retrieval project starts tomorrow!

The Retrieval Project will officially launch tomorrow!

I'm getting excited about this project. When I first thought of it and then Joe and I talked details, it was fun and exciting... but then the painting part started. I finished the first painting and liked it, but the task of doing the rest seemed daunting in the moment/mood/state of mind I was in. Then on Monday I went to Mati's. Can I just say I feel so so lucky to be interning/hanging out with her?! She's the best.

I brought my stuff and we were in her studio painting. Well she was cleaning/organizing and I sat down to paint. I kept wanting to get up and help her. I was feeling blocked and uncomfortable with the task before me. But I started. She went in the house to make a phone call and I kept painting, but was having a hard time. I didn't like what was coming out and then the negative thoughts started coming. "What do I think I'm doing with a project like this?" "This looks like something one of our kids could do." (and they're amazing little artists in their own rights, but what I was painting looked so childish to me at the time.) "Why on earth would I ever want my artwork next to Joe's?" and so on and so on. I was very overwhelmed and feeling under-qualified for the project.

Then Mati came back. She could tell I was struggling and suggested I put aside the painting I was working on. She wanted me to experiment with mixing colors and getting messy. (I love her!) We got out several more pieces of the canvas paper I'm using and went to town with some backgrounds. That's more how I do it at home too... working on at least a few at a time, and making messy, non-thought-out backgrounds. But her words were so encouraging. She could relate to the gremlins I was facing. Her husband Hugh is also an amazing artist, with a style totally different than hers. Like Joe, his work is usually tight and crisp and clean. Like me, hers is more free and sort of whimsical. She let me borrow a book which I've heard great things about.

I sort of cringed inside when Hugh came into the studio and Mati showed him the piece I'd been working on (and struggling with). She told him about the Retrieval Project and he was very nice and supportive also.

We broke for lunch and walked to a cafe just a few blocks away, where we met a couple of Mati's friends (roommates, both named Debbie). After lunch, they walked back to Mati's studio with us. Oh no! Another artist looking at my work! (One of the Debbies went to art school with Mati.) But they were both encouraging also and Debbie the artist really liked the painting I had done.

I left that day feeling so inspired and ready to keep going with my paintings. Real artists actually liked my work! But more than that, they helped chase those gremlin thoughts away and gave me the belief that I can do this.

The painting I worked on that day... it is now finished. Well I think it is. I thought it was yesterday too, but thought of something to add. (You'll see that one available here on day 5, August 5th). When Joe came home last night and we showed each other what we'd been working on, he said, "that's rad. I love that. Now my paintings suck." (He was aware of my feelings of inadequacy all week, and my being intimidated by having my artwork next to his.)

I'm so glad we're doing this project. For the obvious hope that it accomplishes the goal of raising the funds we need to get our stuff out of storage, but also because I'm growing as an artist, having fun and growing closer with Joe, and feeling the love and support from a community of artists and bloggers as well as family and friends.

i heart my new necklace

This is me being a dork, taking photos with photobooth on my mac. I wish you could see the artwork better. This necklace is awesome. Mati is too. And so is Kristen, by the way. (Mati is the creator of the artwork, Kristen is the maker of the necklace.) I love collaborations. I love my new necklace.

can't let 'em get the best of me

Starbucks, that is.  A few weeks ago I posted here that for the first time in about 12 years, I was about to go to work outside the home.  I recently became a Starbucks barista... and I have to admit, the job is pretty fun while I'm there, but it is kickin' my booty big time.  I work the opening shift most days starting at 4am... which means I wake up at 3am.  Holy moly... I'm not as young as I used to be!  And I'm feelin' it.  I don't have a problem getting up at that hour... or being genuinely cheerful before the crack of dawn.  But what is hard is that in the afternoons, when I'm home with my kids, I'm super tired and probably not a whole lot of fun.  I'm realizing I have to be careful not to let Starbucks get the best of me.  As in the best part of me... the happy, nice, patient me.  Somehow I've got to figure out some balance so there's plenty left for my family.  Take now for instance... I'd love to be painting, but I really should be sleeping.  I'm sitting in bed as I type, but felt like getting this out before drifting off tonight.  I need to come up with some sort of schedule that works.  There are so many things pining for my time and I have to come up with a system to make things like laundry, cleaning, cooking, playing, painting and resting not seem so overwhelming.  I do hope that this working thing is just for a season.  I really want to work from home, doing art, where I call the shots and wake up and go to sleep and have days off when I want.  But for now this is my lot and I need some balance to make it all work.  I have a husband and four amazing kids who are growing and changing, and I don't want to miss it.  I want to find a way to tend to my responsibilities while savoring precious time with my loved ones.  Right now it's a huge adjustment.  But I have hope that balance is just around the corner.

renegade sf

What a beautiful day in the Bay Area today! We headed over to San Francisco for the Renegade Craft Fair and I'm SO glad we did! I had hoped to have someone watch the kids so I could go alone, or with just Brooklyn, and hang out with Mati for a while, helping and chatting it up at her booth.... but since that didn't work out, I just brought them along. And it went better than I had hoped. I told them all on the way not to ask when we were leaving, and not to ask if we could buy anything. I assured them that I would be the one most disappointed that we weren't buying anything. We talked about just going for fun, for them to meet Mati, and for all of us to look around. Brooklyn is as addicted to window shopping on Etsy as I am. I told them it would probably be like a huge Etsy marketplace in person. Turns out, that's exactly what it was like. So much fun. And on our drive over there, the kids and I decided to make our experience into a treasure hunt of sorts. We were all going to pick one item that we would want most of all if we could choose something. And we were all going to look for something that we thought was most clever. We ended up having a great time, maneuvering our double stroller through the crowds and all.

