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!

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.

Sunday Crafternoon at Powells

Christine Answers Questions

If you live anywhere near Portland you know what Powells is.  If you don't know, it's city block of books.  New books, used books, signed books, collectors books and more!  They also offer pick up of orders, shipping, ebooks, and you can sell your books there or online too.  They feature book signings and readings and sometimes just a good time! 

Yesterday, at Powells, Christine with Yellow Owl Workshop was there.  She did have her books and wares for sale, and she was signing them. But the fun part was she did a short demo on how to make your own rubber stamps and turned the crowd loose to use her creations!  Yellow Owl Workshop creates rubber stamps for the average person to use.  They are thoughtful, creatively fun and surprisingly made in the USA!  Try to find craft items or anything else not made in China sometime.  But that's another ranty blog post all together.  I feel confident in using her supplies that no one was harmed in the making of and no one will be harmed using them.

Making Fun! 

Everyone had a really great time making cards and valentines with the supplies Yellow Owl Provided!  The event was co sponsored by I Heart Art: Portland, if you don't know who they are check them out!

My Valentine!

I made this!  I must say her stamps are much more thoughtful and pertinent to me than a lot of the ones I've seen in craft stores.

Yellow Owl Workshop offers other items beside the stamps, please take a look! There is stationary, pendants and cards. One of my favorite things are these LCD Write Your Own Message embossed cards. 

Thanks Powells, Yellow Owl, Christine and I Heart PDX!

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! 

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

Week 7 day 4. I'm starting to think I can't actually calculate time passed properly.

Soooo, remember when I said I was putting myself on a diet? A time diet?  Well, that hasn't exactly happened.  What has happened is, I'm spending 75% * of my day on marketing and research. Leaving me only 25% * for the creating and making of new art! Which is my actual goal. Well, my actual goal is to make enough money with my art to not have to work a "normal" 8 - 5 office job. and of course to not be on the unemployment dole.  In the mean time, between marketing, making art and filing unemployment claims, I am looking for a "real" job.

I sent out more resume's this week, multiple times.  Only to discover that I have a couple of really silly typos!  Even after having multiple people proof this thing!  Retail was missing it's a.  And Senior, as in older than 55, was spelled Senoir. Sounds like the Spanish word for men.  Which it is possible that I have done work in both the Retil fields and housing for Spanish men. EXCEPT it's actually spelled señor.  Those errors have since been corrected.  

It also turns out that the unemployment office pretty much told me I'd be stupid for taking any temporary contract jobs, as I would not qualify for their self employment programs and would loose all chances for future claims if needed. They then advised me that I could go to college, after which I advised them I already had 50K in student loan debt and that I didn't think it was actually a good idea to go back for more debt. "Oh! You've already been to college?" Why yes, yes I have.  And so have all the other laid off architects and interior designers! Grrrr.  

Back to making art!  I think while I'm trying to get my Etsy store off the ground making art 50% of the time and marketing the other 50% seems reasonable.  Although I'm not sure where my painting fits in here. But that's an entirely different battle.  Although, I don't think Etsy is the correct venue for portraits and nudes, but I could be wrong.  For now those paintings remain here!

The Plan! Monday Wed. and Fridays are mostly marketing days and the rest of the days will be for creating! Marketing includes photographing and posting new items.  I think this is a doable plan. Structure is good, it holds things up.  I learned that in college.  Said with a sarcastic tone directed at the University of Oregon's Architecture program.  But hey, I am the one that picked that program, so I can't blame them for everything.  I'll blame my mom for the rest! haha

Tomorrow is christmas eve, and although I have plenty of art and Japanese souvenirs to give, I still have to decide who's getting what and wrap them.

Curious Doodles Calander - Portland Oregon

Happy holidays everyone!  No matter what you believe or where you live I wish you a wondrous and happiness filled 2011!




* I like to make up/estimate percentages. They may or may not be quite accurate, apparently, much like my calculation of passing days.

I broke out into song. again.

I've been singing out loud a lot. and if you know me, you know that is not only funny but disturbing to the ears.  I'm not quite sure why.  i think i'm happy.  and excited.  and that's great!  even with the dark winter knocking on my door, i'm cheery!  sure, i still get irritated at things but only briefly and in general i'm honestly pretty excited about starting this new chapter in my life.  Almost Monday has been evolving for some time now.  Earrings,  necklaces, paintings etc. but it really wants to be a printmaking studio.  My co-founder, who is only with me in spirit is also a printmaker. a fantastic one!  it would be great if he and his lovely wife returned to Portland someday and we could actually open a public printmaking studio!  but for now i have my kitchen and various studios to attend.

I have new ideas for prints.  Print of the month, finishing the alphabet, and some fantastical animals.  I will actually be reading tips on small business and etsy.  Networking and promoting.  and, i'm just excited!

But for now, i must run! Friend with out car is buying me meatballs to take her to Ikea!

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.