Be Mused Art » life http://www.bemusedart.com/blog Melia and her thoughts. Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:59:02 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 Volunteering and Raising Money http://www.bemusedart.com/blog/2011/12/16/volunteering-and-raising-money/ http://www.bemusedart.com/blog/2011/12/16/volunteering-and-raising-money/#comments Sat, 17 Dec 2011 05:28:29 +0000 Melia http://www.bemusedart.com/blog/?p=1209 As some of you know, I have been working with the PTA at my daughter’s school the last couple of years. I made the mistake of complaining a bit too loudly about the standard catalog sales that sold cheap junk no one wanted for excessively high prices. I have tried to help foster ideas to [...]]]> As some of you know, I have been working with the PTA at my daughter’s school the last couple of years. I made the mistake of complaining a bit too loudly about the standard catalog sales that sold cheap junk no one wanted for excessively high prices. I have tried to help foster ideas to raise money that would help build community as well as not over extend our small volunteer pool. I also have tried to put my particular skill set to use for the benefit of the PTA. I designed the school shirts last year and this, got to help establish a school carnival and watched our PTA fundraising change, under the guidance of some great parents and teacher, grow to something really wonderful.
It has been difficult since we were making changes during a recession and lost a vital member of our group over the summer.
I have started putting together a cafepress shop for the PTA, because there is so much we have yet to do. With the cuts in education it is up to us to get new play ground equipment, help pay for field trips, help needy families and bring in some educational programming. Bet you didn’t know that that is pretty standard stuff for the PTA. My own artwork has taken a back seat to my volunteer work. Not only have I been designing shirts, building cafepress shops, and helping organize some of the fund raising events. But I am also at every event doing face painting, donating my artwork for sales and auctions.
My time only represents a small fraction of the work being done for our school PTA. I am not even a major contributor. I sometimes feel like the wonderful people I work with have managed to figure out how to get more than 24 hours out of a day, because I feel like I am working like crazy and am doing so much less than they are. But one small thing I can do while everyone is off on their winter break is to build and promote the shop, which is why I am coming to you now. Please visit our little cafepress shop, and share it with friends.

Okay, I have blogged to let you know I am alive and why I have not been posting much art, so back to work for me. And I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season.

]]> http://www.bemusedart.com/blog/2011/12/16/volunteering-and-raising-money/feed/ 0 The Friends an Artist Needs http://www.bemusedart.com/blog/2011/11/17/the-friends-an-artist-needs/ http://www.bemusedart.com/blog/2011/11/17/the-friends-an-artist-needs/#comments Thu, 17 Nov 2011 23:57:32 +0000 Melia http://www.bemusedart.com/blog/?p=1199 Being an artist is hard. It is lonely sometimes, which leads to insecurities which leads to being less effective as artists. But for our artist part of our lives we seem to need 3 types of friends. Sometimes one friend can play multiple rolls in our lives, but these rolls are important to us. Sometimes [...]]]> Being an artist is hard. It is lonely sometimes, which leads to insecurities which leads to being less effective as artists. But for our artist part of our lives we seem to need 3 types of friends. Sometimes one friend can play multiple rolls in our lives, but these rolls are important to us. Sometimes these are people we see every day, just occasionally, or have never met in person.

#1 is the Cheerleader. This is the friend that always has something nice to say about what we have done and can point out the things they like best about our work. Just having this sort of friend in an artist’s life can keep them creating and sharing their work even when everything seems to be working against them.

#2 is the Fan. This is the friend that is sharing the artist work for them. It might be something as simple as clicking share on a facebook post or linking to a blog post. Or it might be talking about the artist work to their other friends. Or maybe when they introduce their artist friend to new people they make a point of telling them that this person is an artist. This by the way helps teach the artist to talk about their work to new people. Having this sort of friend helps the artist see that their work has worth and gives them the courage to accept financial benefits from their own work.

#3 might be the most important. This is the Peer. This is the person with enough grounding in art themselves that they can offer a real critique. They can point out where a color choice might have gone wrong, or explain a composition error. They can also help flesh out ideas that the artist is struggling with.

I love the people who play these rolls in my life. And the one friend that has had the courage to step up and play the Peer in my life has been one of my greatest treasures. It has to take a lot of courage to point out an issue with artists latest painting. Because really for most of us, the newest painting is the most loved. Artists can be sensitive people and don’t always like to hear what we need to about having mistakenly changed the source of light on the lower right hand corner or similar.
We are starting the season for expressing our thanks as well as the season for gift giving. Please don’t forget these wonderful friends that are really responsible for you being an artist. And since they are playing these rolls for your artist self, might I suggest art as a gift. Unless their home is already overflowing with your art, then maybe a box of chocolate with a nifty card with your art on it instead.

And since we are all here for the art is my latest that I would like to share with you all.

]]> http://www.bemusedart.com/blog/2011/11/17/the-friends-an-artist-needs/feed/ 1 Snow Angel http://www.bemusedart.com/blog/2010/02/11/snow-angel/ http://www.bemusedart.com/blog/2010/02/11/snow-angel/#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:45:22 +0000 Melia http://www.bemusedart.com/blog/?p=758

Frozen Dragon

J woke me up a bit late this morning, something about dealing with the dog’s reaction to the snow. Upon hearing about snow, I was not a happy camper. All the things I had planned to get done today went through my head. I needed to run some errands, get a new bag [...]]]>
Frozen Dragon

Frozen Dragon

J woke me up a bit late this morning, something about dealing with the dog’s reaction to the snow. Upon hearing about snow, I was not a happy camper. All the things I had planned to get done today went through my head. I needed to run some errands, get a new bag of treats for K’s valentine party (just cause J decided to open the original bag last night grrr), set up for vending at ConDFW ect… Way too much running around on a day full of snow.
But I started finding my joy while bundling K up for her first real snow. She will be 9 in just a few days and today she made her first snow angel just before heading off to school. Yes, it has snowed here before, but this is the first time in many years it has snowed enough for snow angels.
So I woke up a grumpy frozen dragon, but my little girl’s joy at the winter wonderland outside thawed my heart. Now I am sitting at Cafe Brazil and enjoying several cups of coffee waiting for the places I need to go to to open for the day. No use heading all the way home, just to head back in an hour or two, and Cafe Brazil’s cherry Chocolate Kiss coffee makes the wait rather enjoyable. It also warms me nicely as I watch the snow fall outside.

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