Saturday Laughs

I've decided that today is a day for funny videos.  (Not one business link or business keyword in sight! Yay!)  Uh, can you tell I've acquired a bad attitude towards the whole internet marketing thing?  Maaann, so unfulfilling and just  a total drag.  I'm afraid spring and summer weather will keep me away from the computer quite a bit.

My day started off by walking outside barefoot to take in this glorious sunny warm weather, and promptly stepping in chicken poop. Gah!  So I thought, maybe some funny animal videos are what's called for.

Monkeys are so cool.   I mean, wouldn't it be fun to live and swing in the trees!?  On the flip side,  I don't think it would be that fun to throw poop at each other.  Although, maybeeee... (staring off into space imagining myself throwing my own poop at someone........EWWWWWW!)   Yeah, that would be gross, just had to make sure.

Now dogs, how awesome would it be to have the life of a pampered dog!  They've got it going on and I  like that they can be mortal enemies with the neighbor dogs one day, then do a little butt sniffing and wa la! truce!  Too bad humans couldn't solve their differences that way....(staring into space imagining feuding humans bending over to sniff each other's butts.... ewwwwwww!)  LOL, Ok, maybe not, just had to make sure...

Kitties, how I would love to be a kitty, sleepin' all day, oh yeah!  Sometimes I see our kitties at the neighbors house, getting fed special treats no doubt.  They come around when they want to and go off on big adventures whenever they feel like it.  And in the spirit of a poop/butt oriented post, they're neat and clean and bury their poop. 

I remember when we first got our pygmy goats, they were about eye level with the chickens at the time.  I was out in the shed petting them, and our cat Sugar comes creeping up to check it out.  One of the goats took a step towards her and she sprang about two feet straight up in the air, held there for a second, and somehow projected herself sideways about 4 feet!  It was like watching the real life version of that cartoon with Snagglepuss.  Remember this?  "Heavens to Murgatroid! Exit, Stage Left!" lol....I'm probably the only one old enough to remember that cartoon....Maaaann!
Have an awesome Saturday!

Laurie

My New Strategy

"The Beginning" Digital Abstract Energy Art by Primal Painter

I'm going to start putting the new things that I've listed on Artfire here in my blog complete with links, blah blah blah, all that SEO stuff.  I've decided I really need to make a push to generate sales because I'm tired of treading water (oh and I'm broke).

For someone who's really laid back, I can be very competitive.  I seem to have lost that competitive oomph for the last few years, but there was a time when it was a driving force for me.  Of course, after achieving the goal, I would get bored and have to start from the bottom with something else.  Hopefully that won't happen this time, but yesterday, I was excited to feel  that little defiant surge of "if other people can make x amount of dollars per month, so can I" attitude.

There are two main things I'm going to do.  First, I'm developing new products. The funky art pendants which I'm making with mini wallet sized prints of my digital energy art are really cool and affordable.  Plus, I'm incorporating my prints into ready to hang wall art.  I'm not talking frames and mats, I'm talking airbrushed embellished wood "mats" to enhance the presentation of the print in an affordable way. 

I don't know about other people, but I'd be more inclined to buy prints that are ready to hang as opposed  to matting and framing them myself.   I'm thinking that presenting them differently from the other prints out there might set mine apart.

Second, I've decided I'm going to try Artfire's 45 Day Success Guide.  I'm not the most self-disciplined person in the world, so I thought maybe if I announce that I'm going to do it, I'll actually stick to it.  Gee, wouldn't that be novel! 

The first week is mostly getting your shop set up and a getting a few things listed, so I got to jump to day 8 which is about writing in the provided blog.  (Really?  Another blog? Oh maaannn.....) Actually, they say that if nothing else, just write an introduction post about yourself and your artwork,  plus include a link to your main blog, so I guess I can do that. 

Melinda, from Inspiration Earth did a feature on me a few weeks ago, and I was thinking (with her permission, of course) that I would use excerpts from that interview as my introductory post, providing links to her blog and  her Artfire shop  Inspiration-Earth.  Melinda's questions were so insightful and thought provoking for me, she really was the trigger for me pulling together my intentions into written form. Thanks Melinda!

Another important thing that was mentioned in this success guide, is how important it is to get as many products listed as soon as possible.  That way, your products will be indexed by google much faster and will show up in a google search.  This is different from the Etsy strategy of listing one thing here and one thing there in a futile effort to be seen at the top of the listings (for a whole, what? 5 minutes if that?)

