25.5.14

Yeh! All my ACEO paintings listed in the previous post sold during the week :-)  And today I'm finishing up Porthole painting #2


I think I just want to add a colorful fish (I did, a parrot fish) across from the lower turtle for balance and more color.....or maybe a jellyfish? Not sure yet.  I've got to get #3 started and done by the end of the week and get them all in the mail.
I've started a little gallery wall in my hallway/entryway of ACEO paintings I've bought from other artists.  I haven't bought many but hope to purchase more soon.  The little blue bird came yesterday after I had just email the artist that it hadn't arrived yet, go figure.  I didn't realize it takes so long to get mail from England.
Well, better get going on #3.


21.5.14

The last two days have been an adventure, and not one I plan to experience again in the near future.  I was lured into the car dealership with an email about a pre-Memorial Day Sale.
Day 1, I wasn't there very long before I was told I was approved for a $15,000 loan.....really?.....how's that possible with my not so good credit score.....wow! How indeed, it was a 21% interest rate "reestablishment" loan.  After seeing the plethora of used cars available on the dealerships website I felt a tingle of excitement, albeit still resistant to going into debt again after being debt free for the last several years and trying to block out that pesky 21% interest rate.......but let's play the game shall we.  I was escorted outside to be shown a $12,000 used Prius, what a funny looking car, I wasn't impressed and even less so when I sat down it, pressed a button to start it and nothing happened!.......dead battery.  Walking back into the building I told the girl showing me the supposedly one car available to me because I had no money to put down (only my car), that I did NOT want to spend $12,000 on a used car or make $400 payments every month, I didn't want to spend more than $200 a month on payments, well that got a giggle out of her as you can imagine.
I was thanking her for her time and about to walk out when suddenly another car was in the offering...amazing (not).  This one was $10,000 and $300 payments.....enter the guy who arranges the loans with the banks with the testimony on how lucky I am to be approved for a loan with my low credit score and how hard he worked to get this approved, I'll never find a car like this with only 40,000 miles on it, heaven forbid I should walk away and something happens to my car, and of course there were two other people interested in buying it...blah, blah, blah...he wore me down.  I climbed in this car which hadn't been detailed yet and wreaked of old cigarette smoke and took a drive around the block......a 2009 Toyota Corolla, a reliable car, good milage but oh so boring.  I reluctantly decided to take the plunge and purchase the car, the deciding factor being all that is wrong and borderline dangerous with my current car.
Day 2.  I return to the dealership car title in hand and we begin the process.  The young lady left the office to work with the 'loan procuring guy' and briefly stopped by my door to show me the loan agreement with the bank (I'm sure she's kicking herself now) and I asked for a copy, she obliged and left me to sit there reading it.  Whats this??  I'm not buying a Ford Focus or paying that price for a car???  I go to the next room where they are sitting getting all there paper work together and question this 'mistake'.  Oh........don't worry about that he says and I can't remember the words after that.  I go back to the other office and sit there with this uneasy feeling coming over me and the girl finally arrives with the pile of paper work ready for signatures.  I say "Let's take a look at each paper".  I look at the contract and the first think I notice is the price of the car $11,999 (not $10,000).  The second thing I notice is they listed my rent as $325 not $960 and my income was 'enhanced'.  She shows me a paper with 'extras' listed that can be purchased saying I'm not obligated to purchased any of them but I see three items were checked......that was it.  I mention my concerns and disappointment in the process and she goes to the other guy's office to see what she can do.  He comes in and starts saying all the things he said the day before only with a little less conviction and the profound statement that this is how things are done in this business and I wouldn't have qualified any other way and this was all done for me.........right.  I left.
So back to plan A, get the hole fixed in the floor of my car and stay living close to my mechanic ;-)

Got some painting done this past weekend.  I started painting number two of the three for the Florida restaurant

and then took a day to work on a few ACEO paintings for ebay (its been too long).


11.5.14

I finally got a weekend to spend on and finish up the first of three porthole paintings (unless I hear otherwise from the client), they'll all measure 34" in diameter and will be framed on site.
They'll all hang on a wall that will go up a staircase so painting number two will hang higher and not have an ocean floor and it will feature a large sea turtle and some fish.  The third one will be even higher (closer to the surface/top of stairs) and will feature dolphin.  I'll start number two tomorrow.

I was suppose to visit a car dealership tomorrow after work but canceled it (lack of funds).  Have I mentioned the bit of floor hanging underneath my car?  Well, now I have to be especially careful because I could see light through the carpet last time I drove it.....a little scarey.  I'm once again stuck between a rock and a hard place......the car is not in good enough condition to cover a down payment as a trade-in and its so old (23 yrs old!) do I really want to spend the money to fix it?  My only immediate hope would be getting some of my deposit money back from my previous landlord, but she wasn't very clear on whether that was going to happen (because I left the lease early).  There was a new tenant to replace me but she can still withhold it according to the lease........never sign a 12 page lease!

Other than that things are good.  I'm so happy to be back in Narberth!

5.5.14

Once I recover from the financial output from moving I plan to indulge is some online art lessons, here's one I'm interested in.

1.5.14

Well I'm in!  The move went very quickly, a total of two hours....these guys were good!  Of course it helped that everything was packed and ready to go out the door.
If I thought I had accumulated a lot of stuff before its even more obvious now......where to put everything?!
I've managed to set up a comfortable area but trust me, every other spot out of view is a mess.
The kitchen has a total of 3 upper cabinets so I haven't bothered to grocery shop yet....there's no where to put everything!  So I went thrift shopping yesterday after work to try and find some useful storage pieces, and lucky me found a nice, very traditional style, apartment size hutch cabinet for $95 that will fit nicely in the kitchen, it'll be here Friday.
Work this morning is delayed an hour or so, which is welcomed.  Between doing my 'regular' jobs and cleaning the apartment I left, my poor hands are so red and sensitive from over exposure to cleaning products (my bad for not wearing gloves).
I could so use some time off but I need to get this place settled and in order and keep my work schedule up......living in this nice little town has its price.....high rents. 
And I've got the restaurant paintings to get back to, they need to be delivered by the end of the month.