A Kind of Magic :)

Dog walking isn't my favorite chore. Ok, I generally kind-of hate it. However, last week after catching up on some blogs that I follow, I read an entry about caterpillars (oh help, I can't find the blog now!!) and decided from that moment on, dog walking would be no more.

Instead I would think of it as... Bug Hunting!

Not hunting like killing. Hunting like finding :)


Last night I decided when I took my dog out for his walk, I'd bring my phone with me and call in some Indian take-out and pick it up on our way home. Palak Paneer and Naan here I come! After ordering my food I had about 20 minutes to kill so I started scouring a bunch of the trees for cicadas as per usual.

AND

Finally......

I FOUND THAT FOR WHICH I HAD BEEN SEARCHING!!
Did you really think I was going to end that sentence with a preposition!?!?

I clumsily got out my phone and fumbled around with the buttons to switch to camera mode. I was so excited my hands were shaking!!

This one was just coming out of its skin! It was still resting on the skin when I took this first photo.

Sooooo beautiful!! I've never seen one in this state!

My dad has told me that when they come out their bodies are yellow and their eyes are red. I didn't get to see one in that state, but I had never heard of this cool blue-green state (with a coppery body!)

I've got another week or week and a half left of living here in the Burg so you bet your @ss I'm bringing my camera with me every evening when I take the dog for his walk!

Apparently these are Dog Day cicadas. They come out during the dog-days of summer (go figure) which makes sense since that's the part of summer we seem to be in now, although this week has been a lot cooler than the last few.

This is one of those bug-events that I've always wanted to see but never, ever have! I've been seeing TONS of cicada skins on the trees around here this month (but it's not time for the big big 17 year brood or even the 13 year brood) so I've been keeping my eyes out for them, hoping to see one crawling up a tree and witness the whole transformation!





It's a kind of magic! I had this song in my head all night long after the experience :)

Feeling either envious... or motivated? (Or quite possibly BOTH!)

Lately more and more, I've been noticing that some of my favorite artists- some I know in person, some I know or follow online through Etsy/Twitter/Blogger/Facebook/etc. are having a lot of great success!

I see Facebook posts showing that a new painting has sold. 

I see multiple artists posting that their 2011 calendars have arrived and are ready to be shipped! (And we're not talking they ordered 10 or so calendars 'in case' anyone happens to order one- we're talking boxes and boxes of them, hundreds! Anticipating that many to be sold... Wow!)

I see another friend who is celebrating her 100th Etsy sale.

And yet another who is celebrating her 600th!

I always think it's super cool to see success like this because a lot of these artists I've been a fan of since they were just starting out. Maybe they had a few sales on Etsy, or maybe they've blogged about an art show that they've gotten into. And suddenly they're on their way to doing this full time! Plus it gives hope to the art community as a whole- that the economy isn't dead, that you *can* make a living doing what you love (and not workin' for the man!)  :)

And then I find myself going... wait... when did all this happen? What did I miss? How'd they go from the occasional Etsy sale to suddenly being.... not necessarily famous, but definitely sought after? 
And
What am I doing wrong that I'm still in about the same place I was two years ago?

It occurs to me that trying to spread myself out over my regular job, dog walking, fixing dinner (yes I used to make a home cooked meal almost every night!), and triathlon training sent art to the back burner quickly. By the time I had time for it at night, I was too exhausted from everything else. It was easy to almost ignore it for a while- I had the mindset of, "Hey, the bills have to get paid.... the dog needs to be walked... I need to stay healthy... Logically it's the easiest thing to give up." But of course I can't turn a hobby into a job if I don't pay any attention to it. 

Now throw in packing for a move in HOPEFULLY a week and a half and I've not only got no time to do the art, but not a great space to do it in either. Not that I ever had that here. I'm hoping that in the new house, where I will have a dedicated space just for art related stuff, I'll be able to spend more time on it and get more done and more efficiently since I plan to create a super organized beautimous new studio! :)

Once I get all that going, I just have to figure out how to promote myself. That's where I feel like I missed the boat- all the other artists I've been following took the last couple years to refine their craft AND learn how to run a business.

