Busy Busy Busy

Yesterday, I accomplished alot!

The day started in Muncie, hanging a couple of security cameras for Phoebe's. Some no-brain jack knob stole some stuffs and that's just not cool. One of my co-workers, Gary Gallinger, an avid techie, sold some small, HAL-looking cameras to Phoebe with a crapload of cable and I attached them, ran them through the ceiling and set them up so Phoebe can record them. I was told if I can set up a liveshot, I can set up this system and...Presto! Instant security system, just don't add water. (cause, you know, it's electronic).

While in Muncie, I dropped off Angry Flower Girl, Comí El Loto, and Tomoe at Cortex, reclaiming From The Earth, Pineapple, and Tomato. I also picked up my July show pieces from Phoebe's. I'm sitting out August there to prepare for Clowes. I did leave Lost Moon behind, now retitled Found Moon. I left it for Dena, the blind lady that loved it. It's hers now, her moon.

Drove back to Indy, stopped by Butterfly Consignment. Left for them Radish, From The Earth, and Licked By Rembrandt. Those will be there and for sale for 90 days. Go see! Go see! Also, they had a really cool lime green and silver bracelet for sale, and it called my name and I BOUGHT IT! :P I worked hard that day, it was my reward! :) The lady working that day said it was cool that I bought something there because so many artists drop stuff off but don't buy anything either, kind of instead of supporting the establishment that's giving you a shot. I told her that wasn't and issue for me: If I find something nifty and its a good price and I got the dough, I'll buy it. I like cheap finds. My problem is letting myself buy stuff! Bad Joy!

Also at Butterfly Consignment, I delivered some Green Glam jewelry, handmade by Debra Dragoo, for sale there as well. Since I have to drive back and forth anyway, I'm a go-between. I have a cool blue scarab necklace made by Debra, so go check out her stuffs too, its pwitty!

Drove down to Southport, to my friendly neighborhood Hobby Lobby. Got a mat cutter kit thing (had a coupon!) and some mats as matboard was on sale. Got some orange paper for the labels I have to make for each painting. I had a good start on it the night before, but then I went and got the wrong shade! Grrrr.

Stopped by Value World, my neighborhood thrift store, and got a bunch of big frames (I had a coupon!). They have some horrible looking prints, usually in really nice wood frames, but always for a very low price, given the size of the frame. So I buy them, discard the print, repaint the frame and instant art display!

I finally figured out the formula for the blades of the windmills. I made a little check thing, and made sure all the angles lined up with that piece of paper. Penciled them in and painted them over. I have the three little ones done (they had all the background finished, just needed windmills) one large one (the one I needed to repaint) nearly finished, just need some final touch ups, and one more all ready to go, I just haven't really gotten to it yet. Hey! I got tired!

No really, as I was working on them last night, I realized, as you get tired, you mess up. I stopped myself before I messed up something stupid. Good thing, cause these windmills have been giving me headaches and I want to paint something else. I have one Puerto Rico ocean painting to finish (the one you can see me painting in my website photo) and four blank canvases. I also have some plywood scraps that will soon be painted as well!

I still have a TON of work to do, but its trucking along. If I just keep doing SOMETHING, then every day I'll be closer to being done. This house is gonna look so empty with all my artwork hanging somewhere else for so long!

And I'm saving my pennies for a new camera. Pics as soon as possible!

Next time: All that other stuff I keep saying I'm going to write about, except I'll (probably) really do it!

Windmills = GRRRRR

Update! RAWR!!

I've got four paintings done. I'm calling them, collectively, Bouquet. There's a big pinkish rose, on a turquoise background, a non-descript yellow flower, on a purple background, and two lil ones: A pink round flower on yellow, and a leaf (kind of like an olive branch) on orange. The yellow one and the rose are based on flowers my boyfriend has given me recently. He's the type that loves to give flowers, and I'm the type that's happy to receive them. The lil pink one is based on some Remy and I saw in my neighborhood on a walk (she actually gets to go to the dog-friendly local comic shop! Yay!). And the leaf is because...every bouquet needs some greenery.

They're kind of stylized, similar a bit to the three Mee-ba paintings I did. I'm happy with them, and figure they'll make up one wall for Clowes (out of 24!).

