ok. ok. i am like the worlds worst blogger. it is almost july and i have yet to do the artist interview for may! i am behind on a few things right now. but i am still planning on doing a feature artist and i have the first several artists that i will be featuring it’s just a matter of getting things in order. my to do list keeps piling up! maybe i need an assitant? oh wait, i probably need to make more money first - i have nothing to pay an assitant….
in April i ended up having surgery on my right elbow (read: drawing/painting/typing/everything arm) for tendonitis and it has been a slow process of healing. i am still not able to do much with it but it is getting better. and as much as this has been a pain in the butt i believe the surgery was a success. according to my dr. it was definitely necessary. but damn those tendons take a loooong time to heal!!
aside from that i am itching to get back to painting and drawing. i am sooo excited to unveil some new work!
(gotta love Charlotte’s Web)
So. I would like to start featuring a different artist each month. The feature post will consist of a small interview and a few choice images along with links to the artists websites, shops, etc. I feel like I run out of ideas to write about and feel slightly selfish/egocentric using an entire blog to write about what is going on in my life.
I am looking for submissions from different artists of every kind. May has already been taken by artist Kristina Rolander. I plan to have the post up by May 1st. Artists who would like to be featured on my blog either email me or leave a comment. Please include a link to your work.
Really, it all comes down to supporting each other.
dying paper with coffee and coffee grounds in the bathtub.
and this above is what it’s turning into. working with animals/animal heads. kind of excited to see where it all leads. i am having printer problems right now (updated to leopard and my epson is not printing right) but when i get that figured out i will be offering prints of this in my etsy shop.
© lauren b. woehler 2009
So these days I am pretty much unemployed. Or maybe I am underemployed? I have a couple little projects going but nothing that is bringing in money. One thing that I am in the process of finishing up is the redesign of a website for wedding photographer Kimberly Zsebe. You can check it out here - www.zbimages.com. Since I don’t really consider myself a web designer - there are a few kinks that need to be worked out. Overall, we are both happy with it.
One of the reasons that I am not working (the economy is definitely in play) is because I was supposed to have surgery for severe tennis elbow in my right arm on March 18th. That has been rescheduled for April 15th so things are in limbo for me right now. I can’t take on more steady work or any major projects. My rough plan is to start working outside of the home after I am all healed up for surgery. At least part time anyways. They say it will take at least a few months to heal up. So no money to spend. We are living pretty simply these days.
One good thing that has come out of everything is that I have been painting alot. I have also been taking a good look at my life and where I want to be at. It hasn’t been easy but definitely necessary. Things were not working out - especially where business is concerned - and things need to change. I kind of thought I had it figured out but I was wrong. Right now, I am not really sure where I am headed. Being a single mother, that is a little scary for me. I am just trying to have some faith, to let things just play out. Just sort of riding the waves. Trying not to let fear determine where I should be.
I have been reading a little bit of the Tao lately and I suppose that has inspired my outlook a bit. One passage that really struck a chord with me was this:
Cultivate harmony within yourself, and harmony becomes real;
Cultivate harmony within your family, and harmony becomes fertile;
Cultivate harmony within your community, and harmony becomes abundant;
Cultivate harmony within your culture, and harmony becomes enduring;
Cultivate harmony within the world, and harmony becomes ubiquitous.
Live with a person to understand that person;
Live with a family to understand that family;
Live with a community to understand that community;
Live with a culture to understand that culture;
Live with the world to understand the world.
How can I live with the world?
By accepting.
Hope everyone is having a great start to 2009! Mine has been filled with changes. Alot of stuff going on that isn’t necessarily art/design/business related. One thing that has been floating through my head quite a bit is going back to school to get my masters. I am not sure that this degree of education is needed for what I want to do or where I see myself going. It is alot of work and I am a s.ingle mama, so we will see. In other news, it looks like I will be having surgery on my elbow. My right elbow. I am right handed and I depend on my hands for my livelyhood. So this isn’t exactly something I am excited about. The problem lies in my tendon - I have tennis elbow. Tendonitis. I’ve been doing physical therapy, acupuncture, cortisone shot, wearing braces, rest, stretching - nothing has helped. I am going to see another dr. today for a second opinion. So, we will see what comes of this appointment. Overall, I am leaning towards having the surgery. I feel like being out of commission for two months or so is worth having this problem taken care of. It’s very painful and makes everything difficult. Oddly enough, it doesn’t actually bother me when I am typing or working on the computer - but it gets really bad after.
So I would love to hear anyone’s opinions about the surgery. If you have had it or if you know someone else that has had it.
I have a lot of things I need/want to get done before the surgery. This includes, wrapping up some albums that are in limbo, finishing up some artwork, updating my shop, deciding whether or not to apply to school for the fall, and tying up general loose ends.
Whew. Wish me luck!
And just because blog posts are always more fun with pictures, here ya go:
© Lauren Woehler 2009
Just finished my wedding album design website! Please feel free to check it out and let me know what you think! I am by no means what I would consider a website designer. But I did everything in terms of design and setting it up. I used dreamweaver, so hopefully the coding is at the very least acceptable. I would love any constructive cristism on the site itself (does it flow well? does it serve it’s purpose correctly? etc)
www.EliosoDesign.com
For a while now I have been thinking of separating the wedding album design aspect of my business from the art and design. As of now Leoa Design Studio will only encompass art and design. Elioso Design will be the name of my album design company and my plans are to add a separate blog for this and transfer everything album design related over to that. I am also (still) in the process of creating my websites. Things just seem to take alot longer than I think they will around here. Between actually doing work for clients, painting, raising baby and sometimes sleeping getting my website finished is usually last on the list. It also doesn’t help that I have taken it all on my own - designing and learning dreamweaver as I go along.
In other art related news - I am just about finished with six new paintings that I am very excited about. I can’t wait to show them. I think that I won’t be offering the originals for purchase because I intend to find a gallery at some point to show them. However, I will be offering prints in my etsy shop. Stay tuned!
I haven’t posted in a while! It’s been kind of hectic around here as of late. Finishing up some stuff for the website. That project leaves me feeling rather confused and schizophrenic. I went to make a few changes and just couldn’t stop! If you notice I have redesigned my banner for both my blog and etsy. The redesign is along the lines of those. My goal is to finish that up tonight. For my sanity I really need to have the website checked off of my list of things to do.
Other than that I have been keeping busy with some album designs. Definitely looking forward to having the website up and recruiting some new clients. In fact, once the website is launched I will be having a special- all new clients will receive 15% off of their first album design. Details to follow.
Well, Elliot is currently napping and I am going to take advantage of this and make some headway on a few new paintings. Hopefully, this weekend I will have some to post here and for sale on my etsy site. Lot’s of things going on! Stay tuned!
Just listed “Afterall” in my etsy shop. This is a limited addition print of 50. Printed on archival paper with archival pigment inks.
Come check it out!
