Back to it...

No longer feeling like the new girl in town! I've been working like a mad woman and haven't taken much time learning the new digs after the changes post below. Well, guess what? Made some new friends in town and ventured into the local art studio. I had forgotten how inspiring it is to be around fellow artists, musicians, and a space filled with great art! Yesterday I spent some hard earned cash on some art supplies and I'm hoping to get back to it...

My Best Friend's Wedding...

For the bride...

Too bad the iridescent feathers didn't translate well!!

Bridesmaids in Ivory skulls and the flower girls in Red...

Just a nice traditional Mother of the Bride piece...

Some INK.... NEED MORES!!!

Changes!

I'm in the middle of a career change. Yes, I am CRAZY! I left a good job and stepped outside of my comfort zone in the midst of an economic crisis. The move was one that benefits my family in a way that is much more important than just a career. I have a bit of a work life balance, self prescribed, for once since college. I must admit that I now must go to bed like a little old lady, sometimes even before the sun sets to make it to work before most of my friends are even awake, but there is a payoff.

I make it home most days before 3 pm and have a chance to hang out with my family. Family is the one thing I have taken for granted over the years. Maybe because I come from such a small one that I fail to see how important this time really is as I have come to expect it. Could it be that growing up in a house with just two adults could warp my perspective on home life? Was I just another little adult? Perhaps. Now that I have my own tiny family I see how important just hanging out is. I also see how lucky I was to grow up in such a loving household. I love to come home and I love to come home to one that is now my own. After a bad marriage, countless family health concerns, and losing most of the family I finally just smile when final destination is my driveway.

I am thankful everyday that I have had the insight and the drive to simply follow my heart. Call me selfish, crazy, or driven. The rat race is still being run by my father. He's my hero, my role model, and my reminder that work can provide many things in life but can also take all of the valuable time you had to enjoy the fruits of your labor. That's why for him and for the furry waggle butts that greet me every evening... I work. I put my heart into my work. I will work until you tell me I can't work anymore and I need to go home. If that work ensures me the ability to go to my favorite place and to keep it safe and perpetuating then I win. If the job feels less like work, more like an adventure, and they pay me... Even better!  I encourage you to take a risk, put in that application, network, meet new people, love those who become your friends, say "yes" and just put yourself out there. What do you have to lose? Nothing. On the other hand, if you don't do any of these suggestions what will you end up doing? Nothing. See! Go on now, change your life!!

Since I live by the beach now I find myself embracing the following motto: If you're lucky enough to live by the beach, then you are lucky enough! I live in a vacation and I working to embrace it!!

Tiki Time... Having creative fun with my lil' 50's beach house.

Spontaneous chain saw Tiki mess!!

Silly Tiki Sign for the storm door project. Like it??

Kickin' it Ole Skool....

It's funny how there are certain people that you meet over the course of your life who connect with a big piece of your soul. On some occasions this connection slowly develops with time, yet others the moment you meet them they smile and speak to you like it has always been.

One special person in my life was a mentor. 13 years ago after a chance meeting involving our love for Volkswagen beetles and Taco Bell.  It was soon realized that we both used Krylon as our preferred medium. One artist was an expert, a well versed, traveled, and experienced street warrior. The other artist, myself, was young, naive and making the transition from drawing on paper to working with canvas and various surfaces/ landscapes.

To this day I wonder how fate crossed our paths. I also recognize that I must just be thankful that someone was willing to show me the ropes, getting me out into the streets and sharing my guerrilla art form with our world. I must say that watching a talented visioneer draw, paint, and write was more than inspiration, it helped to shape me as an artist.

At this particular point in my life this friendship helped show me focus, drive, and kept me out of trouble.... Well, for the most part, outside of slingin' the spray paint. (Which, by the way, is an entirely different post for a different time!) I don't even know if he fully realized that I was actually paying attention despite my ever present and aloof state of childlike wonderment. Beauty in a can. Political discussion to prompt casual awareness. Pieces of true art from the heart to outshine the trash and rust - the crumbling urban landscape we called home. I had found my favorite distraction and a mentor.

Just wanted to take a moment to say "thanks yo" to that special Bad Ass. You know who you are. If you read this you will know too. Keep on creating, you're making more than just art.

"You'll understand when you're grown" meets Time...

For some reason there is still a very lucid fall day within my childhood that is oddly yet clearly filed in my memory under the "Time" tab... Crisp cool air circulating through open screen window on the storm door, the smell of apples and fall leaves permeate the air... I am in the living room patiently awaiting the grand and exciting culmination of coming to pick me up, which still leaves me wondering why I was so excited?!? The teal blue-green lines on the VCR somehow keep time for the entire world while gracefully synchronize swimming on the display in various configurations. I sit on the piano bench, maybe on top of my hands... while counting the minutes. I was hyper aware of how long the minutes were lasting counting all 60 seconds silently in my thoughts as the house buzzed busily along in it's usual day time routine. Quite suddenly it dawns on me, that moments like this will not last forever. I, like in a dream, seem to be reading a cue card to myself that informs my subconscious that I only understand this long moment, defining time, as my childhood perception allows. Somehow this moment forces me to understand all of the times a grown up turned green with envy while snapping a retort along the lines of "I only wish I had nap time" or "Stop asking, we'll be there in only 10 minutes". Also the ever famous "One day you will wish you were bored!" The reason I think of this moment is when I yearn for more time, a hidden resource, one that I often overlook. One day I hope that I can spend my day creating instead of answering phones and typpity typing all day. Oh Time, how I miss thee. Let me count the ways...