Since I started my new plant shop job and it being spring and therefore busy I've fallen into a lazy routine lately involving work and coming home and watching Big Bang Theory, taking care of my plants filling up our three windows and taking care of our pets; 2 cats, 2 frogs (australian whites tree frog, American green tree frog) and an anole lizard. All of which except for one cat we acquired in the recent weeks. Now on watch through number 3 of the series I started to feel the need to be productive and creative.
Today I was browsing etsy for a few minutes and came across an item a friend of mine favorited, from there I went to the girls blog, depeapa. I found her style, colors & shapes inspiring and felt refreshed and energized to create. A welcomed response and change to my couch potato nature as of late.
So I sat down at my desk this afternoon and created the 2 above collages.
I turned on some music from the music blog gorilla vs bear and found a band I really like Prince Innocence a band I had previously no knowledge of. I like how they don't look like they go together, they have catchy beats and professional videos which I found interesting since they are distributed through a small label pretty pretty records that through their website seems to have only 3 bands and have yet to release a full length record and seem to only have 6 songs all of which were release in the past year. I love this video of theirs, the prism lights, the random items and poster taped to the wall, the neon pop cartoon icons overlaid over the live video.
The other video my husband found the artist last night and from what I heard I really liked at the time and remembered and found again today. Shuta Hasunuma on the same label as Balmorhea, western vinyl. A fun found sound electronic beats.
Recently I was inspired to start keeping a sketchbook. I've always
been kind of OCD about art. I want to destroy my stuff if I don't
like it so pages get torn out of sketchbooks, so I tend to work with
loose paper. But after recently reading Leah Reena Goren's blog I thought I'd
try it out, suppressing the urge to tear out pages if I don't like a
drawing or painting. I chose one I had already, a present from years
back. There were a few sewing pattern sketches in it already. But I
started. I'm trying to not let a day go by without drawing or
painting something in it. Most of it inspired by etsy artists I like, illustrators, some plants & nature items, Jamin & furniture, stuff I find
on pinterest, miyazaki films.
A few days ago we went to a local home décor and gardening store,
bypassing the home décor stuff and walking straight to the
greenhouse. I love being around plants. It is my happy spot, growing
stuff, nature, green. I walked down all the isles, a few of them
multiple times. Checking out the succulents and cacti, ferns, ground
cover, palms, and a few flowering plants. I could only get one and I
ended up choosing between a poppy plant, flowering succulent, pony
tail palm & a stag horn fern. I chose the stag horn fern because
I ended up giving the one I had to a neighbor in Florida who wanted
it. And now it is living in the window above the couch where it can
soak up some indirect sunlight.
I wanted to blog everyday when I recently started blogging again
but realized I don't always have something to share or say really. So
my new more practical idea is to do so when I have something to show
or talk about. It is weird how we make rules to things (like
blogging) for ourselves without even thinking about it. That we all
like things a certain way. I'm trying to learn to be more carefree and
just do, make.
my work space looks like we've lived here for years not weeks. I'd forgotten how many pieces of inspiration I have, drawings, prints, postcards, polaroids, photographs, trinkets, vintage bits of paper, rocks, words of encouragement, posters, baskets, knitting, sewing... lots of stuff. I'm kind of a clutter nester when it comes to surrounding myself with stuff I like. It is a weird blend of organization, vintage, nature & handmade objects & bits of paper.
yesterday we played disc golf for Valentines day. It was such a beautiful day, the weather was awesome, cool but it warmed up enough to loose the sweater while playing. I'm getting a hang on the technique of throwing. It's funny but Jamin pointed out that we are a holiday disc golf couple. We played on Christmas. Rode our bikes the 5 miles to the park back in Orlando and although I'm not much of a risk taker adventurer. It just doesn't come naturally something about being raised to not brake rules, some are still just hard for me to be comfortable with, like sneaking into a park on Christmas. But we rode up and 2 seconds later a camper drove up and entered their code and we were able to ride in after them. It was an awesome day. We played the whole 18. We had a memory making moment adventure where I threw my new disc that Jamin bought me to be my own first disc. I cut it left by early release and sunk it into the middle of man made river storm ditch. Thankfully it landed leaning on a log bellow this big pipe that crossed the river at that spot. At first I tried to reach it with a large branch while standing on the pipe but couldn't reach it. Then Jamin tried while stepping out onto another log but the stick dropped the disc and it sunk. So I took off my shoes and socks and rolled up my tights walked out onto the log and reached into the cold water but I couldn't feel the bottom so I jumped in and search for it with my feet because I didn't want to put my head under the water, it was not clear. At the point where I thought I might not find it Jamin reminded me to pray about finding it and at that point I did. Praise the Lord! I was happy I found my special disc. I was wearing layers and removed all wet clothing I still had a dress, shirt, socks & shoes that were dry. It was an experience semi-swimming in a storm ditch.
