New kitten in the house

Welcome Betty!
The Humane Society had a large influx of kittens last week and requested foster care homes on the local news. My hubby has been wanting a kitten for a while, so for his birthday, we adopted Betty.

Studio re-do....

So, got most of the studio organized then changed my plans. Pulled one of my work surface desks out and bringing the elliptical up from the basement. All that sitting isn't good for my health, so I'm going to take aerobic breaks from work. It means I have less room to work, but also less room to pile stuff instead of putting things away.

Back to the studio

Two canvasses are done, another started. I need to put the UV glaze on them and post at Etsy soon.
The last few weeks have gotten away from me with family illness. It's always something. Spring cleaning, putting in a garden, and the rest of life just take up all my time. Ah well, it's good to be busy.

My arthritis pain seems to be remitting big time.

Well it's been over four weeks since I quit eating starch (with a couple small mistakes) and it's paying off. My pain levels are about 2 of 10, whereas before I was regularly hitting 9 of 10. Vicodin intake...way down! Usually I take a dose every twelve hours now, instead of every four hours a month ago.
It's so nice to be awake, clear headed, happy, and at two pills a day, relatively pain free. My knees still act up but that throbbing, never ending ache that felt like my existence is gone. I want to do things, paint, cook, play games. My muscles are still so weak from years of flares but at least now I can repair a bit. Cutting out yeast (allergic) and starch (HLA B27) was the best thing I ever did.

New start

My mats have arrived, going to try selling pre-matted prints, frame ready. I might also try a couple pre-framed. It's experiment time.
Going to start taking new pictures for my listed items tomorrow if it doesn't rain. Pretty much depends on the quality of light. I should have done it today, but got too involved in research and organizing my studio. Ah well, it's all good.

Studio almost clean and usable

I'm excited to get busy on my next painting projects. Got 16 small canvasses stretched and ready to paint. Eight each of 8"x8" and 10"x10" and all gallery wrapped. Also a couple 5"x7"s ...it's so weird working so small, but challenging.

My new light box set up and a paper (cutting/processing) area for intense work sessions. So many designs and ideas in my sketch book ready to finalize. Sewing area is almost done, library still chaotic.

My Critique on Etsy...the number was 32

Finally! I thought "32"...typed it in, then when Danielle said "pick a number" I hit the enter key. I was first to pick and got the number she wrote down. Psychic...hmmm

Ok, so my problems seem to be:
1. Saturation and lighting in my photos.
2. I should stick with my first love painting and drawing and quit trying to do it all.
3. I should add more personal info when describing the paintings/prints.

So, today I'm going to mat and frame a couple of the prints and see if I can get some natural light photo's and relist later this week. Add more unique "tags". Got a lot of positive reactions to my work and that was really nice. It's just so nice to have experienced Etsy peeps advice.

Rev'd up!

Great critique last night on Etsy! Afterward, I worked on my domain site trying to create a consistent feel to my stores and domain. The only thing I have conflicts with, is that I can't put the same drawings/paintings up at both Etsy and CafePress. So I have to keep them mentally separate. My logo at Etsy is the same graphic for sale at Cafe Press, so I need to change that. Going to use the watercolor of Emily instead, since I'm selling the print on Etsy.
I've got alot to do, so better get busy!

Etsy Virtual Labs

Yesterday was my second attendance at an Etsy Virtual Lab. What a great resource! I learned so much and am really pumped about working on my site. Today is the site critique and I have to participate in it. Long, long time since the critiques in art school, and just as important.