This year all I've learned is... how to swim! ;)
...Not a bad skill to have nevertheless.

So what do you do to promote yourself? What have you done to learn more about how to promote and run your hobby as a business?

Guess I better get back to stalking  research!

Another Edition of: What's That Plant?

These things are growing wild up here in PA and blooming like crazy. AND they smell amazing, a sweet and almost citrusy smell. Obviously it's some native plant, and thus if they will grow in VA (which I would assume they will), I'd love to have some in my native pollinator garden.

(And of course... I'm thinking about doing a painting from one of these photos I took.)


So..... What is it??

Prickly seed pod :)

Giveaway is closed and we have a WINNER!

It's Wednesday, so not only is it Business Time, but it also means my CSN Stores giveaway is over and it's time to pick a winner!

I'm going to use a random number draw, courtesy of Random.org, to determine a winner.

Random.org has a super cool List Randomizer tool that I used to come up with a list of everyone who entered including the extra entries :)
List Randomizer was the easiest way to do this since some readers left two separate comments (one for the item they wanted and another to let me know they follow) and some left one comment to tell me both things. (Next time I'll be more specific!)

So here we have our list and they even numbered it for me. Sweet!

Now I'll let Random.org pick a random number between 1 and 26....

(Click to see full size)

Number 22 is MBC!
Congrats to you and enjoy your flask (which I'm sure won't be hard to do!)! I'll notify the winner and CSN to get the gift certificate all worked out.

Thanks for playing :)


Next giveaway will be an 8"x10" print. Stay tuned!




It's business... It's business time.

CSN Stores Giveaway!!

I know I posted a teaser recently on Facebook about a giveaway on my blog.... So HERE IT IS! 

CSN Stores is sponsoring a $60 Gift-Certificate giveaway from their shops and one of you wonderful readers will win!


Obviously with my upcoming move to VA I've been doing a LOT of thinking about how to decorate our new pad. We couldn't do much here in our apartment and since we were only going to be here a year and a half, we didn't want to do much. Needless to say this place hardly feels like home.

I've been haunting and bookmarking countless items to my "House Ideas" bookmarks folder from CSN. They have over 200 specialty online stores and they've got EVERYTHING!

They've got bedroom furniture sets, office furniture, fitness equipment, pet supplies, home improvement items such as lighting and ceiling fans, AND many eco-friendly items, too!

Take a look at their website:
http://www.csnstores.com/
and check out some of their great items! They've got a ginormous selection to fit into any budget!
Some of the items I'm dreaming of.... 

Bamboo cutting board

Plant stands- I need these to keep the dog out of the plants.

 Speaking of the dog, now that he'll have a yard, he'll need a dog house out there! :)

I know, I know, you really want to know- HOW DO I WIIIIIIIN?
It's quite painless and simple.


#1 Leave me a comment *on this post* telling me which wonderful item(s) you want to buy if you win the $60! (one comment entry per person, 50 comments will not get you more chances.. sowwwy!) You don't have to be a follower of my blog to win. But if you ARE a follower of my blog, please tell me so because...

#2 If you're a follower of my blog, you get an automatic additional bonus entry when you comment! (You must leave a comment to be entered though.)
See on the left (scroll up) where it says "people who are awesome"? Do you want to be awesome ? (Yeeeesss.) And do you want an extra chance to win an awesome giveaway for awesome people? Excellent! We are on the same page then. Just click the "Follow" button, even if you're a non-conformist, just this once. Ta-dah! Extra entry for you.


This giveaway will close at 11:59pm EST on Tuesday, August 10. Entries after this time cannot be considered (sorry!).
The winner will be chosen at random and announced on Wednesday, August 11. You have 48 hours to claim your prize.... after that I reserve the right to pick another winner.

Have fun doing your browsing and good luck! :)

*

*