I painted this while listening to the rest of the S Town podcast yesterday. 

If you haven't listened to it yet, I highly recommend you do so. It takes a couple of different turns during the 7 episode story. I thought it was going to go in one direction, then another, and ultimately it goes on to something that I wasn't expecting.

It's a great story. Heartbreaking and funny and just a little odd. If you're like me, and live in a relative bubble, this will be a bit eye opening. How people in the rural south live and interact with one another. 

It's a little addictive, hence the whole painting in a day. So once you sit down to listen to it you'll want to listen to another and another. I suggest putting a whole day aside for it. Seriously.

The new painting is now available in my Etsy shop too! 

Today is a big day for American health insurance. By the time I publish this I think there will be a vote on whether the new American Health Care Act will go through. 

As a self employed person, the Affordable Health Care act is vital for me, as well as many of my other self employed friends. I don't have an employer to provide me with health insurance. I rely on the ACA for my health insurance and even though it is expensive, it's better than having no insurance at all. From my understanding, I will still be able to have health insurance, but I will not be getting any tax breaks, whereas someone who makes millions more than me, will get tax breaks. 

I'm also understanding that what were considered essential health benefits under the ACA might be eliminated. Things like pediatric services, mammograms, hospitalization, preventative and wellness services and even pregnancy. So, the GOP don't want to legalize abortions but they also don't want to have to cover ANYTHING that goes along with taking care of someone's baby.

I guess that makes sense because not ONE woman was on the board of the "Freedom Caucus". The so called council that is helping to write the American Health Care Act. NOT ONE WOMAN. 

Nancy Pelosi stated, in regard to the AHCA, "[eliminating] essential health benefits means Republicans are making being a woman a preexisting condition.

None of this makes any sense to me. Won't preventive and wellness services help keep health care costs down? Won't helping children who need pediatric services keep health care costs down? Won't providing people with mental health services help give people the care they need while also helping to keep some people safe, thus keeping health care costs down? 

This blows my mind, but this is nothing new when it comes to Trump's presidency so far.

As I was writing this post it looks as though the AHCA was pulled because there wasn't enough support for it! Amazing. This is such great news. However, I would have loved to see it go to vote and fail just so we could see that the GOP has no support on this at all. Now they can spin this as not a defeat or a loss. 

 I'm also waiting for the temper tantrum. I'm sure we'll be seeing a tweet from the Orange One by the end of the day about how this wasn't on him, it is someone else's fault entirely. There will be no acknowledgement on how it was a terrible idea and how only the rich benefited. There will also be no plan B. He'll just wait for the ACA to fall apart, blame others and introduce another bill that benefits the top 1%.

I hope in the end this only exposes him as a terrible deal maker. That all the things he says and does are for show. I hope that the people who voted for him start to see that he never wanted to help any of them. He just wanted to be voted in as one of the most powerful leaders of the world to benefit himself, and for his own ego. I just hope that it doesn't come to a horrific cost to all of us little people at the bottom.

Democracy triumphed today. I hope it continues to do so! 

I'm posting this photo so you can see the effects of what working from home can do to a persons sense of what's okay to wear when no one is around. I happened to be washing my hands in the bathroom, before heading out to the garage to paint, when I glanced up and realized just what I was wearing. 

I am so glad that UPS, FedEx or any of my neighbors didn't come to the door today. They would have dubbed our house the weirdo house and wondered how many cats I had living with me.

Anyway, I got a new watercolor painting completed today! I'll be listing it in my Etsy shop tomorrow, hopefully. I always love spotting these weird little rock islands when we're at the Oregon coast. I imagine living in a tiny house on one or something. Not that you could really ever live on one, just how cute it would be to see a little house, maybe one on stilts, sitting on top.

I also worked on a new oil painting, one that I am not very happy with, so I will probably paint over it. That is one of the more aggregating things about painting. Spending hours at a time on something that, in the end, you really aren't happy with. 

I guess that goes along with one of the best things about painting. When you spend hours on something and it turns out really great.

Anyway, it's Thursday, hope your week is going well! 

Well, the weekend is over and it's time for another work week. The sun actually came out on Sunday and I was able to get out in the yard to do some work! It's been so rainy I almost forgot what it was like to be out in the sunshine.

Clearing out dead leaves, smelling dirt and fresh compost and being in the fresh air felt so good. Spring always makes me fall in love with my yard. Plants are coming back to life and I'm excited to see them again. Things are green and colorful. My lawn looks like a lush, high pile rug, that I just want to roll around on. I still have several months before the full onslaught of summer arrives turning everything in its way brown and dead yellow, so I try to soak up as much Spring as I can while I can.

I should also be out in my garage painting as much as I possibly can before its too late. From right now until about June my garage is the perfect climate. Anytime after June it gets so hot in there my oil paint starts drying faster than I can paint. It's like working with acrylics. The only problem is I'm having a bit of a painters block right now and I haven't been super happy with any of the paintings I've started. 

I think it might be time to get out and take some photos. Maybe going for a hike or just doing a little urban exploring in Portland. I've been rather house bound the past couple of weeks and I think getting out of this little world would be beneficial. Especially since all the cool, weird, fun things about this city are disappearing at an incredible rate. Gotta get out there and document it before its too late. Before it all looks like we're living in a greener, greyer,  Los Angeles. 

My first sale on Etsy. Looking back on old product photos makes me laugh. They're so bad! My photos have really improved over the last 10 years. Although, they can always use improving.

