In case you wonder where I’ve wandered off to for the last couple of years instead of sticking to my daily blogging!
I’ve been producing, refining, updating, and otherwise detailing hundreds of my artworks, from photography to drawings, paintings, prints, digital illustrations, collages, poems, essays, book designs, and more. Many of these have already gone up for sale online at Zazzle and Art of Where (prints of artworks on paper, canvas, acrylic; household objects like cups, plates, lampshades, pillows, and the like; and clothing—T shirts, aprons, scarves, shawls, and more) and as books of my writing and visual arts at Amazon and Blurb.
Most importantly, I’ve been enjoying the process of getting back to my art roots and producing and editing my own work just for the love of it. I am immensely grateful for the freedom to pursue this vocation, and for the many friends and loved ones who support me in the craziness!
And in case you can’t tell, since I’ve become a silent lurker 99% of the time, I do still love visiting my friends’ blogs and reading and viewing when I can!
Art-Colored Glasses 
The best pf success in your endeavor.
P
Sent from my iPad
Many thanks, dearest Rosemary! I hope you’re well and having a good summer. We’re with the family in WA just now (and will celebrate Mom & Dad Wold’s 61st anniversary on Thursday with them and Mom & Dad Sparks!) and can’t believe the too-hot weather followed us up from Texas!!! But it’s such a joy to be able to see all 4 parents plus Karen plus Richard’s brother, even if too briefly. Life is full and good. Much love to you!
Kath
Dearest Kath, anything you put your hands on will be a huge and happy success! So happy you are pursuing your happiness. Wishing you every success dear friend.
Much love and sunshine filled hugs from SA.
🙂 Mandy xoxoxo
So kind of you, lovely one! My success lies in the dear people who surround me; art is just the icing on the cake!! Love to you, too. 🙂 🙂 🙂
❤
Kathryn
Aw, you sound VERY happy! That’s the greatest success and reward of all! Enjoy Washington State… my sister, Jules, and her family just got back from Oregon where friends there were complaining of the heat wave! Ha ha!
I can’t believe my blog comments have been disappearing down a rabbit hole for the last several weeks, so this is the first I’m seeing your note. But I do thank you for it!! Yes, it’s been a strange year in US weather, no doubt about it. The ‘heat wave’ on the west coast, while not much to notice by our standards down this way, has beat some all-time records (Seattle surpassed the unbroken no-rain period by a stretch, and even then only got misted briefly.) And, of course, while our south coast and island neighbors are being brutalized by a multiplicity of hurricanes, the northwest has been getting thrashed by huge wildfires and the smoke from them. Even while we were with the family in WA, those strange sky colors were pretty dominant, and I gather that it’s intensified and the ash-fall is increasing in some areas. It’s practically like when Mt St Helens blew up! Meanwhile, this is about the mildest September we’ve had in our 8 years in Denton! It’s a weird world.
But yes, amidst all of that, I’m a happy camper, and madly making art for my intended show in mid-November, too. Which, admittedly, increases both the happiness and the weirdness in *my* world!!!
Hugs to you!
K
It is so good to hear that you are pursuing you passions. I have often thought of you and R. Here is praying for success and contentment in all you do!
Thank you so much, Tig! Hope you and Heather are having happy times as well, and that you’ve remained safely out of the ever-wandering TX storm zones this last number of weeks!! Hugs to you two, and blessings in the time ahead!
Kudos on the time and freedom to pursue your creative passions. Enjoy Kathryn!
Thank you, Brad, I am constantly aware of how spoiled and fortunate I am. Not least of all in having lots of good friends who help keep the happy-meter riding high. Cheers and best to you, too, my friend!
Wonderful!
