Adios Omar!

It was a relatively quiet night here in the eastern side of Puerto Rico. Some rain and winds kicked in late last night. We went to bed after I watched the 11:00 pm update and was assured we were out of immediate danger.

I was awoken around 3:00 am to the sound of some howling winds and some hard rains hitting our balcony. There was no other incidents and was able to go right back to sleep. With the house safe, I knew there was nothing to worry about.

This morning at 6:45 am, I woke up to see the sun shining as it rose in the east. a good sign that the worst was behind. We are experiencing some more rain, but the winds have calmed and the birds are once again chirping. Omar is out in the Atlantic and most is back to normal.

Hurricane Omar...Oh My

Not much work going on here as we prepare for the impending hurricane. It won't affect us as a hurricane, but we will definitely feel the tropical storm force winds. We live on the eastern portion of the island, 3 miles from Fajardo, the northeastern most part of the island. Omar is not expected to make landfall here and looks like it will remain to the east of us. Which is a good thing as all the really bad weather is east of the storm.

We have been feeling the effects of the storm for two days now. Some rain and windy gusts. My husband put up the shutters, even with all my protesting. I hate being shut in. A bit claustrophobic. It should all be gone by tomorrow afternoon.

Will keep you all updated.

Inspired by things going on right now and going through some of my old family photos, I decided to paint something entirely different than what I am accustomed to doing. Unchartered territory for me, I am not usually political in my work. Still a work in progress. Feel free to comment if you like. I am unsure how this is working. Encaustic on board.

The muse reared her head

Well after much wasted time on the previous painting, I have decided to scrap it for the time being, once again. I will begin a new piece today. I knew once I started working my muse would come back and feed me with the long eluded inspiration that I so desperately need right now. And not a moment too soon! The previous painting has several ideas that aren't necessarily cohesive for one piece so I decided to learn from it and move on. I do this a lot, but it was good practice. Eventually this piece will work itself out, but not right now.

My Creative Muse is Playing Hide and Seek

Before I totally trash this painting, I thought I would experiment and try to salvage it. It has taken so many turns since I began it last year. I have been reading and doing some exercises from the book "Art From Intuition" by Dean Nimmer that was recommended from my ex professor's blog, Kate Kretz. I have been looking at old family photos and trying to find images that sort of fit my original thought for this painting. Perhaps a new approach with mixed media can breathe new life into this piece. Still has a long way to go, but...

It has been so long since I have spent a period of time in my studio that I feel rusty and lost. It will come, but boy it is a painful process. I have all my trigger things for my muse to come, but she is hiding. My ritual for being in my studio is to burn incense, nag champa is my favorite, turn up my Itunes, take off my shoes and go. Not working so far.

As for Itunes, the new version has a genius button which when you select a song from your library, it puts together a group of similar music as a playlist. I am loving it. I am hearing stuff I didn't even realize I had in my 30,000+ library of music.

Below is my progress, or should I say pain, so far.

In the Studio

Today I am in the studio. My plan is to go back and forth working on websites and painting. When I get to a breaking point with the website, I will paint and vice versa. Let's see how that works.

With my husband gone until Wed. I should get a lot of work done this weekend. I love it when there is no heading out of the studio at 5 pm to get dinner ready and prepare for his arrival from work. I am on my own schedule this week and will love it.

I constantly struggle with my housewife stuff and my artist stuff. The lines often cross each other and I feel guilty for neglecting either one. I am sure there must be a way to balance all this, but haven't quite managed to get the hang of it yet. When painting, I get totally immersed and time gets lost for me. It is hard to put a 9 - 5 on being creative. I forget that I am boiling eggs and have them explode, I forget to do laundry and to go to the grocery store. I also can't seem to justify leaving these tasks undone to be in the studio. I have hired a cleaning service to come in every two weeks to help out, but they don't do laundry. LOL Anyway, I will love spending all my time in the studio this week without having the pressures of running a house. Let's see what I am able to produce.

I'm Back!!!

Where has the time gone?

I was traveling again this past week and returned home Friday night absolutely exhausted. I again have a ton of stuff to do on more websites. My part time job is becoming a full time responsibility. I get caught up then another client wants more changes and it seems like everyone wants updates at the same time.

Thank goodness my husband is traveling tomorrow and will be gone until Tuesday. I will be burning the midnight oil all weekend. This will include doing some serious painting that needs to get done. I have been out of my studio so long that it is beginning to feel quite foreign to me. I have to find a way to balance my pay work for my have to do work.

I have several upcoming exhibitions that I need to prepare for. One at the ArtExpo Miami in Dec, another at a local venue here in Puerto Rico and a juried show to get ready for. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed these days. But I won't let it paralyze me and just get organized and get things done.