It's a very pleasant day here in Long Beach. I wake up to a window in front of me sans window covering (just pure sky) and a beautiful arched window to my right with a gigantic painting leaning in front of it to shield me from a possible passerby on the street below. Both windows open inwardly and are still the original dark wood from 1932. How beautiful it would be to swing them open into the room and let the moist warm breezes from the nearby ocean wake me each morning. I probably could figure it out but I HAVE CATS that dominate me. I am fearful of them lunging or climbing the screen and it giving way as it's old and rusty and they would crash to the ground one story below. They are indoor cats and run the household. Once in a while I will supervise an "opening." As the day breaks, I have already completed a few sketches (procreate) and checked facebook, instagram, a very very brief glance at the news of the day (which ususally makes me throw up), played and won the nytimes CONNECTIONS and WORDLE and I AM ready to rumble...oops I mean ready to paint. I have read the mantra that I wrote a few days ago......(slightly edited to protect the author from embarrassment) It goes: "During these last 6 months of 2024 i will receive $x from sales of paintings, books on kdp and stock increases. I am excited and creative and ideas will come to me in my sleep and while driving and in the course of each day. I will expand my customer base and find buyers from the internet. My health will inspire energy and creativity. I will work on the computer, on the easel and in my brain to come up with great ideas that will manifest into inspiration right away. I will film ideas and I won’t worry about them being perfect. I will just get them out there. The shoot, the ideas, the process. I will write in my book as I learn INDESIGN 10 pages a day." There you have it....good to visualize the day, the work, the goals. NOW, I still have to figure out the size of the painting

I am in my 30th year of making art my full time pursuit and what better way to be sure it has a prominent place in my day than for me to be economically dependent upon it. At least that is somewhat of a guarantee for me. If I didn't have to let go of paintings and "sell" them I would probably never finish one. I love to start ideas and as soon as something starts to "gel" in my mind, whether it's the composition, the subject, the color harmony or the rendering, I am ready to move on to the next white surface. Having to complete paintings has been instrumental in establishing for me what they call a "body of work." From the very beginning when I chose this path I knew the importance of a "body of work." I had worked with clay previously and knew the importance of making gradual growth with changes, improvements or alterations in my work. In pottery, using the same three glazes and using the same clay body will create a continuity that visually establishes a recognizable "body of work" and establish mastery and confidence. In painting, it can be many variables. It can be brush stroke, composition, subject matter, treatment, and color and more. Clearly there can be many factors but change should be slow. The artist that starts with drawing, rushes through watercolors, gets out the staple gun and stretches a canvas for oil paint and finishes up the month with pastels is going to have a harder time finding their voice than the artist who uses a methodical approach of organic change over a lengthy period of time. This is not just because the audience isn't ready for the variety. It's because the artist isn't absorbing the media into her/his inner creative mind and physical body and letting them work in harmony and with harmony. The manifestation of the artwork is a dance the artist does with his/her mind and the materials of he/she has chosen to master. A deft understanding of abilities mixed with the chosen, "matter" can only be generated by repetition. I once asked my therapist to sum me up. What was my style? What did I have to say? And the response was well we won't know until the end after you've lived your life. That was a truly unsatisfactory answer for me at 40 but I do now understand that is the way it is. It's nothing to worry about. It will take care of itself. It just is. Climb one mountain at a time and leave your mark. Take that knowledge with you when you start your ascent on the next one. Here's a recent painting YES another girl writing.