Well yah!  Finally moving, and to the apartment that I saw a while ago that I loved despite its tiny size, it felt like home.  Photos from the ad and some I took.

I'm really going to miss Narberth, its a nice little town but I'll be saving $245 a month in rent and that will free me up to start enjoying things again......museums, theater, shopping etc etc.
Pear and Red Grapes #2 finally sold after listing three times. I started it at $10 and it sold for $16.38
I got most of my packing done today, just have to do the kitchen and bath and my paint supplies......last minute packing.  Can not wait to be in my new place :-)

Day two of four free and I still haven't started painting!  Yesterday was spent running errands and catching up on things and today was spent photographing prints for ebay.  I think it was Monday I discovered Ron.......Ron sells mats on Etsy and eBay.  By Wednesday I had 25 assorted colors of 5"x7"mats for my ACEO's for $6.25 plus shipping, what a great deal!  Check out his stuff, he sends super fast and does custom orders too.

I've already ordered a few all black mats from him, some 5x7's and some 4x6 so I could give buyers the option to switch out to a black mat, I realized that colors can be tricky.  I should get some white ones too I suppose.
So that is what I was photographing all afternoon, the giclee prints I have up now on ebay. 
Check em out and let me know what you think.  The black mat here is just one I painted black for the photo til the ones I ordered get here, I suspect there's no mail delivery on Monday so Tuesday they should be here....there were no black or pure white ones in the assorted collection.

I really need to try and get some painting done tomorrow, Monday I'm going to go look at studio apartments in this apartment building 
Alden Park Apartments

Their studios supposedly start at just under $600 and go up.  I didn't see any listed as available for that price but I'm looking anyway, ya never know.   And look what they've got................

 Could you live in a place that had this.......I know I could!  Is this a gorgeous indoor pool or what?!  There's also a gym there which is something I could use.  A friend told me that Grace Kelly's mother use to live in a penthouse apartment here that took up the entire floor....holy moly!  Anyway, it'll be fun to see even if I can't live there.  I'm also trying to cover myself in case that apartment I've been wanting gets rented before I can move on.
Think I'll go check out etsy and see what other cool things I can find.

How cute are these...........

Dollar Store reading glasses, so cute and with their own little cloth cases just $1 each.  I got a 32oz bottle of laundry detergent for $1 too!  Its a great place to shop when you're broke.

I did absolutely no painting this weekend.  I did do these earlier in the week though......

The tangerine sold but not the pear/grapes, I'll relist it later.
Still no movement on my apartment, two showings but no takers, two and a half months before my lease is up.

Another one done today.......

Well the second try worked, everything sold and I spent this weekend painting a few more ACEO's for ebay....

Its been a while since I posted last, I hope everyone had a really great holiday and I wish you a Happy New Year!
Not much has changed since I last wrote.  I'm still stuck in my too expensive apartment but I guess the good news is there's only three more months on my lease so if a new tenant doesn't show up soon......well.......I know I'll be able to leave at the end of March.  Incredibly the apartment that I want is still available, but I continue to look at ads on Craigslist just in case it gets rented before I'm able to leave here.....very frustrating.
I got a phone message from a woman I spoke with a few months ago while I was still up in NY who's looking for someone to work in one of their two B&B's on Chincoteague Island in Virginia.  I haven't returned the call, I decided against it.  I don't want to put myself in another position where my work would become my life.  I've settled into a nice routine now, although I'm not crazy about the fact that I'm cleaning homes again to make ends meet I do like all the families I work with and it leaves me plenty of time for painting...... I really don't want to have to answer to someone again or feel like I'm working 24/7.....I must be getting old, I would have jump at the chance years ago, its such a beautiful place.
Well......I'm going to put away the paint and put my old body in front of the TV and watch movies the rest of the day.  Happy New Year everyone!

Another weekend painting, some new ones and adjustments to ones that didn't sell last week for a second try.

Still no one has looked at my apartment so moving is still on hold.  I'm so anxious to leave I've already packed everything that I don't need to use on a daily basis.  Patience has never been a strength of mine.

I spent the weekend painting more ACEO's for ebay........

Not much else to tell.

It seems disappointment prevails this month.....still no one looking at my apartment and the one I was scheduled to see yesterday got rented before my appointment to see it.......bummer.
On the bright side all the little paintings I had on ebay sold so its time to get some more done.

I got a couple more paintings done and listed......

the pears and the colander ones have sold.

I'm still distracted by the want/need to get out of this apartment and into something more affordable.  There's no one scheduled to see mine until the 15th which means I'm having to pay this months rent.  I'm scheduled to look at another apartment on Friday.  Although I love the Victorian one I posted below, this apartment is only $550 a month.  It too will be compact but for a different reason....its on the third floor and has those low ceilings that drop into the room at angles....not sure what you call that but its part of the pointed roof line....does that make sense?  Anyway it makes the room feel smaller when you can't utilize all the space........here's what I mean...this is one of the pictures posted in the ad

It doesn't have the charm of the other place but I'm all about not stressing over money anymore.  As it is I can't do anything for Christmas this year no tree, no decorations...no gifts even for the grandkids :-(

OK...back to painting, I gots to earn some money!

