Snuggle Pup

Sometimes this dog is completely ridiculous.
Originally uploaded by michele_maule

It's chilly this morning but I see some blue sky peeking out behind the trees so I'm hoping it will be somewhat warm today. My flower garden needs lots of sun and warmth today. It's been raining and chilly the last couple of days, so sunshine and warm weather is welcome.

I'm trying to get ready for my day. Today is a "day job day" and I honestly just want to go back to bed. I try really hard to look at my day job in a positive light, but today is challenging me. I feel like I have so much art related things to do and going to work is really the last thing I want to be doing.

However, art related things are not much of an income source for me right now. So, I am just going to have to put my game face on and push through the eight hours I'm there.

I'm happy I have this cute little dog waiting for me when I get home. I'll gather from that thought while I'm working today.

Busy Bee

Oh my.
I am so busy these days.
I'm in the home stretch for my Stumptown show so I've been in my studio every possible moment I possibly can be.

I'm also still working on the craft book cover for Lark Press, which I'm hoping to finish up this week. I'm hoping to post some photos soon.

Okay...time to get ready for bed so I can start all over tomorrow.

The title of this blog reminded me of this scene from best in show...



Oh! I also wanted to thank everyone for the wonderful comments in my last post.
It always makes me feel good to know I'm not alone...

Keeping Up

Geeez...

It's been too long since I posted a new blog. I had a feeling that once I moved back to Portland it would be harder for me to keep up. I was right. I'm going to try to be better about it though. There was just too little to do in Pontiac, and so much to do here! It' been hard to balance everything.

I've had to get a job while being back too. Things are a little more expensive here, and honestly, my sales this summer haven't been great. So, I picked up a couple of shifts at Utrecht, the art supply store. It's been pretty fun, but unfortunately I will be leaving. I managed to get my old job back at New Seasons, a local grocery store. However, this time will be a little better :) I will only be working part time, and hopefully enough part time to still get the benefits. If you work something like 26 hours a week you can still get full benefits. Which is pretty awesome. If I don't end up working enough hours to receive benefits that's fine too. The company pays pretty well, and there are a number of perks too. Plus I get to work with some great peeps.

There are a lot of changes going on in my life right now, but I feel like they are good changes.

More Work!

I'm hoping to get these finished and listed this week.

Things have been going really well in the studio these days. These aren't the best photos, but you can get an idea.

I'm really hoping to start working on some larger pieces soon.

It's summer time, so things have slowed down a lot on Etsy.
There also seems to be some issues with Etsy and their meta tags, so I am hoping it gets resolved quickly. I was hoping to participate in a couple of up coming craft fairs, but unfortunately the dates just haven't been working out for me.

I did just book a show with Tilde in October! Yay! So I am starting to plan and think about that a little bit. I am hoping to get some more shows locally too.
Just a matter of doing some homework...

anyway, hope you all are having a good Tuesday!

Monday Poop Day

Blerg.

Today has been one of those days.
Nothing seems to be working out in my favor.

I thought I was going to get so many things done, but it just doesn't seem to be happening.
Just a little note, gouache does not work well on gesso...

I managed to get some of my paintings for Surface Gallery finished up today.
I still have so much work to do for this show. It's starting to make me a little nervous. Plus packing and getting things ready for numerous boutiques and small stores...eeks! Sometimes it's so hard not to get overwhelmed. I haven't even started thinking about packing yet. I'm trying not to just for the sake of my sanity. One thing at a time. One. Thing. at. a. Time.

I did manage to have quite a good weekend. We saw I love You Man (very funny) with some friends and we were invited over to dinner last night by our neighbors. I feel like I've been so much more social these last couple of weeks. It's good. I was spending a lot of time alone there for awhile...

anyway, I hope everyone had a good weekend, and that your Monday has been a little more productive than mine.

February

I knew that February was going to be a tough month.
So far my theory has been correct!

It's just that it's so cold, and we are getting so close to moving, but not close enough...
Yuck. I just want to this to go by faster.

I think that if I can just get through February things will go by so quickly. I have a lot of things coming up this Spring, and time is going to fly by. Then we'll be in the home stretch!

I added some photos of our porch in the summer time just to remind me that the snow won't last forever :)

One exciting thing that I am looking forward to is the Poppytalk Handmade shop.
They invited me to participate in this months affordable online art exhibit!!
Yay! So I am really looking forward to doing that. I am really curious to see what happens.

Well, I did get some little 5x5" panels prepped today, so now all I have to do is think of something to paint on them...I should get started on that.

Have a good Wednesday everyone!

Random Things

Okay so I have a few random things today.

First thing is that the Etsy Encaustic Beeswax Team is having a special benefit sale through the month of February. Select items in our shops will provide a 5% donation the bee research when purchased. You'll know which items these are by the little red heart and bee icon in the listing.
Just go to Etsy and type in beeswaxteam in the search. It should bring up a ton of great artists, and their work. So you can buy a wonderful piece of art, and help out some needy bees. Hehe.

Um, what else, I've been working a lot on my new series of paintings. So far, so good. I really like painting boots.



I'm not really sure what this short movie is about but it has Jack Black, Michael Cera, Paul Rudd, and David Cross in it, and that makes it awesome!

Um, I think that's about it.
Hope everyone is having a great Monday! :)

New Day

Yes. It's a new day.
Going a little more smoothly than yesterday.

They're all done, and packaged up. Ready to go to the post office, along with some other items.

