Art Show!

*phew*

It has been a really, REALLY busy past few weeks. And it doesn't show signs of slowing down for at least another three or four. Last weekend and the week before I was preparing for the opening of my Cherry Berry Bunny Etsy shop. And this weekend, my roommate and I put on a show of my art at our apartment. This past week has been a whirlwind of stress and trying to prepare for that.

We threw things together kind of last minute. We decided to put it on less than a month ago. I am going to be showing my art and participating in a panel about Femme identity and creativity at the national Femme Conference in August. I was scrambling trying to figure out how I was going to pay for it all, so my roommate suggested we throw together an art show in hopes that a couple paintings might sell.

Here's some pics from the show:

One painting is cut out of this picture because I can't reveal it here yet. Soon!


A wall with my newest series of portraits.


The "Goddess Wall". Everyone wanted to buy the Five goddesses painting, but my best friend has already bought it!


Collages.


More collages.








Three portraits that were hung singly.


My sister, my mom, and me.


Mingling.

It was overall a really great night! I didn't sell as much as I was hoping, but really I am happy I sold anything at all. That can never be a bad thing, right? :) I sold three paintings and have two possible commissions in the works. I am reasonably certain they will both come through. So, that is good as well. And even just getting people here to see my art is a good thing. It was also really nice to visit with my friends and family. I was kind of too nervous to enjoy a lot of it properly, LOL.

I have been making art like mad trying to get ready for the Femme Conference and trying to have a couple new things for my art show. I will leave you with two new paintings I haven't shown here yet:





I will, of course, keep you posted about art and the conference as it gets closer.

I Finally Got Inspired!

It only took a few months! I am finally creating again. Partially it is getting closer to the time of year when I am most active creatively. Partially I think I was not just uninspired, but depressed. I'm feeling a bit better mentally, which has been helping with my creative output. I have new paintings, new journal pages, and lots of new little projects going on. I joined a web site called atcsforall.com. You can join swaps to trade homemade art with other artists. I've started making artist trading cards and chunky book pages for a few swaps I joined there. My etsy shop is finally up and running. So, lots of exciting things going on.

Some of my favorite images of what I have been doing lately (you can see more photos on my flickr page):


A page from my journal. I've been really obsessed with mermaids lately, and this is my favorite.


A journal page with a paper doll in a pocket. Isn't she cute? I spent an entire afternoon creating her and then my rabbit ate a piece of her crown!


A mixed media painting on canvas. I collaged magazine pages, phone book pages, and tissue paper, then painted over it all with acrylics. It's available in my etsy shop.


A mixed media painting on art board. Also available in my etsy shop.

I recently hosted a post card exchange. My theme was, you guessed it, mermaids! I used a combination of collage, acrylic and watercolor paints, and altered magazine photos. Here are a few of my favorites:







And finally, my favorite artist trading card I made for a swap called "Whimsey Girls Cupcakes and Crowns" on atcsforall.com:



There's actually a lot more where this came from! I am going to try and update the blog more regularly with pictures of my artwork and not let as much time go by between posts. It feels really good to be creating again. Hopefully I can keep it up.