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day 2 Grow

Published
by
robayre
on August 4, 2009
in General Update, My Artwork, Projects, etsy and goals
. 2 Comments

Day 2 is in the shop!

I got the idea for this while I was at work today. I was SO excited to get home and work on it. I’m looking forward to getting into my studio daily this month :D

This piece is in the same vein as my other grass quote pieces, but this one is created in watercolor and has a vintage paper around the outside. I apologize that the pictures are not wonderful. I can tell this month is going to be a race against the clock, finishing a piece I am satisfied with AND THEN being able to photograph it for the listing before it gets dark.

My friend Joon is also joining in, posting items.
Anyone else? It’s not too late to join in posting daily.

Daily Artwork Project

Published
by
robayre
on July 19, 2009
in General Update, My Artwork, Projects, etsy and goals
. 8 Comments

It’s over halfway through the year now and I’m looking at my 2009 list and trying to make sure that I continue to cross things off and stay on track. One big project that has been dangling in front of me, has been my desire to do a month long project. Meaning, I would do a new piece every day for a month and post it to my etsy shop.

Last year I was so inspired by artists who can make a living by creating a piece every single day. Whether it be a painting, a drawing, a collage or print, etc., I love the idea that someone can be so prolific and dedicated, thus offering a variety of amazing original pieces at affordable prices. I wish I had the stick-to-it-ivness to do something every day for a whole year, but I’m not there yet, as noted by my failure in follow through of the page a day book of 2008.

Today I am declaring that August will be my Piece-A-Day Month. The piece at the top of this post was me trying to feel out my plans with the media and materials. Right now the plan is that the pieces will be similar to my page-a-day pieces, examples seen below.

In other words they will be quick (meaning created daily), impromptu, mixed media pieces. Instead of being a page in a book, each piece will be created on a 9″x9″ 140 lb. coldpress watercolor paper, with the image area being 5×5. Tada! Perfect to fit into an Ikea ribba frame with matte :) I work a full time job, so I am going to limit the project to Monday through Friday. Everyone needs a weekend right? Each piece will then be added to my etsy shop and offered at a very  affordable cost. If you are feeling inspired, I would love to invite others to join in and also do a piece every day in August.  Let me know, I’d love to follow your month as well.

Weekend Wrap-up

Published
by
robayre
on May 17, 2009
in Cool Links, Coverage, General Update, goals and life
. 0 Comments

clouds & concrete, originally uploaded by robayre.

I hope everyone had a relaxing, yet productive weekend. The weather today was perfect.

I have a few things I wanted to share.

-I’ve been sooo delighted to be featured on Etsy’s front page not once, not twice, but THREE times within the last 4 days. As I said last week, I get stupidly giddy whenever I make it to the front page. I hope this feeling never goes away as I continue to plug away with my Etsy shop. I just love it so much. My only sadness is that Etsy was not around when I was a child/teenager or even college student.

-I’m still going strong on my goal to ride my bike to work everyday for a month. This too is making me beyond happy. I wish I could do it all year round. At this rate I imagine I will probably be riding to work throughout the summer, well past my goal of one month. It only takes a few more minutes to ride to work, than it did to drive, but I feel that instead of getting into a car, putting on the music, being in the zone and just getting to work, now I am much more aware of my surroundings. I get to enjoy the weather, and nature, greet people along the way, and really have experiences traveling back and forth to work, rather than lost time.

-I’ve been working on my mini zine for the swap-bot swap. If I am happy with the results I might add some to my shop as well. I just have so many ideas and I don’t think I’ll be able to add them all to one zine, especially one this small (it has to fit into a small matchbook).

-Before I forget to mention, I’ve updated my banner. If you are like myself, you read your blogs through an rss reader and probably wouldn’t have even noticed had I not said anything. Now my blog and etsy work together.

-I’ve mentioned my twitter here before, but I thought I’d bring it up again, and invite anyone interested, to follow me there as well. I occasionally post fun/inspirational/informative links on twitter as I come across them.

-Speaking of inspiring site links, here is one I found via booooooom. It’s a website devoted to the upcoming movie of Where the Wild Things Are and all of it’s assorted influences. VERY COOL SITE.