The windmills are....coming along. I have the backgrounds (read: sky) painted on all that are going to be windmills. I have the ground painted on most of them. All that's left, really, is the ... stupid windmill. You know, the point of the whole thing. I was really scared of the straight lines and getting the angles just right for the blades. I think I've figured out a work-around, I just need to settle down and do it. Hard part is, for some reason, with the blues or what I just don't know, I have a hard time seeing stuff on those canvases at night. I'm due for my eye appointment to get my prescription upped anyway, so I know my eyes suck. I'm restricted to painting those in the daylight, even with lots of lamps at night! Tomorrow is my Saturday, so it will be devoted to painting those things, as I'll be home and awake (two key things) in the day time. Seriously, when I just PAINT the windmills, I'll have 5 more paintings done! It's so frustrating, like a clog in a pipe!

I have four more canvases to do. I'm thinking doggies. I have cool pastel drawing I did of Dottie at a lake a few years ago. I'd really like to paint Remy. Most of the time, when I'm painting, she likes to sit right next to me. I joke that she's my painter's assistant. Sometimes, she gets paint ON her, she'll lay down on a splatter or something. It really is cute. I'd like to give her a beret or something, and an apron! A few months ago, I got her to make a splatter painting on a piece of foam core. She likes to hold brushes in her mouth. I probably should train her more. Her whole name is Rembrandt, so we joke that she's an original Rembrandt. SO, I'm thinking the last four canvases will be Rembrandt and other dog-oriented. Remy just has so much attitude in her face! I've tried sketching it out, but she's really hard to capture! Maybe if I just PAINT it, it will all work out. I'd take a pic to post here, but...My camera is still broke. I looked, as suggested to me, on Craigslist, for a new camera, but I was worried there was some shady deals. Some cameras were listed at nearly the same price as a current one, but with half the megapixels! I'm aiming for a 10 or 12 mp camera, figuring I'll keep it for another 5 years at least. They're debuting the 14s so the prices are dropping fast on the "older" models. We'll see.

Last, I'm working on matting my watercolors and pastels. And framing them too, of course. I figure if I can learn to cut the mats myself, I'll save some crazy cash. I think I'm just about scared of the rigid straight lines of the matboard as I am of the windmills! Most of that work will have to wait til Friday anyway, so let's get over my windmill blade fear first and then tackle the mat board!

Next time: For REALS: That painting at Phoebe's, Art Bank, matting, and what paintings are now gonna be where. For REALS!

Death of a Camera...RIP.

Welp, my camera died. I don't know how. I don't know how to rescusitate it. It won't switch off the little movie setting that's in between the picture viewing and picture taking settings. When it does switch to the picture taking setting, it shows all the little icons on the screen....and black. *sigh* It was a good run, anyway. Guess I know what I'll be saving up for. Worst part is alot of stores have the upgraded version of the same camera (Canon Powershot--with 12 mp instead of 3) on sale now! Oh well. In time.

Hey! I know! Someone buy a painting so that I can use the proceeds to buy a new camera! Yeah! That's it! :)

Even though I can't show you through photo-documentation, things have been hopping lately!

Thanks to the awesome Debra Gindhart Dragoo, another artist that shows at Phoebe's in Muncie, I know have artwork showing (and, hopefully, selling) at Cortex Hair Center in downtown Muncie. It's a really nifty place, with some cool swirly textures on the wall that, if you follow them back to their sculptural source, reveals them to be strands of hair from a lady's head. I plan on rotating painting in and out of there as I take new work up to Phoebe's, usually around the 24th of the month.

Also, thanks to fellow newsphotographer (although at a different station) Joel Clausen, I'll soon have four paintings on display (and, hopefully, selling) at Butterfly Consignments in Castleton. I met with the owner, Niquelle Allen, and they have a really wonderful shop! The walls are a deep yellow and a chocolate brown, and should look neat as backdrops for my works. She selected "Licked By Rembrandt," "Radish," "Conversation Dimmed," and "From The Earth" to be shown there. All are for sale as well! None are there yet, as I still have to finish framing "Conversation Dimmed" and "From The Earth" is still at Cortex. Haha, much to do.

