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Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Hanging a Winner

What One Winner Did With Her Painting!

Winner June M. was a winner of my December giveaway,
and she took her winnings and had it matted and framed.
 
I was so impressed with how it looked,
I had to show you.
 
Sometimes, I've completed a painting that I didn't like,
and then framed it to see if I changed my mind.
And, I have.
 
Framing can make a huge difference in the final outcome.
 
Yes, it costs money,
but you can learn to do it yourself.
 
It's not hard and you can cut the cost by at least half,
if not more.
 
 Watch my video of how to frame a painting.
 
You too can win a painting.
I give one away every single month.
When that annoying pop up box shows up,
fill out the form and you're in.
You only need to sign up once and you're in FOREVER!
 
If you missed the pop up box,
scroll back up to the top and on the right is a place to follow my blog.  Enter your email there and you're in also.
 
When you receive an email asking you to confirm you did sign up,
click the link in that email.
You're not really entered until that last step.
 
Thanks folks for stopping by today.
 
 
 



 

Monday, February 27, 2017

Make A New Plan Stan!

Hop Off The Bus Gus!

Ya gotta Love
 Paul Simon and his
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover!


Which brings me to my next point!

Make A New Plan Stan!

I have several things going on in my life right now!
Big Things!
Important Things!
Things I Really Want To Get Accomplished.
and yet!

Life KEEPS Happening!

I'm trying to take an online course.
Something I paid for and want and need to complete.

I'm trying to get completely moved into my new studio.

I have a new online class I'd like to get on my website.

I need to build a new blog for our farm.

So What is stopping me?

Stuff getting in the way.

I had to make a new plan!

Most people know I have lots and lots of internet problems.
I often have to go to the library to get on the internet to work on my class, work on my website, even answer my email.

This past week I had to prioritize what was the MOST important thing to get done.
I decided to work on my studio.
I can't make plans for the studio without the studio.
I even made great progress on it.  


Got all the walls and trim and floor finished
got my art hanging system installed,
and started moving in things.

Friday we had a terrific wind storm.
We recently re-covered our greenhouse
and with the wind 
it started to come apart.
50 mile an hour winds,
plastic coming loose,
ripping,
and blowing in the wind.
My husband and I both on an extension ladder,
him trying to re-connect it all,
and me trying to weigh down the ladder and hold him on.

It must have been quite a sight.

But we were able to save it.

Of course, we were both in a lot of pain for two days,

But
Tomorrow is another day,
A Monday,
and I'm ready to get back at it. 

Sometimes we have to re-arrange our plans.
Sometimes we must adjust.
Sometimes we must walk away from a plan.

And that's OK!
Come at your plan from a different angle.
Fresh and ready to do battle again.

That's My New Plan Stan,
I'm not giving up,
I'm just taking another tack.

I'll gittr done!

If you like this Motivation Monday post, take a look at these.

Click HERE to find out You're Worth It

Click HERE to read about the VanGogh exhibit in Cincinnati.

Click HERE if you want to make changes in your life. 

If part of your plan is to learn how to paint 
at your own pace,
and have a FREE trial full length class to help,
Click HERE

On my website you can scroll down and on the left hand side is a FREE daisy class.
No Strings, just a full length class,
just like the ones I sell for $20.
FREE.

Click HERE for another look.


 
  

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Have a Heart!

Happy Valentine's Day

Saturday I had a great time painting with 16 kiddos at Cartmell elementary in Carrollton, KY.

We painted an abstract heart.
They and I had a great time!

Here's a short video of our class.

Some of these kiddos have painted with me many times and some had never painted before.

 Painting Abstract Hearts

 They all started with a heart at the center,
but that's where the similarity ended.

 They gave lots of thought to their paintings.


 Here's me and my posse!
Are they just the greatest bunch of kiddos!

It takes a lot of brushes for 16 people to paint
all those hearts!

All clean and ready to go to bed!

If you would like to host your own party
click HERE for all the info. 

I can come to your venue for children or adults.
These classes are also a great team building exercise.

Hopefully in a month or so I will have my own venue for things like group classes, art camps and private lessons.  

Stay tuned! 

Monday, February 13, 2017

We Have Nothing To Fear . . . Motivation Monday

Fear
And The Roll it Plays

What is FEAR?
Does FEAR play a roll in our lives?
Why are we Fearful?

I hate being afraid.

