Coffee. Drawing. Coffee.

Hi!

What a great morning I had.

Michael and I biked over to North Portland for coffee, drawing, and talking with Michael and Mona of Tinymeat, and Mary of Lollytots. It was great! I'm really hoping we can keep it up on a weekly basis.

Other than that nothing too eventful...just paying bills and trying not to get too depressed about it. I'm going to be doing Last Thursday next week, so if you're in the neighborhood come check out the party on Alberta.

This weekend will be full of prepping panels, working in the yard, and trying to stay cool.
Hope everyone has a good weekend :)

Crafty Wonderland!

So I found out last night that I was accepted into the Crafty Wonderland Craft Fair at the Doug Fir on Sunday august 9th. It starts at 11am and goes until 4 pm.

So, if you live in the Portland area, please come by and say hello to me :)

In other news, I listed my 100th item in my shop today.
Wow. I never really thought it would be possible...but I did it.

Tomorrow morning I am meeting with a group of Portland artsy peeps for drawing and coffee. I am a little nervous. I'm so shy, and meeting people for the first time is hard for me. But, I know it will be fun, and I know that I really need to get out and meet more people. My work doesn't really allow for much socializing, so these kinds of meet ups are important.

Well, I hope everyone is having a good Thursday!

Home

Have I mentioned yet how much I love being home?

I'm sitting at the Bi-Partisan Cafe right now, listening to the baristas shout out orders, and Wilco playing over the speakers. I love this. I rode my bike here, and was actually a little afraid to come out this morning...

It's weird to have lived in a place, where I felt almost stuck inside for so long. Now, that I have the freedom to ride my bike, to do something as simple as get a cup of coffee, is really intimidating for me. But, I decided that I needed to get out of the house this morning, and coffee is always on my list of favorite things...so I did it. I'm so glad I did.

I was in search of a little inspiration this morning, and I think I've found it.

Hope everyone is having a great Thursday. I'm planning on heading out to First Thursday this evening. If you live in Portland, and wander downtown tonight, maybe I'll see you there.

Egads!

I like that word. Egads!!

haha.

Anyway...I said that the other day when Michael said that he had built 83 panels of varying sizes for me!!! Egads! 83...panels....I *hope* that will get me through the summer. If it doesn't, well, I am going to raise my prices 125% and hire an assistant :)

I had a good weekend. Not as much work done as I would have liked, but I am waiting for my panels to be finished so I can get to work on them. I want to put more paintings in my shop....

I went to a craft fair in Flint that was really fun. It was called Flint City Handmade. It took about an hour to drive there, but Flint was actually kinda cute. I thought it would be like Pontiac. Run down and abandoned, but it wasn't. They even had really good coffee! :) yay!

I also met a fellow Ety peep! yay! My first Etsy peep. His Etsy shop is Kill Taupe and he was recently a featured seller. I bought these awesome Detroit Hooker magnets :)

I almost met him a few weeks ago at the 323 Gallery opening...he has work there too...but I was too shy. Anyway, this time I just walked right up and said hi, and he was really really nice. He's thinking about moving to Portland! He totally should. I think he would fit right in.

Anyway..that's about it. Look for new paintings very soon...very very soon.

Have a good Monday.

ps only 8 days until I leave for NYC!!

Sleepy

I cannot wake up this morning.

I slept fine...I am just so tired.

I need coffee, but Mikey isn't here to make it for me. I can't make coffee. I am awful at it...
It always tastes like battery acid.

So I think I might have to go get a coffee...on my way to Home Depot. I am buying my first power tool :) a hand held sander. I am so excited. I usually sand my panels by hand, but now I will have a machine to to do the work for me. Ahhh...machines....

So being alone isn't really all that bad so far. It's kind of nice.
I was thinking about solitude this morning and it reminded me of one of my favorite quotes from May Sarton's Journal of a Solitude.

"I am here for the first time in weeks, to take up my "real" life again at last.
That is what is strange - that friends, even passionate love, are not my real life unless there is time alone in which to explore and to discover what is happening or has happened."

Alright. It's almost 10:30. I really need to get my day started...

I Love Jeremy

Thank you Jeremy.

Jeremy sent us Stumptown coffee, and I am drinking it right now.

If home ever had a taste, this is it.

I got it yesterday...and took a picture for him. I am such a nerd, but that's ok, he already knows this.

Did I also mention that Jeremy is the guy who hung my show for me at the Fresh Pot this month?
Yes, he's awesome. :)

I have to admit, that living with Jeremy wasn't always the best of times. He really knew how to get on my nerves...but I miss him...and I never thought I would ever say that.

I'm kidding!

Anyway...yesterday was great! It was better than great. I had three orders, and I sold a painting at the Fresh Pot. I will have more than enough money for New York now! Yay!!
I can also pay my bills this month, which is a huge weight off my shoulders.

I was also in 6, yes 6, treasuries yesterday! Holla!

I also went to this awesome rummage sale at the church down the street, and got some very cool books. They are mostly old science and math books, but I got some old French literature books, and some old children's books. I even found the Richard Scary picture encyclopedia that I had when I was younger...I love it. Apparently Chloe likes it too.

