Monday!

It's Monday!

I feel like I haven't written a blog spot in months.

It was kinda nice to take a break from it for awhile. I just didn't really have anything good to say. Not that I ever have profound, earth shattering, things to say...this last week was particularity uneventful.

Well, except for Christmas!! We had a good Christmas. It was very quiet.
We opened presents, ate a lot of food and candy, drank a lot of beer, played a lot of board games, and saw the movie Benjamin Button, or as Michael likes to call it, Benjamin Buttons.

We were both kinda hoping that we would somehow get iPhones for Christmas, so we've been holding out to get new phones for almost a year now. Since neither one of us got one, and since we decided that they were a little over rated, and way out of our budget...the $130+ phone bill is way out of range...we decided to finally upgrade our phones.

I am really happy with mine :D It's super cute, and easy to use.
I also got some more text messages so I can text my little heart out.

Michael's is cool too, but not as cute.

Saturday was really warm, and all the snow melted away, but I captured some shots of these icicles right outside our front door before they melted. So now there's no more snow! Yay! I better be careful about what I say regarding snow. We'll probably be hit with a severe snow storm tonight or something....

So yeah, that's about it.
New Years is coming next, and I can't believe it's going to be 2009.
I have a lot of plans coming up in 2009...lots of things going on...

Anyway, hope everyone is have a great Holiday thus far. :)

Holy Snow Storm!

Yes...it snowed.

It finally stopped snowing...I think we've got about a foot out there right now.
Oh wait...I just turned around and it's STILL snowing. I swear I have never seen so much in my life.

Chloe is not a fan of the snow. We tried to take her outside, but she just kept going to the door.

I'm still not 100% sure I am going to the Detroit Sounds and Spirits tonight. Our driveway has about a foot of snow on it, and the only way we could get out is if a snow plow came through. Also, judging by the two cars stuck out in the street, the roads are not good.

So yeah, that pretty much sucks.

Anyway, Michael checked out this really great book for me at the library yesterday. It's called Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design. I LOVE this book. I think everyone and their mom has already read this book, and I am the last one.

It's a compilation of interviews from crafters and artists from all over the country. I think one of the coolest things about the book is all of the artists that are interviewed are all motivated, entrepreneurial women. It is so inspiring to see these women make a living doing what it is that they love to do.

I plan on reading this entire book cover to cover this weekend.
Oh!! and it looks like they are going to be making a documentary on this too!!
http://www.handmadenationmovie.com/

Alright, that's all I got.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend! Christmas is only 6 days away!

Thursday

It's Thursday!

What does that mean??

Nothing really.

Just another day.

So, these are the new paintings I am working on.

I've been so busy with orders the last couple of days I haven't really had time to make anything new. But, that's a good thing!

It's still cold and snowy, and Chloe is still sleeping on radiators.

Another day down, another one to go.

Winter is Here

Fall was way too short.

There's about 4 inches of snow on the ground.
I miss Fall.

Chloe isn't a fan either.

I found her sleeping on the radiator yesterday.
Silly girl. I put some jeans that were still a little damp on the radiator to dry,
and it had been awhile since I had seen Chloe, so I went in to check on her...
there she was, snoring away...

I think if she had her choice she would live in Arizona...

New Ideas!

So I have been working on a lot of new ideas the last few days. I am really happy with some of the stuff that is coming out of my head...

I'll share them with you!!

Um...so Michigan is awesome.
The bugs here are actually pretty amazing.
I found this one yesterday. Well, actually Chloe did. At first I thought she was playing with an ant. She really likes to play with the ants and then eat them. I try to stop her from eating ants, but it doesn't seem to hurt her and it keeps her entertained...anyway I thought she was playing with one. But she kept at it for like 20 minutes so I went over to her to see if it was in fact an ant and not some nasty spider...I moved my yoga ball aside and low and behold was this ginormous beetle. (just a side not here my spell checker notices ginormous as an actual word! Cool!) Ok, anyway, I literally cried out Oh My God really loud when I saw this thing. i was not expecting this huge beetle!

So I had to figure out a way to get it out of the house. I am not much of a bug person. I don't mind if they are outside. I understand that's where they live and I am ok with that...but it's when they are in my space that I freak out. So I grabbed a piece of paper and kinda scooted it out. Ewww it was so gross. It actually made a thud noise when I dropped it a couple times. The whole time I kept saying OMG and ew ew ew ew....haha. I am such a wuss.

Anyway, that's all I got today :)

PS The little camera illustration is from a photo that my friend, Kristen, took.
She has this really great collection of old cameras and she takes these really beautiful photos of them. You can see her Flickr page here
This drawing is soon to be a painting too! :) Thanks Kristen!

Hot, Gross, Blah

It's hot and gross here.
Whoever decided that Michigan was an ideal place to settle was out of their mind. Seriously.
It's really cold in the winter and so muggy and gross in the summer you wish it was negative 20 degrees just so that you could breathe....

blah.
It doesn't helpt that Mikey isn't feeling good today either. Poop on a stick times 10.