I will be taking a good look at your Zazzle site and I am so pleased to hear that your creative juices are flowing. You are so wonderfully uplifting….and always remind me of the absolutely joy of creativity. Sending you my friend love and wishes for a wonderful weekend. I know you have enjoyed a fabulous time in Seattle…may all of this continue for you as you return home to Texas. Janet. xxx
As I mentioned earlier here in the comments, apparently WP has been sulking since I’ve neglected my blog, so I’m just now finding all of these sweet notes! But I sense the hummingbirds in my vicinity always, knowing that you send them…! 🙂 I hope the beginning of autumn is kind and generous to you. R and I have been longing to get back to your side of the pond for ages, but as we are nearing both his sabbatical and his probable retirement, time and finances—and work-related travel—are a race we can barely keep abreast of right now, so we’re all the more eager to see what happens when retirement really does commence.
Meanwhile, multitudes of challenging and delightful and amazing projects for both of us to tackle, and fond best wishes to attach to the hummingbirds and send back your way whenever they visit!
Much love,
Kathryn
Thank you for this lovely comment Katherine. Sending hummingbird hugs from this side of the Pond…and hoping that you have not been effected by the terrible storms hitting the US…Much love to you – Janet xxx
No worries, dearest, we are untouched by the weather thus far, and all of our loved ones from the islands to Texas and beyond are managing to stay safe, which is the most important. xoxo!
“I’ve been enjoying the process of getting back to my art roots and producing and editing my own work just for the love of it.” Ah, so your roots are showing.
I could dye laughing! 😉 Yep, I’m getting down to basics, and certainly, if I were a hair-dyeing person, my actual roots would be not only visible by now but rampant. It’s common enough that I’m so wrapped up in my artwork lately that I might not have gotten as far as to put on shoes or wash my hair or take off my grubby work-apron by the time Richard gets home in the evening, and it’s kind of refreshing to be that immersed in and attentive to something *other* than day-to-day chores and such. Which I *do* attempt to keep under control, but I don’t lollygag around whilst doing them if I want to get any painting or other artwork accomplished. 😀
It’s good to hear you’ve been busy doing what you love, Kathryn. I haven’t blogged since January until just recently, but I’m still not sure in what direction I’m going regarding my blog…stay happy. ❤
You, too, my sweet. I think you and I are just recognizing that the limitations of time and attention in our finite lives can be spent in so many different ways that it’s okay to let those ways shift from time to time. Big hugs to you and all best in *your* quest, wherever it takes you. I’m glad to know you have, as I do, a great ‘support staff’ of loved ones to make the journey manageable, wherever it takes us.
Love!
Kath
Yay! You’re on zazzle too! I am still trying to work out how! I love your work and need prints for the walls of my airbnb. I am coming right over!!!
Trust me, darling one, I’m plotting as to how and when I/we can invade your airbnb—when R retires, our schedule will undoubtedly remain wacky, but at least it’ll become the wackiness of our *choice* more often!!! Meanwhile, the stuff I’m preparing for my November show might include some cool things that could work wonderfully in your place, if you wait a bit. I’ve just connected with what I think will be a terrific partner in Dallas for getting my stuff printed-to-order, and if I can get that up and running I will have some terrific options for art prints that Zazzle and the other online guys can’t offer.
One that particularly delighted me on my first connection with this shop is the printing they can do (including amazingly clear and detailed large-scale prints of stuff like my graphites) on removable/repositionable wallpaper. So I came home after that first meeting and devised digital illustrations of “frames” that I’ve now used to create a bunch of images that will look like framed versions of my stuff but be totally flat and movable, and, of course, cheaper than real frames. This coming week the company should have a full-sized scan and proof fine-art print of my long-ago ‘spy’s suitcase’ illo (https://kiwsparks.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/blog-12-12-2011-2.jpg) ready for me—first place I’ve found a flatbed scanner large enough to do the job properly—so I can look at selling both ltd edition and poster versions of it at last. When I go down for that meeting, I also get to meet the technician who does their book printing and see about their carrying my books, which I believe will be a really good move from the expensive editions I currently use to more affordable but still high-quality print-to-order work. So I’m excited about it all.
Still working on Zazzle stuff, too, though, and I have meant to tell you that if you’d like me to collaborate on anything there, you could (for example) send me some favorite shots of yours and I can apply them to whatever products you want, or even edit them into a usable form for that.
Love to you and all my farmy friends!
Kath