How Do You Throw In The Towel, When You Don't Even Have One?

You don't!  I've heard from a lot of discouraged people this week, myself included.  Maybe something is going around.  Maybe times are tough.  Maybe we all fall into a funk at times.  Things happen, things change, moods take over.  What remains constant?  Art.

Must focus.  Art, art, art.  Art.

ART!!!

:)  Tomorrow is a new day!  Tomorrow art will be made! 

What will you make?! 

June Bug.

I don't know where you are in the world, but here in Portland, Oregon we are experiencing the 3rd coldest and 2nd wettest spring in the history of keeping track.  and it's unpleasant.  I need some good ole sun shine, blue sky and warmth!  Don't get me wrong, I really can't imagine living many other places on earth for many different reasons, but about now, i'm dreaming of a hot climate and blues skys with a tad of tropical sun and sea for good measure. 

Today I'm playing catch up and clean up.  I participated in one and helped in another workshop last week and went out of town.  So needless to say, i'm behind!  on everything!  I've been experimenting at the Atelier Meridian with sugarlift, auqutint, and solarplates and it's been great fun!  I can't wait to post some photos of what I've been working on! Printmaking is an amazing subject to study!  Oh the possibilities!

here's a bit of a preview!

Here's hoping that your weekend is full of sun and fun!  Happy early weekend everyone!

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!!

Spoon Fed

I made mention in a previous blog "Generosity Created the Cat" of the SPOON Foundation's upcoming event.  But wanted to share it again!  For those of you here in Ptown this is a great opportunity to support the cause and have a wonderful time trying many different cart foods!  For those of you out of town, you may not know this but Portland is now know for it's food cart pods! They are everywhere!  Think of any food you could ever want, and wowza!, there's a cart serving it up!  It's true!!  Please read below for more info on the SPOON Foundation and the event!

Cart Night at the Ballroom: A Food Cart Fundraising Event to Benefit Orphan Nutrition.

SPOON Foundation, a Portland based non-profit focused on international orphan nutrition,
announces Cart Night @ the Ballroom, a unique food cart tasting event to benefit the
health and hope of our world’s orphaned and adopted children.

On Thursday April 7, 2011, from 6:00-9:00 PM, over 10 Portland food carts will set up tastings
of their best cart fare inside the Village Ballroom, located at 700 NE Dekum in Portland.
Attendees will get the opportunity to sample the unique food offerings from such local food
carts as Namu Killer BBQ, Nuevo Mexico, Mum’s Kitchen, Pepper Box, Robb’s Really Good
Food and Hungry Heart Cupcake. To wash down all the food, beer will be donated by the
Village Ballroom’s neighbor, Breakside Brewery.

In addition to unique food, the event includes live music from Jesse Lee Young Trio, door
prizes from KEEN, and a silent auction, with such items as VIP backstage passes to the film-
ing of Leverage and VIP tickets to the DEW Tour. Portland author Kelley Roy will also be in
attendance, signing donated copies of her book CARTOPIA.

Tickets are $45 in advance, $55 at the door on the day of the event. Ticket price include
the cost of food.

To purchase tickets and to learn more about orphan nutrition, please visit the SPOON
Foundation website, www.spoonfoundation.org. For a complete list of participating food
carts, updates on silent auction items, and deals on tickets visit the SPOON Foundation
Facebook page (facebook.com/SPOONfoundation). All proceeds from this Cart Night will
benefit the SPOON foundation, a non-profit working to improve the nutrition of orphaned,
fostered and adopted children.

About SPOON Foundation

The SPOON Foundation is a Portland based non-profit whose mission is to improve the nutrition of orphaned, fostered and adopted children so they can grow and thrive. SPOON’ s Orphan Nutrition Project is the first worldwide effort to uncover and prevent nutritional deficiencies that impede the development of orphaned children. The project was piloted in Kazakhstan in 2009 and has made great strides in changing the way governments nourish young orphans around the world.

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.

Intentions! My Jar is Working!

