Happy Trade-off
Sent: 9/5/2026 5:17:12 AM

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Full Steam Ahead!

"Plum Peachy" 8"x8"Oil on handmade linen panel.

Hi Subscriber,

Have you ever found yourself forced to decide between two very good things? That's where I'm at now, or was a few days ago.

The Strada Easel Challenge brings with it a whole lot of benefits, not the least of which is putting my work in front of a whole lot of people.

But I suddenly had multiple orders for the flower card sets and found myself happily and busily fulfilling those.

Consequently, I had little time to produce anything good for the Strada Challenge, just two very hurried and sub-par sketches.

Not what I'd planned at ALL!

Home canned vegetable soup

And this came right on the heels of a week-long marathon of canning vegetable soup (pictured), tomatoes, spiced pears, and pickled carrots, and freezing peaches.

I was already exhausted going into the Strada Challenge.

Something had to give, and it was definitely NOT going to be the cards or the bird commission I've been struggling all summer to get right, or feeding my family this winter.

Laura Ingalls Wilder expressed it well in her book, Farmer Boy. One of the characters praised Almanzo's moneywise decision, saying,

"Give me a sure sixpence over a hopeful sovereign any day."

I paraphrased there but you get the picture, don't you?

So I bowed out of the challenge this time around, opting to concentrate on filling orders and developing a Christmas card set.

More oil work is coming but it won't be rushed. I still have the challenge planning grid and all the surfaces ready so I can go into the studio and create relaxed without the pressure to post it daily.

And with that, I'm off to prepare Saturday morning breakfast for my darlin,'...now that I've bought back a little time.

Take time for birdsong!

Jan