Bella S.O.S and a Sale

Remember when I posted about my new dog Bella and her problem with being home alone and with loud noises? Here is the update: The thundershirt does nothing, the DAP collar does nothing, to be fair we have only tried them with the thunder CD, we have not had the real thing to test yet, but I am not hopeful.

She does not like her kennel much and I am afraid she could hurt herself if left alone in or out of the kennel. The doggie seat belt I got has helped a lot for when she is in the car, she can move around, but cannot get out. She does okay in the soft kennel that goes with us to some of the houses I work at. The problem is going to be when it gets too warm for the car and I will have to leave her at least two days a week, alone in the house, during thunder season. This has me in a sort of a fit to tell the truth. I want to stay in the moment and I don't want to worry, but I have to prepare. The medications are not something I can just give her on the days she has to be home, from what I have read she would have to be on them all the time. I am out of ideas here.

She is on a training program to try and get her okay at home alone, but there is no training to not be terrified of loud noises, except for playing the thunder tape, which I do, but here's the thing, she knows it is not the real deal and even though she does not like it, she also does not go into a full terror panic.

I am going to look into doggie daycare, but in a small town like Taos I am not sure it exists and if it does it will likely be beyond my budget.

So Bella and I are sending out this HELP message, do any of you have an answer or a suggestion? I will be calling my vet also to see if he has anything new to suggest. Then I am out of ideas.

In other life changing news, I have decided to no longer do ceramics. I may do clay sculpture at some point, but I will be making no more bowls or pendants or buttons or spoons, I am reserving all my energy for painting at least for the next year and maybe forever :-). I would like to liquidate my ceramics on my ETSY site, so here is the deal, if you like something make me an offer by email and if I agree I will reserve the piece in your name at the offered price. You can also make offers on the paintings, but this is mostly to clean out my shop of ceramics and perhaps make money for doggie day care :-).

Thank you everyone,

Happy Animal Wednesday! XOXO

Procrastination

The work you do while you
procrastinate is probably the work
you should be doing for the rest of your life.
-Jessica Hische
My house needs cleaning,
my car needs washed,
my cupboards need reorganizing as do my closets,
my office needs organizing,
my walls need painted,
I have a stack of books that needs reading,
forms to fill out,
I could go on with this list.
What am I doing while this list gets bigger?
PAINTING!
All is as it should be :-).
Happy Sunday! XOXO

A Happy Life

I start my mornings with these essays by Jan frazier. She is a miracle for me. I love her. I have spoken to her on the phone and she is the real deal. Enlightened. Wanted to share the one I read today. Happy Thursday! xoxo


There is Nothing Wrong with Your Life

Jan Frazier December 25th, 2011 -->
There is nothing wrong with your life. Whoever you are, whatever your circumstances, this is the case. But — but — you say. Honest, it is true: nothing wrong.
You could say it like this: fixing all of the things that seem to be wrong would not leave you with a good life. A good life isn’t about nothing being wrong with it. It’s about it not mattering if there are wrong things.
How can it not matter? How does that happen? When you don’t rely on your life to make you happy. When you don’t let what’s wrong with it affect you. Because that’s when you get a happy life. A great life.
What makes a person unhappy is that they think there is a connection between the life stuff and their happiness. That is the problem.
But then you say — How can happiness come, if not from the life stuff? Where does it come from?
It comes from nothing, from nowhere. From nothingness.
You could also say it like this: all kinds of stuff is wrong with your life. And none of it matters.
What makes a person unhappy isn’t that there is something wrong with their life. Though this is what they suppose, that they are unhappy because of the stuff that is wrong: the lousy marriage, the inadequate income. The excess weight. The skunk that lives under the porch. The car that won’t start on cold mornings. The kid that refuses to do homework.
What makes a person unhappy is that they think there is a connection between the life stuff and their happiness. That is the problem. Once you get out from under that confusion, then it pretty much doesn’t matter how many wrong things there are, or how seriously wrong they seem to be. Even all piled together, coming all at once on the same day, they can’t make you unhappy. If they were all fixed, that wouldn’t make you happier. What a revelation.
This is the revelation. This is the good news. (What else do you suppose Jesus was talking about?) Who will believe it though? It isn’t what anybody expects. But what a relief.
Everybody can take a break from trying to fix their lives. Talk about relief. Instead of trying to fix the body, the car; instead of trying to get rid of the animals under the porch, the imperfect spouse — none of which will make you happy, even if you could bring it about (you know this) — instead, figure out how none of it has anything to do with happiness. Make a little project of it. Just do that one thing. It’s all you have to do, really. Figure out how disconnected the wrong stuff is from who you really and truly are. How far away it all is. Not even touching it.
This is equally true of the right stuff — the parts of life that are going well. They aren’t any more connected with how you are doing inside, deeply, than the wrong stuff is. None of it has anything at all to do with it.
Are you surprised? If you can find your way to the beating heart of who you truly are, you’ll discover it’s never cared a fig for what’s been wrong out there, nor has it even noticed any of it, really. It can’t get interested. Even the good stuff in your life can’t get its attention. It’s too content to notice.

