Survey Says...

"Flirtation," 2008 by Lea Keohane. All Rights Reserved.

I have been long considering offering prints of my work in my etsy shop, rather than just originals. I know that buying original artwork online can be daunting, and I understand why, especially when the originals are in the hundreds-of-dollars range.

So today I am introducing a poll (see the top right-hand corner of my blog) and a contest! First, take the poll, then leave a comment in this blog post. Be sure to leave some way for me to contact you! A shop link, link to your blog, or your email address. When the poll closes on June 4th, I will draw all of your names from a hat. The lucky winner gets $10 to spend in my LeaKarts shop, plus some extra goodies. Yay!

Her Spirit Lifts

"Her Spirit Lifts," 2008. All Rights Reserved.

You never know when something will happen, when your life, your perspective will change suddenly. Something that forces you to step back and re-assess what you have, what your goals are, what will make you happy. How to really achieve whatever it is that you want in life. Something that will make you break apart your preconceptions, set aside your baggage, and try to start anew.

This is just one of those weeks.

A survey of sorts

"Electric Dream Water" 2008 by Lea Keohane. All Rights Reserved.

My friend Cara always has the most beautiful blog posts, complete with her amazing art and wonderful stories about her life. In her last post she tagged all of us, the readers of her blog, and since I am a bit of a survey-junkie (when the surveys are good ones), I thought it would be fun to play along. So here it is:

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
1998. Four years out of high school, and one year after I had moved to Portland. I was now an official Oregon resident, qualifying me for cheaper tuition at PSU, so I started back at school this time as a Fine Arts major rather than the Creative Writing one that I had been prior. I demoted myself from assistant manager at Macheezmo Mouse so that I would have the time for school and rented a really ragged apartment with my co-worker Adam. That apartment was crappy but it was my first introduction to SE Portland, one of my favorite places in the world.

2. Things that I would do if I were a billionaire:
Get my Master's degree for no particular reason. I would take Indigo every summer to live for 3 months in a different country (a new one every year). Buy a 2-story Victorian with a big yard in SE Portland (I KNOW there has to be one with a yard!!). Travel a LOT. Make sure that every child in Oregon has access to art-making. Make sure that Indigo never had to worry about money so she could live with less struggle than I have.

3. Places I have lived:
Loveland & Denver, Colorado
Nebraska (can't remember the city, only lived there for a year as a kid)
Iowa City, Iowa (spent my freshman year of college at the University of Iowa)
Portland, Oregon

4. Random musing #1:
If you let me, I could spend all of my days reading. When I was Indigo's age (8) I would read several books at a time, and by the time I was in 5th grade I was reading at an adult level, including Stephen King. I can't even imagine letting Indigo read Stephen King in 5th grade! That is also about the time I started writing short stories, and I was already drawn to the macabre. All of them had characters that died somehow...go figure.

5. Random musing #2:
Indigo is watching cartoons behind me, and it is breaking my concentration! I love a lot of animation, actually, but this is a wretched squeaky-voiced rendition of Strawberry Shortcake that I'm sure I would have loved at her age, but now it is seriously annoying. Boy, don't I sound crotchety?!? I think I need another cup of coffee.

6. Random musing #3:

As a child, my brother and I lived with my mom, but spend Wednesdays and every other weekend at my dad's house. Next door to my dad lived a girl about my age, just a bit older, named Barbara Naranjo. I always wonder what she is doing now. We used to make our own computers out of cardboard boxes, write and put on plays for the neighborhood kids in my backyard, wake up at the crack of dawn, eat Pacman cereal, and spend the entire day swimming, and whisper "I'm gonna get you and I'm gonna eat you" in my brother's ear while he slept.

Now you are it (if you want to be, of course)!

Portraits for Mary

When I recently started doing pet portraits, at first I wasn't sure whether I would like doing it or not. What I did know is that, as an artist, I have to be creative and versatile in the ways in which I make my income. I also knew that I had to be true to my own style, which is very illustrative.

I had a lot of fun painting my cat, and Ryan's squish bunny, but then I did a portrait of Diego. His mama was so incredibly happy when she saw the finished painting. Seeing her reaction told me all I needed to know--this is something I would like to keep doing, something fun, worthwhile, creative, profitable, and on top of all of that it is a great way of closely connecting with other people and making them happy.

Of course, I love painting people as well, and how could I resist doing this painting of my friend Mary's parents in their awesome 70's wedding photo?!?

I did a pet portrait for her as well, her sweet dog Simba:

Living Room Floor

In my little apartment if it doesn't fit on my easel then it all happens on the living room floor. Which makes it a bit of a challenge to keep things organized, especially when "it" is several newly primed painting surfaces that can't be moved until they're dry. On the other hand, it is a bit of a challenge to stay organized when you have my brain, so there ya go.

I have lots of new paintings running around my head right now, and I'd like to have some of them ready to show at the Alberta Art Hop this weekend! If you live in Portland, be sure to stop by and say hi :) I will be doing some painting on site throughout the day--the first time I've done that during a show, so I'm a bit nervous, but I'm sure it will be fun.

If you are an Etsy buyer, especially of supplies and vintage items, make sure you are aware of this week's changes. This has caused a bit of an uproar among supply and vintage sellers, as it makes it more challenging to find us and most have experienced a huge drop in sales since the changes took place. I think Etsy is listening, however, and I also think that after a bit of time people will learn how to use the new search function and all will be well in supply-land :) Basically, the default search function is now handmade only, so if you want to find a commercial supply, use the drop-down menu next to the search bar and set it to "Supplies: tags, titles."

Balance

Sometimes I wonder if I am being a responsible parent by trying to run my own business. I mean, let's get serious here, despite my feelings for the current president, I am desperately waiting for my kicker check to be deposited into my bank account this Friday. Business has slowed WAY down this week after Etsy overhauled their search function (I am hoping that is just due to a learning curve, and it will pick right back up again). Then there are the comments my daughter makes sometimes, "You are always working!!" It's true, I have several ventures going on right now, and I have a difficult time focusing on any of them--my brain is often scattered, and as a result I am always busy. Even when I'm sleeping.

Indigo is eight years old, beginning to show her independence (no grownups allowed!), but still at such a sweet and darling age. She wants me all of the time, despite the sign posted on her door, and sometimes I feel overwhelmed by her demands for attention. At the same time, I am acutely aware that someday in the next several years she is going to want me much less. I do not want her memories of growing up to be "my mom was always on the computer" or "my mom is always saying 'just a second' before she can get to me." On the other hand, if I had an office job she would be in daycare all of the time, and what time would we have together then?

So I have to ask myself, what are my primary goals and responsibilities as a parent? The most obvious, of course, is putting food on the table. I also consider it my responsibility to foster her self-confidence. I want her to know that she is loved and supported no matter what choices she makes in her life. That she is allowed to make any choices she wants, that she can follow her dreams. I can only hope to convey, somewhere amidst my busy (sometimes frantic) schedule, that I am working this hard not to ignore her, but to finally realize my own dreams.

I guess in writing this, I am also trying to convey that notion to myself. To remind myself what I am doing, and why I am here.