And speaking of framing, I have about 28 pictures that NEED to be framed, pronto, because....
August 16th through October 10th, Joy Hernandez Art will be showing at Clowes Hall at Butler University! I'll be kicking off their season, hanging pretty much my entire collection (the display space is HUGE) in the lobby of Clowes. They use the lobby as a gallery so that people that are attending shows have something to look at (and, hopefully, buy--Hey! I need a new camera here! :D ) during intermissions or before the shows. Thanks to my pal, Mari Yamaguchi, we will be holding a reception/gallery walk & talk on September 12th, at 1:30 pm. There will be a free jazz concert, following the walk & talk, at 3pm, performed by students at Butler.

In the meantime, I'm pretty much painting my BUTT off, I have 14 canvases here in my front room (my "studio") in various stages of production, from still in the wrapping, to having paint on it from 4 months ago, to halfway finished, to all but finished but I'm too intimidated to fix it, to ...Finished! Yes. I have one painting finished. Thirteen more to go. I wanted to take a picture of it and show you all but....my camera broke. :( Can you see yet how much this is bothering me? I feel like I got poked in the eye!

On that note, time for the rest of the day.

Next time: The explanation of that painting in the previous post, updates on the progress of THIRTEEN paintings, how things are coming in Clowes preps, and an update on my sanity, or lack thereof. Oh yeah, and fun at the Art Bank! Laters!

July's First Thursday

First Thursday was last night. It rocked. I have a few people interested in some of my paintings and one is particularly notable.

There's a lady that has come into Phoebe's often, and she's been blind since birth. Recently, I've painted the moon, using extra paint to make crater textures to give the moon a bit of realness. Currently, I have Lost Moon on show at Phoebe's and this lady came in "saw" the painting.

She sees by touching, she analzyed Lost Moon and loved the texture. It is spray-paint smooth on the background, then the roughness of the cratered moon, and then a lighter, smoother texture for the clouds that cover it. This is a woman that has never experienced the moon. We can only SEE the moon, unless you're one of the lucky few, you can't touch it, and you certainly can't taste it or hear it or smell it. The moon's existence is only presented to us earthly humans through sight. So, for the first time, this woman "saw" the moon.

Phoebe relayed this via Facebook: "She said to tell you that she talked to your painting and said it was like greeting a friend...she said, "hello, Moon" and she could feel it."

My mind has been blown.

From Left to Right, Top to Bottom: Art & Soul by Phoebe Gallery; "The War" hanging on the wall with other artists' work; "Lost Moon," hanging where it can be experienced; "El Día De Los Papeles," article and close-up pics next time; and Phoebe, taking a break, relieving a break-er, revelling in success, I hope. Thanks Phoebe!

Also, as promised, a bit about coffee shops, or, at least, one in particular: Country Morning Coffee Co., in Kewanee. It has recently opened, my mom told me about it, and we visited the shop during my trip home. They have wonderful fruit smoothies (coffee and I don't mix; I'm already a spazz).

The owner, Elizabeth Wolf, has been trying to bring the 'art vibe' to Kewanee. Why not? It has a great downtown, with all the old buildings pretty much preserved (not really due to much to any kind of activism, I think it was more that no one new what else to put there so why not leave them alone? Well, except for the always encroaching Good's Furniture of course.) The result is a bunch of old buildings, looking like they would have in the 20's or 30's with lots of lil shops and such that have moved into the ground floors. I assume that people live in the second and third floors, but I've never met anyone that does!

Elizabeth is already hosting art, using the coffee shop walls as gallery space, and Mrs. Lane, my former art subsitute teacher, runs a gallery two blocks away. The library is across from the coffee shop, they could sponsor some reading related events (poetry slam, anyone?). There are some fun restaurants nearby. This is the same area that comes alive during Hog Days (Labor Day weekend, to lay people). Imagine it pumping and bopping every...say Third Thursday...or whatever!

I would love Kewanee to have an event like this. I only wish I was closer, so that I could lend a hand in organizing. There isn't much else going on in K-town, its practically a blank slate with the infrastructure (businesses) in place. There are a few places around Indiana, small towns, that have embraced the artworld as their form of commerce and notariety, there's no good reason Kewanee can't do it. It's ripe for the picking, and we just need someone with the ambition (and proximity) to do it! We all know (especially through Facebook) who can do-play-perform-cook what. C'mon Boilers!

