Saturday, January 31, 2015

Work, and Then More Work



I sold Ziggy today, which is both good and bad.  It's good because it went to someone who appreciates my art, and this particular painting gave her great joy to look upon.  It's bad (well, more like regretful) because it was one of my favourite pieces of art and it gave me joy as well.

Such is the life of an artist ....

I did very well at the market today.  I made over $100, and people seemed enthusiastic about my new deals!

 Now, however, I'm back home and I have a lot of work ahead of me tonight.  I need to write email; update my schedule and my finances; look on the internet for a new battery for my laptop; and then, if I'm not utterly exhausted, design and order more cards.

As Mom used to say, "No rest for the wicked!"

Friday, January 30, 2015

Getting Ready for Tomorrow









Come to the St Lawrence Market tomorrow and get a Dandy Deal at Annie's Dandy Note Cards and Artwork!

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Getting Things Sorted Out


I hardly noticed as the snow fell steadily outside my window.


I was too happy in the knowledge that I had finished my most recent painting and I would be starting another commission soon.



Other things occupied my mind as well.  Emails had to be written, my computer had to be fixed (thank you, guy from Geek Buddy for your help), and I had to arrange with new employees to come in for further training on certain days.

I didn't get to call the vet to make an appointment for my boys - but there's always tomorrow!

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Sirens


My niece Michelle recommended to me that I watch Supernatural. And so, like a good aunt, I do! Watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel are two of my guilty pleasures, so its easy for me to enjoy Supernatural.

Well, anyway, I was just watching the episode about the Sirens, and it made me think of my counselling session today. Let me explain, in this particular episode one of the Sirens made both Sam and Dean reveal their true feelings about each other - well their negative feelings anyway.  And I thought most people have both poisitive and negative feelings about the people they love, which makes love a very difficult thing. To be able to have a half decent relationship, you have to be able to decide what to show and what to keep to yourself. And yet, as I learned today, sometimes if you keep the negative things bottled up inside of you it might come back to bite you in the ass one day.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Putting On My Thinking Cap

This morning, as Brittainy was assisting me in getting dressed, she might have noticed that I seem to be preoccupied, and she would have been correct.

My mind was full of ideas about how to improve  and promote my business.  One thought I've had for awhile is to have a "Find the Face of Dandylion" promotion, where people find stickers with  pictures of Dandylion on them and get a price reduction on their purchases. I'm going to implement this idea today at the market.




(Hmm, I just had another idea. Since next month is Dandylion's birthday, maybe I should make booklets telling the story of his life and why he became my muse. People might be interested in this story.  God, I miss that damn crazy cat!)

Plus, I'm going going to ask The Printing House to take the photo of my painting finger and put it on a plaque, and then add the words:  "Annie's Dandy Note Cards and Artwork -  Making People's Lives a Little More Dandy!"   I'll hang it up at the market ... although I'm not sure how long I'll be allowed to stay here.

That's another issue I need to put my thinking cap on for: how to stop the bureaucratic monsters from evicting all of the cart vendors in March.

Bastards!

Please sign this petition to stop the vendors at St. Lawrence Market from being evicted

Friday, January 23, 2015

Better and Busy


I felt much better today and way more energetic.  (Woo-hoo!)

I wrote/replied to a thousand emails/texts; I picked up two prescriptions at the Drug Mart; and, at Loblaws, I bought mostly healthful food.  Whatever this on-again-off-again illnesss is, I want it gone for good!

The employees' schedule and payroll is almost finished too.  I think I'll take a break and watch Supernatural.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Memories of Ginger Beer and Grandma Dixon


I had more stomach problems today, so I drank some dark ginger ale to settle down my complaining guts.

Dark ginger ale tastes vastly different from the regular kind. One sip tasted to me like ginger beer, a drink that my Grandma Dixon used to love.  This simple fact brought up so many childhood memories.

I remember when my grandparents would come over to our house to have dinner and play Pinochle.  A toddler at the time, I could hear my parents and grandparents talking and laughing, and I always insisted on getting out of bed to join in the fun.  I would marvel at how my dad called my grandfather George not Grandpa.  I would feel annoyed with my mother for trying to go back to bed.  I'd just gotten up!

Grandma and Grandpa Dixon resided half of the year in Toronto and half in Florida.  According to my mother, Grandma Dixon could never decide where she liked to live most (or least).  In either location, my grandparents were simply mad about going to the horse races.