Today I had a day lesson in patience. I notice a lot of people struggle with patience while driving. I need patience when wanting to use the computer but Jamin is using it, we own one laptop. I wanted to surf blogs, pinterest, etsy, scan new drawings and blog. Jamin worked on his first music video all yesterday and today making it, editing it and figuring out how to upload it onto youtube. It was frustrating trying not to be impatient. knowing how much I use the computer and sometimes wishing someone would stop me when I can't stop myself from wasting time online instead of actually making, doing or accomplishing something. So in waiting I drew my jar of favorite brushes and pens I'm currently using & my diana mini camera and I ended up liking them.
Yesterday I was struggling with feeling inadequate, not good, talentless. I was comparing my art abilities to other people art. Not like side by side. It's just sometimes you see something, in this case other people photography on this blog I like inconnu // unknown and really really liking it and then feeling not as good as them and down. Jamin pointed out in doing that, not only is it unhealthy, it's a sin. Because in doing that being envious of others capabilities I'm not resting in the fact that God has made me exactly who I am, who I'm meant to be right now, He's given me exactly the amount of talent and capability he designed me to have right now in the areas he designed me to have them in. I can work on improving and be inspired by others work, it's just not helpful to compare myself to others.
So today I organized my paper drawer unit (from ikea) It's a mini affordable apartment size version of those large metal paper drawer units at schools. I had stuffed stuff that was on the walls at our last two places when we moved and never fully unpacked it till today. My art, other peoples art, paper, bits of inspiration, posters, knick knack pieces of paper, art supplies, plastic sleeves, stickers. In organizing I came across some pieces of work that I had forgotten about that I really liked. It was like God was showing me I don't always have that feeling like I suck, sometimes I make something I'm proud of. It was encouraging to be reminded that sometimes I like what I make.
The light was so strongly lighting up our blinds that it seemed that they weren't even there by how much the light lit up the room this morning. I woke up around 8am which I was surprised by because I went to bed late but the heaviness of my eyes reminded me.
I didn't realize till I was on google/reader for a while that today is valentines. The past few weeks I've been drawing heart shapes out of plants. I suppose because I knew valentines was coming up. I think it must be one of the most enjoyable holidays for kids. I always liked the time at school where you got to exchange your valentines, the candies and cartoon character themed pieces of perforated paper in reds and pinks. We're not much of celebrators of holidays or life events in the traditional sense. I think it is a part of our personalities to not plan things and just go with the flow of the day, doing what we feel lead in the moment, laid back. Last night I got some flowers though, Jamin got me some yellow daisy type ones when we first got here and last night I got some pale purple ones with green in the middle. That's one thing we thought we'd do now that we are here, always have some flowers.
I was playing around with patterns that would work for cards today while my husband was looking up Willy Mason music videos. He got inspired and I got bored and changed my skirt for the second time today. As I walked over to our couch and posted my feet up on foot stool in my what's next today mood He was like "Lets make a music video for one of my songs". He's currently figuring out which song he wants to play with a music video for first, walking around (as much as that is possible in our tiny space) playing his small guitar, playing his songs, getting a feel for which one. So we're going to play around with our friends digital camera today.
We hung some more pictures up in our apartment yesterday. Jamin joked about sending pictures of our moved into 12x20 studio to Dwell because of how we used the space. It's like one of those ikea houses that you can walk around in at the store except without the walls dividing everything and making it feel smaller.
