Movin' Up

This has been a great week of change and excitement. First of all - I heard back about the Express Arts Festival (which I blogged about a few posts back) and I have been accepted into the artists list! I am thrilled and nervous - but mostly thrilled. The artwork will be displayed from Easter weekend through the 20th, which means lots of eyes taking it all in as they meander about the church campus. This will be my first actual art show apart from high school "art shows" where everyone puts their work out on the tables for the parents to coo over. So, am I excited? Why, yes, I am.

The second wave of excitement is for Dave, who is really doing a knock-out job at work lately. He's been working a ton of hours every week (100+ in some cases), which can get really tiring, I'm sure you can imagine. But the great thing is that he's really making some headway with his contacts. He's getting asked to do a lot of great projects and getting involved.

And lastly - wahoo! - we're moving into this precious little house! We'll move in towards the end of April, out of our little apartment and into a real house. One of the best things about this house, apart from the oh-so-cute shutters and having two bathrooms - is that it is right across the street from some of the best friends we have ever had. I hope they are prepared to be seeing a lot of us.

Cha- Cha- Change

Today is the first day of spring, for those of you who were not aware. So throw off your winter cocoon and go play in the sun. My plans for the weekend are:
1. Laundry…it is crucial to my sanity that I have clean clothes again.
2. Go to the park and paint outside with two very sweet people.
3. Check out a duplex in Franklin (Franklin, TN is one of the best towns in America. If you don’t know about Franklin, Google it.)

That’s right, we are thinking about heading to the outskirts of Nashville. The apartment complex in which we currently live is raising our rent again, and for the same price we could live in the cutest little downtown in Tennessee. I am fairly certain that I’m part gypsy and so my soul prefers to wander. One of the symptoms of wandering is my love for change. Changing my hairstyle, the set-up of the living room, my clothes at least three times a day (which my mom tells me started at a very young age), and to bigger things as well – such as changing where I live. I think I would be happy bouncing from house to house for the rest of my life.

When my brother, my sisters, and I were younger we moved around quite a bit. We went through an entire year of constant moving, actually. (Eight houses total that year) My parents were not as excited about the adventure as the four of us kids were, but we really had a blast. I think that has somewhat molded me for life, and I still crave the adventure that living in a new place brings. Although that wandering soul might change as I get older and become comforted by routine, I’m also certain that while I am living in this place, on this finite earth, I will not be truly at home.

Express

Our church has an arts festival every year called “Express”. Artists, musicians, and writers can all be involved, and it’s a great way to meet new people in the church. This year, since this is the year of “putting myself out there”, I submitted a request to be one of the artists at the festival. I have to get my artwork checked out by the team of people reviewing the submissions and then create like crazy in the next few weeks to have enough stuff to fill my booth if I’m selected. I’m really excited about the idea; I’m just beginning to get confidence in what I’m doing and I can’t wait to test it all out on a live audience. Here is the most recent painting I did. It's a mini-set of 9. Each canvas is 4"x 5". I think I'm going to use this as one of the samples I bring in to the church to be reviewed. I’d love to hear feedback from all of you, as well. Any favorites of mine that you think I should bring in? Any comments are helpful and welcome!

I'm a Real Artist!

I have sold my first painting! I ended up losing 6 cents on it, but who's counting? (Shipping and packaging is apparently a total racket!) While "talking up" my sale yesterday, I was able to hand out a few business cards as well - which resulted in selling two more paintings! These two will be custom, so I'm pretty excited about that. I don’t quite feel like a fake when I say that I’m an artist now…which is also pretty exciting.

Although art has always been a hobby of mine, I kind of lost all desire to paint and create for a couple years (coincidentally…or perhaps not so coincidentally… the two years that I was an art and design major in college) and I’m feeling such a relief now that that part of my life is back. Creative outlets are so therapeutic for me. I can just sit and turn my brain off while I’m painting or drawing and ignore life outside my apartment for awhile. Not to say life isn’t worth paying attention to, but sometimes it’s best to get away from it for a bit.

Gatlinburg

We had a great weekend spending some quality time with friends. The weather was rainy all day Saturday, and snowy Sunday, so we didn't partake in many outdoor activities. We did however, get to play games, tell stories, and sit in the hot tub. We had some really great bonding time in the car ride with the 7 of us (6 adults and one kiddo) packed into one vehicle.

More blogging in the next couple of days. Work has been busy and the computer at home is fried...so my blogging time is limited.