The Countdown has Begun to Design America-Texas

With February here, I realized yesterday that I have three months to produce a booth full of floorcloths for the show in Texas. I sat down at my drawing table last week while the base coats were drying on two 4' x 6' floorcloths and several pieces of canvas slated for use as table top pieces.

Essentially, I know what is going up for display, and time will tell what I take in addition to those seven pieces. It's been years since I've done a retail show because I mostly work on custom orders and have no inventory to speak of.  It's not by choice that I work that way, but for the mere fact that floorcloths are so easily customized...size, color, design,...you name it.  When I exhibited at the Western Design Conference, I only took one or two pieces with me because it was a gallery style show. So, to be honest, I'm feeling just a little overwhelmed at the moment.

I will tell you, it's a difficult call as to what to paint when I can actually paint anything I want to. I have two new designs in my head that haven't quite come together yet, so I'm starting today on a design from 2009, but with updated colors and a new twist here or there.

The new color scheme

The new color scheme is not too far off from the original, which you can see in a tiny framed version there on the side of my worktable. Just enough though to make it look new again and a few added colors for good measure.

Marking off the design

Laying off the design is a lot of fun compared to the previous days of measuring, cutting, priming, measuring some more, and then hemming. I've learned a lot of tricks over the last 20 plus years, and have bought a lot of tools to make work a little easier, but sometimes the simplest things work just as well...

Marking off large circles can be a pill!

Once  you find your center a push pin, a string and a pencil is  just like using a large compass. If only you could do this with a paint brush!

Later today, I will start painting...which is heaven to me. I will resent stopping when it's time and will be excited to start again tomorrow. Check back here for updates on my progress for the show.

More later...I've got to get back to it! 

New Designs Available Today

Set of 4 Printed Coasters from my original art

You might remember seeing these designs at the first of the month  here on the blog or on my facebook page...I was playing around with painting on vintage sheet music with some of my favorite spirit animals from the Native American tipi art that I love so much and came up with these four designs.

The Guardians 

They are printed with archival inks on art paper and look so close to the originals that my husband thought I had painted them. I will have to say too, that it's even hard for me to tell the difference unless I pick them up and feel the paper. I couldn't be happier with my new printer!

Order as shown or choose your favorite(s)

 They are built just like my hand painted coasters, only the printed design is applied to the canvas rather than painted on it. The design is then finished with six coats of acrylic poly and to protect your surfaces they are backed with cork.

Cork backed Coasters

They are a nice 3 1/2" in diameter...perfect for mugs or glasses. I have already tested our set out over the weekend and received good reviews from the home front.Today, they are now available to you too, from our Etsy shop. The best part is that these are available for immediate shipment...no waiting.

Watch for more designs in this same style later this week in the shop and our online shop.

Talk to you soon!

The Value of Art...Who's to Say?

Assemblage Art Doll by Angie Nelson

Here's Junk Baby again...this post is her official adoption announcement....but, first I want to talk about something that has been on my mind for several days since reading about a situation over the weekend.

Junk Baby is in my Etsy shop today. Since she's my first assemblage art doll I'm selling her for less than most of the same craftsmanship listed there...not that I  believe she's inferior, but for the mere fact that the other assemblage artists have developed a following, will be producing more and are making a living in their specialty...like I do with floorcloths. Assemblages, to me, are new and fun for now. I may make more and I may not.

When I was in college many moons ago, my instructors stressed, fussed at, and humiliated us design students until we completely understood the meaning of "craftsmanship". Long before graduation, we knew if we were to pass our final project everything thing must function and everything must be made to last the test of time.

Circa 1980 college design class project..yes, that's dirt under it!

One of my favorite college design class projects still sits in our living room. I designed and made it in 1980...and, yes, it is now considered vintage. I made an A...it was my first A in design class and it finally came in my first semester of my sophomore year.  We could probably use a new coffee table now. I would actually love a large leather ottoman...but I continue to use it because I'm practical and it's still in great shape, despite two rowdy kids and a husband that props his feet on it every night.

