The GOOD NEWS thread ...

[artistjillian]

Strange times. We all can do with some good news. Be it sales of your art, or something personal. SHARE IT HERE! * * * * * * As for me - I start my new, permanent, full-time job on Monday, after not having one since end of July last year. Hope your day(s) are bright ones. -- ~Jillian artist, Jillian Crider ... google me! -- Edited by artistjillian at 06/11/2009 11:04 AM PDT -- Edited by artistjillian at 07/26/2009 10:49 AM PDT

[gweddus]

good news for me...I have re found the group. DH bought me a laptop for our 40th anniversary and no matter how much I tried it said I didn't belong to any ebay groups...aaaarrggh....I have at last found that if I go to the internet and google aceo groups...I can log into one and from there come to here through the back door....I thought you were all lost forever !!!!! Also been on holiday and came back to three bids on my four auctions...so things are looking up at last.... hope you are all well and painting and selling well Brenda x

[parrito]

Good luck Jan, best wishes and fast recovery for him. Amparo

[booklover818]

Thank you Amparo:-D Pete had his third surgery Friday and is doing very well. His grand-father and I were there when they brought him back to his room after surgery and he greeted us with a big smile and a hug. The great news just continues in this story~~~Jan:-x

[pinkpingpongballs]

Jan, I am soooo glad to hear the great news on his recovery and your heart rate...sorry for the surgeries, though! And Brenda, congratulations on your new laptop and on re-finding the groups!! And on the bids!! :) ~Elizabeth

[allyon67]

Congrats, Jillian! Glad to hear your grandson is recovering nicely, Jan! The baby bird pic was adorable and the sewing machine news made me wish I lived down the street so I could give you some projects haha.. I had a blast at Artscape this weekend and last weekend was in State College at the arts festival there...very fun! -- Pam Miller PMILLER Contemporary Art www.pmillerabstractart.com pmillerabstractart.blogspot.com

[artistjillian]

🙂 Nice to hear from you all. :) -- ~Jillian artist, Jillian Crider ... google me!

[Anonymous]

I know this is probably not the right thread for this, but I couldn't find a better one and sure didn't want to put up a new one just for this. So, here tis... I've never listed anything in ACEOs that wasn't at least a little bit quirky - a guy with his head in a toilet bowl, etc. But, my GOOD NEWS is I'm declaring I can do serious art too. My wife does portraits and I couldn't help getting a little interested because she always asks me to critique them as she goes through the process of painting them. I've painted and drawn people, but never tried to paint a portrait to get a good likeness of a person. So, I felt like I had this itch I had to scratch and at least try a couple. If it turned out to be crap nobody except my wife would know and she already know my multitude of failing anyway. A couple of weeks ago I finished my first portait- an old friend and his son. It was in colored pencil and too heavy handed, but OK. They were thrilled with it - probably at least partially because I gave it to them for free, but they said they couldn't believe it was the first one I had ever done. So, I started on the one I really had as my goal from the beginning - my 93-year-old mother, who live several hundred miles away. She just recently gave up driving and decided she could no longer live in her home alone and moved to an assisted living apartment. I'm pretty pleased with this one myself and decided to declare here-and-now that Glenn is not all quirkiness. My mother is usually smiling, but a few months ago as we were leaving her house to come home I was taking some picture of her before we left. In some of them I had her pose beside a window and took them with only the natural light from the window which put one side of her face in deep shadow. When it came to choosing a pose for the portrait I decided the very introspective expression with her face in shadow was much more artistic than a smiling vanity portrait would be. So, here is my second ever portrait, my beautiful mother, and thanks for listening to my ramblings. Glenn

[artistjillian]

Glenn this is WONDERFUL! Thank you so much for sharing your story and art with us. This is a wonderful pose, and captured perfectly. Definitely there are more portraits in your future. *applause* -- ~Jillian artist, Jillian Crider ... google me!

[poozybear]

Oh my gosh! Glenn, that is FANTASTIC! -- Kathy

[wickedwoolgathering]

Glenn, that is awesome!!! By the way Mom is also beautiful, two treasures in one... Brenda

[suejo0101]

Glen - that is beautiful. I took a graphite pencil class & one of our assignments was to do a self-portrait. Ugh! Anyway - I have curly hair like your mom & that presented to biggest challenge to me. You captured her lines so well! I see many more portraits in your future! Sue

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for the complements. I'll let others decide if the painting is good or not, but I did accomplish my goal of getting a good likeness - wrinkles and all. She has not seen it yet and I hope she likes it. We are traveling tomorrow to see her. She is in good health considering her age, but because she is 93 I always have a dread that it could change quickly. So, I try to go see her as often as I reasonably can. Sue, my problem with rendering my mother's hair was that she doesn't have a gray hair in her head - it is pure silver/white and naturally wavy. You can't paint it without putting gray in it to show the texture and shadows to indicate the waves. Thanks again, Glenn

[poozybear]

I sold a postcard on Zazzle and made eight cents!!! :-D -- Kathy

[suejo0101]

Lunch is on Kathy! Sue

[poozybear]

Hey, life is good. For the work I put in, that works out to .0000000002 cents an hour. Woo hoo! -- Kathy