The Busiest Unemployed Person Ever!

Summer is almost here in the Pacific Northwest!  This will be my first summer unemployed for longer than I can remember - early ninety's maybe?? I'm excited, sad, and BUSY!!
You may or may not not what I've been up to, so I'll recap!

• IIDA VP of Fundraising and Sponsorship - Interior Design professional organization board member

• Painting - Have another commission piece that I've started.  Wait till you see this request! 

• Printmaking - Etsy, print of the month, rephotographing project, typical etsy stuff

• Print/portfolio Exchanges - Multiple!!! 

• Atelier Meridian -  Marketing/Social Media in exchange for studio access!! It's a wonderful Space!!

• The Falcon - Still running the Tuesday night painting group - this month we have the lovely Mila! 

• Drypoint Workshops -  I need to schedule one soon!  Debating of switching venues...

• The Art of Action - and online course "Wish there was a plan for turning your dreams & ideas into ACTIONS?"  

• Mercy Corps Business Foundations: A Comprehensive Course to Build Your Business.   

• Mercy Corps - Social Media Workshop 

• PAN - Print Arts Northwest - Just volunteered to be on a committee.

• PAN - Print Arts Northwest - Emerging artist program - I'll be applying for this program!  

• Travel - Trying to figure out how I can take a long vacation this fall and travel around eastern europe & down into Istanbul. And also visit a few friends! but if this is going to happen I need to figure it out quickly!!!!

Last but not least, lots of kitty petting and cheese eating!  And yes, I am looking for work as well while I try to figure out how to be what I want when I grow up! 

What are you up to??? 

This and That and the Other...

The Kenton Street Fair was Sunday, I shared a booth with Bike Cozy!  It was my first outdoor fair!  Sorry I cut off some of both of our booths in the photo! 

New kitchen floor to replace the one scratched up by the cops after the burglary! Cat not included. The tape is to hold the seems in place.  It's gone and I have baseboards now too!

looks like a melted crayola box! I love it! and the kitty!

 I also received some lovely mail art from Jessica at Natures my Friend!  Thank you!!! Fun stuff for sure!!

why can't i rotate this!?

Happy pre 3 day weekend week!

The Slow Boat to China?

Yes, I'm a bit slow posting my photos from Crafty Wonderland, but here they are!  I'm constantly struggling with people who don't understand that these are NOT digital copies, but each one a hand printed original.  I've removed the word "print" from most my documentation and replaced it with Linocut & Etchings.

New Booth!  Lovely fabric and "Original Art" banner thinger!

Redoing the booth set up was really fun, but took tons of time!  My living room was a disaster for a month!  I still need to come up with a better display that holds more and uses more height rather then table space.  This is a 10' wide by 5' deep booth size.

I had about 40 different designs to display, and between 2 - 6 of each edition.  

Magazine rack I found at Portland Fixtures and my little peg board shelf

!

Close up!

Speed Dating Anyone?

I've never participated in a "speed dating" event. But on Wednesday, May 18, 6:00 pm at the Design Within Reach Portland Studio I'll be participating in the I Heart Art PDX's Mixer Match, Speed Networking, Round Two -Visual Artists and Galleries.  

The short answer is there will be 20 galleries, 40 artists and we will have 2 mins with each gallery to show and talk about our work!  Yikes!  and Yay!
Have you participated in a Speed Dating event?  or an interview process that is similar?  I'd love to hear about it! 

Tomorrow is Crafty Wonderland!!!  Hope to see you there!!

Brushes down!

After a few minor changes and additions, I placed Mona in her frame today.  She makes her way to her new home tomorrow night! 

Art is a Luxury? *WTF?

I was meeting with my AA group yesterday.  That's Art Accountability group to you!  And a certain someone brought up how her family was taught that art is a luxury. And the 3rd person in our group agreed!!! I was SHOCKED to say the least.  Art is NOT a luxury, especially for an artist.  Art is a *M.F'en necessity!

A little Rococo for ya!