I try always to put the same work ethic into everything I do, whether it be my art or cleaning the horse's stalls. Thank you Misters Norris, Johnson and Slack.

What sparked this post is that I saw a status recently on Facebook by an artist friend where she had been asked by someone, "what is the lowest price you will take for your (art piece)?" My friend was not as much insulted as she was hurt. I will tell you, the piece in question was a one of a kind, and masterfully created. She is a collected artist, and a named artist/designer for these world wide special collections. She was hurt because she'd spent probably the same amount of time the potential buyer had spent at work the last few weeks, and was in actuality asking less than a dollar an hour for the time spent designing, researching and painting the piece...not to mention the supplies.

If you're an artisan you understand this already. The potential buyer probably meant no harm whatsoever, but if she had stopped to think before she questioned the price, she may have been more sensitive. If she didn't feel like the piece was worth the asking price, would it have been more desirable to have, if it were actually worth less?.....Exactly. Why would she want something from a collected artist that had a depreciated value?

Given, the artist only knows how much time was spent working or painting or whatever is required to make the art, but can she put a price on the time spent thinking and planning and starting over to make it perfect? Not usually. That part is free to the buyer.

The value of art is always what it's worth to the owner, not the artist. To the artist it is a chunk of their soul -who can put a price on that? - and we always want to keep it...but we know when our hands are gripped tightly around something then we can't hold the tool of choice and create anything new...so we let it go...at a fair price, most always to the buyer's advantage.

...and in the words of Forrest Gump, "that's all I'm going to say about that."  Except...good luck on your sale my friend...you know who you are!

So, back to Junk Baby...                                            

She's signed and comes also with a Certificate of Authenticity

Today, she goes up for adoption to a new family, as junk lovers - ME - are not good parents to junk babies...they tend to push them aside when new junk comes along. Sad, really but true! 


I love you Junk Baby!

It's a GO! Free Rein Art and Design has a new look.

We've officially re-launched our website as of midnight Tuesday and are so happy to have all that behind us! It's a simple design with a cleaner appearance than the version we've been sporting for the last few years. Now all that is left to do is get in the studio and produce new work for the new website!

This is our new back ground...I love the bright yellow...so different from what we had.

Normally, I wouldn't send you away, but today, I'd like you to take a look and see what you think. If you find any bugs please tell me.
You can find it at Free Rein Art and Design

Worktable Wednesday...A Peek into my Art Journal

When a customer orders a floorcloth from me they can have anything under the sun they would like...some want something completely original and some like the standard designs just the way they are...and then some want the standard design, but customized. That's the beauty of a floorcloth...it can be tailored to your needs.

On the worktable today is a blank canvas waiting on approval of a design. The customer found something on my website that she liked but wanted something with fringe. In my mind I couldn't see fringe on it in it's original composition and I asked her if I could tweak it a bit in order to make it work with fringe.


Here's where we are today....

The Original Floorcloth Design      Hugging Bear            Angie Nelson© 2009

These are the sketches from my art journal...where I keep records of my designs and ideas..sometimes for specific client's and sometimes just things I'm thinking about painting. For this client I've scanned the page and sent her three options according to her thoughts on color. This is the first time she's seen the idea of using the bear motif as a border rather than as the only focal point on the rug.

Here are a couple pages from 2008 when I first started thinking about tipi art for floorcloths...I either use markers or Prisma colored pencils...and sometimes both.

Since my customer already knows what the bear actually looks like I probably won't do a mock up of the entire piece like I would do for a new design. There is a small design fee for new work that covers the time spent on the concept and I will actually do a small acrylic painting on paper representative of the actual piece. The fee is applied to the cost of the new floorcloth so it really is no additional cost.

So here I sit with the blank canvas...ready to start. I'm looking forward to seeing her decision...I'm kind of leaning toward the red fringe myself...how 'bout you?

Worktable Wednesday

I am using my worktable again and it feels sooooo good to know where all of my supplies are and have space to work. This was worth all the effort of the re-do. I hardly remember the bumps and bruises.

