The Joanal

Remembering Jabec

I miss you so much, words do not begin to describe the void your untimely death has left in me. I envy you though, because I know you are feeling no pain. It’s those of us left behind who adored you who are feeling the pain of your senseless passing. We long for a glimps of your presence and warm smile and yearn to be with you again, Jabec.
Until such time, you will be forever missed and always loved.
BFF. . .mom

29 days and counting

I can’t get over how fast time is going! I still have so much to do. One minute things seem so hopeless, the next, one good thing happens and it all starts to come together. I still have so much to learn about having faith. For now, I continue to take it all in stride and to do “The Work”.

Good Job Joan!

It’s taken some time to adjust but I need to pat myself on the shoulders for a job well done. I completed five days of getting up at 3:30 in the morning to deliver the local newspaper. The route wasn’t huge but it was big enough that I got a good workout. I was done by 6:00 am or shortly thereafter each morning. It felt better than I had expected to be up early in the morning. It’s simply the better time of the day to be alive, IMHO.

58 days and counting

Well, I’m trying to stay positive but I am a bit concerned that the ads that I’ve placed to sell my bigger items has garnered so few responses. I guess I should be grateful that I have at least gotten rid of the boxing training bag. Now if I can only get rid of the treadmill and a couple other furniture pieces, things would be looking up for me.

My eBay Listings

My name is Joan A Brown and I’m a self-Representing artist living and working in Alberta, Canada. I have been a Self-Representing Artist selling my own art on eBay since early 2004 as well as representing African Artist Uchay Joel Chima’s work in North America. After many years of creating oil paintings and giving them away, to friends and family, I believe I have finally reached a personal level of confidence in my creations as a self-taught artist that enables me to also share them with the rest of the world. My work is currently collected primarily in the United States, Canada and, Europe. It’s such a wonderful feeling of accomplishment when I’m able stand back and look at a completed piece that I know one day, will bring joy to someone else. I thrive on that! It is my desire to bring some of the happiness I experience through my paintings to you and to wherever it is you call home.

Items for Sale by joan-of_art

Countdown to a change

The road before me looks overwhelming as I make this life-changing decision. I am so pumped! Yet so scared. . .and that’s okay. I have met with bigger tasks and came through okay. I can do it again. Today was about gathering boxes and thinking about what I’m keeping and what I’m letting go. The yard sale will have to be organized for the end of this month or early July. My goal tomorrow is to get a few classifieds up for a few bigger items. . .here goes!

A Walk Before Dawn

Do any of you ever go walking very early in the morning? I didn’t know until today how wonderful that is. The peacefulness and freshness of the morning air is so rejuvinating! There’s a beautiful lake near where I live and even though I walk around that lake frequently it wasn’t until today I decided to walk there as early as I did today. It was wonderful listening and watching the geese and malards with their newborns on the lake. The sounds of the various birds overhead, each singing their own songs. What I appreciated most was the cool freshness of the air and the rising of the morning sun from the east. It was lovely!

Sites I created

Several years ago I taught myself HTML, the language used by most web browsers. At first it was like greek to me. It took me a while to catch on to all that codes, scripting, etc. but now it’s so much fun to be able to whip up a page if I so choose. Here you’ll see the links to 3 of the sites I developed and currently have online. Check them out! I’m quite proud of them. They are not your typical state-of-the-art, up-to-date, flash-drentched websites but, they serve their purpose. This, despite the fact that I’m an amateur at it, it’s all good enough for me.

A Loving Tribute to Jabec Easton Bellehumeur

This memorial website was what motivated me to learn the HTML. After losing my son I wanted to created an online diary about this loss and how it affected me. It was also my hope that it might help some of those who came across the site.

STUDIO4JOAN.COM

Following the creation of Jabec’s website , I began work on my own website intending to help promote my oil paintings. By this time creating web pages became fairly easy. I continued to learn as much I as felt necessary to make my sites practical, easy to navigate, yet professional looking.

Art by Uchay Joel Chima

Finally, I worked on Uchay’s website. I met Uchay several years ago online and we’ve been art coleagues ever since. I love Uchay’s style of paintings. In fact, I imagined myself being able to paint in his style one day. For now, it is my pleasure to represent him here in North America.

Let the cleansing end!

Well, so much for that battle! Looks like I lost the war. I woke up this morning and was so hungry for solid food that I decided to end this cleanse. Whatever willpower I had in the past to carry out this feat no longer exist. I want food! I love food! I will have food!

Aaah! – Oops! Off the wagon. . .day 5 cont’d

Oh man! Doing this cleanse is so difficult this time around. I was starving! So much so that I cooked a pot of rice mixed with veggies. Wuffed about half of that down with the balance of the popcorn from last night. Oh my gosh! I can’t believe how hard this is. I don’t think I’m gonna be able to do it this time. I’m so bumbed-out right now!