Mati had a prime location near the entrance, and her booth was our first stop. Here she is with her other new intern, Caitlyn. Super cute set up, right?
I love all of her artwork so much and am really really swooning over these new necklaces.
I had a hard time picking a favorite today.
I will definitely be swooping one of these up asap!
Once back outside, we saw this guy riding around. How awesome is that? I think I want him to follow me around playing little melodies. Or not, because that would be kind of creepy. But I so love piano, and thought this was brilliant.
Remember I said it was a beautiful day in the Bay Area? Just look at this. This was taken on our walk back to the car. It was a bit of a walk, but we loved it. Gentle breeze, sloshing waves, sunny sky, silly kids.
I was very proud of the kids for their great attitudes. They were fun to have along. We didn't get to do any shopping today, but we collected cards and oohed and awed.
Oh yes, and our picks for what we'd buy if we could have:

Brooklyn chose the Monster Fuzzie by Fuzzy Ink. (Which we're really hoping to win in a giveaway they were doing.)

Zeke liked a poster of a skull with eggs for eyes and pieces of bacon for the crossbones. We can't find it online so far, but it was in the booth across from Mati's.

I heart Mati's necklaces. And I loved a dress from Rebe, although I can't find the one I really wanted online. I think I heard them say they're one of a kind, which I think is pretty cool. Once they make a dress in a particular combination of fabrics, that's it.

And we thought that these journals were very clever. Oh the thinks people think!

Lots and lots of other great artists/crafters. You can see the full list here.

You can still go see all this crafty goodness for yourself. They'll be there again tomorrow from 11am-7pm. You won't regret it.

collaboration coming soon

I posted this last week on my other blog:

Status update a few nights ago on Facebook and Twitter: brainstorming, plotting, devising, conspiring, planning, collaborating.... need to be sleeping. stay tuned.

We've been back in the Bay Area for five plus months now.... but our stuff (aka most of our home furnishings and belongings) is still in Minnesota. We are feeling SO ready to go get it and have it here. We're still catching up financially from the two huge moves in six months and are no where near being able to afford the trip + uhaul necessary. So as I was drifting off to sleep the other night, my mind was whirling. Trying to figure out a way. We're thinking the trip total will be pretty close to $4,000. Crazy, I know!

Whenever you're in a situation that seems impossible, you have to look around and take stock of what's available. Like in the Bible, when Moses was afraid to confront Pharoah to let the Israelites go out of Egypt, God asked him, "What's that in your hand?". And He used the staff Moses carried to perform miracles and accomplish His will.

We have art in our hands. So here's what I came up with. If we do 100 paintings between us, and sell them for $40 each, we'd could make what we need. So we're percolating ideas and brainstorming and coming up with a list of titles for paintings. We'll each do our own take on each title, and everyday we'll release two paintings (one of each) until we've done all 100. We'll be starting a new blog and an etsy shop for the collaboration.

The theme will revolve around the move, transition, Minnesota, California, new beginnings, roots, family, etc.

I'd love feedback and/ or suggestions for this undertaking. We need to come up with a name for the project, and we could use some title suggestions for the paintings. And of course, if you'd spread the word about this, with links to our blog and shop when they're up, that would be MUCH appreciated!

**Update: We have a name! We're calling this the Retrieval Project. And we have our list of titles. We're busy with our ideas and our paintings, and are planning to launch the project on August 1st. New blog will be up soon also. Please stay tuned!

little pink houses

On Friday night, I took Brooklyn out for a fun night on the town. We rode on BART to San Francisco. The Mission district has lots of yummy spots to eat. For this occasion, we opted for berry pie at Mission Pie. SO good!

Next, we headed over to the Curiosity Shoppe for the Little Pink Houses collaboration art show with Mati Rose McDonough and Lisa Congdon. They are both such great artists, and it was fun to see the show after having met Lisa on one of my first days with Mati, and hearing about/ seeing the project along the way.


I also got to meet Kelly Rae Roberts, author of Taking Flight, and who I have to thank for the round-about (through her book and links from her blog) introduction to Mati. We met a couple of other new friends too, who I recognized from the blog/art world.
They even had the cutest little pink cupcakes. I thought that was such a sweet touch.
Lisa's dog Wilfredo really wanted a bite of Brooklyn's cupcake. (Isn't his pink tie adorable?!)
Here's my cute little date on the BART ride home. We had such a blast together.
More press and photos about the show here:

Lisa Congdon's blog, Mati's blog, an interview of Mati on artists who blog, and a celebration of friendship on Kelly Rae Robert's blog.

And both Mati and Lisa will have booths at the Renegade Craft Fair in SF this weekend.

treasure

About a month ago, a package full of treasure came to my door step. I am a big lover of old hymns, and have fond memories of singing these songs in the lovely old chapel that our family went to when I was younger. There were some old favorites, and if I could get my hands on the exact hymnals we used, I'd be so so excited. There was a red one and a blue one, and I remember the favorites, like "#508 in the red" (I think that was "It is Well". My younger sister and I would always giggle and sing "It isSwell"... That song is still a favorite of mine.)

I thought it would be fun to incorporate some old hymnal music sheets into some collage artwork, so I went looking on ebay. I was elated when I won this set (for 9.99, I do believe). A good friend also gave me one that she had after I told her I wanted these.

I think I'll keep one or two just for decoration. But I'm also using them, and loving going through the pages, reading the titles and humming tunes to the ones I remember.

You may have seen this collage painting that I did, using some of these pages. A couple of weeks ago, I was looking for a place to store the coffee sleeves I had finished, and found this Jiffy peanut butter box from Costco to be a great size, but not very attractive. So I took it out to my "studio" and got to work...

A little mod podge, and some pages from the hymn books, and I now have this:
A perfect fit!