Archive for October, 2010

inspiration update

Published
by
robayre
on October 27, 2010
in Cool Links and General Update
. 0 Comments

Time to pop in the share my recent flickr favorites.

I can’t remember if I’ve posted here about Pinterest before, but I’m really loving it. I think I signed up for it at first and didn’t really get into it, but then I installed the button for the toolbar and it really revolutionized the site for me. Any image on any site that captures my eye can be bookmarked and pinned to one of my pinboards. It’s like flickr favs, but not limited to flickr images. I have pinboards for fashion, art, jewelry, house decoration, etc. Check it out. If you follow me, I’ll follow you back :)

Brian Regan

Published
by
robayre
on October 22, 2010
in General Update and life
. 0 Comments

Tonight we went to go see the comedian Brian Regan. Our family has a long history of going to see him perform live. Tonight I laughed harder than I can remember laughing ever before. I was laughing so hard tears were streaming down my face and I felt my heart was going to explode and I just had to stop looking at him otherwise I thought I was just going to drop dead right there in the theater. This is not an embellishment. I looked over at my mom a little bit later and she was also wiping away tears. A little bit later I heard the woman behind me talking about how she was crying as well. Not many men can make women cry and take it as a compliment. Even Matt was saying that he was laughing so hard that he couldn’t catch his breath.

The video above was an older bit I’ve seen him perform in the past. He has new stuff now so it won’t spoil anything if you already plan on seeing him. And, if you don’t already plan on seeing him, I highly recommend it. If laughter is a medicine than I think everyone at tonight’s show should be healthy for some time to come.

Today

Published
by
robayre
on October 22, 2010
in General Update
. 1 Comment


What I’m working on today, originally uploaded by robayre.

This is a snap shot of what I’m working on today.

I can’t imagine my life without a ruler and pen knife.

Proud to be Awesome – My Favorite Shirts

Published
by
robayre
on October 19, 2010
in General Update and life
. 3 Comments

I’m the type of person who plays favorites. Favorites with my clothes, that is.

I find something I love to wear and wear it to death. If it was acceptable, there have been certain pieces I would probably would have worn all week long. When I don’t have to worry about someone else seeing me and saying “didn’t you wear that yesterday?” I will sometimes wear the same thing all weekend long. Right now, I’ve got 5 favorites on heavy rotation.

Here they are:

My happiness and Adventure top that I revamped a couple weeks ago.

My fox t-shirt by gnomeenterprises.net, I got at Renegade this year. Not only is the most comfortable shirt ever, I always get compliments on it AND when I wear a zipper hoodie with it, people tell me it looks like the fox is just peeking out.

I recently got this black and white striped v-neck t-shirt from TJ Maxx. I rarely go in there, but when I do I usually find the best items in the Men’s department. This shirt is almost as soft and cozy as the fox shirt, it’s the ideal stripe thickness AND it has a soft worn look to it. I really needed another black and white striped top like I needed a hole in my head, but this is really unlike most of what I already own. If they had two of this shirt, I probably would have bought both just so I’d have a back up when the first one gets dirty.

and then to show you just how out of hand my black striped shirt dependence is, I just got this shirt and for the life of me I can’t remember where I purchased it. It’s gotten that out of hand. Some day I should take a picture of all the black and white striped tops I have hanging in my closet. 10 years ago I took a similar picture of my collection, but woah Nelly, have I ever amassed so many more since then.

Lastly, we have my Goonies shirt. I got this shirt from Target when I was on a mission to buy a “proud to be awesome” shirt that Rachel mentioned on facebook. Instead I was sidetracked. As soon as I saw the Goonies shirt I knew it had to be mine. It was destiny that I found that shirt. This is one of my all time favorite movies AND the first movie I ever saw with my best friend when we were just little kiddies.  Wearing it not only sends the message “Goonies Rule” but also “I’m proud to be awesome” at the same time. Score. Two shirts in one.

Geesh, I apparently love t-shirts.

What is your favorite thing to wear right now?

Blades of Grass No. 7

Published
by
robayre
on October 18, 2010
in etsy, General Update, My Artwork and shop update
. 0 Comments

I just added this new painting to my Etsy shop, AND I listed it for a mere $30 because I really hope that it finds a loving home soon. Scoop it up while you can.

I made this piece in the same style as the larger piece (No. 4) for my sister. I really liked that piece so much that I had to make another to put in my shop. This piece is smaller, but much bolder in color and has a red edge all around it.

Here is a progress picture, mostly because I loved the color palette.The piece uses my favorite color combinations, red and green, without being Christmasy. I love the energy that these complementary colors create.

The piece is a petite 3.875″ x 4.875″ and if you click on the link to the shop listing, you can see it in size relation to a pencil.

Shop Update and Mad Men

Published
by
robayre
on October 15, 2010
in Artists, etsy, General Update and My Artwork
. 2 Comments

I have 3 brand new items to share with you. One is the painting above that I shared progress shots. I added a touch of shadowing, gave it a matte varnish and then signed it and now it’s in my Etsy shop. It’s on a really nice deep canvas, and would make a great piece to hang on a wall, or even just stand on a table or desk. It’s the 6th piece in this series of canvas paintings. Earlier today I decided to create a flickr set where I put all of my grass themed artwork and creations. You can see it here.

 

I also added these two (orange and bunting) little treasure boxes. I think I shared the one on the left way back in August, when I started working on it during the “august challenge”, but now it is complete. Both boxes have images on the lid which were then sealed with a high gloss resin finish. The inside has felt to protect the treasures you would keep in it, and the bottom has another piece of felt to protect any furniture you might set this on. They would be perfect for keeping small precious items inside, but I think, would also work wonderfully as a gift box.

