A Lot of Changes in the Past Week

Well, I did it. I quit my day job. I'm going from being a photographer for a photography company to being a freelance photographer. Wow, huge change. I've still not adjusted to the fact that I don't have to get up at 3,4, or 5 am anymore. I can get up whenever my eyes pop open and I can focus totally on my photography and selling my artwork on Etsy and wherever I can around here. I'm really going to have to start focusing on that aspect of it. I found out that artists can set up booths at the Farmer's Market in Knoxville every Wednesday and Saturday, that it's only $20 on Saturdays and $15 on Wednesdays. You have to apply to do it but that's definitely something I want to explore further. I'll have to get my art framed and matted though, I don't want to sell the photographs by themselves. So once I get several together, I'm going to apply.

I'm so excited. I feel like I have a whole new life starting now. I'm so glad I did it now instead of waiting. I was really unhappy there. Although working there certainly forced me to be more confident and I learned my way around Knoxville and surrounding areas. Those were certainly benefits. And I really like everybody I worked with. I'm going to miss that aspect of it. But that's all I'm going to miss. The time was right for this.

So now that's all behind me, I'm going to have absolutely so excuse for not posting in my blog LOL. I've been focusing more on summer art lately. Here's what I've listed:

So we have the beach and the meadow. I really love the one with the waves crashing. It's called "A Sense of Calm Washed Over Her". I love the warm grays in it. It's how I feel right now after leaving my job. Calm but at the same time excited about what the future holds :).

Busy Week

Busy, but I have no excuse for not posting. Is procrastination an excuse? Nah, probably not. Well, let's see. I had Friday off work and now Monday (tomorrow). So 4 days in a row...awesome! I've gotten more focused as far as what I want out of my life the last few days. I've decided my day job is going to be a not so fond memory some time in the near future. By the end of summer at the latest. My art is doing really well right now. I was invited to set up a booth at Riverfest this coming Saturday. Riverfest is apparently a shin-dig being organized by a real estate company in Florida to highlight everything our area has to offer (by 'our area', I mean TN). There is a high end developement on the river and they're having several local artists set up booths, a band, food, etc. and they're bring all their clients in to tempt them with this gorgous real estate. So hopefully there will be some people there interested in buying art to decorate their new bare walls :). I just got an email from the woman organizing it a couple of days ago so right now it's a huge scramble for me to try to get everything together that I need to get. I send my art to the printer when somebody orders it, I don't have frames, mats, anything. But I want to sell my art framed and matted when I sell it at a booth or a gallery or whatever. The problem is our mortgage is due at the moment and I can't afford the mortgage and the art. I've ordered the prints but it remains to be seen how I'm going to pay for it all when I get the frames. I just have to trust that the money will be there, that it will all come together. I know it will. I sold 4 pieces of art in my Etsy store the last 3 days. I'M SO EXCITED!!!! I feel like I'm on my way, the universe is bringing it all together for me. Has anyone read "The Secret" ? Somebody gave it to my boyfriend and I'm reading it for the 2nd time now. It's full of interestingness. It's a life altering book. It just brings it all together for you :).

I've done a whole dandelion series of art. I'm in luv with dandelions right now. I actually sold one of them today in one of my larger sizes (happy, happy, happy). Here's all my new photographs:

I guess I HAVE been pretty busy the last few days lol. I talked to my mom the other night, she's all excited about the Riverfest thing. She's excited about me opening my Etsy store period. I've finally found my niche, the thing that I'm good at that makes me happy. I'm looking forward to it all :).

I actually have more time to post now...

I'm loving my new banner! I changed the banner at my Etsy shop too. It all feels very very spring time. Had a good weekend. I made baked chicken curry last night. You just take chicken breasts and douse them with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Then you take curry powder and rub them down really good until they're that beautiful yellow/gold curry color. Then you let them sit as long as you can so they can marinate. It would be really good if you have one of those flavor injector things so you could put all the yummy curry flavor inside the chicken too. Or you could let it marinate overnight....I didn't have time for all that lol. Then put it in the over at 400 for about an hour (these were bone-in breasts) and voila, an easy supper. I made mashed potatoes and corn with it. It was quite good.

I have to tell this funny story, my daughter Chloe has the job of changing the kitty litter. This new kitty litter we have is very sandy and goes everywhere in the laundry room when she changes it. So I told her to take everything outside and change it this time. So she proceeds to take the litter box and the bag of kitty litter outside, changes it and puts everything up. WELL, apparently, the bag of kitty litter had a hole in it because there is kitty litter all over the laundry room, a trail of it leading through the kitchen, to the foyer and out the front door LOL. So much for that plan.