Such wonderful, fond memories ...  It makes me want to go out tomorrow and buy some real ginger beer.

Monday, January 19, 2015

A Shortage of Canvas Boards

Did you know that there's a shortage of canvas boards in Toronto?  There is! Well, the 16x20 size anyway.  That's my favourite kind of canvas too!  However, after the salesperson explained that they were sold out in every art store all over the city I mentally shrugged and bought two 12x16 flat board canvases and one 24x30.

I put one of the smaller canvases up on my easel; I'll start work on my latest commission tomorrow.

As for the big canvas, I'm thinking of painting a picture of a dream I had years ago.  In the dream, I was mountain climbing, and Hershey and Rascal were below me hanging onto the same rope as I was.  And then, all of a sudden, I felt myself started to slip.  I began to panic, but then, above me, I heard Rob's voice saying, "Don't worry, Sweety! I'll never let you fall!"

I keep thinking about the shortage of canvas boards and imagining that a single eccentric artist has bought all of the supplies and is working on a gigantic work of art.

I wish it was me!

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Tomorrow is Another Day ....


Sorry, folks.  I'm not feeling well.  I'm going to finish writing my short bio for BROAD Magazine and then go to bed.

Tomorrow is another day, though, and, hopefuly, I'll feel better and refreshed in the morning.

Saturday, January 17, 2015

A Whack-a-Mole Kind of Life


I quite happily finished my painting of Rob last night.  If I do say so myself, it's one of the best portraits I've ever done.

Yesterday morning, Dobrila asked me when I thought I'd be ready to tackle painting the photo that she had brought to me this week.  (The photo is one that Dobrila had snapped of me, naked on my bed with my heart-shaped ass and curved spine as its main focus.) I told her regrettably that the nude painting would have to wait because a woman from St. Lawrence Market had asked me first to do a painting of her cat.

This is how my life is like.  Finish one painting and another comes up. (Not that I mind; I make my bread and butter through commissions.)  Reply to half a dozen emails and a dozen or more come back.

One of my friends mentioned to me how much she wished that she and I could fly to Cuba so that we could lie on the beach and do nothing except drink Margueritas all day. The Marguerita and the warm beach sounded heavenly!!! Yes, yes, sign me up!

But, to sit and do nothing? Really?  I know that other people do exactly this on their vacations: nothing.  HOW do they do that?  Aren't they tortured like I am by the mere idea of sitting still for more than a full minute?  And, doesn't it occur to them that when they return from doing nothing there will be twice the amount of SOMETHING to deal with?

Am I the only one who thinks this way? Naw, there has to be more neurotic, over-achievers out there whose idea of fun is to play whack-a-mole with their lives 24 hours a day?

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Painting Rob



I had a great and productive day today. I got caught up on emails (including one to BROAD magazine), picked up packages from the post office, and bought necessities from Shoppers.

Now, however, I'm going to finish painting Rob ....


Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Eat, Drink, and be Merry!!



It was counseling day today.  It was good, sure, and like most times, very hard too.

It was one of those days, too, when even after the session I had memories and thoughts swirling around in my head like a whirlpool. I could either torture myself by trying to solve the mysteries of my mind, and thus get pulled even further into thedark and murky waters of the whirlpool - or, I could have dinner at Cafe California.






Guess what I chose! Maybe tomorrow I'll tackle the whirlpool and put on my bathing suit and snorking gear.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Google Calendar Disaster!


I hate this kind of day.  I woke up this morning with all sorts of plans in my head.  I was going reply to reply to Chicago's BROAD magazine and say, fuck yes you can have one of my artworks and a story about me for your next issue! And my financial advisor gave me some homework to do. He suggested I gather up all my bank visa statements and figure out how much I actually spent in the past year so we can make a budget for this year and following years.

I was looking forward to doing all this but then I saw that someone had deleted all my calendar info. I know who did it and how, but I don't blame her at all. I blame Google! Sometimes I can s ee other people's dates on my calendar because somehow sometimes calendars get melded together. My friend deleted her calender which also deleted mine.

So, most of tyhe day was spent trying to remember everyone's schedules and editing it back into the calendar.

I'm going to relax now and paint for a while.

Monday, January 12, 2015

Don't Stop Me Now!