Also, Susan over at Art Kitten's Art shop, gave my blog an E for Excellent!
Yay! So I am going to pass it on to Linda at Abby Creek Art :)

Alright. I have been developing this OCD habit of only having even numbers in my shop...and I want to post an new illustration in it today. But I only have one, so that means I have to make another one, so I will have an even 20 items in my shop...

ps. I am so going dancing tonight.

pps. The Cranbrook thesis show is tonight.
Exciting.

SUN!

The sun is here and I don't want to miss it, so this is going to be short.
I really want to ride my bike around the block. Really badly.

Nothing exciting today.

I love:
having a clean apartment.
Blogging.
Making things.
Diet Coke.
Gouache (ok this might be a love/hate relationship)
My bike.
Swinging on a swing really really high.
Traveling.
Coffee and or Tea.
The Clash.
K. Trinks.
Micron Pens.
Arches Cover Cream Paper.
Getting very cool things in the mail from friends.
Everyone that reads my blog.

Pass it on.
:)
Ok off to ride my bike.

Monday Monday...

They are off!

I sent this morning via FedEx insured to the max.

They should get there by Friday.
I have a good feeling now.

It's going to be a good show. I wish I could see it.
One of my favorite things about shows in popular coffee places is sitting for an hour or two, drinking copious amounts of coffee, and listening on on people's conversations. Sometimes it's about my work, sometimes it's about being rescued from three feet of snow on a snowshoe trail after being lost for two days. Yeah. No kidding. That was the best overheard conversation I think I have ever heard.

Oh!
Awesome stuff. So Ryan from Littleputbooks asked me if I could put together some tips for selling fine art on Etsy! I put together a list of 11 things that every fine artist should know about selling paintings and other artsy stuff and it will be posted on the Littleput blog!

It's mostly things that I have had to learn the hard way, unfortunately.

Hope everyone is having a great day, and recovering from their chocolate bunny induced sugar commas nicely.

One More Time

Ta da!

So, they are all going to have a lovely frame like the one in my previous post. Michael made this beautiful frame for a custom order I had, and it looks so very nice. Thanks Michael. He's awesome.

Some of them are still waiting for a little coat of wax, but for the most part they are done, and i couldn't be happier.

I think they all turned out just lovely. Wow. After typing that sentence I realized how long it has taken me to be able to say that about my work.

Anyway, if anyone would be interested in purchasing one, you will have to do so through the Fresh Pot Gallery. The show opens the first week of April and their information is as follows:

Fresh Pot
4001 N Mississippi Ave
Portland, OR
(503) 284-8928

If you live in the Portland area, be sure to check them out. I think the show goes up April 5th.

Also, I posted 4 new paintings in my Etsy shop today, so be sure to check them out...
I'll be posting one, maybe two, more tomorrow.

Have a great night....

Blah

OMG.

I seriously don't want to do anything today.
I'm really dragging.

Wait. I do want to do something. I want to sit and drink coffee all day while browsing the internets. That's all I want to do...but I can't.

I have hours of homework...argh.
I tried to do some painting today, but I just kept messing them up.
I posted some pictures of some of my newer paintings. I didn't totally screw them up, but I still have to go in and make some changes.

My paintings for the Fresh Pot show are going so slow. I keep obsessing over the color of the sky. I always do when it comes to my industrial landscape paintings. I end up painting them 10 or 15 times before I am happy.

On another note, happy leap day! yay :)
Chloe's puppia came today too. I got her blue, but now I am wondering if I should have gotten her pink. I don't want everyone to call her boy. Oh well. Maybe I can single handedly break gender stereotypes with her blue puppia. Ha!

I hope tomorrow will be more productive, and I have more energy.
Happy Friday and happy leap day!

Wow!

I haven't posted a blog since December 17th!
I am so behind...

Well I went out of town for a couple of weeks. I went to visit my mom and step dad in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It was so nice getting out of Pontiac, Michigan for awhile. Michael and I were actually able to walk to coffee, and little shops. There is this great little coffee shop there called The Ragged Edge. Everyone that works there is very nice. The weather was pretty nice, not too cold. There was a great place on one of the battlefields that I could have a nice quite morning run.

Michael and I went to Washington, DC the Thursday after Christmas and we had so much fun. The weather was warm, I think the high that day was in the mid 50's. We went to the National Gallery where there was a Turner exhibit, a Hopper exhibit, and a Rauschenburg exhibit! The museum was a little crowded, but we had fun. We also went to the Natural History Museum and got to see the Hope Diamond and a bunch of old bones :) And it was free!! All the museums in Washington are free! I was amazed, and I still can't believe it...

We also went to see Lincoln's Memorial, and we walked around the Mall. I wanted to drive past the White House and give it dirty looks..but Michael said no. We ended up getting a little lost trying to find the freeway home. I don't understand the city planners in the Midwest and on the east Coast. How hard is it to put up some street signs and some freeway signs? And why are there like 10 different freeways, including one that goes entirely AROUND the city? Why?

Alright...anyway. Vacation was good. I start school on Monday and I feel pretty nervous about it. I thought I was done with tests, and papers, and projects....let's just hope there aren't critiques...let's pray there aren't any critiques...

But I am excited about moving on with my life and studying something that could lead to a great career. I am also excited about meeting some new people. Maybe I might even make some friends. Maybe. It's so hard for me to make friends. I have this fear of talking to people. I am so worried about saying the wrong thing, or just saying something totally stupid. I know I should be over it by now. I am 27 years old, but I think it's one of those things that will always be an issue for me.