Week 3 of the August Break 2013.
Day 16
We’ve been taking a lot of walks this summer, but since I got the fitbit we’ve been going out even more. Matt has been getting excited again about his camera so it’s been a good excuse to get out and take pictures. I’ve always wanted to take a picture of this huge wall downtown DeKalb, but it wasn’t until Matt stepped into the shot to take his own picture that I found some visual interest to balance out the wall.
Day 17
I finally got the covers for my little books printed and put some together. I will need to photograph them and add them to the shop soon. But, something I’ve suspected and learned in the last week is that people would like greeting cards, and I should offer some of these as just cards.
Day 18
Blumen Gardens in Sycamore (an excellent little local nursery) holds an artist’s market once a month. Courtney has done the sale for a while and introduced me to it, and Ann did it last month for the first time. Sunday was my first show. It was so nice to do a local show show that was so laid back. Right across from my booth was a trickling pond and waterfall. And since it’s just a table they provide, I don’t have to worry about packing up, setting up and tearing down a whole tent.
Day 19
From another walk this week. My sister and I used to walk down these railroad tracks to the underpass, but I had not done it for probably 10 years. I’d never taken Matt before and since he’s been carrying his camera I thought I should take him. Here’s a picture he got of me, I’m mid talk so my mouth is kinda weird but it’s still a good shot. In his defense it’s probably pretty hard to capture me where I’m not talking.
Day 20
Our first New Year’s in our house I decided to make some confetti balloons. I filled the balloons and Matt was blowing one up and tying it closed when it got away from him and sprayed tiny silver star confetti ALL OVER our living room. It was actually pretty awesome and I said we’d probably be finding these stars for years and years and I kind of hoped we always will. Well, almost 2 years later and it is true. I’ve found 3 in the last month alone.
Day 21
So, in addition to the Blumen Gardens show, on Thursday I was selected to show at the Travel Media Showcase in Rockford Illinois as part of the Rockford Etsy Street Team. Rockford decided that instead of offering the journalists mass produced mugs or shirts from China, they would offer them a selection of handmade items from local makers. They liked two of my proposed items, so I made 7 of my paper stratum necklaces from vintage maps and 8 travel journals and a variety of other items that people could purchase if they choose. I was very proud of these journals I made. They are the largest spiral bound notebooks that I’ve made and are like the tiny ones I have in my shop with lined paper, maps, graph paper and assortment of other papers inside. I made extra so I’ll have some to post to my shop.
Day 22
I’ve long admired Nancy‘s work (of Pretty Little Thieves) and finally purchased a little painting from her. It is the painting you can see here. I love miniature things and while I was opening it I thought it made perfect sense that with my little artomat paintings that I would love other artists that also work small. I have a collection of purchased work from artomat artists (that is currently on display at Kishwaukee College in their new Student Center) but I should collect and display more small artworks as well in my own home.
And that concludes week 3 of AugustBreak2013, if you would like to see previous posts click here. And follow me on instagram to see these pictures as I take them daily.
