Busy Artist and Dog Rescue at Work

 Hello Everyone, 

My bear technician job has officially ended this week. I have been very busy painting when I get home from work and have completed about 3 paintings in 3 weeks. Not these 3 but the bear one is new and I added sparkly snow to the trees and ground so it actually shimmers like snow does. I finished 2 commissions and I will be ready to start up on more soon. I have been brainstorming what my next ones will be:

    1. Gray fox

    2.Another bear

    3. Wolf in the snow

    4. Raccoon up in a tree

    5. Otter by a river bank

    6. Landscape

Let me know in the comments what my next one should be!

I wish I could take better wildlife pictures but I generally don't have my camera or my camera out quick enough for me to get good pictures. 

I got invited to be an art vendor at the Marbold Heritage Festival this September 9th and 10th but unfortunately I don't have time to make enough prints and things to sell in time...or the car space to haul it all up. This is a great event for Menard county and you should definitely go and check it out and support the work the Marbold team has put into restoring this beautiful old house and grounds. I used to go to these festivals at any chance I could and I hope to get back to that again some day. It is such a wonderful atmosphere of crafters, music and good food- that's exactly what I want to be a part of. 

These weeks since my last post we have had both our cars have problems, I've been cleaning a lot and doing art, and I had a job interview yesterday and Parker has one coming up next week. His is for a permanent position so that would mean we will actually settle down somewhere. I really want to just pour my heart into a house and property and make it our own, have a garden and in time an art studio. I know I have high hopes but they say with God dream big because he can do it. 

School starts back up on Monday. My very last semester- I am so excited. By the looks of it I got my student worker job back but instead of Fisheries like last time I got the wildlife job! I will get to do even more fun things for the next 16 weeks and hopefully I can have more fun stories.  

Here is a fun story for you: so no, this isn't our dog, I found her in the woods. It was Monday and I was checking snares and tearing them down and on my second snare of the day, while I was on my ATV riding some rough trails to get to it I saw this dog. I slowed down to see if she was friendly and pet her and she jumped up in my lap while I was on the ATV! I thought she must have a home, she's a very pretty dog and seems well trained. So I decided she can ride with me to my snare and maybe her owner is down this trail. We get to my snare and she didn't leave my side so I suspected her owner was not here. She played with sticks while I took the snare down. When I was ready to leave she followed me out of the woods and as I set the rolls of barbed wire on the front of the ATV she hopped up in the seat like she knew we were heading out. We rode the rough trail back to my truck and as soon as I opened the door to set my backpack inside, she jumped up in the cab and was ready to drive off with me. I looked closer at her collar, I hadn't seen any tags before, but this time I noticed an engraving of a name and phone number. I called the number and an elderly woman answered and said this dog had been lost for 4 days, they had given up hope of her being found and they were leaving to go to Texas at noon- it was 8:30 in the morning when I called. She came and picked her up and thanked me. They had only had this dog a week before she ran away. I was so happy that I found her in time. 

My verse this time is one that I really like because it reminds me that God is always with me. If I am lost like that dog was or if I am a featured artist and known the Holy Spirit will never leave and will guide me. "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." -Psalm 139:6-10. It's kind of funny to me that when I was young I didn't know how in the world to comprehend what those numbers meant after the book and here I am using colons and dashes. 

I guess I will begrudgingly go wash all my 50 blue million paint brushes now. Have a good week!

-Nichole 🐻