Photo Album Completed!

I got my little photo album done that contains pictures of some of my best mosaic and handmade tile work. It is small enough to carry in my purse, so I can show it to people who are interested in what I do. It will be handy when talking to people at prospective venues. Also, I got it done before leaving today for a little trip to visit my family, and that pleases me a lot! I can hardly wait to show them what I've been up to lately.

It's only been the past year or so that I've had much time to devote to art. It has brought such richness and peace into my life to do art regularly. Yesterday, I was feeling too busy to go to my studio because I'm leaving on this trip today, but I went anyway, just for a little while. That hour-and-a-half spent making tiles for a new project made me feel calm and more ready to face the rest of the day. Afterward I came home and got everything done that I needed to.

I'll be visiting my sister, a successful painter who specializes in pet portraits. I'm looking forward to talking with her about how art fits into her life and what it does for her. As I spend more of my professional life in a studio rather than an office, I'm becoming very interested in how other artists make it work. I don't just mean financially--I'm interested in the place of art in individual lives. I've really come to realize that it's important to do art, regardless of whether it pays the bills. But I wouldn't mind at all learning how to take the "starving" out of "artist"!