Art Exhibition this Friday!

I got this fortune in my cookie the other day - how appropriate!

I am having an art exhibition October 30th-November 13th. The opening night is this Friday and I will be there from 6pm-8pm if you would like to chat with me. I will also be selling prints and jewelry made from my paintings. I have 7 new paintings to show, but my 7 paintings from the first exhibition will be hanging up with the group as well.

For legal purposes, I am not allowed to advertise using the name of the store that my paintings will be at... but let's just say that it's the most famous coffee shop in the world and this particular one is across from the Top of the Hill restaurant on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. :)

I hope to see you tomorrow!

The State Fair

Every October is the North Carolina State Fair and this year I accompanied my fiancé and future father-in-law. There is much to see and do, such as visiting all the animals, viewing the submitted artwork, eating delicious/unhealthy food, going on exhilarating rides, and much more! I especially enjoy people watching as there is quite a mixture of faces and personalities that attend each year. North Carolina is a great state to live in!

I intended to write more and to do this post last week, but things have been crazy around here as I prepare for my art exhibition this Friday. I will give you more information on that in tomorrow's post. Please excuse me while I run around frantically. :)

The Rock and Shop Vintage Market

The beautiful venue opened up just two days before! As always, you can click the pictures if you'd like to see them larger.

Here's my mum's table! She had an assortment of beautiful antiques and vintage items. Why did she call her business "Eventually Vintage" you ask? ...because that it what we all hope to be!

My little table. I only put out a tiny portion of my items because I wanted my mum's things to be showcased. Also, I don't think my work is considered vintage... :)

Lonnie Walker and Mount Weather were the bands that played. They did a great job!

The fashion show!




Meet a Few of the Vendors:

This is Kirsten Schueler and her happy colored table. She is such a sweet person and I was lucky to have her as my neighbor! Aren't her little birdies adorable? You can find Kirsten on Etsy: Hershey is my Baby

Here's Melissa Lowery of Swirling Silver Designs. She had a nice variety of jewelry! Please visit her website: Swirling Silver Designs

Karen Leong didn't want her picture taken (even though she's very pretty!), but I got some photos of her fabulous work. She is so creative! Hop on over to her website: Chicpeople

Yumi Okita is an extremely talented woman. I have been visiting her at Artsplosure the past couple of years. She works with kimono fabric and other textiles to create the most beautiful little handbags and other items. You can find more of her work at: Iro Handbags

Ellie Snow and her husband had a beautiful booth for Hello Tenfold, which produces great stationary! I fell in love with the wedding program booklet seen on the right. Check out more on Etsy: Hello Tenfold

My Fun Finds:

My mum traded with vendor Jane McGregor for these adorable stamp earrings, thinking that I would like them. It wasn't until we got home that we realized how much they look like my fiancé and I! He has black hair, always wears a newsboy cap, and is often toting a messenger bag. I have long blonde hair and we like to go biking together. Plus, she titled these earrings "I want to ride my bicycle" and we both love Queen! They are just perfect. :D You can find more of Jane's stamp earrings at her Etsy shop: Ergane

I couldn't resist buying this beautiful pillow from Erin Taylor. I am having a hard time choosing which side I like better! I have a lot of respect for people who sew (because I can't!). Check out more of her items here: Fluff your Nest

This past Saturday was the Rock & Shop vintage market! I was extremely impressed with the venue (the Cotton Room at Durham's Golden Belt). It was spacious and I loved the industrial feel of the room. The surrounding windows provided a lot of cheerful lighting in the space, which was excellent for customers to get a good look at the products.

It turned out to be a really fun event with bands playing and even a fashion show! I am quite proud of my mum for running her first booth. She did well and got many nice compliments (well deserved, I might add :D). I was extremely impressed with the other vendors as well. I have been blown away at all of the craft events I have been attending recently. These people have such creative talent and I am delighted that they choose to share it with us.

Here are some of the upcoming craft shows that I will be a vendor at:

11/07/09-----Troika Music Festival "Rock, Paper, Scissors" Arts & Crafts Event

11/29/09-----Designer's Downtown Market (awaiting confirmation)

12/06/09-----Boylan Heights ArtWalk

Preparing for Rock and Shop

As promised, here are some images of items my mum will be selling at the Rock & Shop vintage market. In case you were wondering, the things in the bottom left corner are vintage plates used as soap dishes.

The Rock & Shop vintage market is tomorrow! My mum and I are super excited. We laid out everything she has today and I was amazed at the amount! That table will be absolutely packed with goodies! I promise to report back with pictures of the show. I hope that you can stop by - It should be fun!

It looks as though I will not have enough time to add vintage components to my necklaces for the show. However, I will be bringing a TINY selection of my stuff to put on my mum's table.

On a different note, I have secured the date and location of my next exhibition! woo and yay!

A Drive By Post

Here's a portrait I did of our Nessie for my mum

Yes, this is random... I am one who is not ashamed of playing with their food. The difficult task was not creating the letters but avoiding the temptation of wanting to eat them (it did not last long after this photo was taken).

This is going to be a quick post because I have a million things to do! I shall leave you with one of my favorite quotes, which happens to be my senior quote back in high school:

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." - Pablo Picasso

Go Mum!

I am just drawn to this teapot my mum found. The spout has such an interesting shape and the floral design reminds me of a Japanese crest.

My mum was accepted into the upcoming Rock & Shop event, which will feature vendors with all sorts of vintage/antique items. She has such a good eye and an incredible knowledge of antiques, so I am very excited for her! I am actually going to be adding a few vintage findings to my necklaces so they can fit in with the show. It is on Saturday, October 17th from 1-5pm in the Cotton Room at the Golden Belt. I will post some pictures of things that my mum will be selling closer to the date of the event. I am very proud of her! :)

It looks like I will be pulling out the paint brushes this weekend. I have to finish up my last paintings for the exhibition, so I will be a busy bee.

Cheers!

A Lesson Learned

Here is a little section of my newest painting

Today I learned a valuable lesson as an artist. I worked very hard on a painting about two weeks ago. At last, I reached the final step, which was adding the face to my girl. I must have painted over it a million times before finishing with an alien-like visage that I was not fond of. Although I was obviously unhappy with the final result, I put it up on the wall and decided to see if it would grow on me. I felt pleased with everything else about the painting, but the face just ruined it for me. This is why artists should NEVER settle if they are not content with a certain aspect of their work. It will just haunt them every time they see it.

So, out of frustration, I painted over the face with skin colored paint and put it back on the wall. This blank face scared my fiancé when he came to visit the house last week (perhaps I was subconsciously preparing for Halloween?). We joked about it and I even pondered allowing people to draw a funny face on it at my next exhibition. :)

However, I finally took the painting off the wall and gave it another shot today. To my astonishment, the right face appeared on my lady as I painted in her features. Why was it that I had repainted her face so many times before without getting even close to what I wanted and this time I got it right on the first try? This made me realize that artists absolutely cannot force creativity. If things just aren't working out the way you envisioned them to with your piece, step away from it until you are relaxed and in the right frame of mind. I think it is great for people to sketch or paint loosely if they are trying to get out of an artist's block, but don't expect to complete a final product if you aren't prepared mentally.

I'm sure any artist can identify with these thoughts. It is difficult to create when you aren't feeling inspired and it is even more frustrating when you are and you just can't translate what it is that you envisioned. However, that prepares one for those rare moments when you are satisfied with the job done.

To all you artists out there - never give up!