.  Now, I have to say, the pear painting I just completed was done painstakingly.  Not the art/creative part (that part is always done painstakingly), but the building of the canvas.  That's been my biggest criticism from gallery owners, my attention to detail.  So carefully I had built this thing, even redoing a few things when they weren't perfect.  My main goal; make Margo (who I consider my mentor) proud.  Call from Margo, "two of your pears have fallen off".  WHAAA????!!

On my way to see the BF, but she was going to put the painting in the gallery window, can't pass that up.  Ran to store, E6000, trip to gallery, reglued pears.  Done.

Off to see BF.  Very nice respite from being a caretaker.  And like five minutes later, I'm swatting at balloons in the nursing home.

Somewhere in between all of that, I started making a necklace, charm bracelet and keychain to test my charms.  I walked around covered in charms and not happy with some of jewelry items.  I'm just not quite getting the concept/marketing plan where I want it.  I'm going to know when I hit on the right way to market each of the categories of charms, I just have to keep processing and thinking (aka head spinning).  So...I ask everyone.  Faeebook, love my facebook friends!  Great input.  Walk into the bank, ask G's favorite teller Robin what she thinks.  She says, "zipper pull" make the display a zipper pull.

Bells started going off.  Of course....I doubt that she had any idea I was thinking of my Lust Charms, especially considering I haven't really brought it up to anyone yet.  I just created them last weekend.  What better way to display charms to sell in sex type stores than on half undone pants?  (There is a story behind the lust products, mainly that I'm looking for niche markets and....sex sells).  So here I am, in between blushing and laughing making a display for sex charms, while at the same time texting my close friend Susan, who started chemo today and two of my daughters.  One who was going into a job interview and the other who wanted her first credit card.

All I'm saying....is that life is absurd.  And ...the more absurd the harder I laugh.  ;)  Raise your glass to the absurdities of life!

These are the Lust Charms.  Did I forget anything?  ;)

And then to finish out the day, I'm making Immy's 1930's outfit for Third Friday.  Doesn't she look beautiful in a dress?  I don't know why, but whenever I dress her up I get almost hysterical laughing.  She's just so funny in her misery!

Pagelet and Music

I am really  missing my girls today and since part of "living my creative life" has been moving away from them, I'm going to include them in my blog today.  This is Page, my youngest daughter.  Click here to watch one of her youtube videos.   She has such a sensitive, sweet voice.  She writes some of the songs herself and has not taken any lessons.  I think she's amazing.

Page is in her senior year of high school, which she is taking at a community college in the Seattle area.  She will graduate with her high school diploma and her associates degree in June, then she's on to UW.  In order for me to be able to care for my grandmother, Page had to give up having me around for her last year of high school.  When my parents asked me to move to Oregon and care for my Gramma, of course, I told my parents "no, not until Pagey graduates".   Page said when i was talking to them, it was the first time she had seen me smile in a long time, it was during the offer to turn G's garage into a studio for myself.  Pagey told me she didn't want Great Gramma to go into a nursing home and she wanted me to be an artist.  I could not love anyone more than I love my three daughters and today, I want to acknowlege Pagey's selfless support of my dreams.

I love you Pagelet!