Last week I told myself I would finish my taxes on Monday.

But, after last week’s artist date I wanted another one. I thought about it all weekend and instead of doing my taxes I spent the day painting.

The whole idea of BIG painting first came about when I watched the video “Raghava KK: Five Lives of an Artist” that Connie had posted at Dirty Footprints Studio.

Then she pointed me in the direction of Chris Zydel, from Creative Juices Arts. I was in awe!

Reading “Is This You?” touched a part of me I didn’t know existed.

Suddenly I wanted to art journal BIG and paint BIG.

So that is how I spent my second artist date. Painting. BIG Painting.

My old art journal is about 8″ x 12″.

My new, BIG art journal is 18″ x 24″.

See for yourself…

My first BIG art journal page:



BIG Art Journaling

I still had the desire to paint so I turned to a fresh page. But, where to start? What should I paint?




Where to start?

Maybe another art journal page?

So I started by adding two B&W photo’s of myself.




Maybe another art journal page



Sandy 2010



Sandy 1983

Funny how much I look the same even though more than twenty-five years separates these two photos.

The captions I chose or each picture gave me the courage to try and paint for real; to attempt my first watercolor.

The B&W photo from 1983 was actually taken while I was in drafting class. I was in the midst of a designing a house and drawing up all the blueprints.

These led me to pull a picture of house I have in my dream book.

This is the house I decide to paint.




Dream House - Image to Paint

And, this is how it turned out.




My First Watercolor - Dream House

Pretty good for my first attempt to paint a picture with watercolors.

By the way, I love painting BIG.

Here are a three fun websites I like to visit just for the pure enjoyment of discovering new businesses and reading about a wide variety of business ideas.

But, watch out, reading the content of these websites often has the side effect of causing ‘ideaitis’ – a brainstorm of ideas that opens your mind and triggers a cascade of possibility thinking.

1. Springwise

About: “Springwise and its network of 8,000 spotters scan the globe for smart new business ideas, delivering instant inspiration to entrepreneurial minds.”

Lots of interesting ideas from all over the word.
Warning – you could spend hours on this site.

Follow them on Twitter: @springwise

2. The Storque: Etsy’s Handmade Blog – This Handmade Life

About: “Your place to buy and sell all things handmade”

This blog profiles Etsy artists and sellers. Truly inspirational. Plus this site is so colorful. It’s just fun to look around.

Follow them on Twitter: Etsy

3. Dane Carlson’s Business Opportunities Weblog

About: “This website is not like all of the others. Since 2001, we’ve posted 16154 different business opportunities and ideas, so you’re sure to find something here to inspire you!”

Although I am not looking for ‘opportunities’ I have found some pretty cool business profiles on this site.

Disclosure: I am not an affiliate of any of these sites and I do not endorse the business models they write about or promote, but I do love reading about all the cool businesses they profile.

This is one of my favorite snippets of HTML code used to open a link in a new tab.

Having a link on your website or blog open in a new tab is very important, especially if you are linking to another website. You don’t want to drive people away from your own site. You don’t want them to forget to come back.

By using this snippet of HTML code to open a link in a new tab, people can jump over to the new tab, see what you want to share with them and your site is still open for them to return to.

Try the Joyfully Jobless Jamboree links below to see how it works. Beneath each link I have shown you what the HTML code looks like to open a link within the same tab (before) and what the HTML code looks like to open a link in a new tab (after).

Before – HTML code for a link that will open within an existing tab:
Joyfully Jobless Jamboree

html code open in an existing tab

After – HTML code for a link that will open in a new tab:
Joyfully Jobless Jamboree

html code open in a new tab

This is the actual snippet of HTML code to open a link in a new tab: target=”_blank”

It has been such a great week I can hardly sit still and get any work done.

It started on Monday when I had my first artist date in months. It was an amazing day. Incredibly rejuvenating.

Then, I felt so good and had so much energy that over the next two days I finished the e-book I had been working on for weeks.

Then, to top it off, yesterday I had the opportunity to teach a workshop for the New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners entitled “Increase Your Internet Presence – Starting With Twitter.” I had a blast!! The attendees were great. They asked lots of questions and were generally interested in how they could use social media to expand their business.

