Sunday, March 31, 2013

Happy Easter!


Not too much to report from this week.  Just been busy doing small projects for the house and working on the bird painting and the upcycled sunflower that you can see on Facebook and Twitter.  Still kind of spring cleaning, too.  April will be pretty busy with festivals - French Quarter Fest, Festival International, etc .  I really am hoping to attend the RAW Marvel event in two weeks, also.  Hope you all had a lovely Easter and/or three day weekend!  I sure appreciated mine!
after the rain Easter Sunday afternoon

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Had brunch with some business owners today, and got a decent amount of information about starting up and maintaining one's own business. I've had an idea for several years now of what I'd like my business to be. Obviously, it involves art, but it's more than than that. I'll expand on the rest of it another time.

This afternoon, I started to read this book (pictured). Already feeling inspired from brunch, the introduction has me even more pumped to solidify my daydreams about the business. Yes, definitely still in the dreaming process. Which brings me to my third and final point of this post.

Recently, I've been reminded/realized that even though my art has been out there for years (circa 2004), it's really only just breaking out of my group of friends and aquaintances and reaching a larger audience. Even though it seems like I've been pushing the same pieces all this time, it's still fresh and new to the majority of people. Just gotta keep on putting it out there and keep creating new things.

Monday, March 18, 2013

St. Patty's Day Weekend Art Adventures

Let me begin by giving a shout out to my cheerleaders who have been researching for ways and places where I can show and sell my art!  Love y'all!  

Saw some amazing Mardi Gras bead art while waiting for the parade, and some felt and other fabric jewelry, too. Even some clothes made out of old childhood bedsheets!!!  Genius!!!

Last Thursday I attended an OMBA meeting.  I did a good bit of networking, and enjoyed finding out about some new local businesses. Volunteering opportunities will be happening in the fall, so I hope to at least participate in that way, even if I hold off on becoming a member.

And how could I forget to mention the working sewing machine!!!  It was one of my grandmother's and had been in storage for quite some time.  I have no idea how to use it, but the light comes on and the wheel spins, so fabric adventures, here I come!!  The last time I used a sewing machine was for home ec in high school to make an apron I still use today.  Other than that, I may have played with my other grandmother's Singer with the push pedal, but I was literally just playing.

Until next time.....

Taken at the beginning of our day in the Irish Channel

Sunday, March 10, 2013

I Work Out....!

A fun but busy weekend is coming to a close. There has been progress in the studio...the kitchen, however, has its first coat of paint!  Hopefully, the second coat and the trim work go pretty quickly.  Talk about a workout!  Oh, and the cabinets are three different colors because they will eventually all be grey, like the right hand one.  That was the test one.  The left one is ready to be painted, and the white one still needs to be stripped and then painted.
Friday there was lots of art to see in New Orleans, as usual.  We saw some bottle cap sculptures, but still none similar to mine - that's a good thing!  Saturday night, we went to the art stroll in Covington along Columbia Street.  It was a pretty quiet night.  We jointly concluded that a lot of the art we saw were things that we can create, too (photographs, mostly), we just didn't do it first.  These artists names are already locally famous; therefore, we'd never break into this niche market.  It's a frustrating predicament, but it's also what makes me focus on other mediums to showcase my skills i.e. the upcycled/recycled sculptures (bottle cap/can art).  

What's my next actual art project going to be?  Well, spring fever does have my house a wreck, which is why I'm trying to finish those projects up first,  BUT I've got an 8x8 acrylic painting in the works and I think I've found the right piece of driftwood for a new sculpting adventure! 

Lastly, in case you haven't yet discovered - I am indeed back on Facebook, but just my art this time.  Find me under Coolbeansart Oohsparkly.  Cheers!

Sunday, March 3, 2013

New Work & New Studio

All this weekend I've been making room for my soon to arrive sewing machine! Plus, painting my kitchen and sanding cabinets. Studio is not quite ready for pictures yet, but the work pictured is the latest upcycled art piece for sale at Redoux!