Twittleing My Thumbs

"Bird Girl of St Patricks Square Venice Italy"
16" x 14" soft pastel on canson paper $90.00

I know it has been a very long time since I have blogged. A few reasons, I did not get accepted to daily painters which was the entire reason for this blog. 2nd reason I have been very busy with comissions, and 50 paintings I completed just for the Fl circuit which I leave tomorrow for.

I will be gone for a month and if you few readers are luck I will continue to post this blog. Today I was waiting for the roofers to show up and replace the roof which is not going to happen therefore I have a lot of nervous energy and not a lot to do. All my art supplies are packed away and I could leave today.

Any one who knows me knows I cannot stand to plan anything so I am not planning this trip much other than packing my stuff. I am a fly by the seat of my pants guy (drives mrs lee crazy). So today I search for useless things to do I am not a surf the internet type of person to still for me.

Without anything to paint or draw with or on I am going crazy. I thought I was going to be supervising roofers and repairing the chimney but not now.

My first show is Cape Coral looks like perfect weather and I have a ton of new work to sell. All of which I have not photographed due to 7 days of rain. I am camping on Fri and Sat night and fishing all day on Fri what a perfect start to the show circuit. The next blog if there is one will be from Sunny FLA.

Mike

It amazes me who sees my website.

"Cowgirl"
9" x 12" oil on hardwood. $125.00

I always check on my website where my hits are coming from and it never ceases to amaze me who people find my site and what they like. Today I was looking at the links and I found a link from a blog named Janet counting sheep. She had uploaded one of my paintings onto her blog site which I am flattered.

How she found me is a mystery but who cares it means more exposure for me. Now if someone would just buy a painting from the website I could afford the darn site. I know it is a lot to ask people to spend money on art during this stupid recession. I am about to go to Fl for 3 months and I will be asking the same question again.

I just made 64 white frames at my friends frame shop for my 9" x 12" paintings for FL. If I can complete all 64 that will be a miracle. That is in addition to the 35 I already have complete. My goal is going to be 100 small beach and Fl related paintings that should hold me for a few months. This year so far I have sold 77 paintings so I am hopeful I can double that sales record for 09.

Only time will tell and the recession will need to end soon for me to meet that goal.

Well back to the studio I have work to do.

mike

Long time no Blog

4 Amigo's
12" x 36" Oil on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

Sorry for the delay in blogging I have been working on painting 3-4 paintings per day to get ready for all the Fla shows. My plan is to have about 75 9x12 - 11x 14 paintings on hardwood in white frames for the fla shows. All of these will be beach related themes so I hope they sell well. If not then I guess I will have them for next year or I will be doing Savannah shows.

This is a lot of work and I have been working non stop on this project. I have reserved campgrounds and made plans for just about all of the shows. I will be gone for 3 months but I will be back for 2 weeks in Feb to see my sweet wife and faithful son Chris.

I don't plan to have a lot of down time since I will be exhibiting at shows in the middle of the week. The only problem is most of my shows are on the West coast and my parents live on the east coast. So I will be traveling back and forth across the middle of the state a lot. I do plan to get some quality fishing time in when I have down time. I can always go paint and fish at the same time. What a cool life I have finally made for my self sure is better than hammering nails and listening to Rick whine about his stupid elbows.

In the spring and middle of summer I am going to reverse my plans and go to the mtns where I can hopefully kayak oh I miss kayaking.

Well I have to go watch the news now I am such a creature of habit.

Mike

Something Good Among all the Bad

"Ride em Cowgirl"
9" x 12" Oil On Canvas $125.00

We have had a lot of major tragedy in our life over the last 4 weeks so much so that it is hard to get out of bed and move forward. Sometimes when we loose someone in our lives it is difficult to strive to move forward. In our case we have lost Shelly's wonderful father a man we all loved and admired. But that is not what this blog is about today.
I am going to speak about moving forward in life that is what we all have to do from time to time.


I know what it means to loose a loved one I had it happen to me 3 times in 6 months from 1999-2000 then to go through a divorce all in just over one year. On top of that my job was going down hill quick due to my divorce, loss of family members, depression and anxiety. I did finally loose my job well it was mutual I quit just before my @#$) boss fired me. At least I got the last word.


