Maki's Honest Heart Helping Japan

Dear Makiko Hastings is raising money to help one of the towns in Japan that was washed nearly away last year. She visited the town of Minamisanriku-Cho and saw the devastation for herself. She talked with the people and found that they are incredibly resilient, still trusting the sea for their livelihood, intent on rebuilding better than ever, but it is a long hard road and they still have far to go.

Maki is making delightful little birds of hope and candle holders to raise money. She will deliver the funds she raises to the town in person next month, August. We have only until Tuesday, July 31st to order and contribute, so I want to encourage you to place your order right away if this is something you want to do. I wish I had placed my order much sooner so that it would be here already, and I could show you what I got!

Find information on how to order your birds or candle holder "Light of Hope" here.

I Had a Studio Sale Today...

 I spent hours and hours and days and days cleaning and organizing the studio to get ready for it. I looked through all my paintings and sketches for the past--almost 30 years--selecting the ones that weren't too awful to offer for sale. I put out even my favorites at very low prices, so that people could afford them. I sent out emails to everyone I knew. I gave away fliers at my booth at the Saturday Market. 

I made a sign, a beautiful sign, that said Suzanna's Studio, SALE, and put it out front.

Lots of people said they would come...

And no one came but one wonderful loyal supporter, who bought two paintings for a total of $30. Thank you, Jill for your support!!

I think I need to go cry.

*&;*&;*&;*&;

OK, Now I'm ready to move on.

What did I learn/gain from this experience?

• After months of putting up with a studio in chaos, my studio is now beautiful and organized! I am proud to invite people in.

• I have a beautiful sign I can put out front to let people know my studio is open. I painted it yesterday after months of having the sandwich board ready but never "getting around to it". I finally realized that I have the materials and experience to do a nice job on paper but was feeling uncertain about painting directly on wood; so I painted on watercolor paper and sprayed it with a sealer. It might not work in a torrential raid, but it works fine in most weather.

• I looked through almost 30 years of my work and found some I still love. I got to practice letting go of pieces I've held onto for a looooong time!

• I got to nibble on chips and humus and cherries I had set out for guests, while reading an interesting book, sitting in a comfy chair, surrounded by my beautiful paintings.

• I learned that I need to plan my promotions strategicaly BEFORE I get immersed in preparing the work for a show. Like about a month ahead of time.

• I think real mailed invitations mailed about 1.5-2 weeks ahead would have been more effective than email sent a few days before the event. To accomplish this, I need to have them ready to send out about 3 weeks before the event. Plan ahead!!

• It would have been good to talk about some of the pieces or about the process of going through my work in preparation for the sale, in order to gather interest for it.

• Flyers around town, ads, and other ways of promotion would have supported a better turnout.

 

Bethamay, Art for Your Spirit

"Art for your spirit"--I LOVE that! That's Beth Reiter's tag line for her Bethamay Arts.

Happy Buddha Shrine by Bethamay

I really love her little shrines, especially this one from Beth's etsy shop!
Beth and I shared a pot of genmai tea at the local tea shop, while we looked at our etsy shops on her laptop.  etsy has been such a ...mystery to me...how to use it effectively, I mean. Beth enlightened me on how to word my descriptions and titles better and how to list items more effectively.

I have a lot of work ahead of me to fix my listings and get up to speed, but I think it will be worth it!

The Road Leads Ever On; Two loves

The road leads ever on and on....!

I'm in the middle of another life change. New Love, rethinking my work, saying Aloha (not goodbye) to past lives and loves.

Yesterday I visited the sailboat I used to own with my beloved soul mate. He is gone, a victim of lung cancer--no, not a victim. He refused to be a victim.

I fixed Bob a cup of coffee, just for rememberence sake. The smell reminded me of the mornings he would fix me breakfast and himself a cup of strong coffee, as we lay at anchor.

I will always love Bob. And now I have a new love. I have accepted the love of another True Hearted man. Bob's Love taught me so much I will use to enrich this new relationship!

The View from my Window--on Silk!

I knew it would happen. When I moved into this house, I could watch the moon rise over the harbor and the ducks swim in the neighbor's pond. But alders grow fast, and now all I can see is trees. Knowing it would happen, I sketched the scene, and years later painted it on silk--silk curtains. The bear who crossed my lot while the house was being built, the deer who sleep under my apple trees, the racoon who steals my garbage cans, and many of the other wild animals who have visited this island home found their way into the painting.

The curtain, in three panels, was on display all of June at Common Thread, a shop collectively run by about a dozen fiber artists. Cards from this painting are available at my booth at the Vashon Saturday Market, and prints are available on my esty shop.

Port Townsend, Here I Come!!

I am so thrilled! I just found out that My painting on silk, Golden Pathway, has been accepted into a prestigious show, the Port Townsend/Expressions Northwest!! The show runs from August 3rd to August 26th (my birthday!) and will be up during the time I will be in Port Townsend participating in the Edge program.   The Edge program is a professional development program for visual artists  through Artist Trust!

Halleluiah!!

It seems so appropriate that this piece, which has become a symbol for me of having and being the best in life, of walking a road of loving and creating and doing right work, is the one accepted of the three I submitted.

 This painting was inspired by a walk with my beloved in a magical madrona forest on a small island east of Vancouver Island, Canada. We had been sailing all day, and anchored down in Pirate's Cove, De Courcey Island. It was July, when the madrona turn some of their leaves yellow and drop them. The path was covered with golden madrona leaves, the ravens were singing, the sun was shining......  It was a perfect moment, one that has colored my life beautiful since then, even through the death of my beloved almost exactly a year later.

Shen; some art inspiration

Do check out Shen's work! So happy and carefree!
http://shenstudio.com/galleryofwork/freestyle/