09.04.08
Posted in Art Journal, Main, Sharing the Handmade Love at 10:46 pm by carrie
At first I painted this and thought… it need’s something… something furry. A squirrel! Then I was reminded about my Mom’s encounter with a squirrel in Burbank (or is it Glendale?). The squirrel stopped her in her tracks and put out his hands… like… “feed me!” The brazen little squirrel was obviously accustomed to handouts… but I thought… perhaps, in his little squeaky voice he was really saying “Hand over the purse, lady”.
Just thinkin’ out loud is all.
Theoretically, North Carolina is in a state of emergency. But really, here in the triangle, we’ll get some wind… a possible power outage or two. Sort of like the Santa Ana Winds I’m assuming (where I lost a window and door at the store). It’s really only going to be a storm here inland, it’s those on the coast who need to worry… but we did stock up on supplies… you know, the usual… batteries, canned goods, granola bars and beer. I guess the locals call a hurricane a chance to get together and party… the first thing off the shelves at the super Teeter is beer.
We moved to the right place.*
(*In all honesty, I’m not a beer drinker… I like fancy girly drinks that require ice, a blender and a fancy umbrella. Someone I know… who is it??? Has a diesel-powered blender… must find out who that is).
Here’s to new weather experiences!
Signed… the NC lush
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09.03.08
Posted in Art Journal, Main, Sharing the Handmade Love at 8:12 pm by carrie
Kept it simple… swirls of paint… the color is naturally mixing with the ring of color next to it. Relaxing. No words this time… just enjoyed making a mess :)
Note to self… red acrylic paint usually wants to separate from the color next to it… why didn’t I notice this before?
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09.02.08
Posted in Art Journal, Main, Sharing the Handmade Love at 5:03 pm by carrie
Art Journaling… one a day… take one… :)
Alicia and I agreed to start art journaling in the hopes that we could motivate each other. Eventually, we would collect our art and ideas into a new blog with some “podcraft”…
podcasts. I like the idea of crafting or doing art no matter what. The fear of not having the right color, medium or perfect idea is huge for so many artists… there have been many times I haven’t picked up a paint brush because I didn’t think I had anything to say, or my expression of art was too pedestrian or immature.
The other problem is lack of motivation… art for one week? No problem. Art for months? ummm… not sure. I don’t wanna.
So, knowing that this will be forced at times… there is no pressure to be perfect. No competitive or inadequate feelings. It’s just art to DO art :) (an emphatic) Yay!
In business news… I’m sort of not doing too much with looking for new shop venues. I will pick it up later on. I’ve got SO many great excuses to why I haven’t done any of it! I won’t bore you :) But I do want to pick up that entrepreneurial torch again and run with it… but for now… art journaling.
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08.12.08
Posted in Main, Sharing the Handmade Love at 11:02 pm by carrie
This house has large, tall walls… which gave me motivation to make large art. I’m not used to lots of blank wall space, so I didn’t feel any pressure when painting these monsters, each 24 x 30-something…
I am really looking forward to covering the walls with pictures, art, shelves etc etc. But I’m starting small… err… on big canvases. I’ve never painted items so large, and I’ve never really painted on canvas before and I must admit, I really liked it. I was able to glob the paint onto the canvas and push it around with a spatula. I even got my hands and fingers into it… made a real mess. It was a blast! I used a lot of silver paint, too… so when you walk into the room some of the detail on these pieces moves with the light. I wanted to keep my color palette simple… trying to match this picture album:
The album was the inspiration… and I thought I would go more with the nature/egg theme, but the paintings took on a mind of their own and more color was added. Very therapeutic, very relaxing… I may run out and get more canvas tomorrow! :) The paintings definitely speak to me… what do they say to you? :)
I know one of the huge pet peeves of true fine artists is the art collector who says “I need something that goes over my couch!” There was even a mention of this in the movie Hannah and her Sisters. So, I wasn’t going to be that person who asks ;) Solution… I made it myself!
I have friends who do marvelous large pieces of beautiful, modern and serious art… stuff they sell for large amounts of money, stuff that is too good for that space above said couch. So, for those friends, I have plenty more wall space reserved for you with not a couch in sight!!! :) In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy pushing the paint around and making a mess!
And of course, another pic of Meg… with her monkey banana sling toy
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06.25.08
Posted in Main, Mind Wanderings, Sharing the Handmade Love at 1:53 pm by carrie
Trying to push myself to do more art. It’s tough! Nathan got me some awesome watercolor colored pencils for my b-day so having this new medium/tool has been helpful.
I added another dimension by gluing on acetate cut-outs and lime-green flowers. Eventually, I would like this sort of work to evolve to dense, covered mixed media… with found materials and bits of vintage papers.
By searching for new patterns and color palettes for inspiration, I’ve become somewhat interested in vintage fabric and wallpaper. I’d like to start a little collection… I already have a massive stack of vintage hankies that I’ve been collecting, but what box are they in? eek! I have to admit, I’m not completely unpacked and I’m so far from organized. But, I’ve been working on a web design project… so I have an excuse to not be organized :)
It’s taken a few months, but I’m really starting to feel the loss of not having the shop. It had a built-in passion… it came with the desire to create. Each day I would open the door and be inspired. It’s so much harder to feel the need to create here. I had tangible items, an audience and instant gratification… and input. I miss it so much.
