Big Changes

Howdy doodies. So this past week has been a bit of a whirlwind. I landed a job as an art consultant at a gallery downtown in Carmel and started a few days ago. Quite a switch up from our original plans of camp hosting in Big Sur. There have been some wardrobe issues mainly due to the fact that Patagonia wind pants are not exactly the right apparel for selling oil paintings. At least not at this particular gallery they are not. And congratulations to you if you work in a gallery where wind pants ARE appropriate. I want to know where that gallery is and plan my future around it. I am much better equipped to work at the wind pants gallery than at the grown up lady clothes galleries of the world.

Anyway... I am a working thug again. Back in the saddle as they say. I love being in downtown Carmel and when I get off work I can walk down to the beach in less than 5 minutes which is fantastic. Although... the party will be over as of November second when the time change occurs and we all have to deal with it getting dark at 2 in the afternoon for the next 5 months.

I am working a big opening event for a watercolor artist this Saturday and plan to shoot some photos that day. I will be sure to post some up here for all to see. Until then.... I have today and tomorrow off and am hoping to get to see my good friend Bernadette who is visiting California from out East for the next few days. Bernadette was my saviour when I first moved out to Nantucket in 2000. She gave me a job, fed me, helped me cope with the enormity of the disaster that my life was at that moment in time and introduced me to all the island's characters. I have not seen her in several years and hope we can swing a visit today or tomorrow before I have to head back to work for the weekend.

Also.... I started up another blog to chronicle the days and nights of DOG in Carmel. It's the most dog friendly city in the universe you know. You can see this new blog at www.dogsbythesea.blogspot.com.

Work It!!!!

Hey Y'All!

I have to say that Paula Dean has all but ruined the fun of saying "Hey Y'all" for me. She says it in such a forced creepy way. Shush Paula... you ruin it for the rest of us.

Anyway. We have fun big news! Beginning in March we will be conducting oil painting workshops here in our home in Santa Fe. Well, BILLY will be conducting the workshops and I will be the hostess with the mostess serving up tea and cakes and neat crap like that.

The first workshop will last over the course of two Saturdays (the 8th and the 15th) in four hour sessions and will be a beginner level class on completing an oil landscape painting from a photograph. We will also be putting together intermediate level classes and when the weather turns warm we will have some outdoor plein air workshops as well. For the workshops here at the home studio we are limiting the class size to just 4 folks per session. We don't have room for much more than that and we like the idea of being able to really give a lot of individualized attention to each participant. The plein air classes will allow for at least 15 per class which will be fun.

So if you live in Santa Fe or are planning to visit or you need an excuse to visit.... here you have it. I have put together a page on our website detailing out the first workshop. You can click through to it HERE.

My other big news is that I am ditching the part time job search. It just plain sucks too much for me to march any further down that path. I am refocusing my efforts on other personal projects and hopefully they will be a success. Hey... it is the Year of the Rat on the Chinese calendar and guess what? I am a rat. How can I be stopped? This is my year baby. I am going to let my ratty side shine.

Cooooold

These are the days of crunchy cold dog walks. Since I try to get Rudy out twice a day for at least a mile or two long walk it seems like the cold is ruling my world. Our new house is toasty warm so it is a pleasure to return to after a walk but at least twice a day I have a good long session of frozen face. Today we got a light dusting of snow and it always makes town so much prettier.






These shots were taken on the plaza in late afternoon light. The light in Santa Fe is my favorite. The way it warms up an adobe wall against the blue sky and the way the trees seem to glow with it. This is a really quiet time of the year to wander downtown. The plaza is nearly deserted on on a day like this.




Once Spring and Summer hit there is barely a quiet moment to be had down there unless you head down before 8 a.m. But that is the fun of living downtown. There will be art fairs and festivals pretty much every single weekend come July.

I have been trying to land a little part time job for our time here. What a stupid, frustrating and degrading experience that is. People really do get some weird ideas about how to conduct an interview and my absolute favorite thing is when they hand you one of the ridiculous applications that asks you things like where did you go to elementary school. Because who I was as a person in the second grade obviously should have great bearing on whether or not they hire me now at age 35. I have also been asked repeatedly for a resume. People.... nobody wants to see or would understand any kind of resume I could put together. It would be like trying to solve the DaVinci Code to make any sense of it. So I will continue my search for the right niche to work in to. This is a goofy time of year here to try to find work here anyway. There is a whole lot of nothin' goin' on. If anyone reading this has an interesting business within one mile of the plaza, is not crazy or bitchy, wants to pay me a fabulous wage, needs a competent worker for 20 hours a week and does not care how I performed in 4th grade gym class... feel free to call me up. I'm yours.

I'll leave you with a shot of the Museum of Fine Art in the warm 4:30 sunlight. I love the way the adobe looks like suede or even velvet. I still need to get pics of the house that don't look like we are just squatting here to keep out of the cold. I'll post once I have some good ones.