A lot has been going on since the last time that I posted. I have taken a workshop, attended a plein air competition and was part of an arts and crafts fair.  All were wonderful learning experiences. As far as what's to come, my daughter, grandson and her partner will be coming for a visit in a week!! I can hardly wait.

First about the workshop. It was given by Marc Hanson of Taylors Falls, MN, who is an accomplished plein air artist. The workshop was for a week and intense. We painted or watched a demo of Marc painting every day for a week. We even did a nocturne one evening. I had to drive back home which was about 40 minutes away so I opted to leave instead of staying up until the wee hours of the night painting in the dark. I did learn so much from the experience and I was so glad that I attended.

The next adventure was in Grand Marais, MN where I spent a week painting outdoors along the North shore of Lake Superior. The Art Colony there had a competition for plein air painting. It lasted a week and I enjoyed every moment of it. I painted the rocks along the shoreline, hiked and painted waterfalls, and did not win anything, but I did sell a painting almost immediately when the show opened. That is the best honor for me. The woman who purchased the painting lives in Thunder Bay, Canada.

And finally, I attended the Little Falls Arts and Crafts Festival along with 650 other vendors. I did not get to see much as I had a booth at the show. Most folks who sold kitschy stuff did very well. Needless to say, my stuff is not "kitschy". It was fun and I did make a lot of contacts. It does take time to build a reputation and clients who are willing to invest in your artwork. I also read an article recently that stated that this year is one of the worst for art and craft shows....go figure. I decide that I want to do this and the economy goes to heck. Election years are like that.

Next week my grandson will be here. He will be a year old tomorrow and my daughter actually is having a birthday today. Happy Birthday Julie!!!

Well, here are a few pics of my adventures of the past few weeks. I will try to put up a couple of albums as well. Also, my blog (Spirit River Studio) for my art is updated on a more consistent basis so feel free to stop by and leave a comment or two there. This week I am trying to finish up all the small paintings that I committed to giving away for the 29-day giving challenge. To be a part of that, one must leave a comment on my painting blog - so that is another reason to check it out.

Grand Marais, MN

I really enjoyed Grand Marais and I would move there if I could afford to do so. It is a very artsy community and the views are spectacular. Lake Superior is absolutely beautiful.

Grand Marais, MN

My booth at the Arts and Crafts Fair in Little Falls, MN that was held the weekend after Labor Day. All of this fits into my little Honda Accord!

Paintings from the workshop in Taylors Falls, MN. We had to paint one scene with our backs to it and getting to look for 5 minutes every 15 minutes and then we repainted it with looking. In almost all the cases, the one where we had our backs to the scene was a better painting. It is amazing how one gets hung up on details and simplicity is so much better to look at ;-).

That seems to be what happened to me and posting to this blog...lost in the flowers, the river, sitting on the deck and mowing the yard. I know, I know it has been some time since I have posted.

All is going well. Next week I am taking a workshop from an artist who lives in Taylor Falls, MN. He does exceptional work and I can hardly wait. The workshop will last a week and it will all be outdoors doing plein air painting. Yahoo!

The same weekend, August 16 and 17th, I have a small show in Rush City, MN for a festival that they are having. It should be a good pre-run for the show in Little Falls, MN in September. The Little Falls show is supposed to be a little crazy. The town is not that big and when the art festivals is going on.....it is congested. This will be my first time there. Hopefully, I survive and do well with this.

Yesterday, as I was looking out my kitchen window, three turkeys did a stroll through the yard. I tried to capture them in a photo.

the tukey is in the middle of the pic

no turkey in this one, just looking down the driveway as the sun is coming up

a white hydrangea

looking along the deck

a coneflower

Last week I also did a Virtual Sketch Day....that was fun and interesting. There were around 12 or so and we all did a drawing from a photo. It is quite interesting to see the various versions of how each turned out. Check out my blog for the sketch for the Virtual Sketch Day.

Well, off to get some painting, mat cutting and prints/photos assembled....a lot of work.

Enjoy!

MaryAnn

Yesterday I received an email from friends who are expatriates in Suzhou, China. They were lucky enough to be able to witness the Olympic torch while it passed through Suzhou on its way to Beijing. They said that they were given VIP status along with other expats living in Suzhou, so they were able to get close to the event right behind the police barricades. However, prior to witnessing the torch, the news folks found the expats more interesting and photographed them instead. My friends made it into the local newspapers.

Here are some of the photos that I thought I would share with everyone of the Olympic Torch Relay.

the torch

lots of people

Tina and Paul

copy of newspaper

more newspaper

and more press

This year has been a really crazy one for the weather, but it looks like it has finally warmed up in Minnesota! Guess what? I even have a daffodil that is blooming. Things are so late this year!