Today's project is for me. I am working on a collage with 20 years worth of memories...from day one in the floorcloth business. My first hand lettered and hand drawn business cards and brochures created by my sister and I in 1989 to accomplishments in 2009. I'm not quite sure where to draw the line or just how big this thing is going to be.

I wanted to do a collage to save wall space and put the history all in one area. I didn't realize until today what an accumulation I have! I have impressed myself. I think sometimes we forget how we get were we are.

This is me in 1990 from a newspaper article....I look like a kid! 

I had just mailed slides off to Country Living Magazine.

I think getting into the magazine gave the confidence to continue and build a business rather than to supplement our income while I was out of work raising our daughter.

The plan was to go back to work once she was in school and I did try that for a while but it felt WRONG! I am so happy the way things have turned out.

I can't wait to show you the collage when I'm done. No promises when...it will evolve as I am inspired. It will most likely be done this month. I will keep you posted. 

Has anyone else taken on such a project...so much in one piece? I don't think it will have any rhyme or reason, but we will see. Talk to you soon.

Taking a Breather

Thought I'd surface and come up for a little air and catch up...

It took almost two weeks to paint my studio. When I started moving things out away from the walls one thing lead to another and I ended up throwing out loads of things and reorganizing. After being in business for over 20 years it was beyond time to purge and start fresh in some areas. It had gotten to the point that it was too cluttered to work on more than a couple of projects at a time and ideally I needed to take it back to the basics of more floorspace with better storage.

I found a new gallon of blue paint I had left over from a job and decided I'd love to have a Carolina Blue ceiling. This was an ambitious undertaking to say the least...but me and Rock 92 got the job done. When you are painting walls and ceilings all you have to do is think or sing...so I solved all the world's problems and sang all my old favorite songs from my teenage years...funny how you never forget the words.

Here is a peek at my office...I've started putting things back in place and this was the first area of business. There are a few things that need tweaking but this area is pretty much finished. I'm waiting on Hobby Lobby to put their frames on sale for 50% off and I want to finish the skirt to hide my "shipping department" and then I'll be ready for the big reveal.

I already like the blue sky above...I thought I would paint the floor but, now after some serious thought I'm leaving it the way it is...very paint splattered...because in a week of working it will become newly paint splattered.  Too much new will make me feel like I can't work as freely as I am used to...isn't that the point of having a studio?

Rick has been working hard on his shop...the longest project on record...nothing about it has gone right or on schedule, but it's coming along. 

Not much different from the last few photos really, but much has gone on inside...

Walls and ceiling are primed and we will paint the ceiling this evening after he gets in from work...looking forward to it in the 95 degree heat...NOT. But, I am looking forward to this being FINISHED so I can get started downstairs in my shop. 

I have designed my lighting plan and am going to order the lights next week. I'm going with track lighting similar to what we had in the gallery but with smaller spots. There is so much more to choose from today compared to only 6 years ago. I loved how the gallery looked, but I am really going to be happier with the look of this shop because it will reflect more of my personality...it doesn't have to conform to anyone's rules but ours.

Today, I've been catching up on neglected things...like my blog, my Facebook Fan Page and my website. I have an ad coming out in a national magazine the end of the month and I need to get this part of my biz organized as well. So, if you need me, I'm not in my nice newly painted office in the studio...I'm sitting under the ceiling fan on the porch with my laptop...with my sweet tea of course. 

The view is pretty nice too...our Crepe Myrtle is in full bloom and will be this pretty until frost. 

Just my two cents on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon. Talk to you soon.

Worktable Wednesday

If you are a follower you know what my worktable "really" looks like these days...but I actually finished a commissioned floorcloth last week...Benadryl and all.  If you are a Face Book fan you've already seen it there.

Normally, I don't show commission work online because of piracy. My clients pay me to design and paint something specifically for them and it really hurts us all when a knock off shows up on ebay for mere pennies...yep it's really happened.