I'm still in shock.  Image, if you will, there is no art. Look around you.  Bare walls, no color, every piece of furniture ceases to have style.  Every house would look a-like, all our clothes would only be utilitarian.  Art is embedded into every nook and cranny of our cultures.  You might not think of yourself as an artist, but every time you arrange your furniture, pick a particular combo of clothes, paint a room, arrange a flower vase, you are expressing yourself.  You are creating a composition.  You are, in fact, living art.  

Horse
c. 15,000-10,000 BC
Lascaux, Franc

Now, if you don't consider
yourself and artist, and apparently even if you are an artist,  you may disagree with me. But you'd be wrong.  :) Art has been an integral part of society.  I'll spare the art history lesson today.

Function without form?  Sounds horrible.  For me, art is a necessity! A staple in life's my diet.  My hope is that it becomes that for you too!  A life without expression hardly seems worth living.  

Disagree?  I'd love to hear why!  Agree?  Do tell!!


*M.F'en is my abbreviation for a shocking offensive pairing of swear words, same for WTF! :) Just in case you didn't know.

Leftovers!

Amy at Wingtip Press came up with a great idea last year for all her leftover paper! A print exchange called Leftovers!  I heard about it from Anniepod Press. 

It's pretty simple.  I make 14 prints from my leftover paper, mail them to Amy and she sends me back a random mix of 12 prints. One set will be used to raise money for a charity and the other will be used for shows.  Pretty dang exciting if you ask me!

So today I rounded up my leftover paper.  Sketched out my design, redrew on to my linoleum and started carving!  

I cut out my original design to trace - Is this cheating? :)

I usually draw on a scrap piece of paper and then decide which way the design will look best. The way I drew it or flipped.  It still happens once in a while that I forget my design will be a mirror image once I print it!

Thanks for the press Nancy!

This is my first time using unbacked lino.  I wanted to get a more even ink transference by using the press I'm borrowing from my dear and fabulous artist friend Nancy.  I can't use a backed block in this mini press.  It is much easier for me to carve a backed piece, but I'm sure I'll get use to the unruly unbacked lino! 

Leftovers 2011

I'm pretty happy with the results and I'm really excited to see what I get back!  I'd love to be able to see the entire collection at a show too.  The deadline is March 15th and the cost is $12.  Please see Leftovers for more information!

Happy Tuesday and Happy Printing!

The Idealist and the Snare

I woke up this morning wondering, I'm an idealist?  I looked it up.  "Idealism sometimes refers to a tradition in thought that represents things of a perfect form, as in the fields of ethics, morality, aesthetics, and value. In this way, it represents a human perfect being or circumstance." Thanks Wikipedia!  (Side Note:  I can't remember what it was like before the ablitliy to look up anything you'd ever want to know in seconds!)

Work friends took me to lunch, even when I was out of town!

Maybe I have become an Idealist along the way.  Yesterday in my interview the question was posed "What does your perfect work day look like?"  "In a perfect world" I said, "I'd be making art all day.  In the real world I'd work for a company that I like with people I like, feeling that said company was making some difference in the world."  Reasonable answer.  And true. 

I love beets!

Where is this post going?  Good question.  I think my point is, that maybe due to this idealism, I've been missing the obvious solution to my financial woes.  A part time job at a company I like!  Duhhhh, as I would have said in this 80's photo of me.  I think I was sooooo fixated about not working at a job I hated again, that I forgot the obvious.  There are companies I would like to work for.  For instance, when I was loaned to SERA Architects, I worked a bazillion hours but loved every second of it! I will spare the details of why I really liked it, and why they really liked me.  Just know it's true.

Why didn't I think of this as an viable option sooner?  Idealism? The current economic crisis? The lack of jobs in my field? Blinded by art?  But, aren't I still an artist even with a day job?  And as an up and coming artist, in my humble opinion, wouldn't it be nice to pay the bills and eat!  Starving artist really isn't a misnomer.

So, to whose the benefit did I write this?  The aforementioned potential employer who may or may not be reading this? The kitties? My Mom? Nah, I think for myself.  Though I'm sure the kitties will be happy that I'm looking for ways to put food in their bowls!  

Some times work friends are the best friends!

Happy weekend everyone! Now get outside if there's sun!  If not, make something!  Even if it's just a happy mess!  :)

Intentions

Intention.  What a loaded word. 
–noun

1.  an act or instance of determining mentally upon some action or result.