Yesterday as I was sitting at my desk contemplating life.  I looked over at my intention jar.  I was happily shocked and a little frightened to realize that it is indeed working! When making an intention jar it's imperative to be specific and make sure the things you place there are things you really want.  and understand the ramifications of your intentions/desires.

My jar was mostly about things I'd like to have in my life and things I like.  So of course kitties ended up on my jar. It wasn't my "intention" to get more kitties, just to appreciate them and their cuteness.  A happy little kitty face.

Happy Little Kitty Face!

Item One:  Kitties! Little did I know this was going to throw the universe into action and I would become the care taker of 2 more kitties.  Bringing my total back up to 4. Which is dangerously close to 5.  5 is the legal limit here in Portland and also the number that indicates you are indeed a crazy cat lady.  I will spare the details of this nutalicious story.

Cheese on the jar

Cheese in my tummy

Item Two:  Cheese! I love cheese. Can't seem to get enough of it.  Side note: While in Italy a couple years back I extended my trip literally the night before I was to come home. Which meant I carried an additional 8 lbs of Parmesan cheese around in my backpack for two weeks. If you know anything about backpacking, 8lbs is a lot of extra weight.  Well worth it.  I follow @TillamookCheese on twitter, I like them on facebook, I even applied as their social media voice.  Then a couple of weeks ago I entered a little contest they had and won!  Yes! I won cheese!

2010 Model SOMA Mixte

Item Three:  Bike.  Last year I ordered a bike frame I loved.  Sadly, it was out of stock. When I tried to reorder the price went up and money wise things were looking sketchy.  I decided not reorder.  I continued riding the bike that didn't fit and needed a new bottom bracket.  A year later I placed the mixte frame on my jar. Thinking that it represented a bike that fit me properly.  A couple weeks ago my cohabitant found the frame in a lovely graphite color for less then last years model!  I decided not to replace my table that was damaged in the break-in, but, instead order said frame. I'm excited to get back riding, insurance or not!  Much better for my health to ride a bike than sit at a table.

ART all year long!  A happy year indeed!

Item Four: Art. On my jar I placed the words "ART all year long" and photos of paintings.  This week I received a commission piece! Should have put some printmaking items on it!  Does this also explain why I didn't get the job a couple weeks back? Hmmm...

 

Italy has lots of art and cheese!

I type all this to say: Intentions. Set them. Understand them.  Enjoy them! Extra kitties and all!

To Blog or not to Blog...

Another weirdo face.

Bad photo! Expression and all! haha

That is the question!  The last couple of weeks have been a black hole of time sucking activities that have nothing to do with art and very little to do with unemployment.  I'm the VP of Fundraising and Sponsorship for IIDA's Oregon Chapter.  Last Thursday night was the annual fundraiser!  Phew! Am I glad that is over!  It's our only fundraiser and it always involves a theme and awesome raffle prizes!  This years theme was High School "Clicks".  I went as myself, in circa 1987.  Died black hair and all.  My ears still hurt from all those earrings and my feet still hate those dyed to match pumps. I'm also pretty sure this black hair is making me look old.  Oh 1987.  I won the below light in the raffle!  It's going to look great over my table! Yay!

Louis Poulsen PH 5

Sunday I looked at a studio space share potential with a letter press gal!  The space is perfectly located for me with a small store front and workshop space.  The trouble is money of course.  There is a potential to make some there, but you know the old saying "you have to spend money to make money" . Sad but mostly true.

Recently I also visited Atelier Meridian!  Now, they have some presses!  Their Friday Ink and Drink seems to be well attended and a good time!  I'd like to visit again! 

Last Monday was Valentines day. Previously I had made a linocut of a box of chocolates for the occasion but also wanted to finish a drypoint I sketched. I got as far as getting it on the plate!  Better than still being on paper I suppose.  I'm planning to print it Sunday at the workshop I'm running.

I'm hoping to get back on track creating! I have a couple of projects up my sleeve, but more about them later. 

Thanks for taking the time to spend with me here in my virtual world! :)

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!  :)

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.