Still Trying to Get By...Snapshots from the Studio

"Traverse," acrylic on canvas. 24 X 30 inches

Well, I thought that I might be able to pull this blog up out of the dust, but life is just too crazy.  Perhaps I will just put tiny thoughts down and post a few images for now.  I am not taking 'professional' photos of the work yet. These are just iPhone snap shots of the paintings on easels in the studio space.

On the right, is one of my recent paintings.  I completed this about a week ago and it is no longer on the easel in my studio as pictured here in this quick snapshot on my iPhone.  It is sitting on the hearth of my fireplace along with a basket holding a blanket.








Here are a few more snapshots of some recent work.  The first one is an older painting that I took back into the studio for a few changes.  Sorry....the pic isn't centered, but hey, it's the best I got for ya now!

"Finding Answers" - Acrylic on canvas. 3 x 5 ft.

This second one is another recently completed painting.

Mood Disorder, Acrylic on canvas 3 feet by 5 feet.

I've have two paintings in progress in the studio.  I just took this quick snapshot of them sitting side by side.

The long, tall canvas is just in the beginning stages. I like to put a background of color down to start.  I just let myself paint and try not to over think the choices.  I know that most of it will be covered up in the end.

The large, square painting has three layers of paint at this point.  I started with straight-out-of-the-tube color in a block style,

Then painted a wash over and added a few opaque areas of white.

Yesterday, I covered the surface with gesso and created a mottled surface with plastic bags.

Here are a few more detailed snapshots of the surface texture.

I will be putting some sort of wash over this surface soon and add some imagery.  Still pondering on this one.

So that is it for now.  My personal life is spinning all around currently, so you will have to excuse my lack of consistency and not-so-great photos.  It's all I can do right now.  I'm okay with that. Hope you are too!

Favorite quote this week:  In dreams and in love, there are no impossibilities.

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Life is a Journey. The Homeless Finch Returns.

Hey! Hello!  Remember me??!!  My last blog entry was back in August of 2012.  I just dropped off the face of the earth. Well, I didn't really do such a thing.  But I did have an abrupt happening in my life that changed it forever.  I have decided to come back to my blog and start back writing.  It's been too long.  But I have been through an extremely painful time of my life and I just wasn't able to keep up with The Homeless Finch. The places I have been were all too difficult to open up and write about and all too encompassing for me to be able to ignore in my writing. I'm a truthful person...almost to a fault. But I knew what was happening needed to remain private and was all too crazy to share in an open forum like my blog.  Perhaps I will share some of what has happened in a retrospective way in the upcoming weeks.

iPhone Pic from the studio

In every dark day, there comes an enlightenment.  I have learned a lot about myself and have grown exponentially as a person.  Life is a journey. We pack a bag and in it we take ourselves, our heart, our hopes and our dreams.  We live thinking we know certain truths, certain rules, ways of thinking.  As a mother, I have learned that nothing is defined in truths, rules or thinking. We cannot live our lives thinking that if we do all the right things as a parent, that everything will just magically fall into place.  Life is a constant flow of redesigning our paths to fit what lies ahead of us.  It's about finding our true self.  It's about adapting to what is, not what could have been. It's about the simple things, like stopping to notice something sweet in nature...to recognize the beauty around us.  It's about today. It's about right now.


I am currently working on week 5 in Julie Cameron's The Artist Way and will most likely write about my related experiences. I have been writing my Morning Papers religiously for over a month and participating in Artist's Dates bi-weekly. I consider myself an artist in recovery. If you don't know what I am talking about, I will explain in upcoming posts.  I have finally started back painting in the studio and will show you my progress.  I am working toward finally finding my artistic voice; a voice I was not entitled to as a child and have never really been able to find throughout my adulthood.  Life is a journey...

Expect a change in the "look" of my blog coming up soon too!  Glad to be back!

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The Start to a Cozy Guest Bedroom and Throwing the Towel in on Making Money in the Blog World

These walls are not yellow!  See next image. More accurate.

Just wanted to check in to let you know that things are much better (for now!) around here.  Getting my teens back into school this week has given me a little time to myself.  I have slowed it down a bit around here.  I've also been trying to feed our souls, like making a nice snack in the afternoon for them and still getting the mani/pedi that I so desperately needed to do for myself! That darn hot towel on my legs was to die for!

Okay, slightly blurry and  that lamp cord needs
 to be hidden...but I really don't care.
Spending more time on things I care about! 

In between I have been slowly working on a guest bedroom.  I found a beautiful Ralph Lauren bed ensemble of which I am totally smitten.  I placed the bed off-center from the room and I kinda like the juxtaposition that it creates.  I am using my Pineapple Table as a side table. I picked up that cool mango wood lamp with a burlap lamp shade at a consignment shop that I ducked into yesterday.  Set it up on some of my favorite country style decorating books adding a little ice blue vintage ash tray as a table coaster.  Simple.  (click the highlight Pineapple Table to see that project from last year. Pretty cool)

Love this antique iron bed I picked up
in Atlanta about 12 years ago.

For those of you who have faithfully followed The Homeless Finch, I have an update. I have decided to just blog post when I feel like it.  I will probably not be as consistent as I have in the past.  I am okay with that.  I got all caught up in the "you have to stay consistent to build your blog" mantra.  I thought that I could actually build my blog to a level of making money.  But the truth is that few blogs make enough money to justify the time it takes away from other areas of our lives.  You might hear from me twice in one week, but then not again for a month. Hope you are okay with that.  If not, oh well you are out of luck!

Gonna head out today to haunt a few of my favorite antique and collectible shops.  Taking it slow.  Sometimes, slowing it down is the best recipe for a happier me.  See ya soon!

What's a room without an owl?!!
Thanks to my sis for this little dude!

-The End-