Anyhoo...this one was commissioned by a woman that is donating it to an auction that will benefit breast cancer and the more people that see it the better. It will be part of the silent auction at the Rally for the Cure - Golf Tournament at the Old North State Club July 14th, 2010.

She called me in May and said she wanted a floorcloth with a woman in pink on a golf course and that she liked the gate there and would like to include something from that......

So this is what we ended up with.... Stylized gal and stylized trees with an argyle border to coordinate with her pink sweater. The emblems in the corners are from the sign at the gate with the club's logo. Very "cutsie". Lots of fun.

Live, Laugh, and Do whatever it is you love!

Where Bloggers Create Party...Welcome to my Studio

I'm always a day late and at least a dollar short...and here I am again late for the party I've been looking forward to. Not my birthday party which was last night and lots of fun by the way...but the Where Bloggers Create Party sponsored by My Desert Cottage. To visit all the participants follow the link and look on the sidebar for the "Party Guests"

There are never good excuses for being late but always lots of reasons. On Friday which was my 50th birthday I had planned to finish up work in the studio around noon and take the afternoon to do some fun stuff for myself and write this post. Well, I ended up spending the day in a Benadryl funk and in and out of consciousness. I got stung by a wasp on Thursday and by Friday morning was absolutely miserable...swollen, red, blistery and itchy like you can't imagine. I didn't even celebrate my birthday until yesterday....anyway...I am now much better and ready to party!

My studio, as some of you that follow, may have guessed, is in complete chaos as I write. I've mentioned it in many posts recently that it looks like a hurricane blew through. When I signed up to participate in the party, I thought I could show you old photos and you'd never know the difference...but, that just isn't right! I will show a few old and a few current.

This post will serve two purposes....1. the blogger party. 2. the before pictures for our renovations that are soon to start.

My husband built the studio in late 1991 and I began working in there full time in January 1992. I had the upstairs portion and he had the downstairs. This is what it looked like last summer. This summer it will get railing and a board ramp like I showed in a previous post. And be updated with white trim and red screen doors. The garden in front will also be replanted with delicious smelling herbs like scented geranium and lavender.

The studio has served me well as my floorcloth studio and as space for art classes over the last 18 years. You can imagine the beating it has taken with all the hauling of materials up and down stairs and kids regularly running in and out.

I have had the same white walls and stenciled wild horse border since day one...ugh! My tastes have matured quite a bit but I just haven't had the time to make any changes until now. I'm going back with white walls but the border will bite the dust by the end of this week I hope.

 So here's where I am today....working simultaneously on floorcloth commissions, making items for the shop that will open in September, and renovating the studio upstairs and down.

WARNING: THIS IS NOT GOING TO WIN AN AWARD FOR PRETTY! Maybe next year...

You will be greeted by one of our sweet dogs upon arrival. This is Ada. She usually comes in for the day unless she's shedding...like now. By July we will be good to go again. Bless her heart, she just doesn't understand I can't have black dog hair in the finish coats of my floorcloths.

Welcome

As you walk in the stairs are immediately to the right...this is one of the first floorcloths I designed 20 years ago. The one on the floor is maybe 10 or so years old and yes that's dirt! I know I should be ashamed!

You see my office in the corner when you arrive at the top of the stairs. I've taken out the giant old Gateway computer and rarely ever take my laptop up there. We've also taken out our land line and it's actually been quite liberating to go unconnected while I'm working. I'm in the process of finishing a small floorcloth and once it's delivered I will stack as much as I can on the work table and begin painting the walls and ceiling this week. I've already unloaded some shelves.

This is my inspiration board where I have been accumulating ideas for my shop for the last couple of years...it has spilled over into a folder now but I leave the original things up to remind me that dreams come true and start with an idea or two. The custom boots have always been inspiring to my floorcloth designs...and too I am giving myself a pair sometime this year to celebrate being 50.

The corner where I keep my paint...outgrew it quickly so I also have a cabinet just for acrylics and specialty products. Another one of my first designs..."1840"

Multiple projects going on here...finished projects and loads of supplies underneath...You just don't know how much I am looking forward to opening the shop and having order back in my studio.

