Random Things

I’ve been busy, and work has been a little stressful, which I hate. I don’t hate it because of dealing with the actual stress - in fact I think I thrive on it professionally - but because it makes me irritable and uninteresting in my personal life. So yeah, the eternal quest for balancing a fulfilling life with earning a living, blah blah blah, this is not newsworthy.

I don’t really post about work on general principal, and also because posts about work are pretty boring to read. Everyone’s jobs involve the same sort of ups/downs, insert different industry terms and names and whatnot. It’s just not terribly interesting unless it’s your company, and anything juicy probably shouldn’t be posted on a blog, so there you have it. It’s funny though… I think lots of people don’t even know that I do the whole job thing. Someone said, “Yeah, I was telling her that I don’t actually know what you do. I mean, we know you’re an artist, but I wasn’t even sure if you had a job or what it was.” (I’m a marketing coordinator, which I’ve been doing off and on - mostly on - for five years.)

Luckily, I only work a half day today because tonight I’m doing another live painting thing. It’s through the History Museum, and to the best of my understanding, it’s a networking event for Connect With… at the Cabanne House in Forest Park. I believe DJ Needles is spinning, but don’t quote me on that.

In related events, I bought a proper easel! And I loooves it. Yeah, I know, it’s weird that I never owned an easel before. I’ve had a couple of the crappy display type easels that I can’t actually paint on with any success, but I guess way back when I painted giant things, and slightly less way back I painted down on the table or the floor, and then when I started painting on upright canvases I just sort of leaned them against the wall, or a random piece of furniture or something. I’m pretty low maintenance. But after I had to borrow an easel for Wall Ball, it was time. I was planning to build my own, but really, the cost of materials and time would have been more than I actually paid for mine.

(Related aside: I am tired of ArtMart. Oh, sure, it’s a giant complex of fun items you don’t actually need to paint, but Dick Blick is cheaper and far less distracting. Also, the staff is actually friendly. And helpful, shocking.)