SWEET! Simply Amazing! see the green ;-)

My studio is also coming along, but today I decided to just be lazy and not work on it. In fact, I simply crashed this afternoon and took a nap...not something that I usually do, but my body simply needed it.

This past Wednesday, I also attended a local meeting for the women's golf league. That was interesting! Most of the time I have golfed with a bunch of guys...you would go to a meeting like this, sign up, pay the dues and that would be it. Well.....women need to make sure that everyone "feels" ok about how things are done. It was something that I have NEVER experienced before. I don't know if I am a better person for it or not...I still am golfing and I will try to follow all the "women" rules.... Hopefully my partner in crime for golf is not so meticulous. I am just doing this for fun and not for the competition. Besides they only golf nine holes!! How serious can you get.

Well, off to enjoy the rest of the day.

Hugs everyone ~ M

Goodness I hate taping drywall....today I did the third coating with the white sticky goopy stuff. Supposedly if you are very talented and do this right one should have little or not sanding or smoothing of the surfaces......I HATE ceilings....maybe tomorrow I'll take a pic so everyone can see the final coat of goop. I will do some smoothing out tomorrow and hopefully put a coat of primer paint on the the ceiling. This house has had drywall up and no one has bothered to tape it for over twenty years....go figure.

The windows look out over the river...the ever rising river. This seems to happen every April. It is a slow meandering river, but right now the current is swift...although by appearance it is deceiving. It is probably 8-10 feet higher than its normal height. My neighbors tell me that the year of the 100 year flood it almost approached the neighbor's house...they had to sandbag...mine was safe. That makes me out of the flood plain which is a big deal due to the need of "flood" insurance being not required for the mortgage.

Anyway, I am rambling. Tomorrow I will take some pics. I really hope to get this project finished soon...still need to put doors on the washer/dryer area, paint the ceiling and put trim up.......a real studio is coming to fruition....yahoo!!

On another note: the 29 day giving challenge is really going along....tomorrow I have someone coming to pick up a TV cabinet...and I still have one more painting to give away. This is really fun!

Giving can be many things...besides things...tomorrow I plan on baking some M&M cookies for the person down the rode who plows the snow off of my 200 foot driveway in the winter....along with a bottle of Black Velvet ;-). The day after that I plan on going through my stash of books for a library in S.Dakota that lost all of theirs to a fire....I need the address from a friend in California who has relations there......

Hugs everyone ~ M

To all of you out there ~ I am quite serious about this 29 giveaway challenge ( I am giving away 5 of my daily paintings among other things in my life)...I still have 3 of my daily paintings available....search my archives on my Spirit River Studio blog  (http://maryanncleary.blogspot.com) to pick out the one you would like as a gift....no strings attached. Send me an email with your address and I will mail it off to you if it is available......

Today was a fabulous day compared to what we have been having here in Minnesota. Absolutely delightful as the sun was shining and the snow is gone!!! The river is up a few feet and it seems we now also  have a neighborhood dog. A couple of weeks ago he apparently came floating down the river so he must live on the other side someplace.  Anyway, he has adopted the neighborhood for now. Even with an ad in the newspaper, no one had put claim to him even though he is an extremely smart dog and very well behaved......
Here are some pics of the river and of the dog....

the river is usually 6-8 feet lower...this is where we put the canoes in...also notice the two trees in the river...both are from my property and I lost them this spring

posing for a pic pink flamingo more river

Dementia

Last night a woman I met
Her name was Nancy
She seemed ok
But the doctor said she had dementia

She talked of this ailment
And of how she thought
She wrote the deposit for the check
And thought that the job was done

It was not.

The bills slipped through her hands
She saw them and thought
That is paid
And all is done.

It was not.

She asked my name
MaryAnn I said
She said
I will not remember you

She seemed so young
Such a free spirit
Maybe forty-five
Living alone with dementia.

I really am trying to be more vigilant in posting to this blog. There have been times when I have tried to post and msn seems to lock up and my computer closes the browser. I am now using FireFox and a lot of problems seemed to have disappeared.

The past couple of weeks I have been using the program that my previous employer set up for me to find a new job. I put it off for a few months, but if I do not use the program, I will lose it....so I am now signed up taking webinars and fine tuning my resume. Actually, my goal is to find something parttime, but I know that will be difficult and it will probably be easier to just do contract work or small projects as a consultant.....I sure wish that my house was paid off as then I would just retire instead of semi-retire.

My daily painting blog continues and my skills seem to be coming back at last. What I mean by this is that when I go to paint now it is with confidence and my paint strokes and lines are more automatic without making a mess of things. It is like hitting the sweet spot of the tennis racket when making a good hit, if any of you have ever played tennis.

