BUSY, BUSY, BUSY, ART, ART, ART - Back in the Saddle Again!

I'm not even sure where to start I've been so busy doing new art! Okay, I'll just dive in.

First, I did these really fun drawings above for my Post Card Party Invitations for my newest site Easy Greeting Cards - each photo links to it's particular blog page.

Then I redesigned those images to be put on party products at my online store The PopArtDiva Boutique's Fun Department:

I'm also in the middle of doing a series of pop art, Peter Max style designs for a line of products for Feisty Side of Fifty. The first one is below:

And I did up some new Valentine's Day Theme recipe cards for all my Valentine recipes at The Martini Diva and The Diva of Tiny Foods:

Not to mention testing out all those recipes - oh my, the martini recipes were SO difficult to try out, lol!! I did four dessert recipes for this holiday - all chocolate, that was tough to handle too -NOT!

I also did a couple of other recipe card designs for The Martini Diva, in fact I usually do 3 new ones each week, but this one I thought you'd get a kick out of:

I've also been doing ad work and a power point presentation for some clients - nothing exciting so I won't bother posting an image here, but this is the kind of work that pays the bills so I can't complain about it!

VISUALIZE VISUZLIZE: So, what have I been working on in my personal and artistic growth area? Well, to be honest, not so much. My recent move has upset my normal life flow and I'm just now getting back into the swing of things. I haven't been consciously visualizing much of anything - except maybe dinner!

It happens, folks. We can't always be on top of everything in our life all the time and maybe that's a good focus for my positive thinking post today. GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK! Quit beating yourself up all the time for not being perfect! Maybe it's okay to visualize a day off!!

Actually I did visualize - I visualized a day off! I was so busy working that I needed a "me" day so I actually saw myself sitting out in the back, soaking in the sun, reading a book, and I saw myself primping and relaxing and watching tv! I planned some downtime. And guess what? That's what I did all day yesterday!!! It was freakin' great! I didn't touch my computers except to check my e-mail and then I SHUT THEM OFF! I even read a bit of Joy Luck Club again!

IT'S ALL IN HOW YOU LOOK AT IT: Sometimes working is not the best thing you can do. Sometimes not working is the best thing you can do. A fresh mind, a rested body and some downtime can do wonders for your attitude! I am much more aligned with myself after yesterday.

ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE: I am grateful I allowed myself not to do something! I am grateful it was warm and sunny so I could soak up Vitamin D for a while. I'm grateful for good books and good drama on television that shuts off my overworking little noggin. I'm grateful I got to watch Pixel snoozing in the sun. I'm grateful for DVD recorder technology that allowed me something else to watch besides the Super Bowl. I'm grateful for Sundays.

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Unless otherwise noted, all images and art on this site are © PopArtDiva.com 2002 - 2009. All Rights Reserved.

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EXCITEMENT CAN SOMETIMES THROW YOU OFF BALANCE

Two weeks ago I got a brilliant idea! I decided to turn some of my art into greeting or note cards that were print on demand - cards with my designs where people could download a file, print it out on their own computer and in a few easy steps have an original and fun greeting card to mail out - all for only $2! No running to the store for an emergency card, no five dollar run of the mill cards anymore - only Easy Greeting Cards by PopArtDiva! Cool idea, huh?

I got so excited that I spent almost every waking hour (and a few unwaking hours!) working on this new project and business! This, of course, threw me off balance - it took away hours from other projects and most of my own personal down time too. But I don't think about this when I'm chomping at the bit to launch new projects - it only hits me when my physical body begins to complain at the lack of balance and personal pampering time.

So today I want to talk a little about balance because my friend Eileen, from Feisty Side of Fifty, wrote a wonderful post about that exact subject that inspired me to reinspect the balance in my life - again.

Now, one of my largest problems in balancing my life is the fact that I love my work! This would seem to be a good thing - and it is - but it is also sometimes the factor in unbalancing your personal and business sides! As you can see from my experience with launching Easy Greeting Cards, I tend to lean towards working 24/7. This is a habit that tends to tilt my life a little heavy on the business side - making my personal side a little light in the final analysis. (Example: Below are other new designs I thought of and created and uploaded to The PopArtDiva Boutique during my Easy Greeting Card Marathon!)Why the Elvis image? Because January 8th was Elvis Birthday and I did a week long Elvis Tribute at The PopArtDiva Baby Boomer Blog!

