I received that in my inbox yesterday. It sounds like fun, and I get to have another artist's work for the cost of a stamp? Heck yeah, I signed-up for that.

Now I have to decide what I'm going to paint. I'm thinking a piece inspired by one of my landscape photos. Maybe this:

We have two cats and a dog. What does that have to do with resolutions and goals? Well, I'll tell you. You see that kitty on the left? That's Jazz. She hasn't been completely happy with us since we moved from our rental (a converted barn with a sunroom -- kitty bliss) into the house that we own. She was not pleased and showed it on the carpet. (Mabel, our other cat, is a lot more laid back and would probably be horrified if she made a mess.) Then we added a dog to the list, and Jazzy REALLY wasn't pleased. She ruined the carpet. So the first thing on our 2012 home goals is:

1. Replace the carpeting in the house. We're saving our final call until we go look at flooring, but at this point, we're focusing on bamboo.
2. Paint the outside of the house.
3. Fix and/or replace the deck.
4. Create a garden.
5. Finally build that clothesline.
6. Build a railing for our new, beautiful concrete steps.
7. Finally build a pergola over the front door (and maybe a second one for the deck).
8. Finish the bathroom (sink vanity, flooring, medicine cabinet, toilet).
9. Organize the laundry room.
10. Replace the kitchen countertops with white quartz, change faucet, add backsplash.
11. Extend Bodie's yard.
12. Get a Tough Shed garage.

Plus there are lots of little projects including trimming out the bookcases and adding baseboards to my office. I'm optimistic about getting this laundry list done because we only have one house to focus on this year. And buckle-up because I'm going to share my personal resolutions, too.

1. Nurture an Open Heart.
2. Write more (freelancing, blogging, etc.).
3. Be healthier. (I started the year off with pneumonia, so I'm hoping to only improve from here on.)
4. Let the blog's readers get to know me better. (Have some more diverse posts.)
5. Embrace Nevada County more, seek to make it home.
6. Explore and hike in Tahoe -- it's only 45 minutes away!
7. Take more overnight camping trips with the pup.
8. Keep painting, even if I don't have any upcoming shows.

There you have it -- two very full lists. As always, I'll share the processes, and since I'm hoping my camera will become another appendage, there should be lots of photos.

Scrapes. I promised to share my most current one.

Two and a half weeks ago, I was making dinner, much like I do every night. It was the end of the work week, and I was feeling a little irritable and tired. When scraping out the last bits of the pasta sauce, the spatula got stuck in the jar. Then the handle pulled out of the rubber scraper. The stress building on top of the normal end of the week stuff added to the picture in my mind, well, let's just say my enthusiasm to get-that-spatula-out overrode my sense of caution. One broken jar and a deep, jagged cut on my thumb later, I was emergency-bound for a long wait and six stitches.

Suddenly, it felt like I couldn't do anything I wanted to. I couldn't put on a bra. I couldn't type. I couldn't write. Everything I tried involved heaping amounts of pain. Plus, I had planned on beginning a new series of black and white paintings. Argh!

My plans for the black and white pieces required a fully-functional dominant hand, but that didn't mean that I was going to sit idly by and internally mock myself for my ridiculous action (I did that too) while not getting anything done. Nay! I was going to channel the constant, throbbing pain and the challenge of learning how to do things with my left hand. It took two weeks of clumsy painting and writing descriptions (sometimes repeated) on my experiences, but I managed to finish a piece using only my left hand. It may be a bit trippy, but I feel quite accomplished.
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I hung my art show this weekend, the first show I've had in almost six years. Wow! It's really been that long...

Anyway, it's up, and this is what I had to say about it:


Memories, Love, and Enduring

A couple of years ago, I started to get the urge to do another art show. It had been awhile, and I was feeling potential creations begin to kick around under my ribcage.

But what to focus on? Then it hit me -- my maternal grandma, of course! She’s one of the most inspirational people I know. All of the paintings are about her -- either stories I’ve heard or things I’ve experienced with her.

Then this summer, we went on vacation. This vacation was a bit different than they usually are. Typically, we go to the desert where the serenity and the beauty take off my cares like an old coat and shake it loose of dust and fleas then leave it hanging on a branch to air.

This time, I was heading towards expectations and the unknown, seeing my paternal grandparents, people I had loved but hadn’t interacted with face to face in 24 years. That meant that there was a thrumming line of tension on the way there and a glorious sense of relief and the glory of the immortality of love on the return trip.

Those feelings colored my whole experience and in turn shaped the way I looked through the lens. The photos are all from that adventure.


You can look at the collection of most of the photos and paintings on BriarPatch's Facebook page. And if you're interested in a piece, I'm not shy about shipping. Just leave me a comment. I'm selling all of the photos (printed on canvas) for $100, plus shipping. Bargain! The paintings are differing prices, the highest of which is $300. I thought I'd sell at a rate people could afford for holiday gift giving.
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I know I already posted once today, but I just received my new Bruce Campbell (contemporary) from my friend, Chris, and I LOVE it! It's so fun, and such genius, too. The black velvet makes the piece so rich looking in person, and Chris is such a talented man, that I almost feel like there's a permanent glow above my desk created by the amazingness that is the Bruce. He's hanging next to my other BC BVP (classic Evil Dead II), and the combo makes my heart happy. Thank you so, so much, Chris Henry!

I used to live near the ocean. I could feel it, constantly pounding, in my bones, in my blood. Its spray filled my nostrils when I walked outside each day, and its winds sang me to sleep each night. I miss the ocean. Moving from it awakened a longing I didn't anticipate. There is a wound that's a part of me because I now live so far way from it. That ache is a bad thing, but from it has come good. One good has come because from that ache sprung "Ocean Jones." Another good may also come. I will sell my beloved painting for $500 to help Dana, The Broke-Ass Bride, with her medical bills. Dana has an autoimmune disease called Uveitis and will be having her twelfth surgery this year. All $500 will be sent to her cause. I will also be submitting the Kale & Chickpea Soup recipe that I love so much and can eat any day of the week (since she's requesting recipes), but because I do art, and this is a way I can donate more than I could usually afford, I thought I'd offer this too.

"Ocean Jones" is a beast (24"X48"), so I think I'll need to send it UPS. I'll pay for all shipping fees. Interested? Email me at pixyofwhimsy at gmail dot com if you'd like to buy some pretty art and help a pretty great person with her medical bills. Need more convincing? Read The Bowie Bride's blog about it. It will make your heart swell with love and compel you to give. Even if you don't want a pixyofwhimsy original, you know a kick-ass comfort food recipe, don't you?

*Another photo of "Ocean Jones" here.