almost ready...

HELLO.

I know it's been a few days since I posted. I've had a good excuse! I've been finishing up an 18"x24" commission (I'll post a photo tomorrow), and cleaning my studio. It's weird, but once I started working on the 150 Challenge, I had a little nagging feeling in the back of my brain that I wasn't quite ready. I didn't know why. But I knew I wanted to CLEAN. So, I cleaned out my bedroom closet first. I got rid of 7 boxes of vhs exercise videos and movies. I got rid of 8 boxes of books. Man, that's a lot of boxes! I cleaned out some drawers. I cleaned out my cookbook cabinet. And today, I just started in on the studio. I wasn't exactly sure what I needed to do - I just knew something wasn't RIGHT. I started first with my acrylic paints. I had 11 bins of acrylic - just too much. I cut it down to one bin, with just one or two of each of the 18 colors I use. Then I moved on to the art books - some of them I've had since my girls were small, even before I knew I was going to become a painter. I got rid of four boxes of art books!

I condensed my acrylic painting area and expanded my oil painting area. Now I have two tabletop easels for my oils and one for acrylic. I got all of my paperwork in one spot so I can start organizing for tax season. I NEVER can seem to get that right - always playing catch-up. I also put all of my bins with my reference photos on a roll-around cart so I can move them around and locate them easier. I still have about ten photo organizer boxes to organize. They hold all of my postcards, mailing lists, hooks, wire, etc., everything that's too small to really have its own spot. I hope that I am completely done by tomorrow.

Oh, and yesterday I did about five hours of yardwork. It was SO pretty and we're supposed to have a couple of days of bad weather - the high on wednesday is only 15 degrees!! I trimmed bushes, raked underneath trees, cleaned a flower bed, and got rid of some junk we didn't need in the yard. We also just had some guys come and remove nine tree stumps a couple of days ago, so I hope to have a beautiful yard this year. And a GARDEN!

BALANCE

Tomorrow I am also starting my eating plan again. A modified version of Weight Watchers. I don't like the new points system (too complicated), so I am doing my own thing. And I'm still exercising almost every day. I feel very much in balance right now. Bring on the 150 Challenge!!

Oh, and the photo above is from a feature article in SU CASA magazine (I can't remember the issue #). It's an architect's home here in NM and she has one of my large paintings in her beautiful dining room. I think it's beautiful....