A Kingdom of Peasants

I don't recall ever agreeing to lead this type of kingdom!

Contrary to popular belief (and an advanced apology to those whose hopes I'm about to dash), I did not run off to the funny farm like my hair was on fire. You'd have to have insurance for that. Neither did Prince Charming show up and whisk me off to some exotic island. That requires too much energy - what, with making the childebeasts pretend they are more human than beast. No, girls - your faithful and fearless friend has not dropped off the face of the earth...I can't afford to fall from anywhere these days. This would not include the fall from grace I've apparently taken. Which would lead you to believe I had grace to begin with, wouldn't it??

I was fulfilling my role as Queen Crazy (as only I can) - creating art, wasting more than my fair share of time on the Internet, and even combining those two passions into an investigation on somehow actually making a living on my art. I was furiously researching ways to sell my interpretation of the world, not entirely convinced I was the next Picasso...but more than a little confident that I could hold my royal own with the likes of Donna Dewberry, Jennifer Perkins & Sandi Genovese. Pretty sure that I could out-crown Cathie Filian & Steve Piacenza (of Creative Juice fame), shoot adhesive out of the top of my scepter faster than Donna Kato can work a block of clay, and grind out a royal funk design faster than Traci Bautista.

It is entirely possible that my crown is too tight and therefore my brain is in short supply of blood - or that I've spent just a little too much time around odoriferous art supplies without adequate ventilation. Then again, it isn't totally unbelievable (or unlikely) that my life of poverty caused delusions of grandeur...especially since the only "grand" thing this queen can afford is delusions!

That said, I decided that mixed media art is hot right now. (Well, I didn't decide this as much as society has decided it's popular right now.) Around the same time, it became impossible to ignore that a reliable source of income is pretty important in the scheme of things. For years, people have said I should sell my art - and when I put some of my jewelry up for sale online, it sold better than I expected. Everything else I've made has been either to decorate my space or to give as a gift...and as far as I know, nothing I've given to my friends/family has ended up in a dark closet, only to lugged out right before my arrival. (I've been known to make surprise visits to check...or compare dust levels!)

As usual, this is the long way to get around to the point...but really, wouldn't you miss all the commentary if I made this quick??

As I was researching the best way to go about selling my art, my computer became extremely unfriendly and began giving me this nasty message. Something about "fatal error". And no matter how many times I tried to ignore the doom-filled message and continue on, the machine would adamantly hold the "fatal error" stance. I finally gave up, admitted defeat and took it to the repair shop. (This only happened because I was too embarrassed to keep explaining to the landscaping crew why my laptop kept "falling" out of my window and landing on the grass they were trying to mow.) It only took the repair store techie .0035 seconds to diagnose the problem: dead hard drive. After all the surfing we'd done together, the upgrades I'd lovingly bestowed upon it, and the fun we'd shared with the canned air...it hijacked every morsel of information I'd shared with it. My computer selfishly grabbed everything I had freely allowed it to store. This betrayal was worse than any divorce. It shut down in angry silence, never once responding to my repeated questions about WHY. And although I had spent years taking care of it and fulfilling every need that it had, it was clear I wouldn't even get half.

Which brought the true level of this kingdom's sad state of financial affairs into immediate focus. Not to mention that the collapse of my computer clearly violates the sanity clause I have.

The positive spin? I've had lots of time to work on new projects and organizing a good portion of my studio...which has been nice. Not as nice as staying in touch with everyone and sharing art with all the talented people I know...but I'm trying to find the good side. Especially since I don't know when I'll be able to replace my computer and return to my incessant online gabbing. Waah!

I will be checking email and blogging as I can...so please don't give up on me or forget about me. I'll be working on buying another computer as fast as I can - but until that's possible, I'll be creating like a mad woman - and continue to keep all of you in my thoughts. I'll pop in as possible...and hey - if you see Ed McMahon wandering around with that Publisher's Clearing House check, point him in my direction, would ya?