Now, when I retired from the art shows I got an extra little gift called Weekends - for nearly 30 years a weekend for me was just a set of 18 hour days of extra work setting up a portable store and selling from dawn to dusk. Then suddenly I got Weekends back - my God, I didn't know what to do with all those extra hours! I was so excited that I took the first few weekends and enjoyed them! I did mani-pedis, I read the newspaper and books, I fixed some things - I puttered! Holy blooming cow, I puttered - little old type Triple-A, workaholic me diddled around doing nothing of value!

Guess what, I felt rested, happy and more energized for working!? Duh-oh - boink - slap me on the forehead. . . . getting rest is good for you??? So I decided right then and there that Saturdays were going to be, at least partly, time for catching up on my personal things and not all work.

Sundays - Well, Sundays were going to be sacrosanct! Sundays were going to be for me and only little ole me. My newly painted toes, my book reading, my boob tube watching, my lazing in the bed until 9 am, me, myself and I. And it was my day to post to this blog because this blog is about my art and creating a better life for myself through that art and (guess what?) - Balance!

Of course, being the little creative workazoid that I am - I got excited over some new art project and I violated my own rules - working on both Saturdays and Sundays ALL DAY - several times! It's so easy to slide back into old patterns, isn't it?

But two steps forward and one step back is still one step forward! And I'm getting right back on my Sacred Sunday Bandwagon today!! See - I am posting to this blog again and later I'm painting my little toes and watching a bunch of really pointless DVDs! Thank you, Eileen, for reminding me to keep my balance!

VISUALIZE VISUALIZE: I see myself out in the beautiful California weather, having a luxurious lunch by the seaside - martini in hand, umbrella shading me from freckles and a lovely sea breeze ruffling my spiky coiffure - on Sunday!
I see myself taking a work day off to go to Disneyland for my birthday this coming week!
I see myself driving to the beach, lunch basket and Pixel on the seat, and great Beach Boy tunes playing to get me in the mood for Newport Beach, sun, sand and the sounds of the ocean
I see myself living a more balanced life as I pay more respect to my personal needs.

IT'S ALL IN HOW YOU LOOK AT IT: Here's the funny thing about taking a little time for yourself and giving your personal life a little respect - it's the one thing that recharges you to work and give to others. A little well balanced selfishness is a very good thing! Mom, sorry, but you're guilt has lost it's flavor - I believe in good selfishness because I believe in me!

ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE: I am so grateful for Weekends. I am grateful for Eileen reminding me to have Weekends and bring balance back into my life.
I am also grateful for the wonderful California weather and being able to sit outside and soak up a bit of sun when I take a break from work.
I am grateful for a happy Pixel who loves this weather too.
I am grateful for friends who give my life meaning.
I am grateful for you, my reader, for giving my blogs a reason to be written!

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A NOSTALGIC CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR YOU - Peter Pan with Mary Martin

As A Special Holiday Treat for all you Baby Boomers
and Children Who Will Never Grow Up

I am presenting:
THE ENTIRE BROADCAST OF
PETER PAN
Starring MARY MARTIN
at The PopArtDiva Retro Baby Boomer Blog

YESTERDAY: PARTS ONE THROUGH SEVEN
TODAY: PARTS EIGHT TO END
SPECIAL SONGS from Peter Pan

ENJOY THE NOSTALGIA AND
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE
from POP ART DIVA!

NEW HOME, NEW ART & NEW BEGINNINGS

Though I've been a little remiss in posting here the last few months because of my big move home to California, I have not been sitting idle! If you remember from my last post at the end of October I was notified I would have to move by the first of December.

This created a lot of work finding a new place to live, packing and uprooting my life but it also gave me my opportunity to move back home to California. On top of moving I still had to maintain my sites, create holiday art for my online store, The PopArtDiva Boutique, and continue to write and create art and content for my blogs, as well as finish up a large ad campaign. So, I have been busy creating even while I was boxing up 13 years of my life!

Below are some of the designs I've done for holiday products (Christmas and Halloween art and designs are always fun), plus a really funny parody on Starbucks Coffee inspired by one of their mugs I got as a gift from a friend, as well as a sketch for the baby boomer comic book novel I'm working on. I also did about 50 ads for that big campaign but won't bore you with posting those!

Needless to say November was a very busy and very stressful month for me. I asked the Universe/God for a new home in California and I got it! Now, I didn't get exactly what I wanted. . . because I didn't ask for exactly what I wanted. And that is a big thing I learned recently, you really do have to "be careful what you ask for" - and you have to be specific!

I asked to be living in California and I am. I even did sketches of my kitchen, bedroom and my bathroom and if you scroll down to my previous post you'll see the sketches I created to help with my visualization of my new home. I have all these wonderful things and I love them, but I forgot to put them just a little closer to the ocean in my drawings and my thoughts! So I am living in California inland from the beach a few hours! See, you have to get those details in!!!

