Writing on the fly!!!

Well, if there is one thing that will force my hand to write my blog it's sending out our newsletter to 500 people that says "don't forget to read our blog!" I really should do the blog first.....
It has been a great season for the arts, at least here in Naples at casa|art|studio. We have been so fortunate to have had lots of sales, custom commissions awarded to us, and a great gang of students who have kept us inspired with their works even though we're supposed to be the ones doing the teaching and inspiring. One day they'll catch on and realize I should be paying them!

The month of May finds things moving along at a slower pace and we are enjoying the moment to catch our breath, think about new business ideas for the coming year, and sneak out early and go to the pool. You can generally tell the people that live in Florida as they are the ones without a tan....and that would be us!

We will be making some changes to our studio this summer as most of you know Steve and I can't leave things looking the same for too long. We are losing square footage yearly with all of the coats of paint we have added along the way just because "Cynthia wants the accent wall brown instead of green", said in a slightly irritated fashion by Steve (he does all of the painting). And Steve will be taking a photoshop class and I'll be back to my writing class with the hopes that the combination of those two courses will improve our blogs, newsletters and all of the pretty pictures that go in them.

And I suppose we'll create some art along the way too! We always have so many ideas about what we want to paint that it is fun to just have the studio time without the show schedule so we can just get into the zone and ignore everything else. We're also planning to buzz over to the east coast a time or two for inspiration. It is such a vibrant art scene in Miami - a day there can fuel our creativity for months to come.

We'll be in touch!

It's about time...!

Being committed to blogging is not something I have upheld very well!  As much as I love to write and post pretty pictures of our art work the blogging portion seems to get shuffled down the to do list every time.  One day there will be some consistency and I ask you to hang in there!  Besides, what fun would it be to already be bored with what I write long before I achieve my maximum potential!  I'm really doing a favour for all of you although you may not recognize it.

We have had several busy months and continue to remain in a state of  "glass half full" which always feels so much better.  For all of the whining and complaining about what is going on in the economy I look around and see abundance!  Every friend and family member that I can think of has work, the restaurants and stores down here are packed, the weather is beautiful, people are buying art (a luxury item that often gets bypassed in a weak economy) ....and one phrase comes to mind in particular ...."Life is Good!"  I love that expression and it is a reminder that everyday, every moment, is what we make of it.  You can focus on the difficulties, or you can focus on the good stuff.  I will admit that is not an easy thing to do, especially when life hands you those difficult losses like we have experienced the past few months. 

In spite of those life transitions, everything great about this world is still there, just waiting for me to choose to see those things instead of the others.

So happy to be back!

We have held several workshops since I last wrote and had some wonderful students coming back for every session.  As it was in the faux world for Steve and me, our clients are quickly becoming close friends!  We have had waiting lists for all of our workshops for several months out which is exciting for me as I just took a chance on doing this last spring not knowing if it would be a good business decision or not.  It was!

Lots of art shows too.  The 5th Avenue national show in early January (my first!) was a great success and I will be exhibiting again March 24th and 25th.  This month will be all about producing new inventory and I am excited to get underway with new pieces.

Steve and I have both had several nice commissions awarded to us too.  Part of the fun of taking on those projects is getting to work with new clients on a personal project like that.  Fun fun!

OK, off to the studio I go.  There is work to be done (and beer in the fridge) so I must scoot!

Happy March everyone!

Cynthia

The featured painting at top center is one of Steve's, measuring approximately 8' x 5'.  One of my favourites!

You can find us at www.casaartstudio.com or on Facebook at casa art studio.  Keep up with events and classes by joining our Facebook page.

No Fear in the New Year!

For years now I have given myself a new motto to embrace at the beginning of each new year. 

It all started with "everyday's a holiday" when I was in my twenties.  That was a no brainer and an easy enough goal to meet pretty regularly.  The goals moved on from there to more sensible ones like "just do it", "just say no [when I found myself saying yes too much]", "it's good enough [to break my habit of micromanaging]" and many, many more.  I even brought back "everyday's a holiday" to see how it felt again after all those years.  It wasn't the same as everything was so much more expensive and I found I actually had to work hard to go on those holidays.  Bummer....
So this year I've been thinking about what is it I could chant inside my head on a regular basis that will help me grow and be all that I can be?  I didn't want to join the army (ha ha - get it?) so I decided that if I just plow head first into this year with a fearless attitude about everything new that comes my way I am bound to end up with some pretty spectacular results.  I've always loved the idea of "what could I achieve if I weren't afraid of anything" - this is the year to find out!
Happy 2012 to you all.  It's going to be a great year!