I want to talk about some things I bought from Etsy and the awesome sellers I bought them from. I ordered some make-up from Mixology , it was the "White Girl Sampler Pack". That way you can try a lot of different foundation colors before committing to one. I have to say it's awesome. I've never used mineral make-up before and it lasts forever! Even at my job where I'm on the go all day and have zero time to freshen up, it's good till the end of the day. I ordered some eye shadow from her also, it's just as long lasting. It came with this luscious freebie ~ some lip balm in what smells/tastes like chocolate mint. Love It! It feels all tingly when you first put it on and anything that makes me tingly, well, that's a definite winner :).

I have some new art in my shop, so here it is :

There's a wide variety this week as you can see lol. I love the carnival ones, and of course Astro Boy. The sky one is called "Morning Has Broken" , I think it's really pretty. The clown on is called "Goin' to the Fair 1952" , it's meant to look very weathered and old. The one at the lake is "Vintage Vacation Photo", somebody spilled their martini on it lol.

Changed my Blog again LOL

Sooo, wasn't feeling the dots anymore, decided to go with a simple white with a new header. I luv my header though, I used the artwork that I had done recently for it. I'm thinking about changing my Etsy header to this one also...you know, keep everything coordinated. I'll just change the lettering on it a little. I had a good weekend, got some new art done. I meant to post to my blog but didn't get around to it. I have to go into work here in a second....2 hours of training I've already had and 2 hours of driving (there and back ) for it. Annoyance. Oh well, life's like that :). I have some new art to put up when I get home today. I saw I have some comments on my last post too, I'm going to answer today, I promise! I'm behind on all correspondence at the moment. I have no excuses.

Richard cooked an an especially yummy meal in the crockpot this weekend, meat and potatoes, green peppers, lots of veggies all mixed together. It was pretty awesome. Crockpots are wonderful inventions. Gotta go to work now. I'll post new art when I get back and possibly some other things. I have tomorrow off so I'll get it all organized here.

Changed the look of my blog....

So, I've changed my blog look. I may put my banner back up, I'm not sure. I like the dots though. My slogan is "Happy Photography" and this looks happy to me :). I've been thinking about different things to put on my blog instead of just promoting my website and talking a little about my day to day things. I'm thinking about writing about some other fabulous creative people at Etsy, particularly jewelry artisans or those who make body care produce i.e. soap, etc. Those are the shops that my "Favorites" list at Etsy are full of. I've had a good weekend, I sold one of my new photographs :

This made me over the top happy of course. It's so encouraging when that happens :). So it's gone to the print shop now, I uploaded it Saturday night and I should have it back by tommorrow or the next day. I'm really looking forward to packaging it with a little note and mailing it. Hmmm, maybe I should get some little cards printed with one of my photos on them to do that. I think I'll look into that today. I'm busy looking for other online markets where my art will sell, I sent emails to 2 of them this morning. I'm really going to make an effort to keep up with my blogs, etc also. I've not visited my indiepublic page in forever! I'm so ashamed :(. We've had a really rainy weekend here in southeast TN, so I did a 'Rainy' series of art yesterday. Here's what I listed:

These are a little different than some of my others, I think it's good to be versatile :). I really like these, probably becauses rain is one of my favorite things (unless I'm driving in it lol).

So, it's the weekend. We were supposed to go to some kind of cookout but it didn't pan out. I'm glad, it gives me more time to stay home and get things like updating my blogs done :). Our naughty puppies are outside which means no peeing in the house by our newest one (Velvet). She seems to be a verrrrry sloooow learner. It's a little frustrating. Although we had some issues training Sesame too. They're all behind us now though, how quickly we forget lol. I made breakfast for everybody this morning...sausage, eggs,, and toast. We had some sliced mango with it yesterday morning, it was yummy. It's good to be home :).

I had to go do a pick up for work yesterday, a very scenic drive by myself. I got lost of course lol. It was a 'beautiful cloud day' though and I took my camera. I've actually had a pretty easy week at work compared to some of my coworkers. I was by myself Monday, had the pick up Tuesday, today was busy but I got off at a good time. Although I did have to get up at 4:30 am which is NEVER fun. Richard, my bf, got up at the same time I did and got started on his day. He's running is own graphic arts business from our house now though so he can take a nap if he wants to lol. RDJ Desktop Publishing is his business and he's doing awesomely well with it. I'm so proud of him. He also quit smoking which is better for all of us.



I don't have to be at work till 9:30 tomorrow, I'm so happy about that. I have over an hour commute to work everyday so when I have to be there early I have to get up super early. I'm going to end up having my own business also when my art gets established. I'm not sure when that will be, just that it's going to happen. Here are my Happy Cloud Photos from yesterday:

Featured Artist of the Week!

I'm the Featured Artist of the Week on Peachtree's blog!

She did such an awesome job with my interview..she added all the links and photos herself. What a great Etsy Artisan! When you go to her blog, please click on her shop links and check out the amazing jewelry she makes!



Here is the art I did the day before yesterday:



I think it would look really good hanging with this one:

These would be great in your bedroom or your creative space to remind you have the power to make your life what you want it to be :).