Life is Like a Roller Coaster

Well at least it is for me. Pretty much has always been that way. I am not good at coasting along.

Hello everyone,
Hope you are staying safe and well and finding positive things to be joyful about.
Sometimes it’s hard.
This last week has been a roller coaster for me. That is expected when you are trying to find a new life. And I do my best to roll with it. Impatient as I am, that is not easy.

There were several positive things though and I have lot’s of pictures to share with you.
The most fun thing of the week was a Halloween party my sister and her husband threw with a neighbor for the neighborhood kid and his parents who moved away today. Halloween had been a very special occasion in this neighborhood. Lisa and Mick love Halloween and have tons of decorations so we put together kind of a walk-through of scariness. Then we all dressed up in costume, which of course I have no pictures of unfortunately as I was busy being the Scary Godmother and passing out the candy. But I did get photos of the backyard fun.
We had a whole group of skeletons who got drunk and passed out on the bricks in the side yard.

Mr Oakie Dokie tree is dressed in his scary mask.

The flamingos dressed up in jack-o-lantern masks and played in the spiderwebs.

And a little skeleton hung out and played with his pet frog in the pool.

There was much more, but you get the idea. Such fun and everyone had a great time. The party got over just in time for the rain that began late Friday night and continued through the weekend. It was wonderful to finally have some rain.

I also spent time checking out galleries in a few places and the one I loved the most is in Portland. The Oregon Society of Artists has a wonderful building and garden. Within the building is a nice big gallery space and several classroom spaces. They have a wide array of activities, classes, events and artist support. The show that was up was an oil painting show and I really loved the Best of Show by artist Diane Russell called “Covid Blues” which is the last photo in the slideshow above.

So much going on there and it is in a beautiful part of the city near a restaurant I want to try at the Goose Hollow Inn. I was going to get a photo but I had to catch the train! It’s an easy trip to get to the gallery on the train. I will go there often and hope to join soon.
So many wonderful organizations for artists here, finding the right ones takes a little time.
I am still looking for a decent part time job. Not as easy as one would think these days. So many people still not vaccinated and getting sick. Scary

And then of course there is art. I finished the painting of the oak leaves and acorns and started some pen & ink sketches that will probably get some watercolor as well.

I am looking into the possibilities of selling downloadable art from my Etsy site. Inexpensive to purchase and the customer gets to print from it in various sizes and on their choice of paper and printer. Lot’s of artists on Etsy do it and it is very much like licensing your art on sites like Fine Art America but there is no shipping costs and you, the customer, can choose your own printer and framing, there are so many print on demand places now. Yes I do wonder about how much art gets stolen and reproduced for sale by others, but anytime you post any art online for sale you have that worry. I am just going to try not to let it bother me.
Looking for income streams and this could be a good passive one once images are online.

So I guess that’s it for today. As you can see I am staying busy and doing my best to build a life and have some fun. We need both and we need to stay in balance. The world wants us to be doing all the time and our bodies know that is not possible. If we are out of balance we get sick and we certainly don’t succeed. Hope you too are having fun and accomplishing your goals. Send me an email and let me know what you are up to!

Have a Happy Day!

Cheryl