DOING THIS AGAIN, IN A BETTER WAY....

As of today this is part of my life more than it was before and since I do paint ever day I hope to be here every day. All the old posts are gone and this is a beginning.

I have to incorporate my painting-time around running an animal sanctuary with incessant responsibilities. But my inspiration is everwhere around me. A herd of horses and ever other manner of beast. Mountains, snow, dramatic weather. Everything I love, really. A supportive family. I was doing full time hospice caregiving until a couple years ago while trying to paint for galleries. I was far too emotionally drained to be able to have much joy, in fact I was suffering from such "compassion exhaustion" there was not much of me left. The two years since, I have been learning how to be a full time painter the way I used to be before a job where I worked for someone else. And I wrestle with a few physical issues but I think they are conquerable. Oh to be 30-year old woman again, but it ain't gonna happen, is it. I turned to eBay determined to make it my survival income. It went very well, but who knew, that was practically the heyday for artists on eBay and it was about to change. EBay itself made changes with some serious teeth. Unfriendly changes for artists. Many a painter crawled away from eBay with broken wings. I woke up one morning and heard a voice plain as day and it said, 'start over'...... like the only way to survive eBay's new world was to backtrack, rethink, make a new plan built around what once worked. I did and I watch a gradual reestablishment but the scenario is not what it was. I hope it will be better than it was in the long run. We will just have to see. I started a website and organization of really excellent artists who love animals and are interested in their welfare. We hope for some nice opportunities as time goes by. The group is in it's growing stage. Please see http://www.artistsunitedforanimalrescue.org/ Membership is by invitation only. For the members who are also interested in eBay, we have an eBay support group where permission letters from animal rescue organizations are available giving us the right to hold auctions for them. We use our group acronym in our title lines, whether a charity auction or not. If it is for a charity we also include the acronym for the charity.

We did have a hugely successful emergency fundraiser already, rescuing a blind mare from such a sorry and hopeless situation. People are so wonderful..... so kind, so generous, so blessed for their sweet spirits, and I know this is so. Thanks to all of them, Cherokee is in a new home that looks like paradise, really! I fairly burst with gratitude and relief for Cherokee's lovely new life with loving people, green grass, and a 'guide horse ' best friend too! I will post a photo of her tomorrow.

Today's image is one of my daily-paintings, a small oil. It is called "Two Wild Ones" and they are mustangs. They are BLM adoption program horses. There are many places to learn more about the mustang adoptions, but if you are also interested in the famous Monty Roberts, then a place where there are mustangs that have been trained by him is High Sierra Wild Horse Sanctuary and Gentling Center, in California. That is a truly fantastic opportunity.