A winter poem

Those who have followed this blog periodically will have seen less posts over the last month or so.. not surprising considering how busy I have had to be on non-art related things. This is still the case and with the season that's in it, I will have little time unless I am ruthlessly disciplined. That is a trait I have to develop and I appear to be a little lacking in that department over the last few weeks, so updates and work on art has taken a back seat to marketing of art and house projects. I don't want to anticipate January events, but hopefully I will be able to sell some work beginning then, based on some of the marketing efforts and contacts I have made this week. Today I showed my work to the curator of a gallery, and their initial response was favourable. I shall talk more about this in the coming weeks. This week will see the shortest day of the year, and psychologically this is always a boost. With that here is a poem, origin unknown to set the scene, I sort of remember. I knew it better a few years ago.

When days are shortest and winds are coldest,
When snow is deepest and year is oldest,
When frost is hardest and storms are strongest,
When skies are darkest, and nights are longest,
Then powder your nose, and feather your nest,
And dress in your richest, and finest and best,
For Winter has brought you the worst it can bring,
And now it will bring you the promise of Spring!

Etsy shop prints now on sale...Visit ShanahanArt

This week I have made a series of paintings available as prints on my online Etsy store called ShanahanArt, so click on the link and follow on over to see them... you never know - you just might be tempted. And if not, check back in a short while as I will be making more of my favourite paintings available when I am happy with print colour quality. So far I have a few ready as high grade laser prints, shipping in postal tubes. I'm using the laser printer option for now and might try the more costly inkjet process at a later stage. Keep following the blog if you want to see how I am getting on or if you have an interest in my art. Some people in the print shop admired the prints so that was a sign of some interest being generated. Thats it for today...Jim

When days are darkest...

The weather is very cold this week here in Ireland but we haven't had snow so far. Temperatures have been low -- below zero or thereabouts. So I haven't had the chance to take any photos like the above, pity! This one is courtesy of wetcanvas photo library. Sales at the art fair were not so hot either and I feel that the recession was on all potential buyers minds. Still it was worth taking part and I can add this to my art cv. I will post more work here as I have the chance but lately I had a busy schedule with house projects and I am getting closer to the end of that so will hopefully get back to focusing on new paintings. In the meantime I have been looking at printer costs and options, yet I haven't bought - as it seems a huge outlay and funds are tight at the moment. I will have to decide soon...