Another New Painting

This is another new painting I did in the last month (And close ups of the same painting), I have no title, so for now it is "The Tempest #2" , venetian plaster, acrylic, oil paint, pastels, crayon and graphite on board. Be sure to click on image to enlarge to get the full effect. Thank you so much for all your wonderful comments on my last painting, I so appreciate them. Happy Sunday!! XOXO

It will be tumbled too :-).

New Paintings

This is the first of three new paintings I will be posting this weekend. This one is my favorite and the title is "The Tempest", 20"x 16", venetian plaster, acrylic, oil paint, pastel and graphite on board. The new paintings are very different for me, not so happy (even though I am always happy when I paint :-), I think of the churning sea when I look at it. I included a bunch of detail shots because a painting this size is hard to get a shot that really shows you everything, at least with my point and shoot. You can also enlarge by clicking on the image. I always love your comments. I also tumbled it :-). Happy Friday!! XOXO

Inspiration

People often ask what inspires an artist to paint what they do and for me the answer is almost everything!

Though I would say nature inspires me the most and of course other artists. Old and rusty things also inspire me. Here I give you a few photos I took of things that have given birth to some new paintings, though you may or may not recognize how they end up being rendered. Rocks, a full moon at 5 in the AM, my bed with just a hint of sunlight coming in and of course bird tracks, I would say they belong to a raven. I have 2 new paintings done, but I want to get the third finished and then I will set up my light cube and take some photos for you. I am off to hike and paint, what I call a PERFECT day!

Happy Saturday! XOXO

New Painting

I have been working on this and 2 other paintings for a few months, this one is done, I am still working on the other two. I have no title yet, which is odd, I usually get a title while I work, but nothing came with this one. This is a 20"x 16", venetian plaster, pastel, coffee stain, acrylic, and graphite on board. I have a new trick, I use rubbing alcohol to wipe away color and it gives this sort of water color affect, I love it and went and bought big bottles of the stuff. I had heard about it for a while, but had never tried it. I just wanted to pass it on to all artists out there, it is wonderful.

I always love to hear what you think.

Updates: The show at Millicent Roger's Museum last night was packed! I was thrilled that so many would be seeing my painting. It is always the best when a piece can go out into the world and be seen. The show was very nice and there were a few other abstracts in it, which was a pleasant surprise :-). Picture taking was impossible as there was no room to move!

I left Bella in her hard crate at home while I went to the show and that did not go well, she tore the stuffing out of her crate bed.

I received the soft crate, but I have not set it up and tried it yet, I am still waiting for the thundershirt. I tried the rescue remedy and I don't think it had any effect. We take it one day at a time. Thank you for all your lovely, helpful comments.

I am off to paint, Happy Sunday! XOXO

Animal Wednesday (My Bella and her bella dramas)

This is Bella. I have had her about 4 months. If you remember she was chasing the cats last time I mentioned her. Cats are the least of her problems. Over the past two months she has torn down curtains, shredded two and it became obvious that she has problems when I leave her home even for an hour.Then last week she was in my car while I was working a short job and it thundered, never mind that it was also snowing and was not supposed to thunder. It was cool and the windows were down only about an inch and a half, you see she escaped from the car once when they were open 5 inches, so I had them up so she was safe, I thought. When it thundered I decided to go check on her because I had a hunch she may be afraid as she hates loud noises. I could see her as I headed her way and she actually had her head stuck in the window! I knew she was choking so I rescued her as fast as I could, she was okay but very shaken and she had tore up the car door. I never leave her in the car without checking on her often and lots of times she can come in the houses while I work, she likes the car and never gets destructive unless she is scared, but this was total panic. I have a dog terrified of thunder. I have been thinking about what I will do in the Summer and now I was really worried because it thunders almost daily here for part of the Summer. I went on line and got some ideas, I have ordered her a Thundershirt, I have no idea if it works, but I need to try everything, it is supposed to calm dogs down. I ordered a soft crate so that I can bring her in the houses while I work and she can be contained. I am getting a CD of thunder that I can play and hopefully get her used to the sound. If any of you have any other ideas or suggestions please share. Bella is a really wonderful dog, but fear has a very bad effect on her. Happy Animal Wednesday! XOXO