Seeing All the Color in Grey

Child of My Secret Garden
Mixed Media on paper, 24x30. SOLD

 I know. It's like I've been hiding. I have missed my blog. But I am still crazy about art.

I'm into monotones and limited palettes.

Gray, gold, black, white- they are my playground these days.

 I wonder about this gray thing when I've always been into lots of color. I love color but I think that I am enjoying paring down and simplifying all areas of my life. I'm getting old enough that I'm sorting out all the trivial stuff and it is showing up in my art, of course.

The world also has so many gray areas for me. I have never been more interested in politics but there are so many areas that just can't be sorted into black or white.

A street character in Florence. Only opened his eyes if you put money in his box.

I recently was blessed with a trip to Italy for my birthday. I saw so many amazing things. I wore black and gray so I wouldn't stand out like a flashy American.
I fell in love with statues and and old gray buildings and granite.

Solid things.
Old things.
Simple things.
Classy things.

I came back loving charcoal and gesso. Do you know how many shades of white and gray and black are out there??

sketch in my sketchbook with some digital magic added.

It's enough and it makes me happy.

She sees 

in black and white

thinks in greys

but loves in color    JmStorm

Sometimes, it all begins with a sketch.

Then a timid touch of color and suddenly they become real to me.

I was scared to add the red hat until I tried in paint app first.

 awwww... but you can't just play with one app

 Must add grunge and scratches

Must add vintage filters and words and snowflakes

What if you make it an Andy Warhol type and put it on a shirt?

And still you have your original to frame.

I love taking one image and creating many different versions of it.

It's like it keeps on giving as I discover it in different forms.

I love showing other artist that come into the gallery how to take their art further than just postcards.

Still exploring, excavating for more.

It's hard to believe that I started this blog so long ago just wanting to find one or two other souls that we're passionate about art and others who were learning to draw and paint . Now, almost 10 years later, I rarely have time to post because now I have my own gallery, teach 6 different children how to draw, and teach 4-5 paint and wine classes to those who just want to paint for fun. I'm also still painting my own originals, making prints, making cards and all the paperwork!

I also contribute to community projects, my church, my friend's birthdays, etc.- all those things that fit into my over all goals and things I value.

And trying hard not to neglect my loved ones and myself.

Admittedly, it's a lot to keep up with and sometimes I juggle better than others. Sometimes, I even miss the quiet times at home just painting, blogging and working on the farm, cooking for my Sweet Farmer.

But, I feel like I'm right where I'm suppose to be.

I'm going to keep learning, keep painting, and keep loving. It seems to be working for me.

I have opened a gallery. I am teaching and sharing art. I am selling art. But I haven't been able to get a  decent web-site up or keep up with my blog. It is hard to juggle all the wonderful things that make up a working artist's life.
I'm excited that in January I will be taking some graphic design classes out at our local university. Learning new things is one of my favorite things, next to travel.
Hopefully, I will get back in the groove. If you're still here listening, thank you for your very long patience.

Embracing Abundance

Wonderful things are still happening for me. I am embracing the abundance and not apologizing to the universe any more, but taking it in and giving it out knowing that there is more to come.



That's a new sunflower painting in my gallery window. I made three of them and hung them in the window at the first of the month, along with pillows and bags that I had decorated with sunflowers and everything has sold except one painting!! Every month since June has been amazing except August.Thank goodness for my wine and paint classes- they've helped keep me on goal even during a notorious dead month (August) for merchants in Roswell.



Thank you Roswellites and my sweet friend, Pam, who travels for two hours to take a class. I love seeing people create something that they originally thought they couldn't. I love seeing creatives that had put their brushes away, get them out again, because a simple painting has jump-started their art again.




My drawing is still coming along and I'm practicing with more fervor than ever since I someday want to teach fine art classes, not just fun art.

"The best painting comes out of compulsions and obsessions, out of deep love or hate, out of intellectual or emotional involvement with something that lies outside the painting itself. - Edward Betts




I'm still thousands paintings away from 10,000 paintings, still 4 years away from 10 years of everyday, consistent work but I am still on track. And if you knew me, you would know that not wavering is a huge personal sacred success for me.

I think the most fulfilling thing, even beyond being able to pay the bills and keep my own gallery profitable, is seeing and hearing and being with other artists and hopeful creatives, and inspiring and spurring one another on to be our best selves.

Come by and see me at Main Street Arts, right downtown on Roswell's Main Street.
Yes, I know, it's unbelievable. Even a bad day, is a good day in a open studio in an art gallery!

Main Street Arts

I am having so much fun at Main Street Arts. I wish you could see our window installations. They are really cool. If you haven't heard our great news , well, my Sweet Farmer and I purchased a building in downtown Roswell, N.M. Yes! It's across the street from the Alien Museum and Yes! It is on Main Street right in the middle of everything! And yes! I'm so proud of it! Our grand opening was June 15.

"The Gallery" which is a co-op gallery of artists is renting 2/3 of the building. We share common spaces like bathrooms and a workshop area. They open and close the store 6 days a week. But I love being down there. I enjoy being with the other artists and meeting all the wonderful tourists and shoppers that stop in. It's very energizing.



I've met the neatest people like Max. He draws incredible cartoons.


And this is my first "Paint Party" in June. Everyone had a great painting and encouraged me to do many more.


My sales have doubled. I recently sold my original Cheetah, a cowgirl, and lots of prints and even some older work.


That Cheetah was so wild, that it took just the right customer to love him and take him home.


I can't wait to share more stories of the life of a gallery owner. Just pinch me.
It still feels like a dream.

But dreams are good. I don't want to ever stop dreaming.


Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

HOPE- AND MY GREEN HILL.