But, never fear! This is a temporary home for the time being, a respite and an oasis in my migration West while I wait for my beach home to manifest! Yes, it is coming and all that is required on my part is a little patience! (Oh, that word - patience - not my strongest suit! But that is a life lesson for another day - today I am focusing on visualizations and how to fine tune them!)

So, as I head into the New Year I am happily living back in California where the sun is gentle upon my face, Pixel has a huge house and yard to play in and there is a Trader Joe's down the street. That's because I asked for and saw those wonderful things in my future and brought them into existance. Now I need to add an ocean breeze and some sand under my toes to the picture!

AND I'm going to Disneyland for my Birthday next month! Why? Because when I saw that ad on TV I "saw" myself there for my 58th Birthday! I wanted it and I visualized it, complete with all my friends! I might be missing a little bit of sand for a while but I'll be happily getting my picture taken with Mickey Mouse and all my BFFs in three weeks!

VISUALIZE VISUALIZE:
I am going to be drawing up some pictures that have beach umbrellas, footprints in the sand and some flip flops nearby to bring my beach home closer and closer. I will also be visualizing myself working long hours at the computer designing ads and laying out my books. I will also be visualizing sun screen for Pixel - she's a blond and you know how they burn!

IT'S ALL IN HOW YOU LOOK AT IT:
Though this is a wonderful house and it's in a beautiful area with rolling hills and civilization it's not exactly where I want to be forever. But it's fine for now and I'm seeing this as sort of an extended vacation in a beautiful country inn - something like a place I would rent to work on a book and have some solitude! I feel like I'm living in the French country side temporarily but when my book is finished I'll be heading back to my beach house!

ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE:

• I am extremely grateful for my country house sabatical
• I am grateful for the California sun and even the little Winter Wonderland that came in and surprised me this last week with 4 inches of snow and snowflakes the size of a half dollar!
• I am really grateful for Trader Joes, movie theaters closeby, beautiful sunsets, martinis with friends and some great dinners!
• I am grateful I will be spending Christmas with good friends and I got to buy and wrap Christmas presents again.
• I am grateful for my Christmas Tree with Pixel by my side and Holiday Martinis by the fire
• I am grateful for new beginnings
  

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MOVING DAY: Freak Out or Just Draw Up Your Dream Home

TravelingBobPopArt Copyright 2008 by PopArtDiva.com

This last week was stressful. What can I say? I'm busy posting to my blogs, drawing and writing for my Pop Culture Blog and Retro Graphic Novel, creating Halloween Martini Recipes and Halloween Finger Foods and the recipe cards for both those blogs, as well as working on the same big ad campaign when I get notified I have to move by the first of December! (BTW, you can see some of my latest novel sketches and Halloween art at those links above and you can buy my Halloween designs on apparel, home items and gifts at my Halloween Section of The PopArtDiva Boutique.)

Crap! Moving is a pain at the best of times, at the worst of times it is hell - sorry, but that is the only word for it! It's time consuming, back breaking and costly! So, what did I do? Spent the first part of the week being a good little artist during the day and doing my work then spending my nights tossing and turning as I fretted over being "put out on the street" with no idea of where I'll go. And then my kitchen faucet sprang a leak - like I needed something else!

Then I got some great encouragement from my fellow baby boomer Diva, Joyce, not only from her personally but from her great insights on her blog. She gave me a great affirmation: "I am being led to the perfect home for Pixel and me with everything we need to meet all our needs plus some pleasant- surprise extras!" which made me realize I could use this development to change my life for the better and move into a better home!

Thanks to Joyce, instead of griping and complaining and stressing over the move, I am now manifesting a better home for myself and Pixel! I have started sketching the home I want - the kitchen, the bathroom, the bedroom, a patio with great big private walls - making sure I put myself and/or Pixel in the picture somewhere!

It also helped me enjoy celebrating Pixel's ninth birthday on Friday too! She got a new "bed", some special "cookies" and a horribly annoying toy that she adores because it's motion activated, noisy and wiggles when she whacks it on the floor! Thank the Universe it's cover is velcroed on and I can give it a wash and replace the batteries! Happy Birthday 2 Pixel! Noisy Days 4 Pixel's Mom!

VISUALIZE VISUALIZE:
I am visualizing what I want in pictures and drawings! A picture is worth a thousand words, so they say, so these sketches should have some great manifesting power and magic! I'm leaving where the home is to the Universe though I am picturing perfect weather and a lot of martinis outside on my patio in the evenings and coffee in the mornings!