Illustration by Julie Bereciartu

Tonight Matt and I watched the first episode of Mad Men. I know, we’re a little behind the times. It was probably during the first or second season and I had no idea what the show was about. I caught part of an episode and it made me so uncomfortable. It wasn’t until later that I found out that was what the show was all about – a commentary on how things have changed since then (the show takes place in the early 60s). Knowing this now, the first episode makes it very clear, and it was actually hilarious. I just remembered these illustrations that I saw from my flickr contact Juliabe, where she did drew the ladies of Mad Men in her “moleskine girls” style. I love this piece.

Painting In Progress – and some other stuff

Published
by
robayre
on October 12, 2010
in Cool Links, General Update and My Artwork
. 2 Comments

I’m working on a new painting. I’m at that point where I have a few more ideas, but I’m afraid to continue for fear of ruining it. One thing I was going to do was a semi transparent layer of white over the clouds. The other thing was to give the blades of grass a border shadow so that it makes them pop out more against the background. I think this picture deceivingly makes the grass look like it stands out more than they actually do in most light.

While I’m posting, I might as well share a couple other inspiring items.


The evening of the hot air balloon flight my brother had a bonfire and it made me think of floating paper lanterns that I’ve seen online before. Now I want to make some myself. They are so beautiful, but don’t you think that is a little scary to send a paper and fire “package” up into the sky? I wouldn’t want to be responsible for some forest fire. Smokey taught me well. There was a girl at the bonfire that said they made paper lanterns in elementary school and if one started on fire it would just burn up but be put out before it would land. I guess it makes sense. I’ve witnessed dozens and dozens of bonfires, and they are on the ground and you see embers constantly fly off, but never have I seen another fire started somewhere else. There are several tutorials online, and they all seem to use flame retardant papers or spray.

Check out this article on Design Sponge about hosting your own “design swap”. I thought that was a great idea, as I’ve been recently wanting to get rid of the extra stuff that I don’t need. I filled up a couple garbage bags full of clothes and shoes, but there were plenty of things in there that were still in great shape. But, the thing I liked about the article is the idea to swap not just clothes but home items like home decor or kitchen items as well.

Hot Air Balloon Ride 2010

Published
by
robayre
on October 10, 2010
in General Update
. 11 Comments

As promised, here are some shots from the balloon ride yesterday.

We took off from the soccer fields, only a few minute’s walk from our house. It was my sister, Matt, my Mom and I. My mom was actually a substitute for my best friend who was supposed to go, but ended up being in Colorado when we finally had our flight.

They filled the balloon with a small fan that just blew in regular air. I was surprised then, that it only took a few blasts of the hot air to lift the balloon.

 and we were off!

The conditions to fly have to be perfect. Obviously, there can’t be any threat of rain, but the winds have to be below 8 mph. After over a year of scheduled flights and attempts to go up, we couldn’t have asked for a better day. The colors were beautiful.

I think this might be my favorite picture. I cleared off my 1 gb disc before leaving and when I got home, my camera was almost full! Between the 3 of us that had cameras and the family members on the ground that followed us in their cars, I imagine we probably have thousands of pictures and plenty of video as well. In fact, Matt’s dad has already made a quick movie from his video footage.

Although it didn’t seem very windy, we really flew far. We finished about 15 miles away in Maple Park, which was a good distance, especially after the pilot told us how he had one flight that took off from the same location, only to land only across town in the Bridges of River Mist neighborhood, an hour later.

Everyone had a good time. The pilot and his crew were all very kind. After it was over we were christened/sworn in/inaugurated into the hot air balloon world, toasted champagne and received a certificate. Also, since the flight was actually planned for my birthday last year, I also received a little keepsake of the champagne cork  and wire, turned into a mini hot air balloon.

I can now officially cross off this item on my list.

Adventures and Happiness

Published
by
robayre
on October 9, 2010
in General Update
. 3 Comments

Well, my weekend has kicked off to an amazing start. I just got home from my hot air balloon flight. This was one of the items listed on last year’s list of things to do. It was actually on a short Life List I made about 10 years ago. The list consisted of hot air balloon ride, running a mile straight, selling my artwork. I have now completed all three of those things. Wow. Amazingness from now on out. Ten years ago, those things seemed so far and distant, with no plan set in sight as to how I would accomplish them.

I will post pictures from the ride later this weekend, but right now I just had to post this web cam shot I just took. I am wearing a shirt I altered last night, specifically to wear today. I had the idea a long time ago, drew it out in my sketch book and then forgot about it until earlier this week when I was emailing back and forth with Bri. It’s inspired by the “Adventures + Happiness” brooch by LaurelHill on Etsy, that I mentioned a few posts back. I bought the original brooch for my dear friend Nikki, but loved it so much I wanted to keep it for myself. Now, I have cardigan that heralds the same sentiments.

I think hot air balloon flights fit perfectly under adventures and happiness.

today can be an adventure

Published
by
robayre
on October 8, 2010
in etsy, General Update, life and My Artwork
. 3 Comments

I designed this piece with the intention of having it printed larger, 16″x20″ and offering it in my Etsy shop. When I went in to the printer to order it, I found out just how much it was going to set me back and so I decided to hold off and see what other people think of it first.

Plus, my printer, whom I trusted and valued previously, screwed up one single order 3 times. I was pretty sad because it was a simple exact re-order AND on top of that I wrote down all my specifications and they still couldn’t get it right.

Enough of that. What do we think? Would you pay $30 for a poster? Do you have any suggestions? I’ve been toying with the idea of actually hand cutting letters, so they are more irregular and imperfect. Does it bother you that the text is asymmetrical, would you prefer if it was all centered and even? Colors?

I need input. Thanks!

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