 A long time ago on a far away hill a passionate girl filled with hope started her journey exploring art. She didn't know the right way to go or the wrong way to go. She just went..... forward. She read and she painted and she played and she practiced and she studied and she geeked out on art supplies. And she plays to this day. Happily, merrily now she plays in her own art gallery called "Krantz Art". She and her sweet Farmer bought a building and named it "Main Street Arts" and now it shelters her and a co-op gallery of 30 beautiful artisans. And they all live happily together.

 That lucky, very blessed-to-the-max girl is your's truly, ODD CHICK.It is still amazing to me where your most passionate passions will lead you if you will just listen, if you will explore, if you will follow your heart.

MY GREEN HILL is HERE AND NOW.

AND HOPE continues to perch on my shoulder whispering that there are more luscious hills ahead.

I have never seen anyone do that before....

We heard it at least 30 times. "Welllllll......I've never seen anyone try to paint carpet", with a pinch of salty scoffing. Only a pinch. But just enough, every time, to make a girl wonder why originality is such a scary thing to some, and when it quit being a road block or hazard to creativity for others.  Art has certainly made me braver in that area.

This idea wasn't mine alone, of course. It came after a brain-storming session with an art friend about how to get rid of boring carpet. "It's a canvas", she said. And off I go like Alice down the rabbit hole. AND There are chrome sheets on my ceilings and paint on my carpet and wood pallets painted with gold glitter. It's been done before somewhere I bet, but it feels original to me.

"It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation."

If you haven't heard, I've been incredibly blessed lately as Sweet Farmer and I have purchased a building on main street in Roswell, New Mexico and I have leased 3/4 of it out to a co-op gallery and have retained 1000 square feet for my own gallery space and studio. I KNOW!!! I can't believe I just wrote that!!It's true.

It's a canvas. The whole space is just like a new canvas and I am enjoying painting it layer by layer. Of course, I have had lots of help. Like Isaac, this new friend, young and spunky, cool as beans grafitti artist who has helped me paint pinwheels. I wish I had permission to share his story because he has a great story and I'm so glad I met him.

He doesn't think I'm odd. When he heard what I wanted to do with the floor, he says things like, "that's going down hard" and that translates, "wow, I like that". He gets that you have to be brave and do your thing even when people think you're a little too original. But I think artists learn to embrace the fear of doing it different. We've learned to accept failure, uncertainty, and surprise outcomes on some level. We know you can always begin again. But we have to explore the boundaries of creativity. And step over them now and then. 

Speaking of beginning again. This is what was under 60 or 70 years of layers of stucco on the top of the store. Once it was named "Everybody's". And now, many years later it will be a place for everybody to create, share their art, and share their passion.

There are lot of us art geeks out there. Thankfully.

YAH! IT's SPRING!

I'm crowing like a happy rooster over here for a hundred happy reasons.

I'm happy it's spring!!

I'm loving this new app called Over that Misty Mawn turned us on to. OH YUM_ take her class and she shows you how to use it and even more secrets!

I've seen people making beautiful cards and fun post using this app. It makes your art all brand new again when you can use it a different way.

DANGER! DANGER! artist's crush!! -  This is 120 half stick pastels from Rembrandt that I got for my birthday!! AREN'T they the most beautiful sight. THESE have made me very happy. I did spill the box which made me sad for a minute because they were all sorted into color and values. But I think I can get a picture and put them back right .. or not.. they are still making me sigh every time I open the box!

I have BIG news. I'm tackling something that is mind-boggling for me right now. BUT it is bringing me lots of happiness and joy. I can't wait to share it with you. Give me a couple of weeks. 

I hope the first day of Spring is getting you energized for great things. 

Of course, I still love SWEET FARMER. He makes me really happy!

Don't let anything stop you from having a great SPRING! 

My Colorful Life

"Adele Bloch-Bauer's Pet Cheetah"
Acrylic/Mixed Media on 2X4 foot gallery wrapped canvas

I will always remember
painting this cheetah
painting because I finished it the day before my 55th birthday.
He represents my wild and colorful life.
If I'm having a mid-life crisis- then this is the best crisis I have ever had and I never want it to end. BRING IT ON!
I recently told my hair-dresser to cut my hair but leave it a little grungy. GRUNGY???- but it's short and messy and I love it. It fits my life on the go.
It shakes out when I take my dirt bike helmet off  and it doesn't look too bad.
I'm wrinkling and getting chubby, and having flashes of something besides brilliance, memory's fading, and all those things but I'm good with all that. I mean, I want to take care of myself and be healthy and I know I've been hot and now I am COOL beans and ba-ba-ba-ba bad to the bone. And wiser. And calmer. And kinder. A better lover of people. So heck to all those other small things like fitting in skinny jeans, compared to the good gifts I've been given through age and time, I will take about 50 more years in my yoga pants! 
I'm in love with my husband, my kids, my grandkids and my art. Oh, my GOODNESS. My art/mind/life has truly been the greatest gift of this season of my life. I will forever be grateful that I prayed that simple prayer and asked God to teach me to draw in 2007.
God has also given me a peace in my heart, and a spacious place in my head to grow in Him. I just hope He gives me more time and health to do a thousand things on my bucket tank load list of places to go and new passions to chase down. I know it's a lot to ask. 
I intend to recreate myself at least 10 more times. New hairdos, new hobbies, less stuff,  classy fashions, new sports- I intend to be NEW, and classy, and traveling and learning until the day I die (I'm heading to Ireland in September!) or until I lose my ability to decide what to do with my day or my mind. But there's no time to waste.  My heart is nearly bursting now. 
Thanks for sharing the years with me!! I hope we have many more.
Above all things, I feel grateful, for this moment, this time, and my very precious mid-life season.