Yes, I am "shooting for the moon."  My crazy passion for painting has grown to almost an obsession.  I carry art books every where I go.  I stop to sketch and take photos any time it's possible.  I look at art websites in every spare moment. My mind constantly designs, composes and colors things around it.  And yet, I have a day job....a very busy day job.  My husband, Jeff, and I own a real estate business so, I paint when I can, as much as I can.  I'm "moonlighting" with my art and thus, the signature with the half moon symbol. 

You know, it just might be that squeezing in painting time is what makes moments at the easel so special.  I don't "have" to do it, but I love, love, love to pick up luscious sticks of pastel and make loose, free strokes on sanded paper.  Pastels provide immediate gratification.  They're always ready to use on short notice, they don't start to dry if I have to stop and take a phone call and, if I have five minutes or five hours to paint, pastels seem to beg to be picked up and enjoyed.  Not to say that I don't love loading a brush with creamy oil paints or acrylics, but there is just something special to me about a medium that sits patiently waiting for me to get out of the left brain real estate mode and come to the easel and create.

 I have a new word to describe me.  I am a "Limner." I love to paint and draw, to interpret and convey through art.  I know there are a lot of moonlighting artists around and I've come to appreciate the artist in me who is always looking, observing and dreaming of the next painting opportunity.  I may not get to paint today, but, if I do.....the painting is already started in my head so I'm halfway there! 

It can be done...artists with children, jobs, aging parents, clients and millions of other responsibilities...don't give up.  It doesn't matter how much we create, but it matters a lot that we continue!