Oh that makes me so happy!!!

Total magic!

LOVE IT!

She is flying either way! Thanks for coming out to support her. I know it meant a lot to see you there.

Thank you Sam!

Thank you! I also love hearing from satisfied customers.

Exactly. I feel like so many people can relate to this but don't know how to talk about it in the face of the "aspirational" marketing machine. I'm not ashamed of the life I worked very hard to put together but sometimes I look out and feel like people want me to be. I need to remember they only want me to feel that way so I'll buy something to make me feel better.

@Vesuvius you are right. I did want to capture the ominous and the sparkles. The freedom, the splatter, the blood, the sun and trees. Basically, in order to live life, I have to take it all; the pain and the joy. A common theme but I wanted to go a little deeper. One of my biggest fears is being boring or irrelevant. Sitting around worrying about what might happen or doing it perfectly only jacks me up. Life is happening, the good, the bad, the boring and mundane. Strumming my fingers waiting for something juicy to inspire me is stupid, even the boring is juicy if you tell it right. Besides when I had a "juicy" life it was boring to me, so I was living my life in order to have a good story...just for other people. There is still that pull to want to name drop or earn money or show my power like a man. Now I have to look at what I really want and know it can be crafted out of whatever materials life brings. Don't wait for someone else to say my life is interesting. It is all interesting, even the box. As moms, how many toys vetted by focus groups have we seen gather dust while a box, a stick a roll of tape gets played with constantly? I'm allowed to learn something about the world from being a mother. I shouldn't let society tell me that mother's can't emerge or that themes about family are for sit coms or that you can't sell REAL art on the internet. The chatter chatter chatter of my own rules, other people's rules...they come in the form of "tips" but I need to be very careful with myself and my specific triggers. I was saying yesterday that I'm like an addict. If I get a taste of measuring myself in terms of money or power I want to take it all the way. That would cannibalize what I really want. I'm a housewife first and it was strange to admit that out loud but that was the deal our family made. Raising my girls is #1 job and that makes me happy but I couldn't believe I said it in a "business" meeting. In a strange way my freedom comes from the box. Okay I'm rambling but I think you get it.

Thank you! I love knowing the exact origin of the saying. To be honest, the painting started with arguments I have with the girls about boxes they want for play and I need for packing, also boxes I keep with no purpose and then I was looking at pandora's box images, and thinking about boxes and drew a box and I'm like..."what is in the box?" I need to be creative and think outside it but as I was drawing I really liked the box. So painting about boxes is different than thinking about boxes but it is all boxes and I love that I have a puzzler on my blog. You also gave me an inspiration on how to finish it! Yay, for boxes! EVERYONE, BACK IN THE BOX!