Week Updates! Goals and more!

Friday, Yey! Lunch-time blog, I can do this! "Every-day" blogging is my goal! I've been trying to transition into using my blog as a primary social media platform but the habit of Facebook and Instagram are a too strong! Yuck!!! Going to do some Facebook de-toxing to free up blank-brain space and blog at least every other day about my work and process. I feel like I get more out of having a blog. With Facebook so much can get lost over time. Instagram, however, is way too much fun! I love the "stories" that are like Snapchat, gone in 24 hours, and images just speak for themselves. I love images as much as I love words. It's a simple platform and good for connecting. Well - they're all interesting, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter…. Depends what your branding style is. I like the wordy and image based stuff that gets personalities across. 

Sometimes I like to take it to the floor! Get low, get low....

I started some Facebook detox this week! Yey! One thing at a time, haha! Not that I will permanently stop posting, but at least not be searching through it so much. On top of that we just got same bad, bad political news and I know it's going to blow up with posts. I almost couldn't relax before bedtime last night! Must spread more love and happiness and push my work through! I'll keep posting on Instagram - that's just a fun platform! My favorite is watching belly dance videos. 

I had lots of progress this week from staying away from too much social media. I am a good portion through a Mommy and Me Arabic Dance Commission; an oil painting on wood, YES! I'm excited for that one. I got a good handful of small watercolors done that I'll be framing with some really neat and funky frames that give the paintings some juice. I'm in love with this whole idea of opening myself up to the topic of "tea-time!" My theme has been Arabic Dance for a while but I can bored somewhat quickly, or rather, un-inspired because I get stuck in one area for too long. My solution this time was to continue painting but with a different theme all together. This technique is totally working on my brain and stress-levels! I also danced, taught my regular classes, tomorrow I teach Belly Dance Level 1 and 2, more on Sunday, and hopefully next week I will make even MORE progress! Oh yeah!

So here are some images below on updates from this week. Enjoy! 
 

Image take on the first round of this painting! This is the very beginning stages of the "Mommy and Me" Belly Dance commission I'm excited for! Dancing together towards the sun.... :D

This painting above is a multi-media water piece that I had so much fun making! I have two more similar ones on the way. This one is called "Lavender Honey" and has real dried lavender inside the hat on the bottom right. It smells so good! The frame is a drawer and there is gold leaf painting in some areas to give the piece a twinkle of shine and warmth. Yey! Selling it at $200. 

A small watercolor for a Patron! Yey! She donated towards my educational trip to Lebanon this year (my first trip to the Middle East!) where I'll be taking workshops with several master instructors. 

This is a multi-media piece too! I'm thinking about this frame... Hmm.... The painting is missing a purple Iris flower on it, symbolic of wisdom and hope. The books that I painted are Edgar Allen Poe's collection and Milton's "Paradise Lost." I chose these books because they are classic beacon's of light and share beautifully poetic stories. The tea pot is on top of the books looking out of a window to a rainy afternoon. Makes me feel so cozy, I just want to read! I'm not done with the painting just yet... plus I have to work on finishing the rest of the framing.