A Productive Weekend

 

This weekend I knew we as a family had nothing on the calendar. No baseball tournaments, no groceries to buy, no clothing to shop for, nothing (well I did have a GNO Saturday but that doesn't count hehehe).  So Saturday morning I attempted to rise early for my first long run in my marathon training. Let's just say I can tell a huge difference in my motivation from the 1st one to now my 3rd. Last year I was up and at 'em by 5:30, out the door and running before daylight. Yeah. I guess I'm a tad too confident in my running now so an 8am run was sweltering. Note to self: get up earlier next Saturday!

Anyhoo....my goal since I knew the kids were chiling and hubby was in charge of the yard was to get into my STUDIO. I mean seriously folks. I have a beautiful work space in the basement that is stocked with supplies. But for some reason I always find an excuse not to enter. I'm too tired, kids are bored, Billy needs this, dinner needs to be made. You know the list. You have the same list I bet. But I have lingering deadlines, so I had to enter the threshold or the stuff wasn't going to get done.

I started with leather cuffs. Once a year I buy a stash of buttery smooth leather cuffs from a guy at the Atlanta Mart. And after stamping and attaching all the wordy goodness I ship them off to Vero at Naked Art Gallery. She's been selling my cuffs for about 4 years now. There are a lot of people making cuffs these days and offering them on Etsy...in particular my friend Becky at FarmGirl Paints makes a an extraordinary amount of cuffs and sells them on etsy. So quite honestly, I don't want to compete there or feel weird about something I love to make and have been making for years. So Vero happily takes them. And she is very excited about my spirit cuffs!

In the meantime I'd primed a couple of canvases thinking I might get a hold of one today. And I did. I've had this idea of a new genre for a spell now. I've been smitten with the work of Lullie Wallace for a few months now. I can totally stare at her work for hours. It's a bit Matisse like, who happens to be one of my favorite master painters ever. You can see her work here. My feed in instagram has been chopped full of zinnia's lately too. They must grow well for people up north. Mine just wilted. So I pulled up one of the many photos of zinnias, sat down at the easel with my audience of animals and came up with this composition:

 

I can see me in this entire thing.  So far loving the process.

 

He just couldn't stand it and had to come sit in my lap. He is such a lovey dovey.

 

This is how it ended last night before I had to head off for GNO. My entire family at this point was going in 4 different directions...so I felt no guilt headed out the door for dinner and a movie. Although today I am demanding family time. It's funny how easily we get lost in going and doing and doing nothing as a family unit.  Everyone was perfectly happy all weekend going and doing, but never as a 4some. So today this painting might not get done. We are headed to church, lunch and hopefully the pool. And then tomorrow....well tomorrow it starts all over again. My goal is to get into the studio at least 2 times a week right after school before the kiddos get home. I'll let you know how that goes. 

Hope you had a lovely weekend. :)