November already? It seems impossible. I've been focused on the process of getting Sanger Art Hop "going" plus adding new items to my inventory at the gallery, and this week is the Art Hop reception for a show at Boling Gallery.  A few notes on each one of those 3 things:

Sanger has now had 3 "art hops"--one on April 21st, one the last Saturday in September, and the 3rd the last Saturday in October. The September event was pretty amazing; October's was not as well attended but it was attended by new visitors. Our next Art Hop will be on Saturday, November 24th, from 10 AM till 4 PM. Being the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend may be a plus or a minus, but, in any case, the "show" will go on!

New items at the gallery include the following:

      •Goat's Milk soap by Basilwood Farms
      •Knitted, felted purses by Trudy Sweet
      •Ceramic garlic bulbs, tiny dipping bowls, and fortune cookies by Dorothy Young
      •Sanger items based on my two Sanger paintings
                 Calendars ($12)
                 Playing Card Decks ($12)
                 Mouse Pads ($12)
                 Chef's Aprons ($15)
                 Tiny Coinpurses ($8)
                 Jigsaw puzzles ($12)

On Thursday evening, November 15th, Joann Hill and I ("The Serial Painters"--because we like to paint in series) will have a north Fresno Art Hop reception at Boling Associates. The hours will be from  5-8 PM and we hope you can attend. If not, the show will be up the whole month of December and you can drop in at your convenience.

A busy day at the gallery today. Right now, a BBQ fundraiser is going on outside and my ears are pounding from the loud music. I had guests this morning who noticed that it wasn't easy to find my studio information (including open hours) on my blog so I just added them, right below the header image. That was the easiest place I could find to do it. I also updated some very old information and re-read a few posts. I love blogging--so why don't I do it more often? Hmmmmmmm. Not sure, other than the fact that there are always so many other things that take precedence. And once I'm "behind", I always want to catch up instead of just going on when I can. I will try to do better, honest, I will.

I do want to mention that one of the things that's been taking precedence lately is planning for the next Sanger Art Hop. The basic details are as follows:

Date: Saturday, September 29, 2012
Time: 10 AM till 5 PM
Locations: 16 (mostly downtown, a few to the north and one to the east of Sanger)
Artists: 30 or more
Flyer and map: Available soon
More details to follow soon

Contact number: (559) 905-3517
Kathleen Mattox at "Mixed Messages" ART

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness. . . .

. . . . as Annie would have said! I can't believe I haven't posted on my blog since January 12, 2012. That's over five months ago. This nonsense has to stop and I need to post at least once a week, if not more often. I find myself caught up in other writing activities--Facebook and my monthly newsletter--and I forget to pay attention to my blog. I will try to do better, starting today.

Classes, both adult and childrens', at the gallery have been fun!

Two things on my plate, currently, beside keeping up with the day to day gallery business and upkeep:

1. Decide on a subject, compositional format, and color scheme for my painting for the Madera Ag Show. Photos are due August lst, so I still have plenty of time but I need to get started on it. I want to incorporate some of the new innovations that I've used on my most recent paintings.

2. Try to get motivated to start and work on a series of related paintings for the purpose of doing a series and in preparation for a potential show coming up.

And a third coming up a little later this summer:

3. I'm going to be judging my second show soon and judging is a whole new experience for me. I have to apply all I know artistically and more in analyzing a large number of paintings and synthesizing my thoughts and feelings into a form that can be expressed and explained verbally and in writing . . . . and make sense! It's a challenge. I enjoyed my first experience in Tulare and I look forward to my second. I learned a lot from the first experience, especially about how much placement and lighting can affect the outcome. Last time, I overlooked a couple of paintings that I shouldn't have due to their placement on the wall and lighting issues, I think. This time, I'll be more careful to give every entry my most careful consideration. I am going to be "directed/guided" by the principles and elements of design and how strongly they come across in the entries and in the theme of the show.

What's my word for 2012?

My friend and fellow artist, Joyce Wycoff, writes such wonderful posts on her blog. Recently she posted about choosing her word or word for the year. I've done it in the past but not for the last few years. Her post got me thinking about it again and I decided to pick 3 words. They were:

AWARENESS

ACCEPTANCE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My thought was to spend 2012 being more aware of things around me, more aware of my needs and wants, more aware of my family and friends' needs and wants, just more aware in general. I wanted to be more able to show acceptance of my talents and the talents of others and to be better about acknowledging and encouraging other artists in their pursuits. All worthy and respectable thoughts, right? But the more I thought about these "A Words", the less excited I became about following my first inclination regarding the words for 2012. Maybe because I wasn't sure I could and would expend energy on them or maybe because I already naturally expend energy on them.

So, I ABANDONED them--another "A word"! I decided to ACTIVELY ASSERT myself in finding a better word or words. I obviously and APPARENTLY needed ASSISTANCE because the next words were not much more ACCEPTABLE. I settled on these 2:

Exuberant Extravagance. Very interesting, and a lot more exciting, but when I looked up the meanings this is what I found: Exuberant means "filled with or characterized by a lively energy and excitement" or "Full of unrestrained enthusiasm or joy" or "Lavish/extravagant". Sounding a bit redundant to use in conjunction with Extravagance, isn't it? Since extravagance means "lacking in moderation, balance, and restraint" or "extremely or excessively elaborate". And I have heard people's subconsious thoughts as well as verbally expressed beliefs that my paintings are already exuberantly extravagant and out of control and so am I! LOL Perhaps it's my unrestrained enthusiasm and joy that does me in every time!? So, I continued to flounder around for a while in my search for the perfect word or words. And it came to me in the middle of the night--the answer to my quest--

 

This needs to be my year to focus. 

I will focus on the business of running the gallery and working hard in the studio and 

teaching exciting, interesting, and engaging classes to groups of artists and non-artists alike. 

So, there you have it--my word for 2012 (my last and final word for 2012!) is

FOCUS!

I'll close with a paraphrased quote that I used to use a lot and I don't remember who said it:

"You can hit any target as long as you know what it looks like and it doesn't keep moving." 

Onward and upward, let's "Sparkle and Shine" into 2012!