Other important strategies, tweet your listing, post a link to your new listing on facebook, put a link on your blog, add it to stumbleupon, kaboodle, and something new called pinterest.  I haven't actually checked out pinterest yet, but I've started doing the other things.  Oh and post in the forums three times a day. I tried that yesterday and got Nuthin'...no views, no nuthin'!

So we'll see how it goes.  Such a beautiful day today, maybe I should wait to start everything tomorrow.....oh nooooo, get a grip, Laurie, remember the word "BROKE."

Have an awesome day!

Later,

Laurie

Proud To Be A Purple Lover

Purple Passion

Curated By: Prankearts

ArtFire.com

My wall sculpture "Psychedelic Starburst" was included in this awesome  Artfire Collection called "Purple Passion", curated by Prankearts.  Be sure to check out Prankearts studio on Artfire, he has some really cool paintings.

Handmade Gifts



"Psychedelic Startburst" A Wall Sculpture by Primal Painter

I really love purple, I just can't help it!  I seem to include purple in practically everything I do.  Last year, I thought I would paint the trim, the shutters and the porch of the house in some nice grown up colors.  I did the railing on the porch with sage and cream which looked pretty and tasteful on this really nice house I saw in town, so I thought it  might work for me.

When I was finished, I felt so......ugh.  For the first couple of days, I looked at these colors with skepticism every time I went outside, but by the third day I noticed that I was averting my eyes whenever I walked up the porch steps.   Well, that's not a good sign!  By the fourth day, when I would approach my "tastefully" painted porch railings, I'd start dragging my feet on the ground like they weighed 1,000 pounds and would actually moan and groan and throw my hands in the air.  These are not good signs!

So I hightailed it to the paint store, got a gorgeous purple, dark teal, and cerulean blue and proceeded to paint everything as bright as possible.   Oh yeah, that's better!!  My friends think I need a painting intervention, but even they agree that sage and cream just aren't me.   I'm sure my neighbors raised some eyebrows, but I'm used to that by now, as a matter of fact, sometimes I do things just to raise those eyebrows!

I painted my kitchen in some wild oranges and reds, which left some of my visitors speechless, (my kitchen glows when the light shines through the windows) but thought, well I'll paint my dining room in some neutral normal color to balance it out.  I don't even know how it happened exactly, but somehow, I ended up with a fuschia, maroon, orange and red pyramid on my wall. Seriously, I don't even know how it happened, I went into a color trance of some kind....

I might as well face it, me and neutral tasteful colors just don't go together.  I'm starting to become suspicious that I may never grow up.  Oh well, colors that make me go "Wheee!" are better than colors that make me go "ughhhhh" so to all those people with their raised eyebrows.......Take That!!!

Maybe I'll put up some pictures after I tackle spring cleaning.  Oh noooooo, spring cleeaaanning!!!!!!

I won't think about that right now.

Have a great day!

Laurie

An Artfire Collection called "I Love Abstract Art"

"The Portal" by Primal Painter

I have alot to do today, but I was excited that one of my new digital energy art prints was featured in a collection curated by AsktheMoon from Artfire, so I wanted to share it.

I Love Abstract Art

Curated By: AskTheMoon

ArtFire.com

I'm off to enjoy a beautiful 80 degree day!  I've started working on my art pendants and I got a new set of prints from adoramapix yesterday, so lots of work to do.

Have an awesome Sunday!

Laurie

Fine Art Paintings

Happy April Fools Day!

Oh.....my......Gawd!!!!!! On Thursday, I'm singing the praises of my talented daughter Andi for making a youtube video of my artwork, and today....well.....let's just say I'm singing a different tune......

So I get a text message that says something along the lines of "OMG, I was driving down the road and both my front tires fell off my car and now I'm stranded on the side of the road"!  I read this, squealed in a high pitched tone that possibly only the dogs could hear, and immediately called her back.

"Oh my Gawd, OH MY GAWD, oh my Gawd!  Are you ok?  Where's your car?  What are we going to do?  Is there someone there you can call?  Can the tires be put back on?  Was there alot of damage?  Was anyone hurt?"  She says, "My car is on the side of the road, my boyfriend came to pick me up and I don't know how I'm going to get my car home.  I'm pretty sure the damage is bad and the tires can't be put back on"

So after much flailing of arms, spinning around in circles, squealing, shrieking and scaring the dogs, she finally says "April Foools"!  Well you little brat.....Oh my Gawd, YOU LITTLE BRAT!! 

All I can say is, payback is a bitch, Andi.....payback is a bitch!!  Although this could possibly be my payback for playing April Fools jokes on her in the past.  The best one that comes to mind was when I made a stuffy man out of our friend Aaron's clothes, complete with his signature hat, and put it in her bed face down with the feet hanging off the end.   She came home from school and I said "So Aaron showed up here drunker than a skunk and is passed out in your bed."