Next time: Cortex, Clowes, and what was that new painting with no explanation you just saw above??? Yeah.

k-e-w-a-n-E-E!

I love going home. :)

It makes me happy. I love the scenery. I love the feeling I get driving on I-74, when, at some point past Champaign, it starts to look familiar. It starts to look like home.

I know, I know, I live in Indiana, another midwest farm state, shouldn't it all really just look the same? NO! It doesn't! There are subtle differences, the shading of the land, due to whatever's in the ground, the way the hills roll. Believe it or not, you actually subconsciously memorize the way the hills roll. In high school, my friend and I drove to the Quad Cities for the first time by ourselves. Usually this involves I-80. On the way back, we took I-74 by accident, and realized something was wrong because the hills didn't look right! It's something you just KNOW.

At some point southeast of Bloomington/Normal, before you get to Downs, there are like 300 windmills all in a bundle off on the horizon. I never noticed them before, they were out my right window, sometimes I'll look out to the left, but not often the right, so I have no idea how long they've been there. But to me, they were beautiful. Some were still, some were lazily turning, and there had to be enough to power the nearby city, I swear. I dunno, I was just in awe.

There are several pics that I've painted that came from home. Kentville Road, named for one of the two roads that goes to my grandma's town, Count Henry, the esteemed hog ruler of Kewanee, and Stark Co. Stimulus, which is what you see, driving north on Highway 78, near the Spoon River (which is actually still in Peoria County, but whatever, title still stands). Those were all painted in Indiana, but taken from memories (well, whatever is stronger than a memory, because it feels like part of my blood and being) of home and are usually painted in a fit of homesickness.

There are a lot of really cool people that have come out of Kewanee, and we all like to diseminate to the four corners of the planet, sometimes to see what's out there, and sometimes to survive not having to work in a factory or somesuch. Just in my work, I run into people that know of that town, through Good's or Hog Days or has a friend of a friend, or happens to be visiting Indy for a soccer tournament or something else completely random. It's a little town that gets around!

So I guess I'm proud to represent. :)

There are some windmills outside of Kewanee too. Well, by outside, I mean, you drive out on the Kentville, past Neponset, and keep driving til the little things become big things and there they are. I took a ton of photos, reference pieces for paintings, and some of the photos I'm just proud of and may just present as such. A wicked storm had just blown through, and could still be seen off in the distance, retreating, but still casting a neat dark blue background for these white windmills. Then I found a couple of cool old barns and a couple of gnarly old trees. I'd love to paint these, but am not sure if I could do them justice; their reality is just so cool; so I may just print off the photos for sale/display. The whole trip was pretty well exhausting, on the heels of so much other stuff, including night after night of bad weather, which equals madness at work. I haven't even had a chance to look at the photos on my computer yet, but they look pretty cool on my lil camera screen. I can't WAIT til I'm able to save up enough for a new camera. 3 or 4 megapixels just doesn't cut it much. :( Oh well, the ones I have can always be reference photos, and, next time I go home (HOG DAYS!!) I can always take more "high def" windmill, barn, and gnarly tree photos. They've been there a long time, and they'll still be there.

Next time: Coffee Shop, Cortex, and, hopefully, website updates!

Hip Sips Recap

Ok, a week later, FINALLY, the recap of Hip Sips.
Sorry that I've neglected the blog a bit, but I've been marathoning. Not literally a marathon--just running around between three states, trying to accomplish EVERYTHING: Work stuff, family stuff, art stuff, and I still probably have a good week to go through before I drop.

Anyway.

Hip Sips was...an interesting experience. It was my first outdoor art fair, and in my nerves, I forgot my camera to take pics of the booth set up. Boo. I also forgot all my easels for display, but hey! Nerves! But, it did all set up and work out just the way I wanted, so yay. I had a coworker help my by putting glue on the connectors and gluing them to some pvc pipes that, when I stuck on the vertical 5 ft. pipes, made 5 1/2 ft. panels that I lined the back of my booth with. There are some bugs that will need to be worked out before next time, such as connecting them to the tent and all that (I used duct tape, but I want it to look better). I made some, basically, big giant grey pillow cases to put over them and used mirror wire and some chain link fence connectors to hang art work along the panels. That worked REALLY well. I was really proud of how that all worked out.