IT'S ALL IN HOW YOU LOOK AT IT:
It's better to see this as an adventure and an opportunity for change for the better. Not only does this reset my emotional vibration but it's really helped me to get a decent night's sleep and eased that knot in my stomach! Not to mention I have renewed my creative energy!! You can see that from the Pop Art Pet Portrait I finished for Traveling Bob!

ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE:

• I am extremely grateful that Joyce is my friend!!
• I am grateful for all the birthdays I've had with Pixel and all the birthdays I will have with Pixel in the future!
• I am grateful for the ad campaign which creates work for me.
• I am grateful I have the ability to draw my visions and create my world with a pencil and color.
• I am grateful I have a friend who's coming over to fix my broken kitchen sink faucet too!
• I am grateful it's almost Halloween - one of my favorite Holidays and my favorite subject matter to draw at this time of year too - I just love the combination of oranges, greens, purples and blacks.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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One Little Idea, Two New Books, Hundreds of Sketches and a few Halloween Martinis!

Creativity leads to more creativity - Ideas feed on possibilities!

Have you ever noticed that when you open your mind to possibilities your mind opens up to you? I've always known that my artistic creativity fed on itself and the more I involved myself in being creative the more creative I became.

I've discovered in the last couple of months that this creatvity flows over into the "non-artistic" parts of my life if I pay attention.

Case in point, I am working on a Martini Recipe book. I am either at or very close to the 100 recipe mark at TheMartiniDiva and I promised myself that was the magic number for a book. I knew I was going to do art for the book - hey, I don't do anything without art - but an interesting thing happened along the road to the book's concept.

Here is the scenario. I write a Retro Pop Culture blog and relate a lot of my posts to my life growing up in the fifties, sixties and seventies. It would have been wonderful to post old photographs of my life and my family, but I do not have any of my photos with me, they're all in storage in California. So, I did a quick little pencil sketch for one post which evolved into a cartoon of me in the eighties.
I took one look at the sketch and realized it would be a wonderful chapter illustration for a book I was thinking of writing about growing up a baby boomer and my illustrated "comic, retro graphic novel" began!

Then I realized that this could be a great way to bring art into my Martini Book as well and did a quick sketch of a martini glass. But the really cool thing was this sketch inspired a little one page story and all of a sudden my Martini Recipe book evolved into something much larger.

So, I am in the middle of writing and illustrating two books and it all came from the fact that I didn't have a photograph to post to the PopArtDiva Retro Pop Culture blog.

Of course, this all comes at the same time as a big ad campaign that I'm designing for so my work load has increased on an exponential level! But the busier I get, the more organized I get and the more I get done. Amazing what can be done when it has to be done and when you let the possibilities in!

Not only that but I am gearing up for the holidays. Today I designed this year's Halloween Martini Recipe Card and completed the last 9 of my 14 Halloween recipes for posting in October. Next weekend I'll start my holiday designs for The PopArtDiva Boutique!

VISUALIZE VISUALIZE:
I am already checking out format options at Lulu.com for publishing my books. I can actually see the finished books in my mind! That's powerful visualization. I'm really excited and this encourages me to continue the sketches and the stories.

IT'S ALL IN HOW YOU LOOK AT IT:
I didn't plan to get back into a lot of advertising design when I "retired" from the art shows, but it seems I'm in demand and I've always enjoyed the challenge of turning crappy input into decent graphic design. And you get a lot of crappy input sometimes. But instead of doing my usual complaining about how no one understands what it takes to turn crap into art, I've decided to treat each project as a challenge to develop a visually appealing layout no matter what kind of input comes in or how disorganized it is. I'm getting paid by the hour so if they want to pay me graphic design rates for basic office work, fine by me!

This new view of "crappy input" as "input challenge" has eased my stress and detoured me away from my usual path to bleeding ulcers!

ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE:

• I am grateful for the graphic design work because it means income.
• I am grateful that I didn't have easy access to my old photos because the sketch I did turned into something that is going to be a joyful project and, possibly, a profitable pair of books.
• I am grateful that I was able learn a new attitude towards an old irritation.
• I am always grateful for Pixel and her daily playtime needs because she makes me laugh and teaches me to always spend a little time every day to play!

Happy October - I love Halloween and it's coming up - oh, just think of all the purples, greens and oranges I get to color this month and all the monsters and goblins I get to draw!
Halloween Designs coming soon to The PopArtDiva Boutique!

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DO YOU HAVE TO ASK?

This image is entitled "Why Me, God?" and is available as a free download for personal use only as a 5"x7" card image at PopArtDiva.com.
Post images Copyright 2008 by PopArtDiva.com. All rights reserved. No permission is given to copy, distribute or reproduce without written permission from PopArtDiva.com.
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Hey, You Big Chicken! ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE!