Since I LOVE to talk about anything and everything related to business and technology the two hours flew by in the blink of an eye.

That joyful, excited, “I could conquer the world” feeling lived on for the rest of the day, into the night and flowed over into this morning.

It wasn’t just the success of the workshop that has me feeling so good, and I know that I will return to normal and will have some down days in the future, but it was the combination of all the events of the week that has me on cloud nine.

First, I recognized me need for some time alone and identified exactly what I needed and scheduled an artist date for myself.

This gave me renewed energy and peace of mind.

It was also like having a soda pop explode after it has been shaken. That’s how I felt. Ideas were fizzing all over the place.

Next, I spent two straight, twelve/fourteen hour days working to finish my e-book. It was fun although tough at times, too. Obstacles always pop up, but I was passionate about it and that changed everything. It didn’t feel like work.

Being in the flow, creating some thing from nothing and seeing the ideas in your head begin to take shape in the real world is a feeling like no other. It is like flying. It’s freedom. It’s exhilarating.

Then, the workshop yesterday. The opportunity to interact with and engage people on a topic I could talk about all day was pure FUN!

Plus, watching people’s eyes light up and the light bulb go on over top of their heads when they finally get a concept or they have a new idea of their own is just as rewarding as the teaching itself, if not more so.

That’s what teaching is all about to me – opening people’s minds and hearts to a world of possibilities.

Now, today is Friday and I can hardly sit still. I feel like a little kid on Christmas morning. There are so many gifts everywhere I hardly know where to start.

This is a feeling I like having. I like having ideas. I like knowing I can turn those ideas into reality. I like knowing that I can contribute and make a difference, no matter how small the scale.

I know I’ll settle down soon and begin working. After all, I did settle down enough to write this post.

I learned a lot about myself this week.

This week taught me what I need to stay sane, happy and productive…

Time alone

combined with
doing things I enjoy and having fun

balanced with
intense periods of creative productivity

mixed with
connecting with and interacting with possibility minded people

equals
a very happy Sandy.

When I worked a full-time day job I had lots of time alone.

I spent sixty to ninety minutes a day alone in my car commuting to and from work. Time alone to listen to audio books and my own thoughts.

I had an office, not a cubicle and I spent most of my day working alone. Hours on end. It really was blissful.

Lunch times breaks were often visits to the bookstore.

On the way home in the evening if traffic was really heavy I would get off the highway and have a nice, quiet dinner alone, just me, a book and my journal.

Sometimes I’d stop at the bookstore or art store, just to wander around.

Now that I work from home, all of that free time and alone, at least most of it, is gone.

After four months I was beginning to feel like I was going crazy. Plus, I felt stale. My brain was feeling very dull and uncreative. I felt dull and uncreative. I was moody, depressed and just felt discombobulated.

This weekend I decided I just had to do something about it. For my own sanity and well-being I needed time alone.

I realized that if I am going to be successful working from home, that taking some time for myself is equally important as actually working. I have to learn to set boundaries and claim time for myself. I have to make scheduling some time alone daily and weekly a priority.

Then I remembered Julie Cameron’s artist dates.

“An Artist Date is a block of time, perhaps two hours weekly especially set aside and committed to nurturing your creative conscious, your inner artist. In its primary form, the artist date is an excursion, a play date that you preplan and defend against all interlopers. You do not take anyone on this artist date but you and your inner artist, a.k.a. your creative child.”

Right then and there I decided I was taking Monday all for myself.

And, I outlined a list of priorities and made a plan:

Minimum of four hours of uninterrupted time alone.
Travel time – at least 30 minutes or more in the car.
Beverage availability and clean restroom facilities were a must.
No laptop, internet, email, phone calls or text messaging.
Lots of light and places to sit, read and write.
And, it had to be peaceful, quiet.

Here is what I did…

I have to say, my artist date was an absolutely delightful day. I feel rejuvenated, re-energized and relaxed.

How do you spend your artist dates?

This short, three minute Ted.com video blew me away.

I’ve never seen anything like it.

I am in awe of the human capacity to create.

It moved me to tears.

(Why did I cry? Who knows. Music almost always make me cry. That’s why I don’t often listen to it, or I’d be walking around like a blubbering idiot all the time.)

Enjoy!