I'm loving all the evergreen trees around here. I'm not exactly sure what varieties they are, I think just pine. but all the tall green trees are mesmerizing and comforting towering above me. It makes me want to sleep under them and the stars in the navy blue rich sky. It's a little cold for that, we'd have to bundle up. But I like camping in the cold, it feel truer in a way. The other night we hung out around a bon fire made with logs from a tree our tenants cut down on their property, they were all around 4 feet long and it was still smoldering in the morning when we step outside for our day, even in the drizzle.
Rainy day here in east Texas. The past few days really, drizzle then storm, lightning and thunder. I love how the rain makes the greens and browns of nature more saturated, rich. I've been really appreciating my new color swatches. Before I'd tend to pick out the colors I thought I wanted to use by the bottle color. I usually ended up using the same colors over and over, not really satisfied with the result of my choices. I feel i'm choosing better now that I know exactly what color i'm choosing. The scene above was our cat being cute and ironic this morning. He was taking a nap on a crocheted blanket using the hard wood of my chair as his pillow. Jamin pointed out that "shouldn't it be the other way around?"
these baby moccasin booties were a goodwill outlet find back in Austin. I thought they would make a good baby card for someone (don't get any ideas, just thought they were cute).
The temperature dropped last night. And I just heard thunder outside, I think it is going to rain, making it even colder. It's kind of nice to experience some kind of winter weather, since Florida doesn't seem to experience much of it. A few nights we wore sweatshirts and jackets with toboggans but as we left there it felt like it was almost summer time again. Since our space is built inside of a garage it doesn't retain heat that well so it gets a bit nippy, but it is nice to be able to wear sweaters and chunky socks and cozy up under multiple blankets at night.
I think I, like seemingly everyone else fell in love with Rifle paper company. While I was in Florida, since it is based out of Orlando, where we were. It makes me want to paint like her. I was playing around with flowers like she draws today. It feels like copying at first, but I feel like if I continue to paint flowers it will become something my own. It is just based upon inspiration at first.
This Asparagus fern picture used to be hanging in my friend Pam's house as shown in the picture. I took a picture of it the last time I hung out with her and she gave it to me when I took a picture of it. She was like if you like it so much just take it. She's cool. We exchanged some stuff before we left. I don't think I'd ever done that before, exchanged stuff. It's a great experience, you give a friend some things they like of yours and they give you some thing you like of theirs and then all of those things will forever remind you of that person. It's a great was to be reminded of people.
These two pictures are from a coffee shop in Orlando I miss "Downtown Credo". I didn't frequent it that much since I didn't live in the area (college park). But it is a great place, non profit coffee space. Great atmosphere, very fresh and great soft light. The walls are decorated like this behind the coffee bar and above where all the sugars are. The other walls are left bare or used to hang the current show of artwork. The have workshops like writing and "cultivating a creative community". I had friends that hung out there every day. They make the best iced dirty chai latte ever. And my friend Pam mentioned above bakes the desserts they sell. She is currently starting a new business for compost called "Fork and Spade".
a few shots from home so far. I felt a little bad about my mass america comment yesterday, there is just something about concrete & stores that puts a knot in my stomach. But as I said the trees are great here, great and tall, full of pine cones and pine needles that fall and cover the ground.
I drew some yesterday, succulents, pine cones & feathers. Stuff I have laying around. I'm going to try to be more diligent about drawing. I felt like making a stationary card, so I started a design.
Recently I found this great new book series called "Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms" & "Horten's Incredible Illusions" by Lissa Evans there are only two books in the series but I really like them. I'm currently reading the second one but I read the first one in a day. You can find them in the young adult area in the children's section of a book store.
Yesterday some family took us out to dinner at the one thai restaurant in town Lil Thai House, a small local joint where some other young college age looking kids walked in while we were there and we briefly thought about asking where they hang out, what there is to do in town but didn't figuring they were probably in high school. It was good, we were happy to eat at a local place. I got thai tea & panang curry & Jamin got green curry stir fry. My favorite was what Jackie got, the pad see-ew was awesome. There aren't any coffee shops around here, just starbucks. Which is fine but i'm looking more for a place to meet young artistic people, have gallery shows & local music acts play.
I've already been to the two goodwill in town. I got 2 sweaters, a guy shirt, a yarn picture of a pixilated waterfall, 2 things for friend packages, a plastic watch & Jamin found some black cole haan dress shoes. I thought I looked up that there was a goodwill outlet (blue hanger) around here, but I guess I was mistaken or it is farther than I realize.
