ReLo

From here on out my blogs will be posted to a page on my website.

I'll keep this blog open for a good long while, there's some good stuff written here and I'd hate to lose it. Peruse the past, or hop on over and keep track of me at PScarborougharts.com

Moving In Part Two

My last post was full of energy and accomplishment. Boy, oh boy, it felt good to pack up all those pixels from one website and move to a shiny new PScarborougharts.com home.

Just as I was beginning to focus on the itty-bitty but very important details, just as I was really building up a head of steam and feeling like I actually knew what I was doing…

Blink. Blink…blinkety blink-blink blink blinkety blinkblinkblinkblinkblinkoooooooooo…

Black screen. Huh?

No amount of resuscitation on my part made one iota of difference. My computer was flat-lining.

Chest clenching   a g o n y. 

The Patricia Scarborough Arts website was up, it was viewable and clear and lovely to behold, but there was a ton of behind the scenes tech-type stuff to do that I was just beginning to get a handle on. And what if someone actually contacted me about it? Could they? Would they? How would I know?? All of that came to a screeching halt. Some of the screeching was coming from me.

Is anyone there? How would I know?

Not to be deterred, I headed to the public library. After waiting in line for one of a dozen computers, I found myself wedged in between two youngsters intent on saving the world from video game monsters and other extra-terrestrials. Having raised two fine sons I’ve heard about every kind of noise a human boy can make. Even at that, this was a little disconcerting, especially at a library. (As an aside, I have actually been shushed before in this very same library while whispering to a friend as we compared books. That we had read. Quietly, to ourselves.)

After one particularly startling snort I packed it in. This ol' gal needs space and a calm environment to talk her way through Search Engine Optimization and other foreign languages. Space monsters will have to get shot somewhere else.

This week I’ll take a deep cleansing breath, decipher my pile of notes and try to find that technological groove that carried me through the first seven-eighths of this monumental change.  If that doesn’t work, I can always go to the library and hire an 8-year old.

New Site Opening Ceremony

Drum roll please…ready? Pull back the curtain…and…ta da!

Let me introduce you to

P Scarborough Fine Arts Website

A website is essential these days for artists. I’ve had one for a good long while, having been prodded into creating one after taking an Alyson Stanfield Art Business class. Sometimes I even enjoyed maneuvering through the steps of uploading, re-sizing and categorizing the “behind the scenes” elements of website construction.

You know that favorite sweatshirt or pair of shoes that we love and just won't give up? They’re comfortable. Dependable. Steady. We convince ourselves that little hole is actually useful as a heat vent, or maybe a place to reach in and scratch an itch, perhaps a scar that marks the memory of an heroic moment.

Or maybe it’s just an old, worn out raggedy clothing item that is no longer the awesome fashion statement it was back in the day.

Awesome comfy sweatshirt or awesome absorbent paint rag?

 So it was with my former web platform.

Rather than spend time doing what I really love, which is moving pigment around, I gathered up my wits and my patience and started filling boxes of pixels for the move to a fresh new look.

Come on in and look around the brand spanking new P. Scarborough Fine Arts Website. 

There is still progress to be made, I know that. I've compiled a notebook of new passwords and a pile of definitions and directions that, between you and me, I'll probably ignore in favor of poking buttons until something interesting happens. So far I haven't deleted anything permanently. 

Everything I ever wanted to know, and more.

Its time for a break from computer-land. My trusty easel is calling for some attention and I'm more than willing to heed the call. Perhaps when I'm out of awesome paint rags I'll set up shop again in the world wide webs and remodel something else.

The Big 5-0

Yesterday was as perfect a day as one can get on this planet. The sky was achingly blue, the kind of blue that is so pure and rich and complete that it's impossible to describe. The sun was deliciously warm, with barely a breeze to ruffle the new grass.

To celebrate, I wrote a song. It's to the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas." I've changed it to "The Twelve Hours of Spring", in honor of those perfect 12 hours of absolutely flawless springtime weather. Sing it with me, won't you? And let's start it at the end. We don't have all day.

In the twelfth hour of springtime my true love gave to me...

hyacinth in bloom

breezes softly wafting

buds peeking meekly

squirrels dancing wildly

trees budding leaflets

cardinals a-calling

clouds white as cotton

Tooooo-lips pure red!

gold finches flitting

neighbor mowing loudly

daffodils a-bloom

(drum roll please)

and a sky that's as blue as can beeeeeeeee!

And if that isn't enough to get you excited about spring, Mavis and I are getting ready to celebrate the Big 5-0.

We're at Day 35 in our quest to discover what's Off The Highway, our 100 paintings in 100 days project. When we reach Day 50, the Big 5-0, on May 8th, 2009, we'll immortalize the occasion by giving away that day's paintings to two lucky people.

Here's how you can get in on the festivities-

Skip on over to Off The Highway, and say hello. That's it. You could expand on that if you'd like, and actually say something else, like, "Wow, your work is fabulous!", or "Sign me up for the Big 5-0!", but a simple "hello" will do. We'll keep track, put the names into a hat and draw out the winners. How cool is that?

Day 35 Wetlands 5 x 7 oil on gessoed board

No, really, how cool is that?