What a pooptacular day. It's been one of those days where I can't escape my brain and I have been living in my head all afternoon and morning.

Just thinking about all the people I use to know and hang out with over the last 10 or so years...how I haven't spoken to a lot of them in a really long time and it kinda makes me sad and lonely...oh well.

Anyway, I am glad to still know and talk to the people I have kept in touch with :)

So I made these really sweet little illustrations last night while listening the the crazy thunderstorm outside. That is one thing Michigan has going for it weather wise. Awesome thunder and lightening storms almost every night. Anyway, I made these from some screen prints. I made the prints and then drew and painted on them with pencil and gouache.
I really like them. I made a couple more that I will post tomorrow on my Etsy.

I think I am almost done with the paintings for my shows...and I'll be posting those pictures soon too.

The Final Countdown

I have had Europe's song, The Final Countdown, in my head for the past three days.

This is the last week of school at Cranbrook. Everyone has to be out of their studios by today...at noon. I guess it's past noon. Anyway, they are done.

That means we have one year. One year left here. Only one year to go. We're half way there.
Uh oh. No I have Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" in my head. Awesome!

Anyway. The panels are done. I have a little over a hundred! I think that is going to be plenty.

The lilacs are in full bloom right now. I have some sitting on my desk, and they smell amazing. It's wet a drizzly outside and I am fully enjoying it. One week until New York and I couldn't be more excited.

We are storing one of Heather Blackwell's paintings for the summer. It's a portrait of one of the students in the sculpture department. Heather is an amazing painter. Amazing. She brought over the painting last night and I think I must have studied it for a half hour. I wish I could paint like her. This painting is 6 feet tall, and I think we are going to hang it in our bedroom. I'll get a better picture of it once it's hung up...

That's all I got :)

Easter!

Ok, I don't really "celebrate" Easter.

In fact I will probably be having tacos for dinner tonight...yum.

So I am getting ready to ship out my paintings for the Fresh Pot show and I am suddenly having nightmares about the box of paintings not arriving on time. Or at all. I need to stop worrying about this. I haven't had any trouble so far with packages not showing up...but I have been reading about some horror stories in the Etsy forums about packages being lost, or returned...eeks!

I need to stop hanging out in there so much. Seriously.

I mentioned a few days ago that I have been working on some illustrations for my Etsy shop. They are turning out so well, and I am having such a great time drawing them. It's such a nice little break from painting. I am working on some new ideas for some paintings, and I just bought some more pine panel, so hopefully I can start on some new pieces soon.

I will be putting some new work up in 323 East Gallery Boutique right here in Michigan! They are located in Royal Oak, and I am really excited about having work in a local gallery!

Hope everyone is having a great Sunday and a happy Spring-like Easter.
I'm off to bubble wrap my heart out.

What I Meant to Blog Yesterday

So here is what I was going to blog yesterday, but felt like feeling sorry for myself instead.

Megan is totally right in saying that I should cut myself some slack. Thanks!

Anyway, I was going to write a little about my trip and how things went.
It was really nice and I had a lot of fun. We mostly did a lot of running around. Weddings are pretty stressful and busy even if you aren't the one getting married.

The wedding itself was pretty awesome. It was straight out of Martha Stewart with a little twist of Kristen. It was perfect!
There are some picture of the limo ride to Balboa park.

We had a lot of fun, but I think by Sunday our livers were feeling a bit under the weather. Two open bars two nights in a row?? How could you say no?

The weather was nice and it was so much nicer than being in Michigan...

New Work!!

Yay! I posted some new items on Etsy. It feels like it's been eons since I've done it!

I have some more, but I like to stager my postings. Besides, I am not quite done with some paintings...I'll post some pictures of those here.
I have decided that all the work that I have done since moving here relates to waiting. I feel like I am constantly waiting. Waiting for school to be over. Waiting to move back home. Waiting for Spring. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Before we found out that we would be moving we were waiting to hear back from schools. Then when we found out, we were waiting to move. It seems like when you are at this point in your life your whole existence revolves around waiting. Everything seems to stagnant and temporary. It can be so frustrating.

I am also fascinated by these images of old typewriters I found in some old typewriting manuals. I love looking at old technology and comparing it to the newest gadgets. The new Apple Air vs. an old Remington typewriter. The contrasts are so funny.

Anyway, I had a pretty productive morning. We got up to go to the gym like we usually do Thursday-Sunday. It snowed about 3" last night, but we figured that the freeway would be ok to drive. After all this is Michigan and it is a workday. We were wrong. The freeways were awful. We almost went off the road a couple of times and people generally drive like well, I won't say it, but you know...

So we turned around and went home. No gym today.
But, I did get a lot of work done. My work for the show is just about totally done. I have a couple more things to do, and then I start packaging them up.

So everyone and their mom got to see the season premier of Lost last night. Except me. I get to watch it tonight. Yay! I am so stoked! So that's what I'll be doing tonight.

That's it for today. It's still snowing a little outside. We are suppose to get 8 inches today. I can't wait until Spring...