She runs in there to take a look, flies back out in the living room in a rage, screeching and carrying on, just furious and throwing a hardcore temper tantrum.   It was one of the only times I've heard her use the "f" word.  (heehee)  I told her to go wake him up and kick him out of her bed, so she goes in there and yanks the blanket off, pulls off his hat, and smacks him in his (stuffy) head.  Heheeee!

I guess she got her April Fools mentality from me, as I've pulled a few stuffy men practical jokes in my time.

So did anyone else get April Fooled today?

Have a good April Fools Day, but don't give your mother a heart attack.

Laurie

"Pandora" Digital Energy Art by Primal Painter

"Pandora" by Primal Painter

I love the colors in this digital warpization of my wall sculpture "Expansion".  It makes me think of the plant life on planet Pandora in the movie "Avatar".  I'm mesmerized by the colors in that movie, not to mention the story line.  To me, the visuals make that movie, but I love the "good versus evil" aspect as well.  "Avatar" has that  plus a little romance. 

Ironically, the depiction of evil in "Avatar" is Corporate America (a reflection of the current state of America and maybe the world, in my opinion).  In this movie, Planet Earth is on the verge of extinction due to our own reckless stupidity, greed, and abuse of the environment.  They (notice I said "they" as I identify more with the Na'vi than the Americans) need a precious mineral that can only be found deep in the ground under the native Na'vi's Home Tree. 

The Na'vi are peaceful beings that live completely in harmony with nature, and have energetic connections with the plant and animal life.  The evil corporation tries to annihilate them to get what they want, but the Na'vi  and even the wild creatures rise up against them.  This movie is symbolic in many ways and also gives an insight into how cultures might live in peace and harmony through a reverence for nature and acknowledgement of the energetic connections we could have with each other.

Gee, I think I want to watch that movie again today! It always seems to leave me feeling inspired, plus it gives me goosebumps and makes me all teary eyed when I see the Na'vi gathering in concentric circles with their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them in order to magnify the energetic connection. I want to be like them. 

In other news, my daughter Andi had a little surprise for me today.  She sent me a link to a youtube video and told me to check it out.  This is what I saw...

  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM3p95Ck2AY

 

I couldn't believe it!  How in the world did she know how to do that!  She never ceases to amaze me with her support and faith in me.  If only I had that much faith in myself I'd be a star, but I'm working on it.  Thank you Andi! I love you!

Well I hope everyone has an awesome day! 

Later,

Laurie

Digital Energy Art "The Angel" by primalpainter

"The Angel" by primalpainter

I was in an Angel mood yesterday and created this beautiful energy art from a photo of one of my older wall sculptures called "Forest Angels". I have the same image in several different color combos, but this one is my fave.

The wall sculpture I used for inspiration is actually quite different from the ones I have listed on Etsy and Artfire right now.  I painted the glass in a transparent way and put a bulb behind it so it's actually a light. There are hidden images of angels all over it.  I did several styles of these wall sculpture lights, not quite sure why I stopped doing them because they're really pretty cool and unique.  My daughter has this hanging in her apartment.

See any angels?

So  I was thinking, (oh no, not that) there seems to be a big connection between my moods, energy level and the weather.  I seem to have a strong desire to hibernate if the temperature gets below 55 degrees. Is that ridiculous or what?! 55 degrees!! 

I think it must be one of those excuses that I pull out of my bottomless pit called "Stupid Excuses and Ridiculous Reasons for Procrastination".  It's always been a little tricky to be self-employed, there's just so many things to get distracted by..... like naps....soap operas...flowers....books....daydreaming.  If it's gloomy outside, Good Gawd, can't work in the studio today, I might get some gloom on me or sumthin'.  What the...?!  That's so ridiculous!

I really have to change my ways, like maybe get on a schedule of some kind.  (A schedule? Really? Me? LOLOL)   Seriously, though, I need to work on my self-discipline which is something I've been telling myself for the past oh, 30 years or so but to no avail.  Maybe it's time to grow up.........

On that note, let's watch a little video: 

That could be me telling myself  "You're 50 years old, grow up, get some self discipline, and get on a schedule, darn you!"  I respond with "Talk to the hand, bee-otch, I can kick your butt with my kung fu feet!". But in the end, it's all just  "DA da da...da DA da.... da da DA".

Haha, I could do a whole post on the imaginary conversation between these two

Well it's gloomy, cold and rainy so I'd better curl up with a good book......Good Gawd, I'm hopeless!!!

Later,

Laurie