Morning ritual:  cafe au lait, an almond croissant and the LA Times. Taken in Venice, CA on June 24, 2005.

It is amazing how your awareness of a situation can come into clear focus once you make a decision to remove certain distractions.  Now that I have decided to pursue painting and writing full time, I see with certain clarity how I was not serving myself by remaining in artistic limbo, spreading myself in a myriad of different directions.  While each of these pursuits gave me a certain kind of gratification – financial or otherwise – I know now that if I were to continue just floating along on the surface of so many different areas, I would do just that.  Float along on the surface.  By making the decision to end my design projects and sharpen my focus, I now have the ability to go deep into a new world and see if I can really make a go of it.  Kind of scary.  Incredibly exciting.

Even though I have made many dreams real beyond my wildest expectations, I still have all the usual fears and anxieties that anyone has when embarking upon a new journey.  In addition to some wonderful successes, I have also had some miserable failures and situations that I never want to experience again, so I am in a fairly balanced place in terms of expectations.  I believe it is possible that I can succeed in these new realms.  I also know it will not be easy, and a good portion of the work I will need to do for any success is not painting or writing, but all kinds of mundane administrative & organizational tasks.  It will involve learning a lot of new things and facing many rejections, as I am basically an unknown in these two worlds.  Because I have had ups and downs as an artist and an entrepreneur, I will know better than to take anything personally, and I think this is one of the biggest hurdles most artists face.  Yes, my painting and writing are both extremely personal, but if someone does not respond to either, it is not a personal attack against me.  It simply is not something they connect to.  Hopefully more people will be moved by my work than not, but that remains to be seen.

For any of you who are wondering what this means for Swirly, the Swirly Girl line and other illustration work, here’s the scoop:

* I still have many fun Swirly products on the market, and the Swirly Girl line from Three Cheers for Girls continues to introduce new goodies every season.
* I am also developing new card lines with Recycled Paper Greetings, and Swirly cards are still available from them nationwide.
* My book, Plant Your Dreams and the Miracles will Grow is still available.
* Inkadinkado will be introducing new holiday rubber stamps this fall, and they also have a fun collection of everyday stamps in their latest catalog.
*The work I will not be doing anymore is freelance graphic design work – logos, business cards, etc.  I have had the pleasure of working with many wonderful clients over the past few years, and everyone was extremely supportive and encouraging of my decision.

I am still in the process of re-formatting my online journal.  Right now that involves me transferring all of my photos and journal entries into the new page, which is a tedious yet strangely gratifying experience.  The new journal and a few more website revisions will be up July 1.

"Taking on a special project will help you embrace what you have the power to change and let go of what’s beyond your control."  – My horiscope for today