"An artist's life embraces every job description of a small business: creative director, marketing director, bookkeeper, construction manager, secretary, janitor, technician, and publicist. It is a self-directed life run by a committee of one. Being an artist is a profession . It is not a vow of poverty. If you ask artists to define success, most will say that it's having the time, space, and money to make art. However, many of the skills needed to succeed are acquired only through painful trial and error."
- Jackie Battenfield, "The Artist's Guide..."

Let me first apologize for the delay between posts! As you may have noticed, I have moved house (so to speak) ...over to a new website that I have created on my own with the help of Squarespace.com. Thank you for your patience ! My hope is that this new home will prove bug-free and easier for me to update and maneuver around. There are still a few holes in my presentation but if I wait until it's all "done and dusted" I will be an old woman!

This past month I have worked on several commissions, done sketches for new ideas, written an exhibition proposal, learned new skills in Adobe Illustrator, attended the online forum offered and hosted by Jennifer Lee of the Right Brained Business Plan , worked on my business plan, and cleaned my studio.

The Lilla Rogers Make Art That Sells Boot Camp took a hiatus for the month of April but is back this month and has us sketching figures, faces and vintage dolls. I became immersed in this mini assignment this week ! I have long told myself (and even potential clients) "Oh, I don't do figures" - ugh! Well, I was able to inform my ego that lives inside a box of comfort and lies that, yes, in fact I do "do figures" ! I took notes from some of my favorite children's book illustrators like Tomie Depaola, Jan Brett and Mary Engelbreit and found my own voice.

The image above is an in-process shot of a piece I did after being inspired by the figures and faces I was creating. I call this, "Corinne didn't know she was a saint". We all know people like Corinne, who hold up the world and make it look easy! Many of these people I know are mothers or woman who have been like mothers to me.

It's Mother's Day this week .... if you are not a mother - maybe you have given birth to a project, a career, a goal achieved .... to all you mothers out there or "chickens" who have sat on the egg of a dream that hatched - Happy Day of You! Please share what you have given birth to this past month. I don't want my blog to be all about me - really - ! I want you to contribute and let me know you were here. (it helps quiet the sound of crickets that I tend to hear after hitting "post" ). My work is about story telling and I want to hear yours!