You'll have noticed I've been absent the last couple of weeks. Not really out of choice but out of a case of what I call "the blues". I won't give it that other word that starts with a "D" - it's like if you name something you give it life so I refrain from that as much as possible!

I've been experiencing a block to my creativity or rather a block to the enjoyment of my creativity - something that almost never happens to me! My creativity and my art have been my most reliable saviors. Through the loss of family members, bad economies, broken relationships and all the other "hard knocks" of life I have always been able to use some form of creative outlet to chase away "the blues" or keep them at bay until I could deal with them.

The past two weeks has been difficult for me because, though I worked, I was not enjoying it! To make matters worse I could not, for the life of me, figure out what brought this on. For a control freak like me that's just adding fuel to the fire! Not only was I "blue" I was beginning to get pissed off about it, lol!

So, I ASKED for some prayers and good thoughts from friends. They came through in spades and within 24 hours something absolutely amazing happened! Not only did I realize what it was that was creating this block to my muse, I discovered it was something that had been blocking my way to much of what I have wanted over the course of my life!

What was this block? Simple. It was "ASKING". I have never been able to ASK for anything easily. I had a hard time ASKING for the good thoughts I mentioned above! It was like pulling teeth for me to ASK for just the good thoughts! I spent 2 hours trying to decide if I would ASK. Give me a break!

Whether it is ego (won't admit the need for help) or lack of ego (don't believe the help is deserved) doesn't really matter to me at this point. I could not ASK and if you don't ASK you don't RECEIVE!

But you know what? I freaking DID IT! I girded my loins, looked at the big, ugly block of fear that had barricaded my way to so much of what I wanted in life and I took a flying leap over that ugly Mother of broken dreams! When I looked back I was surprised at how small that road block was! Why it was just a little bit of silliness wrapped up to look like the "Demon of Failure and Rejection"!

You see, what could it do to me? If you ASK, what do you have to lose really? Nothing in the big scheme of things - just the fear of rejection and what is that? Nothing. Fear is nothing. Rejection is nothing. It's only a temporary bruise to the ego and the ego ain't paying your bills or making you happy! Sometimes it's doing exactly the opposite!

ASK! ASK because all people can do is say no and no is just a word! No won't bite you! No can't hurt you if you don't let it. No is nothing. Not if you really want something bad enough! You'll take a No a million times if you have a Yes coming down the pipe!

ABUNDANCE COMETH:
So, how does this relate to abundance? Well, I have a really good idea for a product - I mean a really good idea. But this product would require large amounts of money and some business expertise I don't have.

Dear Me! I would have to ASK for something. I would have to ASK for help! Oh, my ego was having a hissy fit, it was drumming in my head, "No, No, I can't let you do that - you'll embarrass me. You don't have the right to ASK for something. I'm going to make you so sad you won't be able to ASK for anything!"

Something clicked in my head and I screamed back, "Shut up, Ego! Go to your room, you've been a bad Ego for decades and I've had enough of you! You are grounded and I don't want to see you again until you've learned your lesson!" And I sat down and wrote a letter and ASKED.

Whether or not this letter gets me what I desire remains to be seen. But in the simple act of ASKING I have opened up possibilities, possibilities that would not exist had I been to fearful to ASK. And possibilities are the pathway to abundance! Possibilities give you detours around road blocks, possibilities give you hope and hope gives you abundance! All you have to do is ASK!

I kind of like this ASKING. I think I'll do more of it in the future!

VISUALIZE VISUALIZE:
I am going to be visualizing my letter winging it's way into the "right" hands. I am going to visualize millions of bills floating gently down upon my product(s) from the sky. I am going to visualize some food too because right now I'm hungry. ASKING requires calories, lol!

IT'S ALL IN HOW YOU LOOK AT IT:
I don't like being "blue". But if I had not had this bout of temporary "blueness" right now, at this moment in time I might never have seen that silly roadblock for what it was - just a bump and not a mountain.
For the first time in my life I see how the words "bad" and "good" are only concepts we apply to situations. What may be bad now might be a good thing for the future. Bad blues, Good blues? - Yup, it's all in how you look at it.

ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE:
I am deeply grateful that the thoughts and prayers that I ASKED for were sent my way.
I am grateful that I am, once again, free of the "blues" and happily regurgitating more ideas and doodling away.
I am grateful that I finally saw my fear of ASKING for the silly boogyman that it really was.
I am grateful for spaghetti - especially spaghetti with Italian Sausage!

Bye and go forth and ASK!

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