The key to the planning was that I had to fit everything into my Toyota Yaris hatchback. The Yaris is kind of...itty bitty. Mine is one of the three cars in the work parking lot allowed to park in the sub compact spot in the lot. I had a 5 ft height maximum. The tent folded into a case that was 5 ft., the pvcs were no longer than that when disconnected, and the artwork was no bigger than 3 ft. x 4 ft. That entire thing was an intricate Jenga puzzle and it worked really well. Even on take-down, which occurred an hour early because a mondo ugly storm was rolling in. We rushed. I shut the last car door JUST as the first drop of rain fell. Success.

Sales? Not so success. Lotsa lookers, one lady swore she wanted my train tracks painting...but...she wanted to also spend all her money on wine. Eh. There were maybe 100 people there. The Wilson Winery people, especially Debbie Wilson, were really really nice and helpful. This was the first year for a, hopefully, annual event, and turnout showed it. Maybe next year word of mouth will spread a bit, and it won't be 90+ degrees with 90+ humidity and people will WANT to come out and have some wine. They had some good jazz bands! And, big time thanks to my friend, Tim Booker, for helping me set up and man the booth before he ran away to Ohio to get drunk. Thanks Booker! You survived the Boondocks (no, really, there was a billboard nearby directing people to tour the Boondocks Farms!)

In the meantime, one of the artists from Art & Soul by Phoebe Gallery, Debra Dragoo, set me up with Paige at Cortex, a hip hair salon in downtown Muncie, and I met with Paige yesterday after dropping some art off at Phoebe's. My work will now be on show at Cortex, I'll probably switch them out monthly, and all work will be for sale as well! So yeah, need a hair cut? Need a painting? Go to Cortex.

Next up, my trip home to Kewanee, a coffee shop, and windmills. Soon. I promise.

HIP SIPS!!!!

Ok we interrupt this scurrying about to bring you:

HIP SIPS!!!!

Saturday, June 12, (tomorrow) Wilson Wineries is hosting an art, jazz, and wine festival on their property... Entry tickets is $20 and it benefits the Randolph County Cancer Center. So see? It's a good thing! Wilson Wineries is near Modoc, Indiana, which, in turn, is, depending on which way you wish to go, south of Muncie or north of New Castle.

Art and Soul By Phoebe Gallery will have a booth there, with a sampling from my Muncie art buddies, and I'll have a booth as well!

My pal, Booker, is helping me man the booth, and I've been running around the last two days, making sure I've acquired everything I'm going to need tomorrow. I've got my art work strewn around my front room and all the hardware and structure ready to go as well. Here's the catch. I'm shipping the whole thing there, tent and art and all, via my two door, hatchback, Toyota Yaris. Everything has a five foot limit, if its longer than that, it's not fitting. I'm so taking a picture of how this is going down. It'll all fit. I swear. Here's hoping for sales, as then I won't have as much to haul back!

I've got the credit card thing worked out, I hope I actually have cell reception out there. I have a back up plan, but having reception will make it so much easier.

I still have to price the last bit in my portfolio, make a few more signs, and finish one last lil painting that is for sale, but is also the center piece of a magnet display. Besides mucho artwork, I'll have lil things for sale, like some bracelets I made up a while ago, and some beer bottle cap magnets. Figured that would go over pretty well at a wine festival. These aren't just Bud Light caps, either. Personally, I can't stand the taste of beer, but my boyfriend is quite the connoisseur of imported beers. Imported beers have nifty caps.

Oh yeah, and I have to put hangers on the newest art. I have three panels I have to sew covers for, and I'm hanging art from those, and hope to hang a few lighter pieces from the tent itself.

Did I mention scattered showers are predicted? I have tarps like nobody's business! It'll rain out there to be sure, but we'll keep working in the dry tent!

So yeah, come out to Modoc, help some cancer patients and buy some arts! And wine! And we have jazz!

Back to work...