Fear brings on physical changes in us.
It can manifest itself as:
nausea
shakiness
pale skin
flushed skin
feeling faint
heart palpitations
sweating
cold and clammy
biting fingernails
chewing on lips
hair pulling or twisting
stuttering
crying

and I'm sure there are many other physical cues we have when we are afraid.

Sometimes we are afraid of the unknown,
and sometimes we are afraid because of past experiences.

I am terrified of dogs.
I've been mauled twice and when I see a dog,
my heart starts to race,
it's hard to breath,
I shake
and I've been told I get real pale.

I had a German shepherd rip me off my bike when I was about 13, tore my pants, bent my wheel and flattened both my tires.  I don't remember how I got away, but bike riding was never the same again.

I always love it when people say something stupid like
"well just don't be afraid".
My first thought always is, "well as soon as I find that fear button I'll be sure to turn it off".

Where is the fear button and how can we turn it off?

I don't know!

I have a brave little granddaughter, 
(ok, she's not little anymore) 
Who was afraid of everything as a wee little one.
She was afraid of noise, bugs, people, animals, even the wind.
Then at age 4 she decided 
"she was too old to be afraid of everything".
She found her fear button and turned it off.
Not for everything, but for the completely illogical fears she had, she was able to figure out how to turn it off.

 I think there is such a thing as "healthy fear".
Otherwise, every little boy would be broken all the time from big wheel and bicycle dare devil tricks, and they would never make it past 17 after they got a drivers license.
Fear is good, just as in all things, in moderation.

But what about those fears that keep us from doing great things and becoming the people we really can become?

Mastering our fear can be a lifetime pursuit.

I'm sure you've heard coaches interviews where they talk about a player who has lost his confidence.
He shoots 10 3's or free throws and misses them all.
It starts to play in his head.
What if I miss again?
I don't want to miss on national TV!
I don't want to run laps if I miss!
My team needs me not to miss!
There are scouts here and I can't miss!

What happens?
More misses!

We enter an art competition or request to enter a gallery
and we are rejected.
 What happens to our confidence?

We try for a promotion at work and are told no.
Confidence goes out the window.

Fear rushes in!

So should we not reach for those goals,
on the slight chance we might not make it
and then we'll be disappointed.

Absolutely NOT!

We should try for all sorts of goals, 
recognizing from the outset, we won't make them all.
We might be picked last.
We might not be picked at all.

It's hard to keep our confidence up when we feel fear or rejection, but it is part of our purpose of life.
To become our very best selves,
not our mediocre selves who didn't give it a go.

On the other side of fear is courage and victory.
But we will have to get through the fear to reach 
the exhilaration of success!

 This painting was the first real figure painting I've ever done.
I started painting figures during a 30 paintings in 30 days
challenge hosted by artist Leslie Saeta.
The point of the challenge is to get in your studio and paint every day for 30 days AND to blog about it.
So here I was trying to learn to paint a new genre' I'd never painted before and to tell the world about it.
Believe me, FEAR crept in.

I have a friend, fellow artist Meredith Adler, who writes a blog titled, "Paint Like Nobody's Watching".
Click HERE to see her blog.
I love the title of her blog, because when you first start to do something of a creative nature and put it out there for the public to view, it can be terrifying.
But you just have to Paint Like Nobody's Watching.
Like nobody cares.
Like you don't care what anyone thinks!


I've gathered up a collection of quotes about conquering fear I'd like to share with you. 

·        The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.  FDR

·        Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.
Dale Carnegie

·        Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less. Marie Curie.

·        I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.
Nelson Mandela

·        "Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it." - Salvador Dali

·        "Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

·        Courage is knowing what not to fear. - Plato –

·        Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear. - Mark Twain

·        'Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.'  Jim Morrison

·        The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure that you seek.” –Joseph Campbell.

·         'The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.   Elbert Hubbard

·      'The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknownH.P. Lovecraft 

·        I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.” -- Rosa Parks

·     He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.”    Napoleon Bonaparte

Now get out there and go for your dreams,
learn to paint,
learn to quilt,
learn to sing,
learn to dance,
sign up for a class,
go for a promotion,
start that business,

Push FEAR out of your heart, your head and your life.

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by today.
 

 

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About Me

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Ghent, Kentucky, United States
I'm a nature artist and I love to paint old barns, rivers and lakes, trees and fence rows and flowers. I work almost daily. You can purchase paintings by contacting me at slgraves6@gmail.com and there is also a tab across the top of my blog for available paintings and one for small paintings with buy now buttons. You can also purchase through my Etsy shop using the name of Fine Nature Art. . Thank you so much for stopping by.