2.  the end or object intended; purpose.

Today a couple of lovelies joined me for a little cutting and pasting in the form of intention boards.  Well, in our case, intention mason jars. That may or may not have lights added later.  

Armed with scissors we began flipping through catalogs and magazines looking for images that represented things we wanted to see happen in 2011.  Cut out our images, words, and symbols with which we decoupaged into our jars.  We discussed some of these intentions aloud, or tired to.  Reinforcing our dreams and hopes. Others remained personal and silent. 

Scoop Full of Comfort!

Now I'm not the most woo woo person you'll meet.  In fact I'm at the other end of the scale, but I do believe that before we can work toward betterment we must know what that betterment is.  This could be physical items such as better shoes, or a fancy house, or a better state of mind.  As depicted in this photo of a spoon instructing "a scoop full of comfort", a pie server stating "a slice of happiness" and a cheese knife with the words "a dab of decadence".  Pretty fitting given my current state. And love of cheese.  Yesterday I mentioned to one of my new internet friends that I didn't want to waste a bunch of time being depressed.  But last week was a battle for sure. 

Traveling for Art!

I'm intending to make this week/year much better! Also on my Jar of Intention I places flowers, tomatoes, travel, and of course cheese.  A kitty, camera, Italy and France.  Birds and bikes. Simplicity, peace, love and joy.  Last but now least, art.  My intention is to survive via art. Making art, selling art, and teaching art.  And why not?  Isn't that what I was made/intended/born to do?  It sure feels that way to me.  I do struggle with the expectations of the "norms".  Such as having a bigger house, health insurance, a new fangled car, designer clothes, and the worst offender, a day job.  And I might succumb to one or two of them. But they aren't what matter to me.  Those things aren't want make me who I am.  Loved ones (not just the humans), my freedom, and the feeling that I'm making a difference to someone, make me who I am.

"Blind Date" by AnniePod Press

Art has the ability to heal, give hope, provide entertainment and of course joy.  To some this might look like a crazy print of a tom cat knocking on the door for a blind date. To me it's instant pure happiness! 

Sunday's Child

Sunday's child is bonny and blithe and good and gay. Thank the kitties I was born on a Friday.

This was an interesting week. At least for me.
BikeCraft ended pretty well, but Monday I woke up feeling a little funky. Sore throat and some nasty sinus crapola hanging around. Wednesday was the After Hours Mixed Media sale AKA interior designer craft sale. It wasn't as busy as I would have liked but all in all I made-out ok.
I was slightly depressed after it was over since I don't have anymore sales to attend this year. and plenty of stuff to sell.

I'm really trying to make etsy work for me, but I'm struggling to make it take off. I've revamped rephotoed, facebooked and tweeted. maybe not enough. I'm going to start reading more etsy tips.

Today I went to Crafty Wonderland. More as a reconnaissance mission than to shop. Though I bought this lovely hat from Wollie Originals with an owl on it! Please check her out! Awesome stuff and she's really nice too! www.woolieoriginals.com

Wow, inserting photos and having them make sense is a bit of a challenge tonight!

Back to discussing Crafty Wonderland. I was SHOCKED that vendors for other cities were there. I guess I shouldn't have been but I was. and i have mixed feelings about it.

I also went crazy collecting cards and checking out other peoples booths. Very inspiring. My favorite booth was actually an old camp trailer. Plus I really like the name of the booth. Wanderlust. One of my ailments. Or talents. There were some really nice cards there, and some really bad ones. So bad I can't read the font. Some were bad but get the information across and that's ok too. One of the best cards was from, and there will be no surprises here, Emily Winfield Martin of the Black Apple fame. Yes, I am jealous of her success, but am also really happy to see a local gal doing so well!!
I also liked Ladymade and Yellowcake Crafts cards. I think they seemed like successful cards because I knew by looking at the imagery what shop they had belonged to, reminding me of the specific items I saw of theirs. My current cards for AlmostMonday have my paintings on them. I still don't know why.

Which brings me to another problem I'm struggling with. My seemingly identity crisis between being a print maker and an oil painter. Feed back appreciated.