Whatcha Think?

Today I decided it was time.....time to step it up a bit right here in cyberland.  After talking today to my buddy Tiffin, and finding out a few new tricks that were literally under my nose for who knows how long, I now have what I've been seeking for a very long time in a website.  This blog is so fun for me.  I love telling you my adventures as an artist, mommy, teacher, wife, you name it I talk about it.  But I wanted to have some more serious pages too.  Turns out you can do that in bloggerland.   Yep.  Seriously I think since getting the I-Pod touch I am literally sizzling with techno geekness.  Hehe...Slowly the pages will be appearing right under the blog banner area.  Right now there are 4, and they are rough.  VERY rough, so peek and don't critique just yet.  I just had to get something in there to see.  And now that the hinge has been released from this little box, I'm afraid of what else I'll be finding. 

So "believe in yourself" is what I placed with this post.   Let me tell you, right now I am doing some serious believing and it is really paying off.  I suppose that sometimes just being willing to open your heart and mind up to new ideas can lead you down the most unexpected paths. 

Simple Paintings

As much as I love to paint my retroish American trucks, campers, bikes, payphones and coming soon.....ski boats, I still always have to wander back to this style of painting. Every once in awhile anyways. So soft, so sweet, and so very simple in composition. But sometimes that's just what the doctor ordered.

So what do you always come back to when you create? What always inspires you and gets you back on track with your creativity? Is it sewing? Scrapbooking? Photography? Or maybe painting too? I'd love to hear!

New on the Horizon

Sometimes things just come together so nicely. While cleaning out the studio I found this little silver bezel that Valerie gave me to try with my porcelain pendants months ago. I never really liked the shiny silver patina, so I never pursued finishing off my pendants in this manner. But now, I have potions....fabulous potions that make shiny things very dingy, very quick. And now, well let's just say I am anxiously waiting for my round and square bezels to arrive from China!! Here's the sample of what's to come:

Today I headed to my new favorite bead shop and stocked up on all the beads and shiny silver findings I need to complete the necklaces. I have about 20 shiny bezels (see below) I've ordered and received already. Now I need to cut wire and chain, magic potion the parts then wire the beads together for the chain. The bezel will also be darkened and my artwork carefully placed into the bezel for a very new look with my jewelry. I am just about beside myself with the outcome and can't wait to start putting them all together! Hopefully I'll have some available by mid-June in my Etsy shop. But really they are the icing on the cake for my SOLO ART SHOW. Yep. A very big thingy I've been wanting to share with you bloggers for a year now. And now, it's almost HERE! Yahooo!!! More details very soon on the show. For now, let's just drool over the candy drop beads in this jar why don't we?

You Grew In My Heart

I use this quote in my jewelry with the little woven nest all the time. After I finished this piece up I wanted words in the bottom corner.....and for some reason these were the words I chose. I love the colors in this piece. So very vibrant. My palette seems to be brightening up lately. Funny how you go through stages with paints. Someone asked in the last post what type of paint I use. I like heavy body acrylics. Very, very opaque. And if it's not opaque enough for me, I add white.

We are headed as a family to South Alabama this weekend. My little sister Molly is having her baby baptized. It's kind of a big deal. And we are tickled to get to see Mr. Fielding again! Hope you have a great weekend as well!

Houseful

I know I've mentioned it before, but we do have a houseful here in Newnan. I always put in my art bio that I am inspired by 4 cats, 2 hamsters, one turtle and a silly little dog. Oh yeah, I also have a sweet husband and two very clever children. Whew. It's fun here in this 1200 square foot house sometimes. But about 2 weeks ago we noticed some uninvited guests on our sweet Lily. And despite the dish soap baths, flea combing AND Frontline (that stuff seriously did not work on my 12 pd dog) she has a flea issue. And since I am a freak about the fleas, we are having the house and yard treated today. I've yet to see them anywhere but her, but she is seriously going to itch herself to death.

So why am I telling you this? Well, you gotta get this picture in your head for a little giggle. Because that's what I'm doing at this point. So the bug man calls last night and reminds me that all animals have to be out of the house and away from the yard for 2 hours. Um. Ok. So my 4 cats, 2 hamsters, turtle (although as my daughter reminded me this morning he is NOT a mammal, he still has to go), and silly little dog I guess will all pile up in the van and go.......where the heck are we gong to go? Seriously. Oh my. Good thing they all get along.

I am itching just thinking about it now. I'll be sure to tell you how it goes later. For now, I suppose I'll go wrangle everyone for a little road trip. hehehehe......

By the way pictured from top to bottom are the following: William and Lily, a rather robust Ellie, Old lady Saily (she's 16), William and Etsy and finally AJ (and yes, he has been in as many fights as his ears look). Not pictured are Dash the turtle, Jackson a rather large tabby cat, and Candy Corn the red-eyed dwarf hamster.

