Acrylic Painting in Progress

It’s been a long time since I was able to pick up a paint brush, but I managed to start this cute rodent painting while my 4yo was painting. Still needs the finishing details put on, but it was fun to do! I basically let her pick what colors she wants and then use up the paint so as not to waste it. I’m frugal like that. So the background was from a few weeks ago, and the main body is from yesterday.

It felt good to paint again. I really burned myself out making my shop site and samples for the site, combined with homeschooling/remote schooling and taking care of the house. My energy levels this year have been all over the place, as I get myself excited about something then quickly scrape the bottom of my creative and energy barrels. I’m trying to take each moment as it comes though, and I’ve been giving myself permission to rest when I need to.

As a bonus, here are a couple of the paintings the 4yo did.

Holiday 2020 coupons

It’s been a few years since I’ve even remembered to set up a coupon code, but as 2020 has hit so many people hard, I thought maybe people would appreciate a little extra discount.

My novella Penumbra and Little Book of Love poetry collection are 20% off at Smashwords, and the short story The Cephalopod Maid is FREE now through Monday, 11/30. Smashwords 20% off BP34N

And my art merchandise is also 20% off at Fine Art America, now through Monday, 11/30. Fine Art America 20% off FGMJRB

New Custom Clothing/Costume Site I’ve Started

I just opened up my online shop of custom clothing and costumes and wanted to share the links here if you are interested in seeing the kind of creative work I do to make a living. It’s called Originals by Katharine Tracy.

I decided to focus on doing work with handsewn details for truly bespoke pieces, but I’ll also happily modify and customize preexisting gowns and costumes for people as well.

If you’d like to follow me, here are the links to what I have right now, and I plan on doing an email newsletter soon too, and branching out to a few other social media sites.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/originalsbykatharinetracy/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/originalsbykatharinetracy

We The People

This week has been… well, it’s been, hasn’t it? We’ve been confronted with a lot of ugly truths about the United States, and looking them full in the face is necessary if we are ever going to have a chance of surviving as a society.

Biggest truth of this week for me – there is no collective “we the people”. If you look at the voter counts, it is so close to 50-50 in so many areas of the nation. There is no true will of the people at this point. And for those of us who care about other people, that is hard to bear. We haven’t reached the tipping point of the population giving a damn. And we don’t have a whole lot of time left to reach that tipping point.

I know we’re all exhausted. Some have their hopes pinned on a change in the White House being the key to everything,, but it is only a first step. The work is far from done. We need to process, hold people accountable for their actions, hold ourselves accountable for our own, and do what we can in the communities we are a part of. And that looks different for everyone, so don’t compare yourself to others. Just take a moment of quiet reflection every day, and do the best you can with what you have. Rest when you need to. Then pick up the load as soon as you can to drag it a little further. Complacency is a luxury we were never entitled to have.

Silence, a poem

Annual election day posting of the poem “Crumbs”

Crumbs

We squabble over crumbs on the floor

While the big pile of money… oops… food

Sits on the table just out of reach.

We eat self-help slogans

Never acknowledging that this game

Of life is rigged against us.

Slogans offer little sustenance.

We dance as the puppet masters

Pull the strings.

We follow the magicians’

Sleight of hand

And allow ourselves to be astounded

With their misdirection.

We obsess with details

Refusing to ever see the big picture.

And we are amazed that we remain

Forever hungry.

Copyright 2013, Kat Micari

I will post this poem every year until things change in the United States for the better. I feel like this year has allowed more people the time to really reflect on what type of society we should be growing toward. The structures need to be dismantled, and we need to be a population compassionate and active citizens. Will we ever get there? I don’t know.

The Book of My Beloveds

Three of my poems are in this new poetry collection that Esmerelda Little Flame put together – The Book of My Beloveds. It is available on Amazon (both print and digital) and is free to read under Kindle Unlimited, so grab yourself a copy if you are so inclined!

One of my three poems is one that has never been seen elsewhere. I dug deep into my archives!

Esmerelda Little Flame is a truly kind being and has helped me rekindle some of my passion and creativity and magical spark when I needed it. If you are feeling like you need some uplifting, I greatly recommend her work.

She Hangs Stars, an abstract painting

I finished this abstract painting about a month ago, but I had to install my scanning software onto a new laptop since my old one decided to die. I’m hoping to get my gallery pages updated this week at some point.

I’m here and creating when I can. The creativity comes in waves during this social isolation and political turmoil. It’s still been kind of a roller coaster ride emotionally, and there are so many nights that I’m too wiped out after cleaning and prepping prek homeschool for the next day to do anything. But I do what I can. Anyone else feel like they are scraping bottom of the barrel and have been for months? We have to do what we can to refill ourselves, because there isn’t anyone “out there” to do it for us. But it’s a hard task. I find playing creatively is the best means for me to do that though.

Summer, an oil painting

I finished my second ever oil painting a couple weeks ago. I took summer as a theme, and I am planning on doing fall and winter to complete my first set.

I feel like I have lots to learn with oil paints. But part of the joy of creation is getting to play around with things, so I am trying to just have fun with it.

The 2020 Parental Whine, a song by Kat Micari

This song sums up what I’ve been feeling the past month and a half, but I feel much better now getting the whine out of my system and being silly while doing it! No joke, I was interrupted by my kids three times while trying to record this, even though I was letting them watch a show they wanted to watch.

These four chord pop songs are fun to play on the uke! It is much easier to focus on the singing when you aren’t fumbling around for the chords as much.