Book projects + commissions + icky sickies

gosh where has the last week gone! lol! its been jam packed! some fun...some not so fun. here's some pics from the last week...

my son read the book house of mirrors from the ulysses moore book series and created a scene from the book in diorama format. you can get the book on amazon by clicking this link > Ulysses Moore #3: House of Mirrors

we got branches off trees in the backyard and created trees out of them by crumpling & compressing aluminum foil around the bottom of the branch and painting it brown. many of the other elements were cut out of cardboard and aiden drew on the other elements from the scene in the book.

the crane from the book that was supposed to demolish the house. the name of the demo company was something to do with cyclops...hence the one eye

close up of aiden's drawn/colored mural background scene

i worked on getting some collage backgrounds done on some small watercolor paper pieces (4"x4") last week...

along with working on a commission painting for a lovely customer (this is just a cropped detail of the painting, which is still in progress).

and now today (and yesterday too), the kiddo is home sick from school. trying to keep him resting is NO small feat! even when he's sick, he's a busy guy! i couldn't keep him on the couch....he kept moving from couch, to chair, to floor. this boy let me tell ya!!! he doesn't stop goin' unless he has a high fever! makes it quite hard for his body to get well quickly since he has such trouble resting. so that's what's up with me this week. my class at my studio went great and i have some pics, but haven't downloaded them to my computer yet....so i'll have to leave that for another post later in the week once the kiddo is back at school. :)

oh and p.s.....there are a few new prints in the shop that i managed to work on while being here at home with my sick little man. so please go check them out at the link below: http://pauletteinsall.storenvy.com/

Beautiful Mondays

  i just discovered this wonderful contest {through one of my friends on facebook} that was held recently held by mont blanc.

~the beauty of a second~

it so perfectly fits with the story behind my work....i seek to celebrate not only the joy in life, but also the beauty that surrounds us and is within us. life is made up of moments.....and they're gone in the blink of an eye. how do you choose to live?

....celebrating the beauty and joy?

yeah, me too ❤

check out the other two videos on vimeo

Happy Friday!!!

Spending a little time at the park with Aiden and a friend of his from school. We actually had TWO nice sunny days in a row! Had to take advantage of it while we can. The rain is supposed to return tomorrow. I even took the pup for a walk earlier in between painting sessions. Hooray!

I just love it here when its sunny! The sky is just the most spectacular shade of blue!

Reminds me of the blue I'm using in my latest painting...

This is how it looked yesterday...don't have a current pic in my phone to post {which is what I'm posting from at the moment}.

Well, Aiden is having trouble finding his friend {they are playing hide and seek and his buddy is a super good hider} and he wants some help. Have a fabulously fantastic weekend y'all! xoxo

an artist with time management issues???? you don't say!

lol! i think mostly artists are thought of as free spirits that go where the inspiration takes them.....but what if you have tons of inspiration, but never get to where you are able to do something with it? what if, all the ideas + daily life things start to overwhelm you...and at the end of the day you don't get hardly any of your "to-do" list done. what if, you're trying to do too much in a day and finding it impossible. what if, you have big dreams for this year, but can't even fathom how you will possibly fit in time to work towards them.

well, that's me!

its all well and good to have a flexible schedule....especially when you're a mom+wife in addition to being a "full-time artist"....but what happens when someone who needs structure to get things done, no longer has structure.

things....important things....get left undone

for days...

weeks...

months even.

so, here i am realizing that this is ME and i need structure in order to create...or get much of anything done for that matter. and i need to create it myself.

when i worked outside the home, the structure was created for me. i didn't have to think about it. i got up, got dressed, got myself a coffee when i got to work, then got down to business....and kept my head down and focused on my job and did pretty well at it. now...i'm all loosie goosie! lol! and it just ain't workin'...

i need habits,

i need routine,

i need prioritization.

so i can just go on autopilot and do what needs to be done and not have to "think" about it. that would free me up to create instead of worrying about all the stuff that hasn't gotten done {which stops my creativity in its tracks}. i've been researching this over the past week and here's some helpful links i've found.

How Mundane Routines Produce Creative Magic

Habits and Routines Help Get Your To-Do List Done

Daily Work Routine of an Artist

Daily Routines: Artists

So....how about you? Let's work together on this {i know there are others out there struggling with this very same thing}....have you found anything that helps you?

Do you have a daily routine that helps you create, get housework done, exercise daily, etc.?

Do you have a way to help you prioritize those "most important things" that must happen?

What are the most important triggers for your creative state of mind?

What happens to your ability to get things done if your routine is interrupted?

What helps you to commit to your routine?

This is what happens...

When you get sick for a couple of months and don't use your studio....it becomes a "catch all"! Lol! As you can see from the before/after pics, I have managed to clean up a bit in there so I can actually work now that I'm feeling better. Ramping up for some BIG stuff!! More details really soon!!!