Halloween Dancin'

Happy Halloween! This video is killin' it! Looks like I'm going to be spending the better part of my day learning The Droop!  Thank you to Lisette for posting this. Check out her artwork her to see some amazzzzing work!

And eat so much candy today. Eat all the candy.

Peace, Love and Jewelry!

I am so excited to share this with you all. One of my sweet childhood friends Jodie and her daughter Kennedy have been working hard on making Kennedy's jewelry design dreams a reality.  The two have spent the last couple of months creating and recently set up a booth in my hometown for their first jewelry sale.  This is so inspiring to me.  I can't wait to have kids of my own and I hope to follow in Jodie's footsteps and encourage my children to follow their dreams.  I did an interview with the two through email. Here is what they had to say.  Jodie's answers will be marked with a J while Kennedy's will have a K.

Jodie and Kennedy

 1. You guys did such an amazing job with your jewelry booth! What made you decide to set up your own booth? How long did you work on jewelry for this?

K:  Well thank you!  I decided to set up my own booth because it's fun making jewelry and I think the jewelry that I make is cool and unique.  J:  A friend of mine suggested that we set up a booth next to her booth, Sparkle Chicks, at Downtown Days and sell some of Kennedy's jewelry.  I was hesitant at first, but after asking Kennedy if she wanted to, which she was super excited about it, I was eager to try it.  K:  We worked on it a little over two months. 

Kennedy's friend Kinley helped at the sale. Check out those fabulous shirts!

The two set up the night before to practice styling their booth.

2.  Kennedy, where did you get your inspiration for the different pieces you made?

K:  Mom brought me back a bracelet from one of her trips and it was made out of coke tabs.  So, I decided I could make one like that but better.  The colors I make things with are in all different colors.  I just pick colors that I think look good together and are pretty. 

3.  You both worked on the jewelry together, did you two enjoy all the mother/daughter bonding time?  Did your brother help with anything?

K:  Yes, we did.  J:  Yes we had a great time making all these pieces together, but it wasn't always easy.  We had a few disagreements from time to time but overall it was such a blessing.  When you work with your child on a project like this you really get to see what's going on in their lives.  It gives you a chance to sit down and really talk about their hopes and dreams in life.  J:  Colin gave us the inspiration for the lego jewelry.  K:  Colin likes to play with Lego's so I just thought we would use them for something more fun; like jewelry!  Colin stayed away from the jewelry.  He said it was to girly.

4.  You two set the booth up in a very beautiful way. Did you both work on styling the booth together?

K:  Yes, mom did most of the work though.   J:  I found lots of ideas from lots of different places.  I wanted it to be displayed in a unique but attractive way.  We used a real shell to display some bracelets on and a faux fur rabbit rug out of Kennedy's doll house to display some necklaces on.  In order to make it look child friendly, we used a brightly colored doll house made out of cardboard, and a cake plate with holes around the base to display earrings on.  We were on a tight budget so I simply looked for things around the house that I thought would work. 

5.  What was the sale like?  I bet people were really excited to see all your work.  How was the day?

K:  It was good.  We sold a lot of stuff.  Lots of my friends stopped by and bought some of my jewelry.  J:  Everyone was so supportive of Kennedy and all her hard work.  It was such a good learning experience.  Kennedy is really shy by nature but this forced her to be more outgoing with strangers.   She learned some basic business concepts and it was a good opportunity to practice her math skills.

6.  Do you think you two will do this again? Any other creative projects in the works?

K:  YES YES YES YES YES cause it was a fun experience!  J:  Well, we are taking what pieces of jewelry we have left to our church's annual "Country Cupboard" this Saturday and we are donating the profits to The United Methodist Women's group.  That's all we have planned for now, but as you can see Kennedy is ready to do more!  

7. What was the best part for each of you while doing this?

K:  Selling the stuff and just experiencing what that was like to sell my jewelry, like a real jewelry designer.  J:  Being able to spend quality time with Kennedy was priceless. I hope one day she will look back on this and realize how much her Mother loves her and how much I was invested in her at such an early age.  Hopefully this will be just one of the many adventures we will go on in life together.

I'll admit I got a a little teary with Jodie's last comment.  This is so sweet and amazing to see a younger gal already so ambitious.  I want to thank both of these crafty and creative ladies for sharing their amazing story!  Thanks, Jodie and Kennedy! 

Pop and Lock

I have to confess to you that my walls still look like this:

And even thought I've been trying to tidy up my studio it still looks like this:

But I have been trying to be more introspective lately. I have been drawing in my sketchbook for the first time in a very long time. It's forcing me to slow down and think. I feel like I want to just whip up a new piece of artwork overnight when honestly I don't even know what to make art about anymore. So I did these little drawings and I thought about what they mean.

I've also been going through piles of art that I've started and never finished. The thing about me is I'm always always in the middle of making stuff. I'm just rarely at the end of making stuff. I have numerous pieces of papers with marks on them. I think I lose confidence in my work halfway through and abandon it.

Or else a new idea comes to me and I want to start on it immediately before I resolve the last idea.

I really really just wish I knew what I want to make art about. I have ideas. I'm not completely void of thought. It's just weird to start fresh.

