Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Valentine's Day 2007


Ooh, noooo! Here I was all fired up to write a new post about my wonderful Valentine's Day adventure and low and behold I discover that BLOGGER is no longer in beta form. Geez. I've had to jump thru hoops and create new entries just to get to my site. I already have a gmail account so why am I being forced to learn a new way to navigate to this page? Every time I get comfortable with this internet stuff it changes. I am not interested in new ways to push buttons, create new templates or learn a technical language. I'm tired already just reading the info. The instructions are ambiguous. This is a bit much. Did I just create a new blog page!!????? Or should I say ANOTHER blog page??? Why is that?? I'm confused.

I've spent the last 4 days tackling a freelance newsletter job that I was told that I had one week to produce. I can usually knock out a four to eight pager, effortlessly, assuming that I have most of the copy and pictures. On the surface, this job appeared simple enough; just a redesign of a newsletter that needed a cleaner, fresher look. I looked at it and thought, yeah, this is a piece of cake. But wouldn't you know it, even tho I was given "final copy" the client started making changes and adding new information immediately and then stated that "it would be great to have it printed by Friday." FRIDAY??!! Are you kidding me? Today is Wednesday! Groan. I should have followed my gut feelings about it. Now I'm caught up trying to expedite this newsletter to satisfy my customer and regretting every minute that I'm being pulled away from my personal art projects. It's quite a chore to smile and remain professional when you're feeling rushed. But I'll do it. I'll do it if it kills me!

The past 2-3 years I've become very selective. I don't. . .I WON'T take every job offered and I've turned down a lot of "quick turn-a-round/pocket change" freelance jobs. Working on my art DYNASTY (lino block relief prints and needlepoint) has become a priority for me. While making a few extra dollars is great, I've learned that my creative time (away from the computer) is much more satisfying and rewarding. I'm on a computer eight hours a day. Now I'm at home. And here I'll sit in front of another computer monitor until midnight. This is not fun. NOT FUN!

I'm going to post the cover of my brochure announcing the Brown Bag Lunch Series Art Talk that I'll give next Wednesday, February 21st. I created the brochure and had copies printed last week. I've thought about posting all of the (6) panels but I've already run out of steam for the evening. I need to stitch a little bit before calling it a day. My goodness, it's already 11PM! Whoa!

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Tuesday, February 06, 2007

First Week of February 2007


This week has been a week of prepping.
Prepping for my Brown Bag Lunch Series Art Talk at the Birmingham Public Library (BPL), in two weeks. . .prepping for my son's commencement (that'll be four months from now but the time seems to be flying by! I can remember when it was four years and counting). . .prepping for the Magic City Art Festival (April). . .prepping my receipts to turn over to my CPA. Wow! Is it tax season again?! It's all very exciting and at the same time nerve wrecking. I can only hope that five months down the road I'll look back on this time with a tear and a smile.

The BPL has set up one of four display windows on the first floor, with a few of my needlepoint canvases. Nice. And this morning my uncle called to tell me that he had just watched the Bright House cable channel interview that was taped a few weeks ago. I was relieved when he told me that the interview is "fantastic!" He's recording it for me. Maybe I'll have an opportunity to view it in a few days. The interview loops throughout February –Black History month.

I've been busy creating brochures and handouts for my art talk. One of the images that anchor's all of my printed materials is the one that I've posted. Yes, it's a tattoo of my logo. Yes, that's my Prince. Don't ask.

I'm really exhausted. I can't seem to find my second wind when I come home each evening from work. First thing that I do after I change into my "uniform" (sweats and thick socks) is fire up the coffee pot and guzzle caffine while I watch the local and national news but, lately, I've been drifting off -napping- and when I wake up an hour or two has passed. Unreal. It completely throws me off, and I try to make up for the time by working on one of my needlepoint canvases or cutting lino blocks long past midnight. By the time I crawl into bed and close my eyes, the 5am alarm is beeping and the cycle starts all over again.