Jolie Guillebeau

At the end of 2007, I made a few goals. I’ve written about them before, so I won’t go in to a lot of detail here, but as we’re almost halfway finished with 2008, I’m getting ready to evaluate and see what’s going well and what still needs work.

2008 for me was the year Jolie goes pro with her art.. It’s still scary, but I’ve made a lot of progress this year already. For example, I told myself that I wouldn’t order business cards until I had actually made some income. Chris helped me figure out what that number would be–though it seemed incredibly high and nearly impossible, considering that I had not made one red cent until that point.

But this week we realized that I had more than doubled my expectations already–and the year is only halfway over.

I ordered business cards yesterday.

Writing this out makes me realize how amazing this is. Sometimes I think I really may be able to be a working artist. (Of course, most of the time I think this is a pipe dream…)

Either way, I’ll have really cute business cards.

Friday night was lovely. Lots of friends came and a grand time was had by all, I think. If you didn’t RSVP or if you RSVP’d a “yes” and didn’t come, then you missed out! Sadly, no one had a camera, so still no photos of the event. However, I did get a photo of the rainbow jello later– so here it is.

Impressive, no?

So I came home Friday night and really felt grateful for my friends and that they were willing to come out to support me. And even stay to help me clean up! (Thanks, Kelli and Rosie!)

But then Saturday several things conspired to make it a really tough day. And Saturday evening, I just curled up in a chair with my knitting and tried to adopt the “tomorrow is another day” philosophy. But Scarlett O’Hara failed me yet again. Because Sunday wasn’t really any better. For once, I really looked forward to Monday. I had a good long talk with a friend. Chris comes home this week. Painting is going well, even if other things aren’t. Someone reminded me to cut myself some slack– and I’m trying. And today has dawned bright and beautiful.

Yet I feel like this–

*Photo Credits: Jenn (Rainbow Jello) NYTimes (Rainy Seattle)

This is the most important– it deserves it’s own post.

Mary is 16 today! Happy birthday, Mary Monster. Chris and I are really proud of you and hope you have a great day. You’re an amazing, funny, smart, beautiful and fun to be around. We love you a lot! We’re looking forward to celebrating your birthday properly in a few weeks with an ice cream tour of Seattle!

I know I keep whining about this, but it’s really hard to come up with something to post here when I don’t have a camera to show you what I’m talking about.

However, good things are happening. I had a terrible afternoon Wednesday, but then went for sushi with a friend and managed to salvage the day in to something quite nice. Then the rest of the week has been devoted to getting things ready for my open studio party tonight. It’s just a small get together to celebrate my work this year, but I’m still excited about it.

And finally, my amazing husband was mentioned in a New York Times blog today! I’m really proud of him! Only 5 days until he (and the camera) get home! I’ll be really excited to see both of them!!

I forgot the camera again. I’m a doofus. I have nothing more to say!

Ok, so last Wednesday’s post was a bit bleak.

Since then, however, the curator here at Gage contacted me and we hung my first show this morning. AND– I am looking at a check! That someone paid me!! FOR A PAINTING!!!!!!
That I painted!

It was a bit of a confidence booster.

Welcome to the roller coaster that is my life!

When I was in first grade, I had the most wonderful teacher. Her name was Lucy Cotton. She was all softness and sweetness just like her name implies. When I was stressed, or worried, she took me in her lap or put her arm around me and reassured me in quiet soothing tones. Even when I’d done something wrong, she still used a soft voice to correct me. She was wonderful.

Then I moved to second grade. My teacher was Pinna Gattis. She was also all that her name implies. She should have retired long before I arrived in her class. I clearly remember her saying to me on the first day of school, “You’ll never be able to write well, because you’re left-handed.” And in second grade, handwriting was everything. All my report cards that year said, “Jolie’s handwriting needs work.” At some point in the year, I started writing with my right hand, but only when Mrs. Gattis was looking. When she was on the other side of the room, I’d switch back to writing with my left hand. If she caught me, she’d slap my hand with a ruler. Needless to say, I entered third grade with little self-confidence and terrible handwriting.

It took a few years, but I eventually developed neat handwriting. I worked at it so much that when I was in college, my education professor used my handwriting as an example of “what a teacher’s blackboard handwriting should look like.” It was one of my proudest moments. (So there, Mrs. Gattis!)

I’ve been trying to remember this lately. For some reason, I can’t seem to make a straight line. All my edges on this painting are supposed to be sharp and crisp, but instead they are wobbly and fuzzy. I keep piling on the paint, but just can’t get it to come together. There have been a few afternoons this week where I’ve looked at my painting and thought, “Maybe Mrs. Gattis was right.”

I know that part of this feeling is because my main cheerleader is in India right now, but I feel a bit like a second grader today.

Ok, so Chris is gone and I have no one to share my joy with, so I will publish it on my blog! Yay–I solved my own problem without feeling sorry for myself! (sigh– I feel a bit sorry for myself that I have to share my sister’s pictures with the internet. Pathetic, I know.)

Ok, moving on… so these are photos of my sister, Tera and her fiance, Wes. They’re getting married in 2 weeks and 3 days and we’re really excited! These pics really capture that excitement and also who they are. I’ve never seen photos that show so clearly the spark of personality that makes me love them so!

http://authenticphotograph.wordpress.com/2008/03/09/tera-wes

Shameless older sister plug: Tera and Wes have really good taste in photographers, because they are such great photographers themselves. You can see their work here:

www.terakaylen.com

I’m not painting this week, because I’m not at the studio, because I can’t leave the bed without coughing my lungs out. Therefore, no posts this week.

Any and all sympathy is much appreciated. Also, gifts of ice cream.

What is it? How do you define it? More importantly, how do you capture it with a paint brush?

A couple of weeks ago, Julia, my studio mate, wrote a saying on our studio wall. Just above our coat closet written in charcoal and large letters, it says, “le laid peut être beau, le joli jamais– Paul Gauguin”. Roughly translated, it means “the ugly can be beautiful, but the cute can never be.”

This (and listening to Bo Bartlett last week) has me thinking. I don’t want to paint cute. I know that. But to be honest, I’m worried I can’t paint what matters. And if I can’t paint what matters, why paint?

I know I’ll figure it out (maybe), but meanwhile I’m a bit flummoxed. Any ideas?