Lately all I want to do is look up videos of the Cosby show featuring all the times someone on the show danced. They were always dancing, that family. I wish I could always make artwork about dancing Cosbies.

Inevitable Pinterest Addict

I have to confess to you that I am so addicted to Pinterest. I know it is a sometimes controversial site and some people are against it but I just cannot stay away. I figure there are worse vices to have. These images are some that are included in my board titled Beauties. They all make my heart skip multiple beats. As I am trying to find inspiration and motivation in my studio to start making art again these images make my fingers itch. I hope you will find them inspiring, too.

Source: porcelainfawns.tumblr.com via Ann on Pinterest

Source: monokatze.tumblr.com via Ann on Pinterest

Source: myfotolog.tumblr.com via Ann on Pinterest

Source: brusselsblast.tumblr.com via Ann on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Ann on Pinterest

Source: luimadeit.tumblr.com via Ann on Pinterest

Source: mineralmania.tumblr.com via Ann on Pinterest

Source: newyoueyeme2.us via Ann on Pinterest

Source: noperfectdayforbananafish.tumblr.com via Ann on Pinterest

Dreamy Little Dream

Yesterday I mentioned I was going to a flower shop with a friend. Little did I know the words flower shop were the biggest understatement ever.  Blumen Gardens is quite possibly one of the most magical places in the word.  I cannot believe I have lived here for almost six years and have never visited this place.  

I only had my phone with me but I took as many pics as I could. The staff was super friendly.  They seem to be pretty use to people visiting for the first time and losing any bit of cool they may possibly have (I don't have much but I really did lose it all at the store.).

Take a look at the pics and look them up online. 

Just in case any of you stopped by to see if I worked in my studio like I said I was going to... well... it's just that... you know, things came up that I hadn't anticipated... I got a late start going to Blumen... I got home later than I thought I would... Pretty Little Liars.... But I have been staring at those pieces of paper with paint on them, that counts for something, right?

Paint on Paper

After reading your amazing comments on my last post I finally put some paint on paper.  Ok so it's not much, but it's a start, and far less daunting than seeing two sheets of clean white paper hanging on the wall.  The brown one looks like creepy blood stains, I will definitely be gessoing over that one.

Here's how my studio time went...

9:00 pm: Finally in the studio after watching tv for over an hour.  Look at things on the internet.

9:20 Start cleaning studio.

9:30 Look at internet. Pick out songs on Itunes to play.

9:45  Pet the rabbits for a while.

10:00 Call Claudia, talk for about half an hour. While talking paint ground on paper.

10:35 Go talk to husband and pet the bunnies for a while. 

11:00 Paint on a new sheet of paper.

11:25 Go to bed and read.

It's a start.  I think I need to get my computer out of my studio. It's too easy to get lost in the internet black hole.  Why do I need to look at Birthday Pictures on facebook of someone I don't even know? I think I may put a television in my studio because I like to watch things while I work.  I also like to sing songs at the top of my lungs. Last night I re-visited my lost love of Dave Matthews Band and sang with real conviction like a true teenage girl while I worked. My poor husband.  No, my lucky husband. Free concert.

So today... my plan...
Get off work and go to a flower shop with my friend.
When I get home I HAVE to watch last night's Pretty Little Liars... don't judge me, that show is my jam and it's been on hiatus way tooooo long.
After that I will work the night away and maybe sing all my favorite Hole songs (there are 3).

Anyone want to share their studio schedules? I love how everyone has their own ritual. My printmaking teacher said she always had to have a bouncy ball and she would walk around and play with it during her breaks.  What do you do?

I did it!

I made it through my first sale!  I can't believe after so many months of working on this I'm on the other side.  I was so nervous, possibly more nervous that my graduate thesis show.  Despite that I plowed through the nerves and made it happen. I learned so so so much from the Nada Farm sale.  It was nice to see people interacting with my work and hearing their feedback.  I also loved styling my booth. It was fun making it look like one big colorful party.  My best friend Janey worked with me all weekend and some darling little girls kept us company. I had one setback when a huge gust of wind caused one of my shelves to get knocked over. It was one of those nightmare moments where you are afraid to look at all the damage that was done. Luckily luckily no one was hurt at all.  Surprisingly I only lost a few of my more fragile terrarium jars but all the animal jars held up through the crash.  These pics were taken post wind crash so my booth looks a little different than it had looked but I think we did a good job rearranging.  Take a look! And thank you to Adam Cox for taking some great pics! And thank you to Anne Marie and her sweet family for making me feel so welcomed!

Now I'm ready to switch gears for a while and start working on some drawings/paintings. I meant to start last night but I found excuses to avoid my studio... I had to watch the debates, get caught up on The Walking Dead, do anything besides go down to my studio... I talked to a friend yesterday about how much anxiety making art can sometimes give you. She put it best when she said that you can feel so ostracized from it when you are away for a while but once you finally start working you realize you should have been doing it all along.  I thought about that all day and fully intended on going straight home and working but I fell back in the "ostracized" feeling.  I was scared to try.  It's silly, right?  I'm so excited to work on things but scared at the same time.  Anyone else feel this way about art making?

Have a fantastic day today and try to pet a dog or a cat if you can.