Another thing that I have just started is the 29-day giveaway challenge. My daughter encouraged me to do this...she actually is doing it and is now on day 3 or so (Hang in There Babywear). This challenge was started by a young woman with MS in March and it seems to be catching on. A person gives away something everyday for 29 days. It is like clearing out the old energy to make way for the new energy in one's life. So since I have such a following with this site, I am going to offer a few of my daily paintings for "free" from my blog, Spirit River Studio. Drop me an email at maryann@maryanncleary.com and the first five folks to do so will receive a free painting (tell me which one is your favorite or if it is not available, I may be able to paint something similar to your liking).

Spring just refuses to come to Minnesota this year! Yesterday morning I awoke to the sticky white stuff again sticking to trees...I have lost count of the number of sticky snow storms this spring. At least this morning the snow is near gone and it has left the ground looking almost green....some sunshine would be most beneficial.

Well, I look forward to hearing from folks for the 29 day challenge. With Native American culture, gifting is quite common and if it truly comes from the heart...that is, something that is personal and that one really likes themselves...it is truly a real gift.

Lots of hugs ~ MaryAnn

notice the red line on the thermometer-a couple of days ago it was around 74F and now this!!

the apple tree-no blossoms yet

the front porch on April 26, 2008

This morning I could hear robins...they are back and I am sure they are wondering what all the white stuff is doing here. I have an apple tree that is right along side my house. There are still some apples that are hanging onto the tree and with all the snow on the ground, the robins thought that the apples were a great breakfast. There were probably more than twenty of them hanging out by the tree. I tried to grab some photos of them having their breakfast.

After that I took a look down by the river from my living room and it looks like the ice is trying to melt, especially along the edges. There not only were two Canadian geese hanging out, but a few ducks having their morning swim. I tried to get some photos of them as well.

So I am going to put an album together of the crazy snow storm we had yesterday and the birds enjoying the sun today...spring is really trying to get here. my driveway early in the morning on April 1

down by the river the morning after the big snow storm

a few of the robins under the apple tree

geese and two ducks

I really will try to keep this blog updated ...it seems I am spending all my time painting and trying to keep the other blog up to date.....enjoy!

Please let spring come SOON!!! I am really tired of the white stuff!

It seems that I am doing more painting, researching, marketing research and more business stuff. I am still doing the painting a day and actually enjoying. My skills are getting back up to speed...thank goodness.

Today I headed to Home Depot (my favorite store) to get some PVC pipe and fittings to make a light tent frame for photographing my artwork. My daughter is the one who found the info for me. Thank goodness. I was ready to go spend some big bucks on getting something to improve photographing. I made the frame today and I will try it out tomorrow....those little bits of glare that bounce off the canvas drive me crazy and sometimes it is difficult to get them so that the light does not reflect...the light tent should fix that.

I also found a great place near where I live today - the Sherborne National Wildlife Refuge. I have driven by the turnoff many times, but today I thought I would go check it out. I thought it would be one of those small areas like most of the state parks, but it is over 33,000 acres. I can hardly wait until spring as this will be a great area for bird watching, plein air painting and just enjoying the outdoors. There are a few hiking trails and in the winter they can be used for cross-country skiing.... I took a few photos.

Also, today I looked out the window and there was a turkey getting a drink along the river where the ice is starting to melt. I got a few photos. There has been a flock of turkeys hanging out around here, but most of the time they are up the road. This one was by itself.

Great day!

Turkey getting a drink.

Turkey walking over to the neighbors.

My house from the river (last week when I was out skiing).

Today at the Sherbourne National Wildlife Refuge...I can hardly wait until spring.......

The winter weather is still here and right now some warm, summer days...or even spring days would be a welcome sight. Tonight as I was coming back from the store in town, the roads looked great, but it had been raining...the rain of course froze and now I was driving home on "black ice". I almost missed my turn as the car just wanted to keep on going as I pushed on the brakes. Thank goodness no one was behind me or even on the road as I headed for home.

Here are a couple of photos of my place and what it looks like with  winter.

    skiing on the river

the river last fall

  my backyard in Dec

This week went by rather quickly and lately they just seem to all run together. It also seems that it is that time of year when cabin fever strikes. In order to break up the craziness of being home-bound with the cold weather, I decided to pick up a pair of cross country skis as the local outdoor shop was having a sale...it seems that things were pretty well picked over by the time that I got there. However, they did give me a good deal on a pair of their rentals...so off for home and the try out. Since I live a couple miles from town, I can literally go skiing right out my back or front door. Since the river is pretty well frozen over, I opted to go down the river. It took a bit of time to get back into the swing of things, but I am on day 3 now and absolutely enjoying each daily venture out. Even though it is cold, by the time I get home I have worked up a sweat and feel so much better than being snuggled away next to the wood stove. It is a nice break from the winter doldrums.

