Portland Maine Cumberland County Civic Center

Saturday, September 1st from 9am – 4pm

Pine Tree State Cat Club Show

Tickets: $6 Adults, $5 Seniors, $4 Kids 5-17 (kids under 5 free)

Watch for a coupon in the Portland Press Herald.

In addition to the 225 feline contestants from all over the USA and Canada, Black Persian Male Grand Champion/National Winner “Kuorii Enjoy The Silence Of Exton” will be on display for all to see and adore. “Enjoy” has the distinction of being the only cat ever invited by the New York Stock Exchange to participate in the Closing Bell Ceremony, and he actually rang the closing bell!
Come join us for lobster rolls, strawberry shortcake and instant win raffles! (Click here for Handicap Accessible info)

For more information, please visit

www.catshows.us

Balance too

Without sounding like a broken record here, I am going to continue on the topic of Balance a little bit.  I pretty much took an Art Sabbatical this year.  It doesn’t mean what it should, for me it means that I have taken more time off from working a “non-art-job” than I normally would.  I gave myself the freedom to get through shows without too much stress, and to take time off when I needed to.  I have worked; I have a low-hour job where I do some work for my husband’s company at home.  I have nanny’d, although I only did that when I had extra time and it did not conflict with my art.  If times were really tough, I temped.  This, turned out to be very chill, as most of the assignments were spent guarding a front desk & waiting for a phone to ring.  It was unlikely that I would have all of those things to do in one week, but it was like a pool of work I could reach my hand into when I needed extra money that was un-related to artwork.  Like most of us with art businesses, you have to put money back into the business, so the income I have kept is small.  I am trying to scale back from having so many little jobs & maybe just having one or two.  I have spent the year putting systems in place for my art to start working for me, instead of the other way around.  Of course I still plan to paint, but 2008 I am going to be very selective about the shows I choose.  This year has been more about placing my art online, working with stock-illustration companies, and getting my work into retail outlets. I am at that place where I can start to think about having a smart part-time job that I really enjoy.  I talked about my challenges in finding this earlier in the week. I am happy to commit time to find a job where I can grow, but not completely lose myself.  I will let you know how it works out, as I am trying hard to balance the scales and have ½ creative and ½ just straight old work.  I am not necessarily looking for this to add up to less than 40 hours per week, I am used to working a lot with my art business, which may times includes weekends & some evenings.  Thanks for following my progress.  If you are in Portland, Maine tomorrow, check out the Cat Show at the Civic Center. Ciao’The cat loves fish, but hates wet feet. Medieval Proverb

Portland Cat Show – See details below

This coming Saturday, the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine will host a Cat Show.  Since I have never been to a Cat Show, I’m not sure what to expect.  I do know that I rented a booth to display over 12 pieces of 8×8″ Cat Paintings as well as selling Note-Cards and Cat Commissioned Paintings.  The show is running 9am – 4pm and the Civic Center has a Garage. I am excited because this is the first show where all the Cat Paintings will be hung side by side. 

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Balance

I have spent most of 2007 trying to find Balance.  Balance between working with my art business and having a steady stream of known income.  Balance between keeping a house a Home as opposed to just a place to sleep because your work too much; this being a challenge I have met & met well, which is good when you have a husband with a demanding job. Balance between painting or just spending time chilling out with a book or weeding my garden.  Balance is a tricky thing, it is more so since I started working part-time.  The tricky part of my balancing act is that I want to work in jobs that I really enjoy.  I don’t want to work for a check, I want to work because I truly like to work; ok, and for the check.  I have been searching for a high quality p/t job off and on for most of this year.  I am looking for a place and people who I can truly respect & maybe have a sense of humor.  It turns out that this is more difficult than I originally thought it would be.  In the meantime, I paint, I market & I nanny.  Sometimes I temp, but not often.  Since I’m in the fortieth year of my life, I am just more selective and will hold out for the right fit!  Thanks for reading my blog.

Peaks and Valleys – Ebbs and Flows

Nurturing my garden has been a summer-long project for me.  I have talked about this in my earlier blogs.  You tend, weed, nurture & watch it grow.  It is probably the only summer in my adult life that I haven’t complained about the rain.  Just like my business, my garden has had Ebbs and Flows.  The flows have been amazing Chocolate Peppers growing like crazy, the ebbs have been that I still have another week to find out if I have Lead in my soil; possibly rendering my Peppers unsafe to eat.  The flows are that my Hungarian wax peppers are really coming along; the ebb is that I think I have a new pet skunk, which comes around my garden every night at 9pm.  I have used this garden theme in comparison to running a small art business.  I have had some Ebbs and Flows there as well, it seems when I least expect it or become even slightly discouraged – something really great happens to my business.  The dips are a little hard to take, however, I expect them.  The flows are always really surprising, and I don’t expect them.  It keeps me humble.  Thanks for reading my blog.

