Putting the Self in Care!!

Another weekend has come and gone, and I've been a little bit productive, but mostly I'm self-caring it up!! Only doing things that I really enjoy:)

Like sleeping! I am a chronic insomniac. Have you ever seen that meme where it says, "You're damn right I'm good in bed, I could sleep for days!!" Yeah, that's my dream. I go for quantity over quality. Which is why I go to bed at a time that some people would think is obscenely early, and can still sleep in like a teenager (NOT a teenager:P).

Anyways, I pretty much slept Saturday away and it was GLORIOUS!!! I think I fiddled around with my Etsy shop, Facebook, etc. but didn't really do anything too momentous (other than REMOVING ALL SHIPPING PRICES ON ETSY!!!!). AMAZING!!! 

Today though, today I got shit done!! ...well kinda... I was up and at 'em early early (like, 10:45am early), and checking out city markets. I have come to a conclusion... Other than one of the consignment stores I cold-called lied when they said that they had similar products to mine in their store, I discovered that a Manitoba Farmer's Market is a Manitoba Farmer's Market... It's all pretty much the same thing... But, if I do decide to dive into the madness again, I really need to rethink and revamp my set up.

First off, a tent would be WONDERFUL!!! It seems to add a level of professionalism, and shade. Never forget the shade. My burns from a month ago are still unhappy with me... Not to mention a bigger table!! I've got lotsa stuff, and my repertoire is growing all the time, so a bigger table is a must! I'm probably also going to need some sort of actual display to make things look pretty and yeah... But for that I'll need a bigger table... Hmm...

Anyways!!! After that I wandered around for a lil bit, then went on my way to buy some dog food and run some errands. Since I was home by noon, I had plenty of time to FINALLY finish off my mirror (forgot to mention that I bought more paint the day before). It matches everything and I'm SO EXCITED!!!! My room is becoming very zen and totally my space. It's amazing!!  Now I need to hang it up... THEN I move on to my closet/wardrobe thingy. Right now it's a plain woodgrain, but it needs some zazzing up!! I'm thinking.... Blue? Hahahaha :P I am for sure thinking of keeping the walls yellow, but less of a bile-ish yellow, and more of a happy sunny yellow.

So, the point of this post? Instead of doing anything "on the clock", I just chilled out and took things at my own pace. This is my favourite pace. Nice and relaxing, but still pretty productive. I have to go and retrieve my loom from MLHS to keep up my weaving, not too mention FINALLY sew my bag together... But this weekend none of that mattered. I did what I wanted, and planned out what I wanted. Not to mention spent some quality time with the hubby and the puppies.

Yup, every once in a while you have to slow down, chill out, and let all the stress of the last couple weeks just kinda melt off and remember that life is good!! Time to live it!!!

Have a good one!! Talk soon y'all!! Live it up!!

Hallelujah for the Internet!!

Thank God for the Internet!!! Without it I might not have (or it would have taken me a LOT longer) gotten up the courage to email a few boutiques I know of that display local artists works. The emailing itself wasn't as terrifying as I thought it would be, but the fact that I got replies sent the blood pressure RIGHT UP!!!!

 

Then my imposter complex kicked in hardcore!! I mean yeah, my work is ok, but not store worthy!! Who do you think you are?!? To be honest, I'm still fighting with them. Etsy was one thing; you just post your stuff and people chose what they want. With this, one is a consignment store and the other one buys the works outright!! I'm terrified!!

 

But you know what? One thing is really shining through for me: I'd rather be sitting here terrified trying to get a hold of my friend who said she'd do my photographs then sitting here wondering what it would be like to have people who I don't know actually buy something I made!!

 

It'll either be amazing, or absolutely soul crushing... When you think about it, this isn't that much different from when I was applying at Farmers Markets. It just seems bigger because this is kind of the next step I guess...

 

Either way, I'm terrified yet excited. But either way, gotta keep on moving up at the  only reckless pace I know.

 

Keep on keeping on and taking the big risks!! Ciao for now!!! (btw, all items below are for sale :P)

Out of the Frying Pan, into the Fire

Whew!! Still slogging down that ole road!!

Another busy weekend has come and gone, and it's Monday again... Ugh... As everyone knows, I HATE Mondays. Like a lot. Ugh... Anyways, there's a couple things going on today that are making my Monday slightly better!