More finished projects and more stuff literally stuffed under the table, in boxes, drawers and cabinets.

I look forward to the day when I have floorspace again to paint large floorcloths...My worktable is 8' x 8' and my available floor space used to accommodate room size rugs. It will be so wonderful to have that much space when most of this stuff goes downstairs into Ranch Dressing.

So, this is my studio where I create. I hope you will come back in September to see the finished shop and renovated studio. I apologize for the length...when I haven't written for a while I tend to ramble. Now, I'm off to visit the other bloggers that create and look forward to seeing the beautiful places they work and live.

Shop Update Saturday June 5

I hate that I haven't taken the time to post anything here the last couple of weeks. It's just so easy not to!...to keep plugging on the project(s) at hand. I've started two new floorcloths, both small thank goodness, since I have NO room to work in my studio. It's packed full of new things I've made for the shop and with  things I've brought in from the container to work on.

I've decided not to post pictures of too many items until late in the summer because I am already getting requests for things I've shown on my Facebook Page. This is wonderful, but at the same time, I need inventory for the grand opening.

As far as Rick's shop, he's come a very long way since I last reported. We've had the floor poured, he wired it a couple weeks ago and he and Sam insulated the walls last weekend. All day Monday and Tuesday evening they put the plywood up for the ceiling. That was a hard job! He's working this weekend at his day job, will be out of town next weekend and has to work again the following weekend...so we will once again be at a slow pace. Next is plywood walls and painting them and sealing the floor...then moving day. Then I will paint the walls of my shop while he builds the ramp and railing.

I have my floorplan for Ranch Dressing planned out, the paint bought and I am sitting on go. I'm starting to get impatient and a little panicky...until I realize I'm not really on anyone's schedule but my own. IF, we are not ready by September...God forbid....it will NOT be the end of the world. Surely, by Christmas! I will just put away the cool Halloween things I've made and save them until next year. But, I sure don't want to!

I will leave you with a quote I like. It sums up what we are trying to convey with our endeavor here...

"Style has nothing to do with money.  Anybody can do it with money.  The true art is to do it on a shoestring." -Tom Hogan, co-owner of Chartueuse (An upscale thriftstore in NY)

Oganizinig 101

I have been organizing like crazy these last 2 weeks. The studio, the website, the blog...and a little in the house.

I put myself on a schedule a couple of weeks ago and it is working great! I feel more satisfaction at the end of my day now rather than that feeling of never completely accomplishing anything. If I'm going to do everything I say I'm going to do I HAVE to be organized.

When I volunteered at the zoo's wildlife rehab center, we were extremely organized. The entire organization runs on volunteers with only 2 paid employees. The same people are rarely there two days in a row and the place runs like a top.  Lists were the key. There was one for daily, weekly and monthly jobs. I loved it and always intended on getting my home and studio on such a schedule.

This is NOT my nature...or it hasn't been until now. It may be that "age thing" again creeping up on me. Whatever the reason, though, it's working. I'm on a daily/weekly schedule so far...the monthly, I'm working on. I like this feeling of knowing what to do and when to do it. It's not like it used to be when someone else dictated my time or even when I had the gallery open and had to be there when I really had other things I'd like to do. This time it feels right and easy so it must be "meant to be".

So, the blog has some new features now, if you want to take a look. I found that you can add stationary pages (I'm always the last to know these things) so I listed my new services and workshops that will be available in September when we open. Yes, we can safely say we will be ready by then. Finally!

They are listed under the banner at the top. Let me know what you think or if you have suggestions for workshops etc.

Identity Crisis

The title of my post today is in jest but it could be an actual theory if I were to stop and think about it long enough...but I won't do that. Who has time for contemplating these days?

This image of chaos has been evolving for months now and only since my husband suggested to me last night that I "may be having an identity crisis" that I realized it looks like I truly am all over the place these days. My studio looks like an explosion occurred leaving things from one end to the other.