We moved again and are now living in east Texas, think iconic mass America. Land of chain restaurants and commercialism. We'll be on the outlook for local eats. So I may disagree with a lot out here but the nature around here is awesome. It's full of pine trees. Yesterday we went disc golfing, slightly surprised to find that they have a disc golf course out here. I've got my studio corner for the most part set up. We are living Tokyo style out in the country in a garage apartment that is 240 square feet, but considering it is one room, it's big enough for us. I like it, it is a challenge of how small we can live and the $250 rent is pretty sweet. We got a storage unit to put everything we didn't need with us. I've been surfing etsy a lot this past week. I'm excited for being more productive creating in our new space, everything is organized & in one room. I can't escape the view of art supplies from the couch, so no excuses to forget about it. Today I washed all my palettes and finished a project I started in Orlando. My friend Adrienne from "nice is different" catalogued her watercolor palette by painting an individual color on a little paper square from leftover paper (& drew little smiley faces on the paint) on the back you write what the name of the color is (and if you want to the make of the paint, because I found in my collection I have a few of the same name but different brands). It helps you to know exactly what colors you have because for the most part the color on the bottle or tube of paint rarely identically matches the color of the paint & how it looks diluted. It makes it easier to find what you are looking for. I have 11 rolls of film I need to get developed. Some of the photos are from when we lived in Austin, it's been a while. It will be a surprise to see what is on each roll, since I don't keep up with which roll is which and from what adventure.
today I took a muumuu and a 3/4 length t-shirt I both got from goodwill outlet yesterday and altered them so that they are now wearable. I made the shirt into a tank and the muumuu into a skirt. I'm not sure about the elastic waist band I think I might change it to have a fixed waist band with button & zipper side seam closure. It feels at times that I can be a time waister at the studio but I think that is just because the time seems to pass quickly when I'm here. So today I wrote down a timeline of my day so that I could reflect on it and what it produced. How pink I am was unintentional.
1:15 dropped off DVDs at the library
1:45 arrive at studio
2:00 made green tea
2:15 turned on spotify
2:23 cut off sleeves of shirt
2:55 finished stitching shirt
3:00 cut dress into skirt
4:14 finished sewing bias tape
4:55 finished with sewing waist and stringing elastic throughout, fixed pocket
5:00 finished other pocket
5:12 hem done with matching thread
5:30 finished taking pictures of finished outfit
5:53 finish choosing pictures for blog
6:00 checked facebook
6:15 blogged
Worked this morning and then came by the studio to "work" until it's time to go to a dinner hangout this evening. I baked my own variation of the Smitten Kitchen Strawberry Summer cake last night. I added more butter, a whole stick instead of the called for 6tbs a suggestion by my friend who turned me onto the recipe. It was my second time to make it and this time I added blueberries. The juices from the combination of strawberries and blueberries made the cooking time run about 40min longer, but it ended up totally delectable. I'll be bringing it to the dinner tonight, to share the goodness of baked goods with fruit, my favorite.
While driving home yesterday I was tempted to take a detour by the goodwill outlet center and sift through the blue tables piled with clothing. I found a turquoise 80's jumper, a sweater made in finland, 3 skirts, a shirt for Jamin, a silk shirt for me, a 90's vest, and this 80's top I got for the seashell buttons that decorated it all for a little over $5. After I had finished sifting through the outlet area I stepped over to the boutique side (normal goodwill) and was giddy excited to find this 50's baby pink cardigan with what I learned to be the Portland Country Club logo, found out with a little I-phone google action. The fact that it says portland makes it extra special to me because I have a slight obsession, longing to live in Oregon. I fell in love with it when I went to summer camp there when I was 13. It was a very memorable experience. Growing up in Texas left me with little to no experience with tall trees which I love and greenery and cool weather. So it holds a special place in my heart. I also really like the 50's native american summer camp emblem.
The flowers can be seen from my studio window and just a few steps across the parking lot to photograph.
So here are my first attempts at using the digital camera my studio mate lent me. Some pictures of my space and some things I've made recently. The watermelon necklace I finished this afternoon. The idea for it came to me in a light bulb moment, inspiration from God. I love it, it's so cute. I'm going to make knitting patterns for other fruit as well. I bought some yellow and brown yarn today for just that. I added a little stuffing so that it keeps it's shape and I think adds to it's cuteness.