As Freddie Mercury used to sing, Don't Stop Me Now! 




Don't Stop Me Now!  I'm having such a good time, I'm having a ball!!

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Despite the Frigid Cold


Despite the frigid cold weather, my day was a very positive and profitable one.

Almost immediately, a couple purchased my fluffy cat painting.


 I also had a woman inquire about commissioning me to paint her cats.  She was very thorough in getting the details straight, so I'm sure she was very serious about her request. Sometimes people ask me to do a painting for them, but they go away and never return to proceed with the exchange.

 That's all I have to say for now.  I'm exhausted, and the bitterly cold weather is playing havoc with my joints.

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Epiphany Part II


Excuse me for such an abrupt ending to last night's post.  I was exhausted and my back was killimg me!

What I wanted to say was that I took another dose of shrooms before I began work on Rob's portrait, and this time I did have an epiphany.  Well, two, actually ... but the second one is kind of silly.

I started painting and kept thinking, Bloody hell! What am I doing? This looks terrible!  I was getting depressed and angry at myself, until I stopped and actually looked at what I had created so far.  I liked it! It wasn't my usual style, it was more freehand and experimental.  I could see Rob's gaze eerily staring back at me. It was a good picture; maybe not perfect, but I could work the kinks out.

It was then that I was hit by my first epiphany:  This was it. This was what I was supposed to do with my art.  Certainly I would continue to paint my usual repitoire of animals; landscapes; and flowers, but from now on I would concentrate upon my more intimate works, especially the ones that depict my feelings of grief.  By doing this, perhaps I can learn how to cope and understand myself more.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Epiphany




Yesterday I started painting a portrait of Rob. It was both hard and yet rewarding.  Whenever I paint him, it feels like I'm bringing a small part of him back to life.  How I wish I could bring all of him back!


Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Happy Annie-versary




I just wrote this on Rob's Facebook wall a few minutes ago:

Happy Annie-versary, Sweety!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 27 years ago, we met at Scarborough Town Centre. We started to date and never turned back....  19 years ago today, we got married at my parents' condo - it was one of the happiest days of my life!!!  I loved being your girlfriend, fiancee, and wife - but I *HATE* being your widow!!!   You have no idea how much I miss you, how much I yearn for your touch and the sound of your laughter.  You pointed out the ridiculousness of a bad situation and never let me take life (or myself) too seriously.  I love you and miss you *SO* much, Rob Warenda!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

I also posted this video:

The Flintstones singing Happy Anniversary

I can almost hear Rob chuckling.  He loved The Flintstones ... and he loved me.

Saturday, January 3, 2015

A Busy and Productive Day Off



I'm very pleased with myself.  I worked on the employees' schedule; I got my 2014 finances up to date (for the most part anyway) and I made a template to keep track of this year's finances; plus, I got the laundry all done; and, I got some work done on the painting.

Hopefully, I can finish the picture tomorrow.   I'm hoping to start a portrait of Rob on Tuesday.  January 6th would have been our 27th anniversary of knowing each other.   It also would have been our 19th wedding anniversary ....

Friday, January 2, 2015

Ironic


Sometimes life is ironic.  And, sure, I can appreciate irony when it has some humourous aspect to it, or even if it has a moral theme to it.  For example, if you stole the answers to a quiz on one book and then you found out that the quiz is on another book.

Most times, however, irony can be just nasty! I mean, I was disappointed at first that the market is closed for renovations tomorrow but then I thought, No problem! I'll stay up late tonight and work on the commissioned painting. (It's supposed to be finished by the 16th, but I like to get my projects done early so I don't end up getting stressed out.)

However, I suddenly had stomach problems which lasted over an hour.  I'm fine now, but too tired and worn out to paint.


Tomorrow, however, that painting is all mine!  Moo-hahaha!

Unless something else comes up preventing me from working on my day off from the market ....

Thursday, January 1, 2015

2014/2015


Yesterday was so much fun! Laura, Brittainy, and I had dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, and then we went over to see The Imitation Game which was playing at Yonge and Dundas Square.  (Yes, I'd already seen the movie, but it's so good I want everybody to see it!)

Afterwards, at 11:00, Lucy; Brittainy; Billy; and I went to a restaurant called Garage, where we partied the New Year in!





And, after dinner, Brittainy and I are meeting, Leon at the Young Theatre to see The Conjurer.

That should be fun!