I put some etchings and a painting up and waited. Waited. Waited. A month later I sold an etching. I didn't even have the packing materials to ship it! I really didn't think I'd sell anything. I clumsily packaged it up and headed to the post office. I wouldn't get another sale for several months.

I moved to Pontiac, Michigan with my then boyfriend because he had gotten into graduate school.  I tried to find a job but it was really tough. I didn't want to work in a grocery store again but I applied to work in the produce department at a local grocer. They wanted to hire me as a cashier, something I told myself I would never do again, so I turned it down. I regretted it as soon as I hung up the phone. I had just turned down a job that I really needed, but I knew that I would just be miserable if I had accepted it. I also had a gut feeling that I would find something better.

A book I sold on Etsy in 2007.

No job and my savings dwindling, I turned to my Etsy shop and crossed my fingers hard. I started making small paintings, books and little illustrations. I couldn't believe it when I got another sale. Then another and another and another. Soon I was paying bills with my art. My. Art! 

One of the first paintings I sold on Etsy.

It was like magic.

Etsy has changed my life. I don't sell as well as I used to there, but it opened up several different avenues for me. It lead me down the road to wholesale, where I make the bulk of my living. It also opened the doors to several gallery shows.

Paintings that have long sold.

A few years later I did end up working at the grocery store I started at. Etsy sales were few and far between and I had moved back to Portland. After breaking up with my boyfriend and moving out, I went back to working for New Seasons to help pay my bills. Luckily, I worked in a department that allowed me to work part time so I could still work on my art. 

Typewriter Painting 2008. I made and sold a lot of these the first couple of years.

I worked in the Home Goods department and it actually taught me a lot about how wholesale works. We worked with a lot of small card vendors, as well as some rather large companies. Working there taught me about invoices, packing slips, customer service and gave me some insight into how to operate a tiny business. I will always be grateful for that job because it taught me so much.

One of the card images I don't sell anymore.

While there, my manager pushed me to make my own card line and I kind of scoffed at her. At the same time we kept getting requests from people for Portland postcards. So I started there and I also took a few of my paintings and turned them into a card line of 6. 

Illustrated postcards.

The illustrated postcards sold like hotcakes! I could hardly keep them in stock. The cards didn't sell as well, but I didn't let that discourage me. I added more designs and polished them up a bit. I designed birthday cards, anniversary cards, new home cards, thank you cards. The more cards I added, the more I sold and the more accounts I received. I edited my line and added to my line and I continue to do that today. I really owe a lot to my manager, Amy. She was my cheerleader and she really helped to change my life as well.

Card designs that I've discontinued.

I ended up quitting my grocery store job after working there for 4 years. It's been 3 years since I left and I'm still plugging along every day. I feel like every year I get better and I learn new things. I know that there are still a lot of things for me to learn and adapt to. The internet is an every changing, growing thing, and because I rely on it for my business it's important to keep myself updated on its evolution.



I hope that I can continue to keep up and grow. I love what I get to do everyday and I feel lucky to have gotten this far.

So now, let's celebrate this milestone with a sale! From today, March 18th - March 21st at 12am Pacific Time, enjoy 30% off everything in my Etsy shop! No coupon code is needed, prices are marked.

Thanks to everyone who supported my work over the past 10 years. I literally could not do this without out you and I am so grateful for that.

Hello! It's me. I've been away. I feel like I had to take a break from the internet for awhile. Plus, I've just been really busy with painting and custom work. But, here I am. Alive and doing somewhat ok.

I got a new "tooth." It's more like a retainer with a tooth where my missing tooth is. I very much dislike it. I was hoping that it would be awesome and I wouldn't want to get the tooth implant, but it's not awesome, at all. I have to pop it out and clean it quite a bit because it gets food stuck in it. It also gives me a slight speech impediment when I talk. It also feels really weird when I eat. It's not ideal, but I don't feel as self conscious out in public, so there's that.

I think I'm almost done with this portrait series. I may end up doing some etchings because I thought of kind of cool idea and I'd like to try it. But, as far as the paintings go, I think I'm officially done. I'm really happy with how they turned out. I'm in contact with the person who runs the Upper Playground Gallery in downtown Portland, so I'm hoping to get a show there next year.

As much as painting some of those backgrounds made me want to stab my eyes out, I kinda miss painting them. I might return to that again in the future. It could be very relaxing once I got a rhythm going. I also discovered the world of podcasts and really enjoyed binge listening to several series. Mostly true crime podcasts. Some of my favorites are:

Up and Vanished

Case File

Someone Knows Something

True Crime Garage

and

In the Dark

In other news, Chloe had to be hospitalized last month. She started to regurgitate and she couldn't stop. It was very worrisome and stressful. Her vets think that she might have Inflammatory Bowel Disease or she might have Lymphoma. She goes in for some blood work on Thursday and another x-ray type test. We'll find more answers then. As of right now, she's doing great. Let's hope she stays that way.

Needless to say, with that and what's going on in the world, I've been pretty depressed and anxious. The non stop rain and grey weather we've been having hasn't been much help. I do love this weather, but I think I've got some seasonal affect disorder going on. 

I think a little sunshine and working out in the yard would be a huge help to me. Mowing the grass, digging in the dirt and feeling the sun on my face sounds so good right now. We're not due for sunshine for quite some time according to my weather app, so I'm just going to have to hold out for a little while longer. 

Hopefully the sun will come out and Chloe will be okay, sooner than later. In the meantime I'm going to try to take a few naps, go to bed early, make some art and go to the gym.