A Simple Life, My First Live Stream and An Event in 2025

Hi friends,

I hope the beginning of the new year has been a smooth transition for you. I am using this fresh start to try new things and push myself a little towards my personal goals while also carefully editing the routines around me. I'm also using this time to reflect more, practice mindful meditation and move in the direction of a simpler life. I have, for quite some time, yearned for less in my schedule and less stress at home too. It's funny how as I've gotten older (51 on the 13th) I find myself desiring less material things and more value in the relationships I cultivate. 

What about you? Have you found yourself desiring a simple life too? I want to be at home more, with my dogs and cats, with a little garden and little pleasures. I want to read a good book by a chilly window while the fire beside me warms me. I want to sip hot tea, and talk to my youngest daughter about her dreams. I want visits from my adult children, and to play with my grandchildren, listening to their sweet laughter. 

Part of this simple life eventually includes technology. I'm creating for myself (hopefully) a "job" where I can paint more and deliver art to you and the rest of the world from my little corner. So, with all the nervousness of a long-tailed cat in a room of rocking chairs, I made my first live-stream painting episode last night. 

It was awkward and the lighting was not great. My studio is a makeshift attempt to show my paintings from a large spare bedroom because my little outdoor she shed studio is COLD and who wants to hear an artist with chattering teeth shivering while she is painting? But my first turnout was decent, with more than a handful of viewers interacting with me and asking questions. My daughter Josey was a wonderful moderator who filled me in with viewer questions and comments. Not half-bad for a first live. 

I chose the painting above specifically for the live stream event to kickoff my news about a huge event for me in 2025. The Gallery at ABAC's Georgia Museum of Agriculture will be featuring my works in a solo-exhibition in January 2025 and will be open until May. The exhibit, "The Long Way Home," refers to my continuing process of wanderlust and painting. I often ask my family on a trip home from town to "take the long way" and we will find ourselves down dirt roads we've never seen before to find new places and things for me to paint. Thank heavens for GPS! Can you believe I used to do this many years ago before it too? 

I've been long-winded today, and if you've made it this far, I appreciate you taking the time to read it all.

Can't wait to share with you this journey. 

My next live stream is Monday, January 29 at 7 pm. I will be leading us through part two of the painting we began last week. The session will last around 30-45 minutes and can be accessed via my Jennifer McCall Art Facebook page.

See you then!

Blessings to you!

                                              -Jennifer