A Few Obstacles

"Success isn't measured by the position you reach in life; it's measured by the obstacles you overcome." -Booker T Washington So right now, my obstacles are not the ideas because they are coming so fast that I am having trouble sleeping. I've got plenty of canvases ready, wire to weave and beads to wire. My obstacle right now is this:

Yep. Everyone has a skeleton in their closet. And mine is actually an entire garage. I am a freak about having order before a new surge of creativity. And today the garage MUST be done. I can't even find my canvases. Literally. How the heck do I let this space get to this point? Urgh. I spent a good two days cleaning out the studio and re-arranging last week. So it's ready to be used. Hopefully by Monday I'll be back at the desk I so want to be at right now. For now, Ellie is keeping in warm for me. ;)

UPDATE: 5 LARGE black bags of trash and bins of overflowing items have lead me to this conclusion...... I may be a hoarder. Yikes. So we are having an impromptu Friday ONLY yard sale. 8-2. COME on. Seriously come. Oh and BTW, I have only purged a tiny portion of the garage. There is an entire attic above the garage and a rather large storage unit as well. sigh. I may need to go buy more beer. Later.......

A Little Simplicity

So last night it hit me like a brick wall.....the exhaustion that is. Yes, I do run down folks. I may sound like the energizer bunny in this blog most of the time, but after the 25 hours of art show in one weekend and this busy week, my body said "slow down Nelly". I had like one two many people ask me yesterday if I felt ok. Yikes. Do I look that bad? So today marks the last of the "obligations". I spoke at career day this morning, which was so, so much fun! I think they all want to be artists now! hehehe.... And tonight we have baseball and our Girl Scout end of year program. I can't WAIT to give Mrs. Holly her gift from the girls. She's gonna cry.... After that, I am seriously taking my own advice painted so sweetly here:

So what's on the simple agenda? I plan to visit the "redneck" swimming pool in our backyard (photos are sure to be posted soon), have a few lites, eat cheesy burgers and homeade fries, and listen to the giggles of the kids as I spray them with the hose on the swingset (a family favorite!). And that's it! Yep. Seriously. Well, I may have to like shower or something. But the garage piles, messy house and sticky floor in the den (seriously where does sticky on the floor come from?) will wait until Monday. See you then!!

What's in Your Camera Bag?

So, I really, really, really, really like what's in my camera bag right now. I LOVE to take pictures. And have always thought I have a little knack for it. But now with my new camera bag app.....well let's just say I may be outside a little more. OK. A lot more.

Look What We Found This Morning

Yep. This morning Billy said his good-byes, walked out the door, then came back in with a very serious look on his face and said, "Um Jenni, you need to come look at the front yard." Now the look on his face made me think a cat was dead. Seriously Billy you need to show less seriousness in your face sometimes! Because this was so funny! urgh. Anyhoo....this is what was ALL over our front yard!! We'd been FLOCKED by the church youth group. It's a fundraiser they are doing to raise money for a mission trip to Panama. Is this the funnest idea or what? So to get un-flocked we have to make a donation to the mission trip. And for an extra fee, we can send the flamingos to someones yard of our choice. So.......who will be next?

BTW our dog Lily barks at the silliest things sometimes, not all the time mind you, but randomly. When something is in her yard she usually goes nuts. So where was she last night when we were getting flamingoed? Snoring with the children I'm sure. Because when she went out with us to see, she freaked out and started barking at them. hehehe....silly little dog.

Explore, Dream, Discover

Since taking on this new role as full-time artist I have been doing a lot of this:And man am I glad I have. Right now things are really moving along well here in the studio. The summer is on the horizon and I can see clear to Christmas my shows, new product ideas and tons of painting themes. I'll be back later this week to show off the booth at Dunwoody. It was an amazing show for me. Seriously I love you guys. All the blog peeps that came out to say "Hi", I don't know who was more excited, me or you really. And those of you who now own my precious artwork or have inspirational jewelry around your wrist and necks, thanks. I look forward to seeing you all again!

Dunwoody Art Festival 2010

Here's where I'll be this weekend! So if you are in the area, or want a road trip this weekend please come by and see me. I don't know my booth number yet, but I'm sure you'll recognize my stuff! And boy am I in good company. When looking over the list of vendors I flipped. Just hoping I can find a few minutes to walk around and say hi to all my art show peeps.

Fireflies and Love

So the past month has been a little hard for us as a family with our daughter. Really. I won't go into it all, but let's just say that daily tummy aches, no desire to play with anyone, or eat out are just a few of her new behaviors (on top of the others we lovingly embrace). Thus why I was tickled when she actually wanted to attend the Serenbe event with me. Even though she didn't last long, it was the longest she'd been out in awhile AND she ate in a restaurant. I think she forgot that it made her tummy hurt because she was so excited about her jewelry. Anyhoo, we also have recently found out that two married couple friends are not doing so well. sigh. So these are two of the paintings that sold this weekend. As they were passing my hands and into the new owners it hit me that maybe, just maybe, finally more of me is entering into my art than just my hands. And that maybe I have something to say. And maybe someone will really listen. The top painting says how to grow love....the bottom says let nothing dim the light that shines within.

