May Oh May... Where Art Thou.... ?

And ooooh my goodness... where the hell did April go????  We've been craaazeee busy around here with this and that. No time to balance, I miss balance!! (not that I've ever been good at achieving it!!)

With numerous planned events to host or attend, out of town guests and travels, and dealing with a dog needing cataract surgery (5 hours away from home).... eyedrops,  eyedrops... and more eyedrops, and then throw in life's everyday requirements and duties equals NO ART or BLOG TIME!

BUT.. I did finally manage to open an EtsyStore!! It was a goal for April that I refuse to give up on, even though I'm techno challenged and don't know what I'm doing!     www.etsy.com/shop/ajaemccain
But I decided to go for it anyway... what's the alternative.... not doing it?  Were would that get me?
I've only listed a few , and have only sold three. Funny... but two of the sales were people I know, but I'm still counting it ! : )

Lately though, life has been a whirlwind, and two months have seem to pass in a blink. But don't mistake my whining... we've had alot of fun, and created memorable moments through it all... just not enough normal ♥ Sometimes,  just normal is in order...

My intention was to follow through visually... with photos of our latest loved mayhem, ( and still plan too) but alas... this evening is as well on the eve of  yet another planned Memorial Holiday trip out of town.
But I felt really uneasy knowing I didn't even post here in May.     But then I realized... life is more important than blogging. Duh!!

And as happy and excited as I am to be here, doing something new... with all the possibilities that await me through this experience... life will always interrupt me.

So be it... it will unfold the way it is suppose to....

I did manage to work on her some...  BALANCE.... hmmmm? elusive....... isn't it?

xo ya'll... ajae

ps- I heart Goog♥my best, good online art friend.

SprinG has finally SprunG.....

I love you spring!

After a looooong, dreary drawn out winter, (and I don't just mean the weather) I'm finally feeling a little more spring in my step. What a relief!
For me, the "new year" seems to start more like when spring arrives, not so much in cold, dreary January. I find it difficult to be excited for a "new" year until like...now. Warmer temp's, sunshine, baseball, longer days, seeing your plants emerge from their somber sleep, all the critters seem frisky... the birds sing more. Even my dogs can feel it, and act differently.
Everything seems new again. Everything seems refreshed and get's a chance to start over. I love it!
Except for bathing suit season.... aaaahhh, could do without that challenge year after year. Probably because it get's harder year after year. Well...I will quickly get off that vain sentiment, as I am a healthy, mostly happy girl with a full, and very blessed life, surrounded by family and great friends constantly. (did I mention constantly, ha!)

As timing would have it, my spring has sprung in other ways as well. I want to share something I'm soooo happy and proud about and extremely thankful for. I've known about it for a while, but wanted to wait for it to come to fruition and get a copy of it into my hot little hands.... My first painting to get published!!!! Thanks to the fantabulistic Suzi Bluuuuu♥

This link above only shows a preview, but here is my page... :)

I would like to point out the title is "Respect Diversity" not Respect & Dignity. No biggie tho.... I'm still a happy camper!



I'm so grateful that Suzi Blu included me in her book. She has so many students, and wonderful artists that sent submissions for the publication. At Suzi's Les Petit Academy, (aka Art Skool Underground)... where everyone is an artist, I have met many wonderful like minded souls and have made some lasting friendships there.
I truly can't sing enough of her praises. Suzi is so fun to watch and learn from. She is an exceptional mixed media artist. She very engaging, passionate, funny, generous and never stagnate.
Her style of teaching really suits me, and I thank her for being a huge motivating factor for me actually picking up a frickin' pencil again. She actually has helped me realize that this is what I was meant to do all along.
And even though I'm slow, too meticulous, and self critical.... it's all part of my artful life journey, and that's okay...
xox ~ ajae


ps- I LOVE to hang clothes out to dry on a clothesline, but have a fear of putting my hand in a clothes pin basket, so I just leave the pins on the line all the time :)

Blog Worthy... ?

Let me start by saying this is a new work in progress, no name yet. I quite like her though, and hope for a good out come...

Now... down to the business of "Blog Worthy-ness" ...

This is where I've let my insecurities take hold lately.
I mean come on ya'll...
there are sooooo many really cool, insightful and interesting blogs out there.
It is easy to blog surf all frickin' day, if one had the time. You find a fav that you love and before you know it ... your following your favs's..... FaV's.
I know we are are all guilty of going to someones awesome blog that leads us to another awesome blog and then down the rabbit hole we go... getting lost and even forgetting where we began!

Interesting to me though.... is that some of my favorite artful bloggers and blog posts are polar opposites of each other. So really whose to say what is blog worthy? What appeals to one, may not to others. And even that can vary depending on one's mood at the time.

