Please note that my posts are now on two different pages.

* Sketch a day - join me in a daily adventure into sketching

* ArtistsRealLife - glimpses into the daily life of this working artist

# love

Currently ranked the most popular hashtag on Instagram.

As the popular song from half a decade ago says... "What the world needs now is love sweet love."

Honestly, I'm not sure there's ever been a time we need it more.

So much division.  So much isolation. Impatience and misunderstanding turning to anger turning to violence.

Please.  This weekend. Right now.  Do something for me.  Please.

Show some love to someone not expecting it.

Not to gain favor.  Or to sell something.  Or to get your favorite candidate elected. 

Do it, JUST BECAUSE... 

Maybe it's a long overdue phone call.  Dropping off some cookies at someone's doorstep, or a small bunch of flowers.  Or, write and send a handwritten note to show up in their mailbox - their old fashioned US Mail box - one day next week.

So so many are crying out for love.  

"What the world needs now is love, sweet, love... no not just for some, but for everyone." Jackie DeShannon, 1965.

Said another way, "Love one another."  (NIV John 13:34)

(Quick little beach drawing above found in an old sketchbook earlier today) 

"Pray, Paint, Run, Repeat" was a catchy idea for a new blog title.  And then it became my life.  Or maybe it was the other way around.

It is now a summary statement of my life in 2020.

And apparently my friends are noticing.

A group of them put together a lovely birthday party earlier this month, to celebrate my 60th.  An old fashioned birthday party like we had as kids, complete with cake, ice cream, and PRESENTS!

When I sat down to write a list of those presents, so that I would be sure not to forget any thank you notes I wanted to write, I noticed that each and every one tied into those three words.  Pray, Paint. Run.

To name just a few...

A driftwood cross.

Multiple gift cards (and some cash with specific directions!) for art supply stores.

A gift certificate to my favorite running shoes store.  And several of them pooled resources to buy a Garmin fitness watch.

Pray. Paint. Run.

Repeat.

So is my life at age 60.  Retired from the radio sales job at the end of 2019 to pursue Mimi's Art full time.  Spending a minimum of 20 hours a week at the easel.  With plans to re-open Mimi's Art Gallery this spring.

60.  A somewhat daunting number.  Though I feel so truly blessed and grateful to be here, as I know many who did not make it. 

So much more to say, but I believe blogs should be short, and take no more than about a minute to read, so I'm going to wrap this one up here.  Look for more on each of those three words in future entries...

I enter this decade feeling oh so loved by oh so many.  THANK YOU to each and everyone one of you.  ESPECIALLY to God, for blessing me with so many, and so much, in this beautiful life.

xoxoxo

​Mimi

PS - yes, that's me.  Chocolate chip cookie in one hand, and reaching for the icing with the other.  Some things haven't changed 59 years later!

Remember the line from Forrest Gump - Run Forrest, Run! Well, I've been running for the past year - and now it's on to PAINT Mimi, PAINT!

Even as I work to claim it as my livelihood, it still feels like a treat and indulgence.  Last night, as I prayed before sleep about how I should spend today, the nudge was "be Mimi the artist."

Sounds like it should be so simple, but life intervenes.

I did spend the first hour or two at two different beaches, painting Mini-Mimi's in the front seat.  Three new ones (below.)

Why did Forrest run?  At first it was to run away from the bullies.  Until he realized he was good at it.

I don't thinking I'm painting to run away from anything, but who knows, maybe on some level I am.  Painting to run away from part-time job after part-time job that I thought would do the trick for me financially, and constantly fell short.  Maybe when I paint more, I'll discover that it IS what God put me on this earth to do.

Gosh, I sure hope so.

Thanks for reading.  Stay tuned.

​Mimi

Been here before, though this time is different.

November 1, 2019.  Today I announce to my radio sales clients that I am retiring at the end of this year to focus fully on Mimi the artist.

Different this time because I've prayed about it for the past two years, a fervent "what is it you want me to do, God?"  and every time the quiet whisper of an answer has been "paint." 

That's it. Just 'paint.'

Asked so many times that when I re-read my bullet journal from January 1 of this year, I tired myself out in hearing the question asked over and over and over and over again, like a whiney child in the backseat asking repeatedly, "are we there yet?"

I am thankful to God that God is patient with me, because even I got tired of hearing my same question repeated.  To the same response.

So, wild as it may be, and quite honestly terrifying at times to ponder, I am retiring from the sales gig I have clung to for the past five years to re-focus my marketing and sales experience on Mimi's Art.

What will this decision look like a few months or years from now?  Your guess is as good as mine.  I simply know that I honestly have no choice but to listen at this time, because yes, Mimi, I think we are there now.

Time will tell. 

Thank you for reading.

Here.  I.  Go!!!!!

xo
Mimi

PS - The photo?  That's Dora, sitting on the table this morning as I wrote letters to my sales gig clients, watching the Secret Lives of Pets 2, totally intrigued by the cartoon cat!!!  #toofunnyDora