This weekend was very hectic. The gallery that I show with had a booth at a sustainability expo and so I was there 8 hrs a day all weekend while people passed by disinterestedly. It's sad that the sustainability expo's by-line was "Buy a better future" . It was definitely not the right venue for my work, which is interesting because I think my work has a positive message, but I guess it just wasn't the right vibe. Choplogik, on the other hand, did amazingly well with every passerby laughing and smiling about his pieces. If you haven't seen his stuff you should check out his profile. Perhaps it is good that we excel in different areas. What struck me about the weekend is how exhausting it is to try to pique people's interest while they have none of it. On days when I am live painting and people are interested and buying stuff, I feel great and fulfilled, but the reverse is true when nobody takes interest. It's very obvious which ones are which, too. I don't think it's just an ego thing, of course you feel good when you get attention, but meaningful exchanges with people are really vital to being happy and healthy. Sometimes I feel greedy for withholding myself from people by not engaging with them, but being a person who isn't overflowing with energy means it's necessary to be choosy. If I had to do what I did this weekend every day, I would, and have done in the past, go crazy; a cat stuck in a car on a road trip!

Here's the painting that I finished while at the expo:


Okay, enough complaining. Life has been really good lately. I'm proud that I've become a tougher business woman by standing up to people that would take as much as they could from me. It's reminded me how much sexism still exists in the world, but I'm now inspired to do paintings that are more conceptual. I want to highlight the strangenesses and inequalities that I encounter, while still keeping the work beautiful and positive. It might involve challenging what beautiful is but I think there are some basic principles that are true. I'll be exploring different media in order to better differentiate the points of reality and fantasy as well. I had originally planned to take it easy this summer, but after so many months of constant work I don't want to lose all of this great momentum. It's so natural to work hard now. I do want to spend a lot of time outdoors, so that will offset much of the studio hours I'm putting in.