I've been thinking about my photography lately. I haven't gotten any developed since we moved to Florida. I have 7 rolls I need to take somewhere. I heard of a few local labs I'm gonna check out soon. This summer I cataloged my film negatives. Most of them. A few I'm sure are still hidden amongst the unorganized art supplies. For the first time this summer I've felt a desire to pursue having my stuff up in local coffee shops and in galleries. I've never done either with my photos. But I think I'm ready. Not quite sure how to go about that. But I've buit up a small portfolio.
Lately I've been thinking about getting my etsy stores back up since we got our new studio space. I have a list of things that I need and want to dive into that. One of which I think is pretty necessary is a digital camera. Today one of my studio mates asked us today if we could make a photographing station for stuff some us want to sell on etsy and ebay. He'll provide the digital camera, flash & umbrella, tripod, etc. We just figure out the settings, the best setup, most productive photographing station for everyone to use and prove so with good photos of some sample items and in exchange he'll give me a Pentax Spotmatic with two lenses. This is such a blessing since I've been needing a way to take pictures to get my etsy back up and rolling and for blogging. I hate using instagram pictures, but it is all I have, unless I take a film picture, get it developed and scanned to post it online.
I've been working on making little knitted patterns recently, the first one I completed since the new move is the little fox. I made the mushroom one a while ago. I don't mean to be so cutesy but what i've deemed as my Japanese Kindergardener side tends to come out in my knitting. I'm half way through my first run of my second animal pattern, a bunny. And God gave me this pretty cool idea of what to make a pattern of next that I'm really excited about. I'm gonna keep it on the down low till I have something to show for it. but I'll say that the idea makes me smile and reminds me of summer.
Despite my lack of sleep lately due to my time punch job "retail" and my Gilmore Girls watch through, I'm happy with my productivity this past week. I made three variations of the little fox to work out the kinks. I found a 90's dress that I liked at goodwill that reminds me Wiksten's marguerite or Anna dress. I just love all of her stuff, she is so inspiring and diligent. I traced the outline of the dress and made a loose pattern of it. I'm still working out the kinks in that pattern. I wanted to fully line the bodice but in the end the light cotton fabric I used just didn't drape well, it was a little stiff. I'm gonna try just a yoke for the bodice for my second attempt. I made it out of an old floral sheet, very seventies-esk.
Since the jewelry class I took with my sister this spring I've been sporting my creations and thinking about how I could go about making jewelry on my own outside of class, the difficulty being the equipment needed to accomplish this and the space where this would be ok. Being that it is illegal to house a tank inside an apartment and no area to use the blowtorch needed to melt the metal for soldering and for making the metal bendable after hammering it. But soon I'll be able to pursue this new interest of mine, metal working to make jewelry. I just need to get the tank & torch, a small crock pot for the cleaning solution, flax, maybe a small electric powered buffer/sander.
I've been posted up in my chair and on the couch the past few days sewing these little animals by hand whilst watching Gilmore Girls. For Jamin's and My wedding anniversary Jamin had this idea to get ourselves a couple books that we've been wanting. I got Under Wildwood the second book in the Wildwood Chronicles written by the lead singer of the Decemberists Collin Meloy and his wife Carson Ellis illustrated it. The illustrations are awesome & beautiful. The other book I got at Barnes and Nobles was how to make Stuffed Animals by Sian Keegan. It's totally inspired me to make little stuffed animals to be used as jewelry to satisfy the the little kid in me. I've also been inspired to get back into sewing after taking about a year break from it, being interested in other things that I focused on like jewelry making and painting & drawing. I started brain storming on accessories patterns clutches and coin purses. I met a girl recently, Sheila, the girl who is the main artist at the studio warehouse that Jamin and I are joining. She makes these abstract leather collage bags. So i'm going to try my hand at sewing with leather. I've drawn up the pattern for a simple rounded bottom clutch and I altered my ribbon wallet pattern to make it out of leather. I'm excited to get our studio space set up and getting things rollin. Now I just need to get a Gocco machine, digital camera, get my sewing machine and serger fixed, design and order more fabric, get the film I've shot since May developed.