I know the importance of branding and doing that one thing and doing it really well. The experts continue to teach these first steps to success. For over 20 years I've essentially done the "one thing"....floorcloths... and my brand, Free Rein Art and Design, is established. When I look back at my accomplishments they far exceed any first thoughts I ever had about painting rugs. I just wanted to sell enough to afford to stay at home with Erin until she started school. I never knew that before she would be a year old my floorcloths would have been featured in Country Living Magazine or that the year she actually started school we would build a new studio with the profits from my sales.

Now, our daughter is on her own, we have a son in high school and I am about to turn 50. Time flies when you're having fun! I guess it's really going to jet now that I'm having major fun. I almost feel like I should be apologetic that I'm not painting so much anymore. This time I've had to wait for Rick to get his shop built so I can begin working on my store has been a blessing.

I have found that I have unlimited resources from the trailer for being creative and I am thrilled that so much that may have been thrown away will be recycled and re-loved. I am first a designer by nature and degree, and secondly an artist. Below is a couple of boxes I have on my work table this week. They are almost finished and will be available in the shop this fall...possibly in my etsy shop as well if I find more string boxes. On Wednesdays, I will be featuring what I am working on during the week. I'm trying to make myself some sort of schedule so I will post more regularly.

Wooden Cigar Box (from my junk swap partner) decoupaged with selections from vintage 1960's travel brochures.

Inside lid still has original cigar logo

Banjo Strings box sealed with poly with marbles for feet

 Lid and bottom fitted with old sheet music

So, if you have wondered if I still paint, the answer is yes. I have begun accepting commissions again and have work scheduled on my calendar for June. This means a busier summer since now we have to begin working on the store rather than working from it as previously planned. Due to the time constraints I will not be traveling to Wyoming to exhibit this year as I had hoped either but nonetheless I am very excited about what is happening here on the home front.

I hope to in the future continue to design and paint floorcloths, but too I want to be a designer on a daily basis and do more than that "one thing". I think turning 50 does something to us that says it's okay to do it our way and the heck with what the experts say. If I want to design a belt today and an rug tomorrow who's to say that's incongruent and won't work? Not me. I feel like diversity is essential today.

What do you think? Diversity or that one thing? There is no right or wrong, I suppose...just whatever works for you.

Hand Painted Spring Placemats and Table Runners

Happy Spring! We had a beautiful day on Saturday and I worked outside all day enjoying the sun on my skin...something we haven't felt around here in a very long time. It was a wonderful day.

 While I was pulling out the dead in my herb garden it reminded me of a series of table top pieces I designed about 16 or 17 years ago for Lexington Furniture's Weekend Retreat Collection. It's a beautiful classic pattern that never goes out of style so I decided today to pull it out of retirement and offer it once again on my website for Spring, Summer and Fall  2010.

They can be totally customized with your favorite herbs, with or without sunflowers, in all shapes and sizes. The heart-shaped herb wreath on the placemat is also available as a circular wreath. The possibilities are just endless and that's the beauty of hand painted accessories.

The Ivy pattern was a major design in the 1990's when Waverly introduced the ivy wall paper and fabrics. We actually built the studio with the profits mostly from the Ivy floorcloths and tabletop pieces. I retired the pattern completely in 2001  because I just couldn't bear to paint another one. Now, I look at them with fond memories and too am bringing them out of retirement...for a while. I believe I will update it somewhat if I keep it open.


All the tabletop pieces are created on a #10 weight canvas, primed, hand painted with acrylics, and sealed with 5 coats of acyrlic poly. They are hemmed and cork backed to protect your table top.

For complete ordering information click here to go directly to the ordering page on Free Rein Art and Design.

Pay it Forward. Nominate a Kreativ Blogger!

 

While I was in the barn last night brushing all the loose hairs off my horses, unbeknownst to me, I was being mentioned for The Kreativ Blogger Award by my favorite North Carolina born/Wyoming Cowgirl Artist...the digital art guru...Deb Trotter, Cowboy's Sweetheart.  Thanks for the nomination Deb!