I feel a little sense of relief, but, I still have a lot of work to do for the upcoming show in June for Surface Gallery...

I think I've got a pretty good start so far, so I am not too worried.

Michael took Chloe with him to school, and I keep listening for her little tags clinking away. My day has been a little lonely without her. That's one of the great things about having a pet. At least for me, I never feel lonely.

Oh well. They should be home soon.
Oh Yeah! I almost forgot!

Michael has had some time on his hands the last week or so, so he decided to re-vamp my website! www.michelemaule.com. He is still in the process of adding links and such, so it's not quite done yet. But you can get a good idea.

I like it! He did a great job!

Well, it's a pretty, sunny day here in Pontiac.
Hope you are having a lovely day.

Lovely Fall Day

It's a beautiful Fall day and I have been more than productive.

I can't believe it's almost November.
Another month closer to home.

Home.

I can't wait...

If sales pick up just a little more, I can go home in January...but until then...7.5 months...

Hope everyone is have a great Tuesday :)

Other Things

Yesterday was not good.
I didn't sleep very well the night before...too many things going on inside my head.
Money, relationships, home, art...blah blah blah.

So the next day I was in a pretty bad funk all day....
Well, until I caught Chloe sleeping on the bed with most of her tongue hanging out :)
She made me laugh, and put me in a better mood. I'm so glad we decided to get a dog, and I am so glad we got her. She really makes a difference.

Anyway, my self portrait paintings are still not dry. Which means that I cannot spray them with the finishing varnish, which means that I cannot put a layer of beeswax on them...which means they are not done yet.

In the mean time I have been trying to improve my photos a little bit.
I tried printing yesterday, but that was bust. There is nothing more frustrating than when you are in a bad mood, and the art you are trying to make is also bad. I just couldn't get a good print, and it was really upsetting...mostly because the paper is so expensive and every time you mess up it's like throwing $2.00 away. I think I am going to try to make some books, or something out of the bad prints. I just hate throwing them away...

Let's see...oh yeah! I found out about this really cool website called Paper And Stitch.
It's $45.00 for a month, and it's curated...but I think it's really promising. I submitted my work and will be one of the artists from mid November to mid December!
So, we'll see how that goes :)

Anyway, I gots some works to get dones.
Have a great day peeps.

Stuff

It's a really great Fall day.
It starting to feel like fall more and more everyday and I love it.

I'm listening to Death Cab's Transactlanticism album and it's really bringing back memories of this time 4 years ago. Was it four years ago? I don't know...but I bought this album in the fall a few years ago, and it's reminding me of that time in my life...

There's things I miss, and things I don't. People I miss, and people I don't...

It's funny how certain smells and music can be so...memory inducing :)

Anyway, got a lot of work done today, and I want to get some more done.
The self portraits are slow going. Oh well, I don't want to rush them.

I mostly worked on a commission piece and put some finishing touches on somethings.
Yup.
I think I am going to make some tea, and get some more work done.
Happy Monday.

ps. Kim, don't freak out.
Remember to go for your walks :)
Love you.

Early Blog

I thought I would post an early blog today.
Change it up a little.

I was very productive this weekend. Lots of work done.

I am so close to finishing my paintings for my upcoming shows...very exciting and I can't wait to post them up for everyone to see.

I finally watched both the Godfather and the Godfather II and let me just say I feel more connected with my Italian American roots. haha :)

Just kinda spent the weekend at home. Michael got some work done for his upcoming figure drawing class, Chloe napped, and since they cut down all the trees on the side of our yard, we now get a lot of light in our apartment, so I was able to get a good picture of Heather Blackwell's painting.


Jenipher at Cherry-Runway asked me to do a blog interview for her, and of course I said yes! So here it is:

www.cherry-runway.blogspot.com

Anyway, it's time to Chloe for her walk, and then I am going for a three mile run...
Hope everyone had a good weekend :)

Shorts?!

I am wearing shorts.
Wow.

I think I am going to go the store later and buy some hot pink pearly nail polish and paint my toe nails tonight too.

Chloe is home. She is doing really well. Poor baby has staples on her little belly, and she has been sleeping most of the day. When we went to go pick her up from the vets this morning, she leaped out of the vet technicians hand and into my arms :) I think she missed us.

Ahhh warm weather always makes me want to go dancing so I can shake my booty :)

I got more work done today. I gessoed more panels, but it looks like they are cracking, so it's back to sanding, gluing, and more gesso. Someday I'll get the hang of this.

I bought some wonder under today so that I can make some appliqués. I don't know when exactly I expect to make said appliqués, I seem to keep piling things onto my plate...but when I do make some I'll post them, of course.

Cleaned the house and my studio today! I even vacuumed the studio floor! Amazing! :)

Alright Etsy and promoting await.

Work Work Work

I have been working quite a bit lately.

It's good. It's great. I should be working now.
Actually I should be taking my neighbor's dog out right now, but I wanted to make a quick blog before I do.

So here are some of the paintings I have been working on for my show in April at the Fresh Pot.
I'm excited. They are all things you see in the Portland city landscape. All things I miss seeing on a daily basis. Water towers, bridges, stuff.

The two typewriter paintings are pretty much spoken for. I just wanted to post them because they look so pretty. I thought I would post a picture of my actual type writer too. The best five dollars I think I ever spent. Anyway, Lucy (my neighbor's dog) is probably wondering where I am...so I should go. Happy Tuesday peeps!