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.

Snowy Weekend

So we're going to get 3-8 inches of snow tonight.
It's weird. We were out and about doing errands this morning and everyone was talking about it like it was the apocalypse. This is Michigan right? I thought that this was pretty common here.

Well anyway, maybe Michael won't be able to go to school tomorrow and we can spend two days hanging out!

It's really cold out right now. My computer says it 21 degrees out...brrrrr.

We went to this really cute French cafe this morning for coffee. They have wonderful pastry chefs who make the most beautiful treats you've ever laid eyes on...mmm...French treats. That was fun. Then we went to Borders and it was insane! The line was soooo long.

*side note* Michael is on iTunes right now searching for Christmas music. Every 15 seconds I get to hear a fraction of another Christmas song. Fun stuff.

Alright. Oh I forgot to mention that I was offered to be in a group show this February in Ohio. It's called Pink Milk Studio. She has an Etsy shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=54775

She also has a website:
http://www.papercutsandgluesticks.com
it's under construction right now, but you can kinda get an idea about it :)

I am really excited about this. Now all I have to do is find something to inspire me! I just don't know what I really want to paint at this point.

We leave for my mom's house in Pennsylvania next Friday. I am worried about the weather. I hope it's good. I'm also worried about how Chloe is going to manage being in a car for 12 + hours. My plan is to have a plenitude of Bully Sticks and treats on hand. Hopefully she'll just sleep the whole way. I can't wait for my family to meet her.

Another side note. I REALLY want to see that movie Juno. I've been waiting for it to come out for so long...It has Michael Serra in it. The kid that played George Michael on Arrested Development. That show is absolute genius and if you haven't seen it, rent ALL of them. The show was canceled a few years ago, after only three seasons because I guess it was all too genius for the average American public. I had my wisdom teeth pulled last winter and for three consecutive days I laid on the couch, popped pain killers, and watched all three seasons of Arrested Development. It was awesome.

So maybe we can go see that movie later.
Ok, I promised Kim some more Chloe pictures, so here you go. I love the one where she's in time out...

New Work

Well, I thought that I had taken some pictures of some of my new work earlier, but I guess I was wrong.

I didn't have Internet all day today so I was able to get a lot of work done. It's pretty amazing how much time I spend online. Especially on Etsy...

So yeah lots of work done today. It also snowed. I guess it's suppose to get down to 14 degrees tonight!

I'm still trying to be positive about things, but it is hard. There are some days that I really just don't like living here. But, I must stay positive. I must.

So here are some pictures of the snow we got today. And some new ones of Chloe. She's doing good. A pain in the ass as always, but we love her. She's such a sweetie when she's sleeping :)

I thought I moved to MIchigan

So I thought I moved to Michigan, but it feels more like Florida. It's 63 degrees right now and rainy. I don;t mind the rain, but it's supposed to be 72 today. I thought it was supposed to be cold here...

Anyway I shouldn't complain I guess.

I thought I would post a picture of my favorite breakfast ever. I had this at the Bi-Partisan cafe in Portland on my birthday. It was perfect, and would be perfect on a day like this.

Okay anyway. I wish I could figure this new series of paintings out. I keep going back and forth on ideas, and theories, and experiences and all these different things. I can't seem to produce anything I like. It doesn't help that Michael is going to grad school for art and he comes home and tells me about the critiques that he has and some of the ideas that are being used there.
It's difficult because I can't help to think about them and think about my work at the same time. I can't separate them. Maybe I shouldn't but I don't know what I am doing. Or writing. I need my tea. I am going to stop because I know what I want to say I just don't know how to say it.

My art and my ideas seem so insignificant compare to theirs. There is a lot of good advice that he has been given and so I have been thinking about that too. Last night I attended a series of presentations given by the second year students and their work. There was some really beautiful thought provoking art and people and of course there were some that weren't so much. I love that I have the opportunity to be able to be a part of that environment, and not have the stress of having critiques and reviews, but it can be difficult at the same time.

I want to be making that art and I want to bigger part of this community...but I don't want to grad school. I just need to use the experience that I have access to to help influence my work. I just wish I could have some original ideas...

This is going to be a long blog because I haven't had caffeine yet and I didn't sleep very well last night. So I am going to be rambling.
I have been sewing a lot and I have made major improvements, but I am not sure that I am ready to sell anything yet. I'll think that I have made a well made tote or apron, and then I get on Etsy to compare and I feel that it just isn't good enough compared to others. So I keep making things so that I can improve, and just when I think I am ready to post some items, I compare to others and back out. I am so afraid of selling that isn't the best that it can be.

I guess that goes for most areas of my life. Not feeling good enough, comparing myself to others, and being afraid to sell myself because I feel like I am not good enough.

Wow, who needs expensive therapy when you have have blog? Watch out therapists! Blogger is going to put you out of business!

Ok I should go.Enough self doubt and insecurity for today. I have a lot of stuff to do today. Like check out other people's blogs and attend more second year presentations this afternoon.