I was joking with my friends that I need to have a wake for all the items that I left behind, and that I’m mourning the loss of. An old radio cabinet, my very old couches, a mop, sheets of plexiglass that I really could have made into something cool here… a laundry list of little pieces of the store… five years to put together and about 6 weeks to dismantle. *sigh* Well, I’m hoping, at the very least, to take these emotions and put it into my art… celebrate the joy that the shop created… and some of the frustration, too. Perhaps I can bind it all together and make a book about having your own little store… the mundane business paper pushing, the overwhelming responsibility, the joy, how rewarding it was and also all of the many annoyances. Towards the end, so many things seemed unfair… the joy was slipping away… and having to deal with outside forces… it seeped into my little magical fairy world and destroyed it. Next time… if there is a next time, I will make sure that my business is protected from the negative, that way it will thrive and grow, the way I intended it to. (And I may hire a bulldog to run the store while I get to just create… I’ll be the first to admit that I’m uber-hyper-sensitive to anything negative… or anyone who is negative, for that matter).
And here is a work in progress… I think I’m going to journal on it a bit… let vab know how much I miss her :) I think once I find closure on the closure, I’ll be able to get the website up and running again… I can once again share my passion for art and pretty little things :)
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02.28.08
Posted in Main, Sharing the Handmade Love at 3:12 am by carrie
For the first time in a long time… without having to make huge plans, have someone cover for me, leave a note on the door that was out of place… I had LUNCH with my husband today, a work day… a sit-down… leisure… LUNCH at a restaurant!
It’s the small things….
I’ve been doing some layouts for our announcements (hitched, moving, etc) for family and friends on postcards… and I’m putting the series of postcards into an envelope with rounded edges and tying them with bows. That little package goes into a vellum envelope that I have been hand-addressing. Ummmm… it’s been a week and I’ve done 20. Twenty. They have taken around 30 minutes each to do. V was funny… “You don’t have to put our last names on the envelope, it will save you at least 10 minutes”. Ha. My wrist hurts. If only I was ambidextrous, I could get more done. Trivia… both of my parents are left handed and I’m right. Someone told me that makes me a genius… for. some. reason.
Oh, once… I was getting my wisdom teeth pulled (have I told you this story? Yawn if I have) and the dentist/surgeon guy, who happened to look like Larry from Three’s Company and his assistant looked like Crissy, but anywho… I was at the Regal Beagle… and they put up my x-rays… “Larry” called all his colleagues over… “Look! She has *the* hole!”
Ummmm…. well…. turns out, I have some nerve hole in my jaw that went extinct with Neanderthal, but *I* still have it! Apparently, the little hole wasn’t being used for anything, but it was there… for some reason. So, I refer to myself as the missing link from time-to-time. So, the genius theory… nice try ;)
Oh, and my surgery was bookended by Phil Collins… went out to him, came to to him… and like a Pavlovian dog, I change the channel if Phil comes on the radio, or my teeth start aching. (That wasn’t funny).
So, back to my layouts… here’s a sampling…. sans some of the words….
There are 4 postcards total…. all color front and back. I love the color scheme. The envelopes have a matching hand-colored frame embellished thing going on. I’ll take pics of the finished envelopes when they are done in 2010. They sure are perty. For those of you who want to know where I get my postcards printed… I use
Got Print in Burbank/Sun Valley, please tell them I sent you :)
I think once I’m settled I will make myself available to do layouts, if you need such a thing :) I *love* doing this stuff!!
Phew… time for bed… no more talk of teeth and anthropology (which was one of my favorite classes! Very interesting!)
P.S… The store is open on Friday from 11-7 and saturday from 10-6… last chance to come see what we’ve got :)
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12.20.07
Posted in Main, Sharing the Handmade Love at 3:38 pm by carrie
This is year two that I’ve gotten together with Rachael and her stamping group to do Calendars! I was in charge of December this year… I made 13 advent calendars. This was a lot of x-acto knife-ing! ugh! Last year I was in charge of February and April… which weren’t as complex.
Each door had a different image inside… I wish I could get larger ones made, I think it’s such a fun idea :)
Back to work! Hope you are all staying sane in the land of cooking, shopping, wrapping and traveling :)
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10.14.07
Posted in Fun Stuff, Main, Sharing the Handmade Love at 12:15 am by carrie
So, I get this text message to my phone… “Cupcake decorating party tonight at my house!” How can I say no??! Pinguino had the awesome idea to make Spooky Cupcakes…
In order of appearance… (All these pictures were taken by Pinguino or Nathan…)
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Tiny naked cakes!
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Pinguino’s coffee table… where the magic will happen.
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And these are my little edible art pieces… the turtle (on the right… it doesn’t really, err… look like a turtle) is covered with taffy that I rolled fimo style into swirls and sliced. 5 years of fimo-ing had to come in useful someday, right? ;)
The end!
**I’m SO doing a cupcake decorating party at the store for Christmas… any takers?**
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