First and foremost, Style School has kicked off officially!! Yay!! This is super exciting, and I've been looking forward to it for a lllooonnnnggg time!! ...it has also become very apparent that I need to figure out how to accessorize... Like badly!!

This, however, is not what I'm currently panicking about. I also have my very first Art Critique tonight... AHH!!! I know that I've mentioned it previously, but it seems to have come up wwwaaayyy too fast. Whew!! I still have no idea which piece to bring... Like none... Ugh... I asked my sister on Friday evening which one she liked best, and she picked my tree pic.

Now, if you recall, this was something I sketched out after having a complete and total meltdown. What does this pic mean to me? You might not be able to see it in my artwork, still a rookie here, but I think that it's something that calms me. I love to sketch and paint nature, or things that I think are old and have some history. LOVE history. Hm... Going further into introspection, maybe this is why I'm so obsessed with drawing The Forks. Anyways, my house was built in 1923, and is one of the oldest houses in the neighbourhood. I can only assume that the tree has been there almost as long. That's what drew me to it (no pun intended :P) I guess. Thinking about who planted it, or who watched it grow. How the neighbourhood has changed since it was planted/planted itself. How my little house has changed in that long period of time. Interesting to think about, isn't it?

I think I just solved my own question about my artwork. The bulk of it is history related, which elicits REALLY strong emotions in me that I draw. ...and I just really like large bodies of water... It's a thing, I'm OK with it.

Aside from this being possibly the most scatter-brained post to date, it's also been VERY insightful for me. When I started typing I had no idea why I drew that tree. I didn't know what the concept behind my art was. But, even though I didn't know outright, the answer really doesn't surprise me. It's kind of soothing in a way, and exciting to know that I can change it whenever I want and go in any direction I chose. This is just for me.

I'll let you know how she goes!!! Now I'm not nearly as nervous :)

May the 4th be with You (And Revenge of the 5th)

Yes, I'm a proud nerd! And so I say, May the 4th be with you!!

It seems like a lifetime since I last posted anything. A lot has happened in the last couple of days, namely my Grannie suddenly passing away. So it's been a devastating week all around. At the moment this is an experimental post.

 

Creative-wise I actually haven't been doing too badly. I started this post yesterday (Star Wars Day :P), but just didn't have the heart to finish. Anyways, I did get a lot of crafty stuff done yesterday. I painted 2 pictures (water colour!), and did a sketch of The Forks again.

 

Side bar, The Forks is a pretty big tourist destination here in Winnipeg and probably my favourite place in the city. It's super historic (previously established that I'm nerdy that way), there's lots of cool original shops, and it's beautiful to just sit by the river. Anyways, I went there last Friday on my last day of holidays and it has since become my favourite place to sketch (apparently). I've done 2 now (see below), and after tagging The Forks in it via hashtags, they've liked both of my pictures right away on Instagram. It might not seem like much, but I personally am SUPER STOKED!! I'm pretty excited that my artwork is starting to get noticed.

Which means that now I really have to update my Instagram personal info and let people know that I'm actually selling stuff now... Ugh... Work... It was also really exciting that my cousin recognized right away what I drew. I'm kind of all about artistic interpretation. When I try to draw something exactly how it actually looks, if it doesn't look EXACTLY like the actual object I get super down on myself. Even though I really shouldn't (I'm still pretty new at this, and am for sure not a camera), so I've decided to stop trying. If it looks close enough to what it actually is, I'm good.

I've also taken my first step towards official abstract painting. I couldn't think of what else to paint, so I just grabbed the colours that I liked and kinda smeared them all a page. When I was done I kinda thought it looked like fireworks, but when I showed it to my sister and cousin they both agreed that it looked like autumn leaves. That really intrigues me! It wasn't supposed to be anything, just a smear of colours on a canvas, but it turned out to be a possible 2 things. And that's just from the 3 of us. Mind blowing right?!?

This has kind of been a therapeutic post, I'm still incredibly out of sorts and not quite myself. Now I can definitely see how art and writing can be used for therapy. I feel slightly better already :)

Thanks to all who suffered through:) I should be more myself and back to my regular endeavors next post (hopefully).