I continue to do the painting a day for my blog (Daily Painting)and I also have my website, Spirit River Studio, up and running. It still needs to have things added to it, but that will take time. The big thing is just to have it in place.

Well, I still have things to get done today.

Hugs ~ MaryAnn

P.S.  The grandson is beautiful...he is now 5 months old and weighs 21 lb 4 oz.....

Here's my latest painting.....Love Me...Love Me Not

It is a bit cool here this morning. My thermometer outside my window on the porch looks like around minus 12-15 below zero. Supposedly with the wind chill factor it was supposed to feel like minus 57. I did not test it last night for long. When I returned from granny's house (a neighbor's place), I just grabbed a couple of armfuls of wood and bundled the house and me up for the night.Yesterday my friends talked me into scrap booking....I thought that I would do it for only a couple of hours. Well, seven hours later, I headed home. I managed to get another section of my China trip completed...my trip to the Great Wall. There are so many places and things that I did while I was there, and I really would like to get them put into some kind of order. This blog will also be a great source as will a journal that I tried to keep of my travels.

My grandson is turning into a little charmer. He has a beautiful smile and photos of him remind me of pictures of his grandfather's brother who passed away when he was only 19. He has his little walker and is beginning to sit up. The big thing is that he just cut his first tooth.....at four month's old.

Last week I had to travel for my parttime job so my art blog got a wee behind with the painting a day thing. I will try to make up for it this week. I also sold another one on eBay so if my momentum keeps up I may be able to do this full time...that is my dream anyway. I certainly have a long ways to go and must get a decent plan in place. My website is coming along, but it still needs a couple more days of work....now I just need to find the time.

Well, I need to get moving on my painting, make a pot of soup to bring with me to the neighbors when we continue scrap booking today, and put another log on the fire.

Hugs ~ MaryAnn

Red Wing Dog that just sold on eBay

Older Chinese Woman getting some sun

Well, it have been a couple of months since being back. Things seem to be going smoothly. I did receive my sea shipment from China...now what the heck do I do with it. My area for my artstudio is now a storage place with half unpacked boxes, paper piled here and there, and an accumulation of things that I have no idea what to do with. I did get the small table with chairs unpacked and upstairs....that was an interesting challenge, but not as hard as anticipated.

My days seem to be filled with things to do and I am wondering how I ever will go back to work full time. I am working parttime right now a couple days a week. It works out well. Hopefully, I will eventually find something permanent that is also of a parttime nature and pays decent.

My days have been spent wading through paperwork and get everything taken care of...I think that I am through all of it now. I have been spending time trying to get a small painting out each day...well, at least 5 a week with a couple of days off. I feel like I am trying to find my niche at the moment and it is not coming easily. I love drawing and painting, but I know that I must settle on a style if I am truly going to go anywhere with it and have a consistent body of work. In the meantime, I will continue to muddle along and try to figure that out.

I've added a few of my works in an album....

My daughter has also started blogging....she would like to be a work-at-home mom and she is trying her hand at making baby wraps to start out with. She has started a blog for that called hang in there babywear and she has also started a family site so I can keep up with my grandson!!!!

Here is the link for her babywear site Hang in there Babywear. It is interesting as she is describing the process of actually doing this and what it is taking to develop. She has a wonderful writing style and he experiences and perspective are quite interesting.

Lots of love & hugs ~ M

Goodness! I seem to be busy even though I am not working full time now. This past month has just zoomed by ...my house is almost back in order after not living here for two years. It is taking considerable cleaning to get it back to normal.

I now have the spare room on the main floor as my temporary artstudio and this past week, I have been busy trying to commit to doing a painting a day. So far, I am doing fairly good. In reality, I think that I will aim for doing 5 a week. What is taking considerable time is not so much the painting as the business side of it.....setting up the blog site, taking photos, updating the info to ebay....goodness. I think once I have a system and all the details added to my art blog site, things will go much smoother. I now have a blog on another site as it is easier to put links, widgets and all those things that I knew nothing about a few weeks ago ;-).  You can check out the  site by clicking here.  This is something that I just learned ;-)

Well, I need to get to bed, but I will try to add more info to this site now that I seem to be getting into a routing. Maybe I should call this site something else now that I am back home....maybe...my life after China ;-). It has been a readjustment!!! Driving, seeing movies, having real TV, grocery shopping....the list goes on.

Lots of hugs ~ M

This one of my latest small paintings. It is only 4"x6" and was done with a palette knife. Mums.

Happy Birthday Jim and Beth!!!!!