We have lost a major client the economy is taking it's toll on a lot of industries but the housing industry is being hit the hardest which is where we gain most of our income. Enough of that said I went through all of this 7-8 years ago and I came out stronger than I was before.


Shelly and I are close as two people can be at least we have each other. I suffered 3 deaths and a divorce followed by a my career hitting rock bottom by myself. We will survive again at least this time we are not alone. I said I was not going to dwell on the negative so here is the original blog I was going to write before I got off on this subject.


I currently have an exhibit at the city hall in Milton with other members of our guild. All the work hanging is for sale and I hope you will go by and make a purchase. True to form I shocked the city of Milton and was forced to remove my now famous painting. "Messing with Sasquatch" I am such a proud artist to have my work cause a controversy. Many artist only dream of creating work that results in censorship I am proud that this will mark the second time I have achieved this level of notoriety. I just wish John Valente had lived long enough to be proud of my accomplishment.


I have since replaced that painting and I hopefully have sold it to one of the employees. Please go down and check out that work. Also we have a show and sale on December 4th at the Alpharetta welcome center from 5-8pm please come out and purchase a painting for yourself or to give as a gift.


Mike

I am my own worst marketing manager

"Free Spirits"
9" x 12" oil on hardwood $125.00

I am my own worst enemy when it comes to taking pictures of my work and adding it to my website. One would think after 20 plus years in marketing and advertising I would understand the importance of documenting and publishing my work on my website. I photographed about 7 paintings yesterday and added them to the website. I realized that I still have about 6-7 more paintings to list on my website.


I have my first add running next month and I want to be sure I am getting my monies worth from the ad so I need to list everything for sale. The problem i have is that I am not a great photographer I am good enough to understand my 35 mm exposure etc but it is film and way to much trouble. I have a digital point and shoot that works well but it is not easy to compensate for lighting exposure etc. So I have to use my front porch as my photography studio and natural lighting which is dependent on the time of day.


I am actually getting better but I hate to do it because half the time the image is too bright too dark etc. Most of the things I can compensate for in photoshop thank goodness I am a better graphic designer than a photographer. When you paint every day that equals a lot of painitngs to shoot.


Don't let that stop you from viewing my website I will be adding new photos by the masses so please check back often. I am painting daily beaches and horses in small affordable sizes


mike

The Future

"Life's A Beach"
12" x 24" Oil on canvas (sold)

Life doesn't feel much like a beach at this moment in our lives. Shelly and I have experienced our world get dumped on in every way possible with her fathers health, her loss of a major client the economy what else can I say? Tomorrow we were supposed to go on vacation to British Columbia for our fifth wedding anniversary.

Well our plans got changed and now we are not sure what the future holds. It is hard to get up each day when you feel like you are falling with out a parachute. What does the future hold for us? None of us know. We fortunately have a lot of business for December then I go to Florida for three months of shows. Will the economy come back so I can make money? I hope so. I have paid for the shows so I know most of the promoters have money.

Will the patrons have money? As I have done all year I am painting small and affordable paintings that sell. It is that I have to sell a lot of smaller works to make my money back which is not easy. I do have a commission and I just finished another commission so that helps.

Otherwise I have to hold my breath to make it. I am hoping things will turn around in January now that the Mesiah has been elected. I am not holding out hope for the Mesiah but if he can turn things around then he may actually be the Mesiah.

My ad runs next month and I am hoping that will generate some sales over the next few months.

So please keep Shelly in your thoughts and prayers I can survive I am tough and I have done it before and I can do it again.

Mike

Rough Times

"Painted Beauties"
9" x 12" Oil on Hardwood

As I sit here to write this blog I struggle to find something good to say. In the past week our family on my wife's side has experienced tragedy everyone dreads in life. I am not going to go into detail on this blog, rather save that for a latter date. Major decisions must be made that will change our lives forever.

We all deal with this in our lives but no one ever expects it to happen today or tomorrow but deep down inside we all know it will come sooner or latter. I am the newest member of our small family Nov 1st was our 5 year marriage anniversary. Our marriage is strong and will remain strong as our family must remain strong. The past five years we have not had any major tragedy and life has been good to us all.

I have survived this before which will make my experience helpful but no matter how many times you experience this it is never the same or by any means easy. I am strong and I will support my wife and family through these most difficult times.

Even though you might not be aware exactly what I am referring to I ask that you please keep Shelly and our family in your thoughts and prayers.

~mike