Ten More Days. Yep. That is all that is left in the January 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. It's bittersweet. I love painting like this ... totally focused, no procrastinating and I always finish. (So why can't I paint like this all of the time? Well, that's another blog post. A really long blog post.)

I have an idea for next Thursday night. It's completely insane but I am going to try it. During the one hour Fixer Upper show I am going to paint a live painting for the house that is being featured on the show. While it is airing. Live. I know. It's completely insane. But it sounds really fun. Seriously though, I have to think more about it and decide if I can pull it off. Logistically, that is ... I might have to put one layer of paint on the canvas before I start because there isn't enough drying time in an hour. 

Any suggestions as to how I can pull this off?

"Oh Happy Day"
30 in 30 Challenge, Day Twenty
Abstract Acrylic Painting, 30" x 60"
Available and inspired by my favorite TV show Fixer Upper​

Today was such a great day. It started with an awesome Artists Helping Artists podcast titled "How to Find Your Target Art Audience". If there is ever a show that you need to listen to, then this is it! Understanding who your buyers are and knowing how to target them is one of the most important things you should know when it comes to selling your art. So take an hour to listen to the show. And please let me know what you think.

After the podcast I had a fabulous Marketing Consultation. I cannot wait to see how this artist makes changes to her "brand", website, blog and marketing strategy. What a great way to spend two hours on the phone! I am so lucky to be able to do this.

After lunch I got to play bingo with my mom and for the third straight day she won one of the games. Yes, that makes her 3-3. My mother rocks. I am so proud of her.

Finally, I came home and painted this painting. I really like this color palette and I think this painting would look fabulous in a "farmhouse styled" home. As you know, all of my paintings this month are inspired by my favorite TV show Fixer Upper. 

"Role Reversal"
30 in 30 Challenge, Day Nineteen
Abstract Acrylic Painting, 24" x 48"
Available and inspired by my favorite TV show Fixer Upper​

Enjoying life every day has always been one of my top priorities. I have always felt you get one chance to enjoy each day and if you don't it's your own fault. I am lucky to be blessed with such a wonderful family and a great job. So most days are pretty fun.

I am in my fifties (ok, in the upper part of my fifties) and there is a huge responsibility that many of us (in our "upper" fifties) are now faced with. And that is taking care of our aging parents. My parents are 85 and 86 and my mom has early alzheimer's and my dad is still suffering physically from over a year of treatment for lymphoma when he was 84. My parents are awesome but it's hard to know what is the best for them. It's really tough.

My parents moved a few weeks ago to an assisted living facility. My sister and brother and I took care of the move and I got to play the role of Joanna Gaines one night as we moved in all of their furniture and hung all of their artwork in preparation for the next day which was the big "reveal day". It's been a big adjustment for my parents but it's been great that they are only 20 minutes away from my house (instead of two hours). (And they are about four minutes from my brother's house). I love that I can visit them three times a week instead of once every two or three weeks. And I can now play bingo downstairs with my mom and trade good spy novels with my dad. It's a very different role as we are all now taking care of our parents and trying to make decisions as to what is best for them. But I am blessed that I have four awesome siblings who are so willing and happy to play a big role in this.

So what have I learned these past few weeks? First, this move was way harder than I thought it would be. Especially for my parents. Also, I can't let it bother me that there are so many old people at the assisted living facility. As ridiculous as that sounds, there really are. But I need to accept the fact that my parents are old too. And the food is better that I think it is. And yes, bingo is harder than I remember (although I haven't played in about 40 years). There are all these different games like "postage stamp corners". (Seriously, what in the heck is postage stamp corners? I thought winning bingo just mean you had to get a straight row of numbers.) And bingo is cutthroat. Those ladies are very competitive.

​How are all of you dealing with this role reversal?

"Carmel Candy"
30 in 30 Challenge, Day Eighteen
Abstract Acrylic Painting, 36" x 36"
Available and inspired by my favorite TV show Fixer Upper​

I don’t think my last painting had enough palette knife texture so I decided to step it up a bit and add some heavy-duty texture to this painting! Since paint (even mixed with a medium) wouldn't quite create this effect I used tissue paper and gel medium. The colors are muted and light and consist of gray, tan and off-white. I think this painting would look great in one of the gorgeous homes featured on Fixer Upper! 

In fact, did you see last night's episode? The "industrial modern" house would look great with some of my new abstract artwork. I can easily see this painting hanging on that black shiplap wall! Haha.

