5 Mondays and 5 Saturdays.

This happens only every 823 years.

We will have four unusual dates this year:

1/1/11

1/11/11

11/1/11

11/11/11

I got an email a few days ago about these dates and it got me to

thinking about how I could use the number eleven with my art

and I came up with what I think is a great idea!

I will create up to eleven works,

11″ x 11″ before the 11th

of each month beginning in

April and going up to November 11th.

On the 11th of each month 11 new

pieces will be posted for sale on

my website at 11:11 a.m. for $111.

The first posting will be

5/11/11!

The last posting will be

11/11/11!

This is a great deal for you art lovers. My regular price would be about $275. You will be able to make a purchase from the website or in my studio/gallery, SENTOSA, #102 in the east wing of Sunset Center.

If you already are collector–a great opportunity for a few new pieces, or if you have been thinking about a painting, you’ll have lots of choices–up to “ELEVEN” each month!

I wish I had thought of doing this before the first of the year–but you guys that have been receiving my email know that I’m always a day late thinking of something–this time I’m about 4 months late!

I’m not going to attempt to go back and do the paintings for January through March. Each piece will be numbered with the month, number of the work, and the year. This month I’ll do:

4-1-11, 4-2-11, 4-3-11, and continue up to 4-11-11.

I will paint paintings numbered 1/1/11,

1/11/11 and 2/11/11 and 3/11/11.

Those “ELEVEN” paintings will be special.

I may make a few ceramic pieces that will be, but most will be oil paintings. They will encompass just about any subject and maybe some abstracts. I think it is going to be fun.I hope you will jump in and get involved.

I’m going to have a drawing for the 1/1/11 painting on May 11th in Sentosa at 7:11 p.m. You will be able to sign up for the drawing at

1st Friday Artwalk on May 6th from 5-9 p.m. or at the reception.

The reception in honor of the ELEVENS is from 6:11 to 8:11 p.m. on May 11th at SENTOSA and everyone’s invited! You’ll get to view up to ELEVEN new pieces created in April.

Mark your calendar and save the date!

It is just wonderful–I love it! My husband, Gail found some young men to help move in the heavy stuff and with the help of Kenneth, I got the paintings all hung in time for 1st Friday Art Walk in March. I got the outside mall wall painted yesterday. When the signs are ready and lights all hung, it will just be perfect–but it’s pretty close right now!

A special artist friend, Barbara Weaving Lines, is moving from Amarillo to St. Helens, Oregon. I will really miss her when she’s gone. She’s got a great sense of humor and is so much fun to talk to. she was a teacher too, and we have a lot in common. But she has been a professional artist for many years, and now I am moving into her studio and taking on that role myself.

I hope Barbara will channel her energy and knowledge of art business to me. Even though I have every reason to worry a little about this huge leap of faith that I’m taking, I’m not even worried. My horoscope keeps saying that this is my year to do something with my career and my life–so I am! And I really have faith that it is going to work out! I am becoming a professional artist. I’m really taking this seriously. No longer is my art just a hobby that I do to keep myself busy–I’ve never needed something to keep me busy. My art has always been a serious endeavor, but now–I’m really getting serious–even have a business plan!

I will have so much more room, more room to show my work, more room to work, room to think, more room to store my important art stuff! I will have room to have all of my stuff at the studio where it needs to be. I will have a space for a small office with my art books, my computer, my stuff for selling online and shipping, putting my compositions together, and working on grants for the Amarillo Art Institute and Mission: Freedom’s Children. I am helping the founder put her foundation together. They will fund education and work to meet the needs of families and children of veterans as they return from Iraq and Afghanistan. This new studio will have plenty of workroom and room to be truly organized. As soon as I get moved in, I will post pictures and have a party–a grand opening with all of my new paintings.

I have been painting a series of roosters and chickens. I just finished a huge, bigger than life rooster strutting across a barnyard. Another painting is a black hen with her small gray chicks nestled around her with eggs peeking out from under her wings. Another group of little yellow chicks are around a small feeder. I have a few more small rooster paintings and a couple of windows with chickens and roosters.

sunsets are another series that I will hang. I have a trityptch that is a sky going from hot tumultuous clouds to a peaceful blue, clear sky with a few puffy cotton clouds. I have several landscapes that I have worked on this year and finished in the last few months. Finally I have a group of paintings with children. Some of my grandchildren and some of the children of friends. I want to promote my “genre” paintings of children that show the wonder of the moment–a slice of life in the day of a child or children. For years, children have been one of my favorite subjects and are found in many of my favorite paintings.

#102, studio sentosa is the name of my studio and gallery. “Sentosa” is a Thai word that means tranquility. Heaven only knows that I can use some tranquility and really nothing gives me peace like creating, whether it is writing or painting or knitting or stringing beads.

I hope that you will enjoy the tour of my new studio and gallery at Sunset Center in Amarillo, Texas as soon as I get moved in and take some pictures. Or better yet, come to the Grand Opening of #102, studio sentosa.