Inspiration

I haven't been here in a very long time.  I didn't realize it had been this long, though.  I hit a dry patch in my inspiration after the holidays. It's strange really.  I've noticed in the last few years the change of seasons between winter and spring is especially turbulent for me.    There are always end of school activities, schedule transitions, the busy season at the real job, the spider webs and dust that become more visible after a long gray season. A few years ago, I realized I had an urge to run away every spring.  Oddly, there is some comfort in knowing the restlessness is cyclical and would eventually yield to a more peaceful summertime ease.  Maybe a creative pause will also be part of that.

During my creative lull, I bought a bunch of books and began to read them all at one time.  I don't know why I do that.

 

I ditched all bready, sugary, yummy stuff from my diet (full disclosure: except one or two Lindt Sea Salt dark chocolate squares a day.  I believe in the sanctity of life, which would possibly not be preserved without chocolate...so..there's that.)  Then I gassed up my fitbit and dusted off my treadmill. 

I saw my artwork on national television.  That was pretty cool.  I cannot for the life of me find the Youtube video in Blogger's Youtube search function, so here's a photo and a link to the video which (thank goodness) I saved to my art board on Pinterest.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiFD5NPLKjA

I also spent some time on the porch.

And started to feel some rumblings of inspiration.

Both these pieces and the other small things I've made in the last week since my inspiration came back are being added to my Etsy shop this week.

It's nice to be back.  Thanks for being here.

<3 Lori

Fact is Stranger than Fiction

I'm tempted to start this post with "Once upon a time.." or "It was a dark and stormy night..." or "I was born a poor sharecropper's child...". This story seems so far-fetched it must be fiction.

 Check out beanforest's shop of cute (and snarky and some inappropriate) buttons here.

Even so, it is not, and I'll begin at the beginning.  

On a normal day last week, I was sitting, minding my own business when a message came across my phone that I'd made a sale on Etsy. (YEA!!)  Making a sale on Etsy is one of my very favorite things.  I do a little happy dance in my head.  If I'm home, I do an actual happy dance outside my head, as well.  Etsy encourages that because the app provides a rather realistic cash register sound when the volume is up on the phone.  That is a very happy sound.  The volume wasn't up this time, which was good because dancing right then would have been highly inappropriate. But the push notification is happy too!

I hastily clicked over to see what had sold.  I didn't even really get to see which piece it was, though, because I didn't make it past the message from the buyer.  I  nearly dropped the phone when I read it.  It looked kind of like this to my eyes:

 ::commence hyperventilation::

::search for paper bag::

Okay. 

Seriously.  

This doesn't happen to me.  

I was pretty sure I was being punked.  But it looked real.  I got the real message from Etsy. The art was actually sold.  The verbiage didn't seem like it could have been written by my son or my husband.  There was a legitimate address and a phone number and THIS PERSON WANTED ME TO CALL HER... ON THE PHONE!!

::puts head between knees and breathes into paper bag::

After some practice introductions with myself, I called the number and spoke to a very nice and very businesslike television art buyer who tried her best to explain it all to me.  She pretended not to notice how it seemed as if English might not have been my first language.  I appreciated that.  

A lot.  

The rest is kind of blurry but included contracts and releases and some kind of tax form to sign, which all got included with the painting in the overnight FedEx delivery the very next day.  Television moves very fast.


After the art was on its way, I ran over to Hulu.com and began a marathon catch up of Nashville, a show I had never seen.  I spent almost the whole time looking over the shoulders of the actors at the art on the walls.  There's a great article in Nashville Arts Magazine here about how art is used on the set.  My art is going to be in Rayna's daughter Daphne's room.  The episode is scheduled to air Wednesday, March 19 at 9 CST.

So that's it.  My art is going to be on television. (Eeek!)  I'm not really sure what that means, though.  It may only show up in super slow-mo or with someone's head in the way or barely visible in the dark.

Here's the thing, though. 

I don't even care.  

Someone I've never met went to Etsy looking for art to decorate a little girl's room. She entered her search terms, which no doubt resulted in hundreds of offerings.  Of those hundreds of thumbnails, something about my painting sparked that person's interest and spoke to her and told her it was made for that little (fictionalized) girl. 

That's it right there.  That's why I make art.  I'm so grateful for that. 

Look for "Songbird" somewhere in Daphne's room on March 19.  I would love to hear from you if you see it! 

And thanks for being here so that I can tell you about it!  I'm also grateful for you!

<3 Lori