I think I've already shared these with you, but now that they are gone, the words kind of stand out to me. And the message is loud and clear. Standing firm in what I believe is good and right for our family is of top priority right now. And that little light well, just like in the fireflies little hinney, I am not going to let anything dim what is shining so bright inside me right now. And I am hoping that maybe, just maybe, you can see the light too and are not afraid to let it shine.

May Day and Mailey

So here she is at "her first Art Show" (that's what it became once I said yep to her selling with me). When I got home from Wesleyan Saturday night we worked together on finishing up her little charms, adding sparkly beads, and placing them on the chains. And of course since it was going in my booth, it had to have a fabulous display stand. So we made a miniature version of my jewelry stands. Which worked great. She wanted them priced at $10 each and hoped to make $75.00. (math is not her strong suit)We got there early, I like to be first to this show, it gets you the best spot. After unloading and a yummy breakfast at the Blue Eyed Daisy, we set out to get our booth ready. And she was a trooper. The wind was knocking EVERYTHING down. I mean everything. It was terrible. Finally we had to literally tie everything down with rope. Even my mannequin had to be tied up to the tent. The wind was unbelievable all day. But it was a beautiful day, so we could handle the gusts of wind every once in awhile.

She made it until around 1pm, then called her Daddy to come get her. She was "bored". I wasn't of course. People to visit with, sales to make. And sales we had!! Mailey sold 8 necklaces (woohoo!) and I sold paintings and jewelry like crazy. In fact, this is a 4 hour event and our sales were about as good as the very slow 3 days at Wesleyan! People were in a spending mood! And I as happy to sell to them!

Here's my end booth. Love the end because you get them coming and going. Thousands of people came out for the day. It truly is a great event. Thanks you Serenbe!! And thanks to all of you who came out for the day.

By the way, remember my statement about the wind???? You see the bird head sculptures above? Yep. They all tasted the pavement. I nearly lost my cool. But what's an artist to do? I mean the hours I put into making those.....I'll never get that back. Fix them? I can't even look at them yet. I just may cry. For now they are in a box in the storage unit. I've way too much to do this week to worry myself. The Dunwoody Show is this weekend, and with the success of the past few days, I've got to turn to and replenish some stock! So back to the painting I go. Yipee!

Wesleyan and Sine Die

Whew. What a whirlwind of a weekend. So here's a picture of my paintings at the Wesleyan School Show on Thursday night at the reception. And the jewelry on the side. They are funny about space at this show. Most artists just use the three panels provided. But me, being the "multi-media" artist has to have an end spot so I can spread out a bit. I placed my jewelry on the right side of my painting display, which in a way was a disadvantage because people didn't know that the same artist did it all. This is rather lengthy show. But the people that host, attend and participate are like liquid gold. So you want to come back, even when you know sales may not be that good. The atmosphere is relaxed, they handle all sales, and the weather doesn't matter because it's inside. The first year I attended I sold like 20 paintings. Seriously. Last year a little less. And this year, well, it wasn't good (one). But the jewelry sales made up for it and then some. So it's all good. Just different because the jewelry is rather new for me. But man am I glad I had it there!

I did bolt down to the Capitol after the opening reception to see the end of this lengthy session. It is the longest session in 100 years they say. For two hours I took shots of this and that and tried to stay awake. I love this chandelier in the rotunda of the room.

Billy visited the well at 10:45 one last time before the controversial gun bill vote. It passed by the way. Not gonna get into it here, but I was quite proud of how he handled the darts.

And when the stroke of midnight hit, the doors opened to both chambers so that the Speaker of the House and the Senate could see each other across the Capitol. The phone call came over, and the ginormous gavel was pounded. Traditionally the speaker says "All in favor of ending this session, etc. etc....say I" and they all yell really loud, "No". Then he pounds the gavel and says "I now declare this session Sine Die". Something like that anyways. It's really cool. And then the paper flies. And we all go back to life as normal. Well, if you call our life normal anyways.

I was so tired by this time it was not even funny. I headed back to Norcross to sleep in the hotel, Billy back to Newnan. sigh. BTW, qualifying was last week and once again we have NO opponent. whew. We started this little adventure when Mailey was 2 and William 4. And so far only twice have we had opponents. I like to think it's because he's doing his job and that the people really like him. I sure do. :)

HOWDY!

Hey guys! Here's where you can find me tomorrow! It's such a wonderful event, so if you are anywhere in the Atlanta area, please come by. In the three days I've been gone for the Wesleyan School, my daughter Mailey has been busy working at home on some of her own jewelry for "her art show". She even called this morning wondering where the metal hole punch was. And why would you need that I asked? Because she was making some metal stamped charms for "her art show". Of course. Upon my arrival home tonight I quickly made inventory of what she had claimed as hers, made a display and have her packed to go with me tomorrow. So if you come by, please support her little budding entrepreneurship too! I can not wait to share photos of this little endeavor.

Man, does this say it all or what? Man are we unlocking potential in this studio. Can't wait! Oh, and the Wesleyan show was a huge success.......for me as a jewelry artist. Not so much as a painter. But my head is high because I LOVE my new paintings. And know there are homes for them out there somewhere.