Queen Shiva ACEO

Okay, well, I know I have painted this image of my beloved Shiva before, but never this small:) I sold the original one, and I really love this picture of her posing in a ray of sunshine on our old farm. The light is so beautiful, I just had to do it again as an ACEO.

In other news, hmmm...let's see. I know I had something I wanted to talk about. Oh yeah...commissions. I've discovered something new about actually working full time as an artist. I hadn't up until this Barkerville project came up. I'd always dreamed of being able to support myself with my art, but let's just say I didn't do a whole lot to make that dream happen. I painted when I had the energy, or when inspiration hit, or when I thought I had time. When it's a job, though, holy...do priorities ever change. Suddenly it's really not that important to have coffee with girlfriends, or make sure your child gets to the play centre three times a week that's half an hour drive away, and lasts for three hours, or watching Medium every Monday night. I'd love to still be doing those things, mind you, but they sure don't allow me to get any painting done. This is hard!@ It's work. It's good work, because I'm doing what I love, but sometimes I have to do an image I'm not crazy about, or subject matter I'm not familiar with, and...it's work! I'm the one who decided I wanted to paint Barkerville anyways, so it's not like I have to just paint what I'm told, either. But still, I started to feel smothered, and hopeless.

I know I was going to go somewhere with this...damn mommy brain...I wish I could sleep at night:) That's it...back to the ACEO's. I've realized, that no matter how tiny, or insignificant it is, we, as artists, need to remember to take time to paint just for ourselves, or we'll start hating it. I was getting so burnt out. The last thing I wanted to do was pick up a paintbrush. And then I took an hour and put it aside for just me, and painted a little trading card. It turned out great, and I felt great, and I didn't have to take it all seriously, and worry if it was going to be good enough. So now, when I'm feeling smothered by the project, I grab a little 2.5" by 3.5" card and whip off a little kitty, or horse, or something totally frivolous, and suddenly everything's all good again.