Katie Jeanne Wood

Mixed Media Artist - daily painter of portraits, flowers, abstracts and birds

Oil landscape Mini Painting No 20

Katherine Jeanne Wood - 4x4 Landscape No 20 01
oil on panel, landscape, 4×4
Landscape No 20
Available here
Small to large prints available here

Killing oneself is, anyway, a misnomer. We don’t kill ourselves. We are simply defeated by the long, hard struggle to stay alive. When somebody dies after a long illness, people are apt to say, with a note of approval, “He fought so hard.” And they are inclined to think, about a suicide, that no fight was involved, that somebody simply gave up. This is quite wrong. -Sally Brampton

Last week was most difficult. We’ve been mourning the loss of a family friend. It’s a tragic story, not mine to tell. Now to gingerly pick our shattered hearts, and lives up off the floor, and carry on. I need to paint today. 

Morning pages

Katherine Jeanne Wood - 4x4 Landscape No 18 01
oil on panel, landscape, 4×4
Landscape No 18
Available here
Small to large prints available here

I’m going to continue to challenge myself this month as far as writing goes. I’ve decided to do morning pages again. The last time I attempted this, I think I did it for a day or two, and forgot about it. Oops. This time, I have no excuses because my writing desk is the first thing I see as I walk upstairs every morning. I’m going to put a big MORNING PAGES sign on it. There’s no way I can forget, but in case I do, I’ve also put it in my Google calendar, and it will be emailed to me each morning at 4am.

I think it’s pretty amazing that Julia Cameron isn’t a morning person, yet she sets out to do these pages every morning. I wonder if she ever skips or misses a day? I’m sure there will be quite a few I’ll want to skip, but I’ll force myself to do it. It’s for my own good because the more words flow, the more they keep flowing. I want to get to a place where it’s easy to write. I’m sure it won’t be easy every single day, but I want to work towards that goal, and the only way to get there is to write more often.

In other news, the blizzard is going to miss us, but the thunderstorm last night was pretty cool. Thunder and fierce lightning on the first day of February will always be cool in my book, tho. The sun is shining now. Hard to believe just a little north of here it’s a whiteout.

Blackbird oil painting – Bird Series No 35

Katherine Jeanne Wood - 4x4 Bird Series No 35 01
oil on canvas, 4×4, animals
Available here
Small to large prints available here

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I used to think it was impossible to be a daily blogger. I remember writing several times that IF I could post artwork, and not words, I could do it. Yet here I am, not just posting art, I’m actually writing every day. Weird, I know, but it’s happening because of a huge shift in my thinking.

I remember thinking to myself..I’m a painter, what do I have to say? All I do is work all day in the studio ALONE..my life is pretty boring. I figured out I was looking at it all wrong, and I began to make some changes to my thinking. Instead of saying “I can’t, I can’t” I started saying “I can” for starters.

I have learned, as a rule of thumb, never to ask whether you can do something. Say, instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seat belt. The most remarkable things follow. – Julia Cameron

I also decided instead of trying to find a topic to write about, I’d instead ask myself one question when I sat down to write..”what’s going on today?” By answering that one little question, I filled up the post, and didn’t have much trouble finding words to do it. I tried it again the next day, and the next. I’m now in a writing groove, no longer at a loss for words. What surprised me the most is I no longer hate writing here, nor do I find it nearly as difficult as it used to be. Instead of having no words, I find myself editing out huge giant paragraphs to shorten my posts because I’m writing too much. ha! Never thought I’d say that in my lifetime. Well, it’s true. I did indeed write too much today, and I’m going to keep writing because the more I do it, the easier it gets.

If you’re finding it hard to write a blog post, try starting from where you are in that moment when you sit down to write, and go from there.

Writing makes you alive, and awake, and happy. – Natalie Goldberg

 

Oil Landscape Painting No 4

Katherine Jeanne Wood - 6x6 Landscape No 4 01
oil on panel, 6×6, landscape 
Available here
Small to large prints available here

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.

So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever.

― Neil Gaiman

Orange and green floral oil painting No 131

Katherine Jeanne Wood - 6x6 Flower Series No 131 01
Oil on panel, floral, 6×6
Available here
Small to large prints available here

Oh, my heart. Have you seen the Glen Campbell documentary on Netflix? I’ve been avoiding it because I knew what my reaction was going to be. My grandfather died of Alzheimer’s. I put it on while I was editing Etsy listings yesterday, but I didn’t get much work done because I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. I had to keep wiping tears off my cheeks. You might as well say, I sobbed through the whole movie. What a dear, sweet, funny man. If you haven’t seen it, get ready for the feels. 

Blue Cottage Chic Rose Painting No 130

Katherine Jeanne Wood - 6x6 Flower Series No 130 01
oil on panel, 6×6, floral
Available here
Small to large print available here

I was browsing through my Etsy shop and DPW gallery this morning, and I don’t know what got into me. I snapped, (okay, it wasn’t that dramatic..I’ve been thinking of doing this for a while now because I’m running out of storage space, and need some of these to go to new homes already, see?), and I lowered prices on all my mini and small paintings. Some have been marked down as much as $45. !!! That is a huge savings to you. If you’ve had your eye on a painting, now is the time to get it. 

Later today, I’ll be in my Miz Katie shop doing the same thing..stay tuned!!  

Oil Landscape Painting No 2

Katherine Jeanne Wood - 6x6 Landscape No 2 01
oil on panel, landscape, 6×6
Available here
Small to large prints available here

Transferring your passion to your job is far easier than finding a job that happens to match your passion. 
― Seth Godin

I learned an important lesson this morning..don’t schedule posts unless you’re absolutely sure you want them to be posted. Last night, I wrote a post for today, and scheduled it for 11am. This morning, I decided to revise it. I usually change the date on the post when this happens, as a precaution, and then change it back when I’m ready to post. Today I didn’t do that. I figured I could get it done on time, but as I was editing, and revising, my internet connection went down. I went into panic mode for a full 15 minutes because I had no idea when I had last saved the post or exactly what was going to post..some of my posts are complete mish mash until I edit them down. Some I just ramble on and on, and most of what I write gets deleted because gee, this isn’t my private journal, y’know? I get wordy, and forget sometimes. Luckily, my internet came back up, and my heart rate went down. My post is now where it should be until it’s ready to be posted..Wordpad. 

On another note..it’s going to be 70F today. I hope it’s not going to be one of those years when it’s 80F on Christmas, and 90F in February. I hate when we don’t have winter here. :/ 

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