I discovered Deb's blog a few years ago, and found out that we had many things in common. Not only were we both from NC, but she lives and works in one of my most favorite places on earth, Cody,WY. I could move there today and live happily ever after. Snow and all! ...and the one thing that I think is just too funny is that she is crazy about Sam Elliott. So am I, so much that I named our son Sam. And as much as I love, love, love Robert Duvall as Gus in Lonesome Dove, I love Tommy Lee Jones' accent as Capt'n Call better. Nothing sweeter than a really good Southern drawl!

So, in keeping with the blogger's before me, I will give you the background information that Debra Cortese found and included in her blog.


I’ve become a bit of an information addict, I couldn’t do this without a little background research. I quickly found reference to the original ‘Kreativ Blogger’ post and requirements for nominated Kreativ Bloggers. I believe they have been edited and abbreviated over time and cyberspace. 

Kreativ Blogger originated in May 2008 in a post by Huldas Verden as noted by Clay Garden author in this April 2009 post:
“Finally I found that it was started in Norway by a blogger named Huldas Verden.”

When the Clay Garden post was written in April 2009, the author’s Google search came up with 712 entries for Kreativ Blogger.
When I searched today, Feb 28, 2010 for ‘Kreative Blogger’ awards, Google comes up with 23,200,000 entries! Hence, the power of blogging!

Here are the requirements that I found, and am passing on to 7 fellow Kreativ Bloggers (names and links to blogs at the end of this post):

The Kreativ Blogger award comes with the following requirements:
1. You must thank the person who has given you the award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link the person who has nominated you for the award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs to let them know they have been nominated.

Seven Things You May Find Interesting About Me 
1. I live in the same town I was born in and only 2 miles from my parents' home where I grew up. We, (my husband and son), my parents, my siblings and their children  have Sunday dinner (here lunch is dinner and dinner is supper) together at my parent's home each week. Our daughter now lives in Oklahoma and says she misses Sunday dinner with us and wonders each week what Momaw has cooked.

2. Our 2 barn cats follow me back to the house every morning to share a can of Friskie's and then sleep all day in the patches of sun peeping through the windows.  I let them out just before my husband gets home from work. On the weekends I have to sneak them in after hubby goes about his day...they know to lay low.

3.  I don't start anything creative until I get my "chores" done. If I do, I will never get anything done in the house, yard or barn and then will feel stressed and resentful that I have to do the domestic stuff. I also don't have scheduled business hours but I work in the studio usually 6 days a week for as long as it takes to get to a point in my projects that I am happy with.

 4. I once opened a beautiful gallery and moved my studio from our farm into town. After a while I discovered I wasn't inspired to paint, nor did I have the time. I made the heart wrenching decision to close it up and come back home. Good move both ways. Learned lots!

5. I took a break from painting full time from 2005-2009 to homeschool our son. During this time I taught art to about 30 students (mostly homeschooled). People will spend money on their children even in a recession.
 
6.  For 3 years while Sam was homeschooled we volunteered with the NC Zoo's Wildlife Rehab Center. I gained a wealth of knowledge there and even wondered several times if I had missed my calling. My favorite area to work in was the aviary nursery in the spring and summer. I loved taking care of the orphaned and injured baby birds, especially the blue jays. They were the sweetest...robins the meanest and starlings the most annoying. My most memorable experiences there were catching up raptors (hawks and owls of all kinds) and force feeding the (educational) king snake it's weekly mouse.

7.  And lastly, ...I grew up in a haunted house. I know, some of you don't believe me. I dare you to spend the night there. The house we built here on our farm too, has had it's share of "sightings" which could be a post all it's own. I even saw a "ghost party" in an old cabin we stayed in for a week in Wyoming. I should really write about that one!

 And the Nominees Are:
Amber Jean Sculpting a Creative Life
Bella Dreams
Junk Sophisticate
Lone Wolf Cowgirl Art
Notes From the Rookery
The Lucky Star Gallery
The Mares Tales

This was hard for me to narrow down to only 7 You guys and gals rock! I hope you will pay it forward.