new painting

veils

Here's a new piece I finished up last week. I started this over the summer, but then was stalled for a while...I had originally laid down some oranges and greens that were great colors, but the piece just wasn't saying anything to me. I think a lot about all of the different 'selfs' (selves?) we each have- how many mes make up an I. I see all of my selfs as sort of aspirations I have- for my ultimate I. Somtimes each self is very clear, concrete and in command. Sometimes they're a little harder to find.

I let the green and orange start of this painting hang out on the wall for a while while I tended to other work. I knew it wasn't a lost cause- just needed to wait for the right day to re-work it. I found the day and changed everything over to a white/cream pallette- which gave it the sort of dream-like quality I was looking for. I'm happy with how the stitched lines create both visual texture and a sort of veil falling before the smaller houses floating, and love the way the gold leaf areas break then entire thing down into a sort of patch-work field.

shop's open!

I've finally opened up one of two planned shops on etsy! Click above to head over to the shop I set up for the sale of my artwork. So far it's just prints...I'll post some originals soon: I'm not sure if I'll post every original I have, or just ones that are not destined for shows etc.

I'm still working on re-building my stock for the sincerely handmade shop, so that's fallen a little behind my original schedule, but it'll get there. If you're visiting here because you're out of notecards or giftcards and are desperate for more- just shoot me an email (my address is on my profile page). I don't want to leave ya' hanging!

To be honest, I think I'm sort of balking at having too many deadlines and obligations on the art front...I'm trying to figure out how to balance a desire to really get sincerely handmade off the ground, with an equally strong need to slow down and let new non-deadline related paintings develop ( I have a new one done- I'll post on Monday). Add to that prints that need to get down to a shop in Illinois and a potential for teaching a class and an application to fill out for an art fair in January- I'm pulling a bit of the ol' procrastination and denial approach that was so helpful in school when I'd taken on too many classes.

In addition to my 'artist-me' my family-me' is going full-bore as we head toward my eldest's 8th birthday, Halloween and a visit from my grandmother. I also, quite frankly, am in a bit of a home-improvement mood so much of the last week was dedicated to re-covering a chair. Then today I began re-painting the living room, only to find that I'd grabbed the wrong shade of white...so while I'm embracing the project-mode, I'm clearly a little scattered because of how much I'm trying to do at once!

So: it's a beautiful fall Friday, I have plenty of time to re-re-paint that living room and I trust that you'll make it through the weekend without access to a sincerely handmade shop. I'm heading out now to take a few pictures of my latest painting, and to drop a bunch of invites to an upcoming bowling birthday party in the mail. Then I'll take some deep breaths of this clear autumn air, and come back in to find the right bucket of white paint.

lovely weekend show

The show I was in this weekend was a little different than expected- much more low key than the super-busy, very crowded art shows with row after row of artist booths...but in a lot of ways, that meant it was a perfect first taste of the whole art show world for me. People trickled into our space steadily all day as they toured artist studios througout the town. Because there was never a huge crush of people, I actually managed to have several really lovely chats with those that stopped at my booth. It was wonderful to have so many positive reactions to my work and the mix of familiar friends with new visitors was perfect.

My booth space was so fun- my amazing husband constructed these four wall panels to hinge together and fold like a folding screen- they made a really nice little space for my hanging work:

The other edge of my space was defined by a table set up with sincerely handmade products:

This marked the official launch of the line, and it was a huge, huge success. I was so thrilled that people responded to the things I'd put together- it's such fun when I see someone crack a smile over a quirky little notecard that I wasn't sure would appeal to others as much as it appealed to me!

I'll be opening an actual etsy shop for sincerely handmade in the coming week or so...I've got a little 'administrative' work to take care of before it's ready- but I promise, you'll be the first to know when it's up and running.

Thanks so much to everyone that came out this weekend- it was so nice to visit with you, and your support of my work means the world to me.