I am really excited to share something I just added to my website. Some of you may know I am an "information addict". I am always reading and scanning the internet for information about creating and marketing art. There are so many incredible things to learn online and I have wished for a long time that I could find all of this information in one place. 
I just found an app enhancement on weebly that allows me to create what is called an online magazine. I see it more as a "newsfeed". And it was so easy to set up. I have identified topics and key words (all pertaining to art and marketing art) that pertain to the kinds of news articles I want to see. Then I created my "newsfeed page" and it's all done. The best part? It automatically adds articles everyday that match my key words. Plus I can add my own articles that I find on my own. I decided to share this with all of you because I think there is so much to learn. Just go to the menu at the top of my website and click THE ARTISTS NEWSROOM. And let me know what you think!
​Here is what the newsfeed page looks like ...

This painting reminds me of the beach in Ventura. I know what you are thinking, "there isn't any blue in this painting"! But on my daily sea glass hunting walks I spend most of the time looking at the sand. And it's exciting when you suddenly see something shining in a bright color. It's obviously not sand so it's either a shell or glass. The small bits of red and green in this painting are what remind me of the many pieces of sea glass that dot the beaches in Ventura. Some are buried and some are just resting atop the sand.

I love three day weekends. Especially when we are in town and just taking it easy. Dave is playing a lot of golf and I have been relaxing with my computer and painting with my palette knife. I am ahead with my paintings for the 30 in 30 for the first time this month. That is pretty pathetic. I am usually way more organized than this! 

This painting has a lot of thick knife strokes and is way more muted than the colors I normally use. But I am really loving this new color palette and I think you will see a lot more muted paintings from me in the future.

I don't know if you noticed but my website has a new look. I spent about five hours today changing the "theme" of my website. Since weebly introduced their new weebly4 I haven't had time to update my site. I was so busy redoing my webinarts class (and painting and teaching) that I couldn't justify time to update my own website. It's not that complicated to change the theme but it requires me to check every single page to make sure everything is still in good order. Many of the headings changed when I did the update (and some kind of magically appeared that needed to be deleted) so it did take a lot of time. But it was well worth it!

I also created two special collection pages that feature all of the abstract paintings I created for the 30 in 30 Challenges based on Project Runway and Fixer Upper. They can be found as a drop down option under Abstract Paintings and also on the Abstract Paintings page. 

It's January, which is a great time of the year to give your website or blog a face lift. Why don't you take some time this week to do the same?

"Blue Mist"
30 in 30 Challenge, Day Fifteen
Abstract Acrylic Painting, 36" x 36"
Available and inspired by my favorite TV show Fixer Upper​

I know. I paint a painting in grays and black and of course ... the next one has to be shades of aqua! I tried to keep it simple and somewhat muted so it would work in my "farmhouse decor" theme this month and I think I was successful. One of the fun things about painting with a palette knife are the awesome knife strokes in the painting. If I photograph the painting in indirect sun and tilt it until it catches a slight shadow then you can see the knife strokes pretty easily as seen in the photo below.

​I like how this painting looks on the shiplap fireplace!

Today is a big day in the 30 in 30 Challenge as it is Day 15. You know what that means. It's all down hill from here!

When I stayed at the Magnolia House Bed and Breakfast this past fall I fell in love with the decor. Shiplap, gorgeous windows and light fixtures and incredible furnishings. And most of the main rooms were decorated in black and white. It makes sense that a black and white painting would work well in a farmhouse decorated house so this is what I came up with. You can see the palette knife strokes and the white, grays and blacks work really well.

​It's amazing that this painting has no color and yet it is really bold and I love it. An abstract painting doesn't always need bright color. Strong palette knife strokes and different values can make it work. I think I might just have to try another one.

That's right, it is time. It is time to focus on your art and take it to the next level. It is so easy to just kind of tinker along, painting when you want, whatever you want. So stop for a second and ask yourself, "What is the one thing I can do to really make me happy with my art?". Is it to sell more? Approach galleries? Paint more? Paint less? Who knows? Actually one person does know. And of course that is you.

​If you are interested in getting in to galleries then you should ...

I have exactly 13 minutes to finish this blog post or else I am going to miss the deadline. So needless to say, I won't be saying much tonight. It's been a crazy day, topped off with a super stressful college volleyball game. We won but it went on way longer than I expected. Somehow I need to figure out how not to get so nervous at these games!

So here is my newest painting. I love the color (duh) and I love the texture. I would love to hear your thoughts!