madness manor – Quixotic Mama

mostly i’m just staring at blank pages
blank canvases
a busy mind
spilling ink
& seeing what happens….

so this past week i have spent $300 that i don’t have to pay two different plumbers for a total of 15 minutes of work. i am broke as a joke & living on credit and praying to the universe that art sells…that books sell…that this job comes through…that my ex gets a job & starts paying me child support again…that i somehow win the award issued by the sustainable arts foundation despite four or so failed attempts to win it in years past….

i need to learn plumbing…in addition to carpentry & tiling.
or sell art so i can afford to pay for help.

up top: “gretchen”
20X16 inking on canvas
$200 plus shipping

left: “clarice”
8X10 inking on watercolor paper
$40 plus shipping

right: “lambkins”
8X10 inking on watercolor paper
$40 plus shipping

seeing my books
on discount
hit me much harder
than i expected
i am already too fragile
of late
my exhibitionist
more exposed
than invisible me

i’m trying to fly instead of falling…but i just keep tripping over myself. what the what. i hate this. i guess i need to take a breath & not push me too hard…but i can’t let me slip backwards either.
in other news, i had to fire my handyman as i am sinking further & further into debt and guessing i have to figure out how to fix madness manor by myself?
so tired of doing things by myself….
and as getting by on my good looks is not panning out…i had to get a paying job, but at least it is working with plants. of course, now i have to worry that i am not actually qualified to work with plants….
there was a personality test with the job application. i was sure i blew the personality test. who the fuck would hire me?
but they did hire me.
why? i’m not sure i would hire me.
and after i post this, i am headed over to the viroqua public market to drop off more art because my drawer at home is overflowing. now my spot at the market will be overflowing…i only sold just one last month.
i googled how to promote myself….
fuck.
i peeked out…couldn’t find my shadow…and now i’m headed back into my hidey hole.

my anxiety has been on high
waiting for chimney work
having chimney work hit a snag
taking 2 days instead of one
then having buyer’s remorse about
my woodburning cookstove
& spending a night
having chest cramping panic attacks
while wondering if i wasted all this money
to follow a half-baked dream…
sigh.
i have little voices who tell me that i should take this other path
be unconventional
& other little voices telling me that i am just a huge fuck up
and that i should have done it like everybody else….

but today i feel good. i love my stove & my house is warm and now i know the difference between celsius and fahrenheit (i totally burned my pizza, y’all.)
it’s going to be okay…
it’s going to be okay….

up top: “mother morrigan”
down low: “tea & anxiety”
9X12 inking on watercolor paper
$45

wordpress just let me know it’s my eight year anniversary
whoa
how my art
my writing
& my way of viewing myself
the world
& relationships
has changed in eight years…
maybe not anything earth shattering
but
everything
has gotten a bit more proportional at least

this is a character from a story i played around with eight years ago in an art class. a story i still hope to finish developing one day.
eight years ago i was about to give birth to my fourth & final child. i was in an awful & emotionally abusive relationship with the dad. eight years ago i was attending art classes at uw and had just spawned moses jones. eight years ago i was in a lot of pain.
i somehow survived.
now i love & adore my four little monsters even when they are driving me mad. i no longer go to the dark dark places i went to back then–or at least i can still see the light when the dark decends. i can successfully ward off the wooings of the dad (who just this past weekend tried his hand at seducing me again.) i can suffer through the loneliness knowing i am who i am & am not going to accept anything less. i am working on my third publication. i am (slowly) selling art. i am working on a novel while editing two other books i wrote years ago to see if they are publishable….
and! i have my madness manor & my breathtaking view of the hills around me. i have a home–in more sense than one.
i have found my home.

just doodling.
i never really know what i am doodling until it’s doodled.
i never know if i am going to like it or not.
i still haven’t decided about this one.

in other news…i am still trying to figure out a way to make money.
i slashed prices on all of my art.
i was thinking i could start selling baked goods…but i still don’t have an oven or a chimney….
man i need a chimney.
it’s going to be cold this winter if i don’t have my woodburning stoves up & going.
i have a yard full of hard wood stacked.
i have a woodburning stove on my porch.
but i have no chimney & cannot find a mason for the life of me….

oh, and i need income
because i am running low on funds….

Tag: madness manor

girls girls girls

fraud alert

tea & anxiety

eight years…

soul mates