Cat Poetry

<  See the Kitten on the WallSee the kitten on the wall,
Sporting with the leaves that fall.
Withered leaves – one – two – three
From the lofty elder tree.
Though the calm and frosty air,
Of this morning bright and fair.
Eddying round and round they sink,
Softly, slowly; one might think.
From the motions that are made,
Every little leaf conveyed
Sylph or Faery hither tending,
To this lower world descending.
Each invisible and mute,
In his wavering parachute.

But the Kitten, how she starts,
Crouches, stretches, paws, and darts!
First at one, and then its fellow,
Just as light and just as yellow.
There are many now – now one,
Now they stop and there are none.
What intenseness of desire,
In her upward eye of fire!
With a tiger-leap half-way,
Now she meets the coming prey.
Lets it go as fast, and then;
Has it in her power again.
Now she works with three or four,
Like an Indian conjurer;
Quick as he in feats of art,
Far beyond in joy of heart.
Where her antics played in the eye,
Of a thousand standers-by,
Clapping hands with shout and stare,
What would little Tabby care
For the plaudits of the crowd?

William Wonrdsworth

5:30am labor of love

5:30am is the time I woke up yesterday morning to be ready to leave my house 1 hour later to go set up an outdoor show.  I remembered at that early pre-dawn hour why I don’t do that many outdoor shows anymore – it’s a ton of work.  If you don’t even count the hours of prep, packing, creating a plan & mentally psyching yourself up for the day – you need to have a traveling store of art ready to display in some crazy record of time.  In my city, we close the streets – but you must be unloaded and move your truck or whatever it is you carry your moving art studio in within about an hour after arriving.  It’s like working in the Pit Crew of art – you have to go go go – fast, and then get your car out of there.  Once that’s done, you can breath a tiny bit of relief, until you realize that you need more coffee and it’s time to rush again.  This time you have maybe about another 45 minutes until your booth is supposed to be show ready.  They have people walking around with Staff Logo’d Red Shirts enforcing these rules.  Of course you have followed all the rules and some Yahoo shows up and talks the police who have closed off the streets to let him in & then his truck is in your face while you try to set up, GEEEZZE.  All in all, after doing many of these outdoor shows, I must say this one was run like a tight ship, and even with the time constraints as long as you aren’t doing it yourself, it normally goes well.  The next challenge is making your booth appealing without over-doing it, and making your booth safe so that when large gusts of winds come, your art does not fly away with your racks.  Once this was all done, I had yet another coffee, and I chilled a bit.  The day was great, the turnout was big, the sales were moderate, and potential for future sales from this show or commissions was high.

That’s why I didn’t blog yesterday, by the time I got home, I showered, stretched, and went out for a big dinner.

thanks for reading my blog!

The 2007 WCSH 6 Sidewalk Art Festival

The 42nd Annual WCSH 6 Sidewalk Art Festival will be held from 9am to 4pm August 25, 2007 in downtown Portland.  I will be one of the many artists showing their work tomorrow.  Above is “Rita” A Buick Roadmaster which will be included in my Vintage Car Series at this show.  Also for sale will be Note Cards and small Car Prints.
Click Here for a list of artists and their locations during the art festival (Adobe Acrobat required).

The WCSH 6 Sidewalk Art Festival is the oldest and largest one-day art show in Northern New England. We welcome 300 artists and tens of thousands of shoppers for this festival.

Congress Street in the Arts District is closed to vehicular traffic to make the day even more enjoyable for all.
The WCSH 6 Sidewalk Art Festival is organized and administered by WCSH 6

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Archieved Cat Paintings for Sale

Archieved Cat Paintings Available

I have finally set up some archieves for the small 8×8″ cat paintings that have not sold.  These are located both here on a slideshow posted above this post & primarily you can find them easily id’d with titles and medium at:

http://www.wetpaintstudios.com/frenziedfelines2.htm

They look great on the site, and all of these works are going to be up for sale at a Cat Show on September 1 in Portland, Maine. 

Check out www.wetpaintstudios.com for this and other upcoming information as well as my Vintage Car series of artwork.

“A cat’s eyes are windows enabling us to see into another world.” – Irish Legend

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