Weekly Summary - April 16 2021

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Well this week has been a lot! I have not been productive in the studio as I was dealing with terrible insomnia and some days I felt barely able to function. So this week I have to count simply surviving as an accomplishment! (Last week's accomplishments & carefully made plans here.)

I write these first thing Friday morning, and I'm usually worn out from the week. My brain struggles to remember exactly what I did all week. Yesterday I got smart though & took a few notes to help kick start this post today. So while I did not paint much (I didn't even keep up with my daily painting for the 100 Days Project, ☹️) I did manage a few other things, including important events.

Last weekend the first day of the pop up shops got rained out, which is alright by me because watercolor & rain do not mix! Friday night was also the first night I had insomnia: I was still staring at the clock at 3 in the morning! So I wasn't heartbroken to get a break from being outdoors trying to sell art, and instead I went over and painted with my nieces. I've been meaning to do this for about half a year now, so it was time! They enjoyed it and I gave them a few kids' supplies I had cluttering up my studio too. 

watercoloring with nieces

With the help of over the counter sleep aids, I slept a little better Saturday night so I was ready to go do the pop up shop on Sunday. It was a beautiful day, but hotter than I expected and since I was on my own, I didn't bring my tent. I put sunscreen on my arms and wore a hat...but forgot about the scoop neck top I was wearing, so I ended up pretty lobster red around my neck. We'll take the tent next time to provide shade since my husband will be with me to help out.

It looks like the Pop Up shops will be a pretty good event this summer, as there was quite a bit more foot traffic down in the River Market. I sold about 10 cards over the 3 hours I was there, and chatted with folks and gave out my card. I did not follow through with asking people to sign up for my email list though, so I may need to change how I handle that.

I had another terrible night on Monday, so I ended up picking a general care doctor out of a hat and seeing him on Wednesday about the insomnia. It was an awful experience--he had terrible bedside manner and I will never go back to him. But I did get a short prescription for sleeping pills to hopefully reset my sleep schedule so I can go back to falling asleep naturally. I'm not sure why I'm having so much difficulty falling asleep--this is not a super stressful time. (That was last month, when I was launching my VA Atelier business, and a new collection, and it was busy at my full time job!) My mind isn't even racing that much when I try to fall asleep, which is usually a common issue for me. So it's been baffling and frustrating and when you're in the middle of not sleeping for days on end it feels like it will never get better. So I did not have the creative energy for any painting this week. (I did make 18 new cards to restock my shop, since they were popular last weekend and I have a pop up at the Iron District next Saturday, April 24. So the week wasn't a total loss!)

Jen in front of the Brewkery for the art opening

On Thursday I had my art opening at the Brewkery, which went well! Lots of my family and neighborhood friends stopped by, as well as at least 3 people who get the Brewkery's emails. My art will be up there until at least the end of May, possibly longer. I don't need it back until August when I have my show at the Liberty Community Center...because I don't have enough framed art to do both at the same time! Frameable art production has been slow lately too, due to mostly painting in my sketchbooks for the 100 Days Project. 

So my fingers are crossed for this upcoming weekend and week to be better. I hope to get better sleep so I can get back to painting! I want to resume daily painting as well as general painting on loose sheets, bigger stuff. I want to do more palette knife painting because it got lots of good reviews at my Brewkery show yesterday.




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