Enter!

I got a lot of things done today! Go me!

Chloe mostly did this all day....

I got a morning run in, a trip to the post office complete, and I got into my studio for a little while too! Whoohoo!

I also got some new things posted in my Etsy shop! I start working at my part time job, full time, this week. Yikes. I'm really worried about keeping up with my Etsy shop, and working full time. It's only for the holidays, but that also happens to be a pretty busy time Etsy wise too. So we'll have to see how this goes.

In other news I'm featured on this lovely blog today! If you go here, and enter, you could win a print from me! Yup! It's true :)

Well, I hope you all are having a great Wednesday!

Two Jobs

I've been working two jobs this week and it's been taking it's toll on me.

I love working at the art supply store, and I like my job at the grocery store, but I have one day of this week, and it's been rough.

I have tomorrow off, and I am really looking forward to being in my studio most of the day. One of the benefits of working a regular job is that you really appreciate working in your studio, and working on your art work. at least I do.

I'm going to try to spend some of my day outside of the studio too. :)
Hope everyone had a good long weekend, and a good week so far!

Tuesday Tuesday!

I just got home from the studio. I rode my bike home today. Whew!! That's a ride...

Being in my studio is great, and I'm really enjoying it.
I will admit that having my own studio space is taking a little getting use to.

It's kinda like having, or making a new friend.
It takes awhile to figure it out. What works, what doesn't work.
There is definitely a period of figuring it out. But, I still like it.

So I remembered my camera today and was able to get some pictures of my little space.

Hope everyone is having a good Tuesday!

New Studio!

So I went to check out my new studio yesterday, as well as move some stuff in!
Yippie!

I kinda went into it sight unseen, but I had a really good feeling that it would be a great fit. I was right! I like the space I have, and I really like the people that work there too. I haven't met all of them, but I've known several for sometime now, and I'm really happy to be working along side them once again.

Rochelle Koivunen is a fantastic person and I am also a big fan :)
Jaik Faulk is also a great painter who has a space there. You can visit his Etsy shop here.
another Etsy seller, Michelle Ramin, also has a space there! I love her work too.

I think having this space is going to influence my work in so many different, amazing ways. I feel that the work that I've been making the last year and a half has really been lacking something. I like the ideas that I've had behind most of my work this last year, but honestly, I haven't been really that happy with the outcome of some of it. I think being in a space like this, with so much creative energy, and talent, is really going to push me in some wonderful directions.

Rochelle has some really terrific ideas for the commons space as well. a gallery and a dance floor, for dance parties is in the brain works :) We also want to get a small print making studio space together as well.

I'm so looking forward to being a part of this little art community, and I've already got some ideas brewing!


I'm really looking forward to sharing more of my space once I've completed moving in, and get working again.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Feeling Awesome

Yes!

I am feeling a little stressed out today, and would probably be totally freaking out today, but Marichelle of Heart Handmade recently put together this lovely blog feature of me. It's really awesome. You can see it here. She did such a great job. Thank you thank you thank you Marichelle :)

Anyway, I had a good weekend. There was a big "party" on Friday night at Cranbrook, so I did a lot of dancing, and my body was not happy the next day. I feel like I am really starting to feel a bit older. That, or I just danced a little too much...I don't know but I was really really sore Saturday AND Sunday...

I got some work done, but mostly I really tried to relax. It poured down rain all weekend, and I loved it. I made dinner both nights with food from the Farmers Market, and we watched this very sad movie called The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. It was a very beautiful movie, and I highly recommend it.


So today I spent most of my morning printing. I love my press. I am so happy I bought it...
Still getting ready for the DIY Street Fair on Saturday and Sunday. I hope I am ready by then. Anyway, hope everyone is having a good Monday. I gotta get back to work :)

Fall??

Wow!
The weather has been so great the last few days. Yesterday the high was about 65 and it was cool and gray all day. I actually got to wear jeans, a t-shirt, socks...and yes, a hoodie! :)

So I was pretty productive all weekend. I was really excited to print these plates that I had been working on all week. I have created somewhat of a work schedual. Paint and work on panels throughout the week, and print on the weekends. So far so good. It helps keep me focused.

So yeah. good stuff. I am participating in three "art fairs" this fall and I have been trying to get all of my ProPay and small business/taxes all squared away. It can be so frustrating. Oh well. It's a good thing my best friend is a super accountant who likes to be paid in art work :) Yay!!

Um...yeah I am just kinda not talking about anything important. I ramble. September is next month and I couldn't be more excited. Fall fall fall. Hoodies, lots of tea, cool weather, and warm socks.

Mini Art

I made a lot of art today. Yay for me!

I decided that I would make some collages on printmaking paper for my shop.
When I was in college I worked really really small. I loved it. I still work relatively small, but that's due to a number of factors I won't really get into right now. Anyway, they measure 2.5" X 3.5" and they are just some mixed media collage pieces.

They are very reminiscent of the work I was doing in school. I find this way of work so cathartic for me. Tearing paper, painting it down, all while not really thinking about it or planning it out. Just making something almost subconsciously. Really getting lost in my thoughts and later looking down to discover what I made. It sounds kinda weird and almost hippy like...but I remembered how much I really like working like this.

So you can check them out in my shop. All together I made 8, but I felt only 6 were really successful.

I remembered this little cupboard I made for one of my book arts classes when I was working today. I had forgotten how much I love it and loved making it. I found the cupboard itself at a Ross Dress for Less and collaged it with the graphic design paper samples that I had gotten for a class. Then I made all the tiny little books to go inside. There are little photos on the inside of the doors that are just the contact sheets I got from the photolab. They are pictures of San Diego and Disneyland...

So yeah. That was my day. You can see the destruction of my house in my photos. Ah! Working at home has so many joys....I had more pictures, but my computer is hiding them for me. It likes to see me get angry.