I'm trying to stay focused on getting some more ACEO paintings up on ebay this weekend.  I managed to get one new one up on Friday

and I did three others yesterday but I'm not totally happy with them yet so I'll see what I can accomplish today.
I'm distracted by this want to move to a less expensive apartment.  I looked at a place last week that had two apartments available and incredibly they were in a old Victorian house that I had lived in about thirty years ago...damn I am getting old!  I adored both apartments and they are both priced lower than where I am now.  One is a studio and the other a one bedroom......oddly enough I'm drawn more toward the smaller one. This charming little two room is only $665, it would mean a savings of $230 a month....that would be huge.

The trick is going to be getting my current apartment rented before either of these get rented.  In order to get my deposits back on this place (I'm breaking the lease) I need to stay until its rented.  There was someone scheduled to look at my place on Friday but he turned out to be a no show.  I was hoping we could get someone in here and me out of here right away so I wouldn't have to pay the rent here, here it is the 1st and I don't have it.....not all of it anyway.  Can't wait to get off this merry-go-round!
All you artists out there who have spouses/partners in your life that affords you the freedom to focus on your art, you give them a great big hug and kiss and never take them for granted!!

God....5am....I daydream of a cough free night.  Its been a week now of feeling awful but its back to work and actually its back to the home where I think I contracted this whatever it is, I hope this doesn't reactivate things.
Between feeling ill and the distraction of a move soon I got no painting done this past week.  Yesterday I spent half the day staging and taking pictures of this apartment for the landlord to post in his ad....not sure he'll be able to use them all, its pretty hard staging when you don't have much......trying to make two chairs look like a room full of furniture is a true test of creativity.  Then I spent the rest of the day looking online at my new home options.  Wish I had money......a nice long Jamaican holiday sounds good about now.........hot sun, cold Red Stripe, reggae in the background, ahhhhh yes :-)

Still fighting whatever this is that I've got...flu?...virus? 

I'm not getting much sleep with this constant nagging cough and work is proving to be a challenge......but this too shall pass.
The apartments I looked at aren't an option.  The first one just wasn't nice, tiny bathroom that was obviously built in a closet, literally and it had an electric stove which I hate cooking on.  I was taken next door to another efficiency apartment in a converted house and this one was charming, bay windows, non working fireplace, hardwood floors, gas stove, very cute except another teeny bathroom built in a closet.  And this place forgot to mention a $300 additional fee if you want to use air conditioners....that would mean paying $825 (not $765) a month for half the year, not much savings there.
The second apartment just didn't speak to me either.  It was in the back of the building and your views out your windows were just the building right next to you.  And before I even looked at the apartment they were asking if I brought 3 past pay stubs......sorry, you don't get pay stubs when you're scrubbing toilets for a living and I'd sort of like to see the place first ya think.  I was told a tax return would work but since I only made a whopping $19,000 last year that wasn't going to work.  They require that your one weeks net pay is equal to the rent amount.......lets me out of living in one of their properties, cross them off the list.

Hoping to get some painting done today.

Sunday morning 7am and sick as a dog since Friday.  I don't think I was sick once last year.....of course I was living an isolated life as a house manager in an empty 10,000 sq ft home in NY then.... this is the second time I've been sick in less than two months, its just one of the things I don't like about cleaning peoples homes to supplement my income, exposure to all those germs.  Boo-hoo right?.......things could be worse.

Anyway today I'll shower and try to look healthy because I'm looking at an apartment this morning, I decided to move from my idyllic little town of Narberth.  I asked to be released from my lease so that I could find a more affordable place to live.  Today I'm looking at a studio apartment HERE

 its not my best option for saving money at $775 but it does include utilities (I currently pay $895 plus utilities) but I love the look of this building and apparently several artists live here so I'm going to take a look.
Tomorrow I'm looking at a small one bedroom HERE not far from that location.

 It could prove to be a better option, it'd be nice to not live in a one room apartment and even though it does not include utilities at $665 I think I'd save a bit more...utilities here are not very high, at least half what I experienced in So Florida.  So this one I'm more anxious to see.
Its all going to be a bit tricky lining up a new home, although the landlord agreed to release me from my lease I have to wait until he finds a new tenant before I can leave with my deposit, which I need to secure a new place. Its been five days since I asked to be released and I don't think he has the same sense of urgency that I do because he hasn't started advertising it yet.....he said he could anytime.  Sometimes I do believe people with money forget (if they ever knew) what its like to have $28 in the bank.

So no painting this weekend I have no focus, hopefully during the week after my 'real' work is done.  Here are the last few I've done and I'm still happy to say that they continue to sell.......ok, still only on the average for about $10 some higher some lower but I think they are slowly rising and I'll keep at it. 

My goal?.......to be able to make what this woman does for her ACEO paintings.  Can you believe it, here's one of hers that sold for $383.00

Here are a few of my latest......

If I don't post sooner, have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!

A couple of new ACEO paintings on ebay and some prints are available HERE