Ultimately it's the reader who decides. They decide when they check in on a blog on any given day and then get lost in the authors insight, art, photographs, wit, humor or whatever it may be.

And then there's the actual purpose behind one starting a blog. Or is there? Or does there even have to be?
Since beginning this adventure in January, I've found myself really close to adding more pictures and posts. But my inner critic keeps asking me "is this even blog worthy?" How dorkey is that!
I've been trying waaay too hard to determine what "direction" I should take with my blog. Who the hell say's there has to even BE a direction...the blog police? Geeze, how goofy have I been?

Originally, I "planned" on it being mainly art based, with a little life thrown in. But have struggled with this idea since... and found myself over analyzing every thing I considered putting up. The point being, I have wanted to post about little things sometimes, mundane even...nothing earth shattering, or necessarily "deep".

Hense....over thinking and micro-managing this "perfect blog beginning" in the right direction has not helped it at all, only deterred. It's that whole learning curve thing, not only in bloglandia, but about myself as well.

So, in an effort to push aside the darned perfectionist bullsh-t... (I wish this quality carried over to my closet and studio tidiness, no such luck, I'm a messy mess plain and simple) I hereby "expel" the the perfectionistic demons. (swig... inside joke, tx trisha!)

I hereby declare, reader beware...
I'm not going for blog worthy. In fact I'm pretty sure I'll be all over the map. I'm gonna stick with me, myself and ajae...no rhyme or reason will be found here. Blog posts may include but are not limited to;

ajaeart, mundane life occurrences, dog stories, tyrants and ramblings, family, music, nature photos and stories,things that make you go hmmmmmm? friends, inside jokes and what have you. And sometimes I do drink and blog :)

Just sayin'... xoxo ajae

p.s.  I am owned by 3 wild and crazy jack russells. And here they are...

"AxL's Blustery Adventure"

This mixed media piece was inspired by my Jack Russell Axl. I live a full and crazy life with three of them (and a husband). All with different personalities that keep my household in a semi-spastic state most of the time. Life is never boring for me that's for sure, a surprise at every turn...more about the JR shenanigans later!

A little more about me and my artwork... Most often my work reflects my personal joys and passions for nature, and all living things. I love to include outdoor elements, such as leaves, twigs , flowers and even weeds. :)
I'm definitely the outdoorsy type, and would usually choose to be outside than inside on a computer. I've always felt a calm and at peace outside exploring and observing more than anywhere else ever, since I was a child.

Several of the online art communities have embraced me , and inspired me so much in such a short time. For someone like me (waay computer challenged) it's truly opened up a whole new world to me. So much kindness and support has been shown to me, and I am extremely grateful.
So, even though I don't particularly enjoy the learning curve of how to become an online artist,( I'd rather be outside remember) I feel compelled to do so. I'm ready for the hit and misses of it all. I'm just ready ... Etsy store in progress, hope to be selling sometime next week :)

Wish me luck...xoxo ajae♥

ps-  Lizards make me happy :)

The leap...

As many may surmise...
This is my first blog post. Let me go ahead and clear this up right now... I seriously don't know what I'm doing. Hahaha, for real... I am so computer challenged it's ridiculous. I don't know how to make my page pretty, add links or badges and the like... So, although this may seem like a boring blog to follow for a while. My hope is to get all snazzy with it, like so many of the ones I have begun to admire, visit and or follow. At this time I would also like to disclose that my grammar will be poor, and my spelling even poorer, and run-on sentences are my specialty... so if you are a stickler for that kind of thing, well... thanks for stopping by ;)

I think my timing for beginning this adventure is weird sorta, being the New Year and all. I'm not a resolution making kinda of girl, so it has nothing to do with that. This is something I've been contemplating for some time. What's been holding me back was knowing I would totally have to mutter through the process, and risk looking like a dork. I have no "in life" person that can offer me much help with this sort of venue. (meaning none of my family or personal friends have ever had a blog)
I slooowly started thinking... so what! It dawned on me that until I started plunking around on the damn thing it would never happen. Was I willing to risk not ever doing it ... just so I could look cool doing it? NOPE.

"Everyone starts somewhere"... We've all had this banged into our heads and have repeated it to ourselves through out our lives... yes? And so many times though, we let our fear hold us back from starting... anything! It's sooo easy to let fear of looking like a "dork" stop you. Especially in the face of many who you admire and who have mastered what you are trying to achieve (in your own right) or hope to become a part of.

I believe that doing it wrong until you get it right is a very brave and admirable thing to do. So... in summary, take your leap! You simply cannot fail... due to the fact that you WILL learn something on the way down or up ♥ xo~ajae

p.s. "The Leap" inspired by a jr with NO FEAR! featuring AxL mccain