I spent the morning packing up all of the paintings from Friday’s original art sale.  Thank you so much to everyone who shopped.  We had over 3,000 people on the site at one time, so if you had trouble getting the painting you wanted, that’s why!  I am also pleased to share that all of the paintings sold and I was able to donate $1250 to Samaritans Purse for their field hospital in Ukraine.  Thank you for being a part of supporting that.  So, I need to paint a lot more, which I’m not mad about.  I’m heading back to Isle of Palms later this week, so I hope to get in a lot of beach paintings while I’m there. I will be listing some of those paintings as prints in as well. I spent the weekend mostly on errands and this morning packing up the paintings to ship out,

Being an artist changes you.  I don’t mean that in a snooty way or in a way that limits what art is.  Art can be painting and drawing, but it’s also music, photography, design, decorating, writing, engineering, sewing, stitching, gardening, growing, architecture, building…  That one small three-letter word encompasses so many endeavors.  And, when you start down a specific creative path, no matter how broad or meandering, you are changed by what you learn.  You start to see the world differently and things that once went without notice become curiosities, worthy of attention. When I look at photographs of artists’ homes, studios, and gardens, I get it more now.  I get the draw to nature.  I get the collections of textures, colors, shapes, and curiosities.  I’ve always been drawn to collecting natural items and making things with them.  I have vivid memories of picking daisies and making halos and crowns.