Good morning my fellow art lovers, how’ve you been? It’s been a minute or two since I’ve checked in with you. I’ve been a busy little bee over the last couple of weeks. This week looks promisingly busy as well, but I knew I had to sit down & get in touch with you because I missed you!

I’ve been super busy finishing up some projects. Remember me telling you last time that I was repainting a china cabinet for my dining room? Well I finally finished that & it came out fabulous! The completion of the project took a lot longer than anticipated because it’s been raining heavily here & I had to wait for the rain to stop & the ground to dry up before I could put the final coats of paint on it. But it is finally done & I am so pleased. I’ve posted a before & after photo below….what do you think?

I’ve also been working on a bunch of my Art O Mat artwork for their vending machines. I’ve got 50 pieces of mandala tiny art ready to go to the Post Office today. There’s also another 100 pieces currently on my art table primed & ready to be painted with Atomic Mid Century style artwork as well as some Rockabilly tattoo flash style artwork. I told you I’ve been a busy bee! Lol

In preparing for the Rockabilly tattoo flash artwork that will be going on my new series for Art O Mat, I have taken out the RapidOGraph, Copic pens & bristol paper again to sharpen up my illustration skills. I was a graphic designer for 2 1/2 decades & worked with these tools often while in that line of work. Now that I am no longer in that field, I sometimes go many months without illustrating so when I pick it back up, the realization on how much I thoroughly enjoy illustration always hits me anew & I get nostalgic for the past. I really enjoyed my days as a graphic designer and also my days as a silk screen printer. I really want to make illustrating a daily part of my routine in the art room, I get such satisfaction from inking the crisp lines & graphics. So that is a goal I will be working on, to create at least one 6″x8″ illustration every day so I can brush up my skills & have some fun drawing at the same time.

I’ve also got some new ideas floating around in my head lately for this ukulele that is sitting in my art room. I’m sure you remember me telling you a few weeks back that someone kindly donated some older guitars & a ukulele for me to turn into art work. Well the ukulele has been calling my name from over in the corner where it sits….so I’ve been running ideas & thoughts in my head on what artwork I’d like to create on it. I’m not sure yet if I am going to sell, donate or keep this one for myself once it’s finished. It’s been a goal to teach myself how to play the uke, so I may decide to keep it. If this is the route I go with then I think I will probably create some OOAK Grateful Dead themed art on it. But if I decide to sell or donate it then the theme will be something different. I’ve also got some tiki themed art ideas running through my head & maybe even some psychobilly style artwork ideas. So who knows what will happen with it….a blank canvas can be turned into ANYthing…it’s DECIDING what to put on it that’s the hardest part!

So that’s what I’ve been up to. What have YOU been up to these last few weeks? Have you created anything new? Have you worked on any new or existing projects? I want to hear what you’ve been doing & what you’ve been creating. Let me know in the comments!

Well, I need to get myself on over to the Post Office & mail these Art O Mat packages. If I wait until the afternoon I’ll have to wait in the line forever, since the waiting line is usually out the door in the afternoons! I hope you all have a lovely Monday & a fabulously creative & productive week!