-One last link, a new to me blog.  How could I not love a printmaker who has pet rabbits, and a hedgehog? Then on her sidebar she has a list of goals, things like make a stop-motion movie, learn letterpress, and make a zine. This seems like my kind of gal.

new to the shop

Published
by
robayre
on May 11, 2009
in General Update, etsy and goals
. 3 Comments

I’m still here and proud to say I’ve ridden my bike to work everyday that I’ve worked this month. One week down towards my goal for a month. I love it. It’s only taking me 11 minutes now, almost as fast as it was to drive, strangely enough. Plus I get to work and feel all invigorated and ready to go.

Months ago I purchased these pendants to make pieces encased in resin, but with the round shape I was really stumped. They just sat in my studio until a couple of weeks ago when it finally came to me.

I saw some of these crafted magazine bowls and got inspired to use the technique, but only in miniature for my pendants.

 

 

I love how they came out, the texture, lines and colors. I ended up making several in different color combinations.


I’ve also added another resin ring that I really love to my shop.

I will be adding new items each day this week, so please check back.

Friday I’m in Love

Published
by
robayre
on April 25, 2009
in General Update, Projects, goals and life
. 0 Comments

yoyo quilt, originally uploaded by robayre.

Okay, so yesterday (Friday) was an incredibly productive day. It felt great. I even took a scary step to crossing off one more thing from my yearly list. That list item was to get my bike fixed. Last summer my bike broke, and while, in the past when something went wrong (seat was stolen, crank cracked, entire bike stolen, etc.) I just went ahead, ordered the parts myself and fixed it, or in the case of my bike being stolen, just bought the same exact bike all over again. This time was different. I was sure it was something more difficult to fix, would parts for this bike still be available even? but I was equally terrified of taking it into the bike shop and having the cycle guys look at me and laugh their asses off about trying to get a Huffy repaired at their top of the line Schwinn shop. So much so, that last fall, after lots of shopping, I bought a new bike. It didn’t take long before realizing that bike was a horrible fit and had to be returned. I figured it would be worth the amount of money to fix my old bike, even if the cost was equal to the amount of a new bike because I knew that I would ride it, it would fit and I’d be happy to have MY BIKE back.

Also, getting my bike repaired is pretty important to another yearly goal, walking or riding my bike to work every day for a month. And while I don’t mind walking, it takes an additional 35 to 40 minutes to walk to work, and only 15 minutes to ride my bike. There are no guarantees that it won’t be raining for a whole month so riding with a raincoat for 15 minutes is much more desirable than walking with an umbrella for 40. Although I did allow for rain days to be exempt, I’d be much prouder of myself if I toughed out those days.

So I took my bike in, they seemed unfazed by the brand and even had the replacement part on hand. It should be ready for pick up in a week. Yahtzee!

Now that I have Fridays off, I try to keep a To Do list to make sure that the extra day doesn’t get wasted. Yesterday I was able to cross off the majority of things on my list, way more than any other Friday. I posted to my blog, listed new items, went to the post office, went to the bank, paid a bill, paid another bill, paid yet another bill, did some shopping, and still had time to start a new project, and hang out with Dacia.

As for today. I don’t really have anything planned. Perhaps I should create a Saturday To Do list because it’s already past 10:30 a.m. and other than cooking breakfast and typing this, I sit here in my pj’s and have no foresight into what will happen for the rest of the day.

Have a good weekend. Hopefully I will return tomorrow with glimpses into my new project. Hint, the picture at the top is a bit of a clue.

2009 Yearly List

Published
by
robayre
on February 1, 2009
in Cool Links, Found Art, General Update, Projects, goals and life
. 12 Comments

So, it’s officially February and it’s been a month since I started composing my list of things to accomplish in the year of 2009. I think it’s time to put down the pen and start working on these goals. If you recall, I’ve been inspired by Andrea of hulaseventy and her list of things to do in her 38th year. I just discovered that another favorite artist Mati Rose, also kept a list of things to do in her 32nd year. I’ve kept a small life list in the past, but it occurred to me after reading these other lists, that a yearly list is more likely to get done, rather than a goal with an open end of “sometime in my life”. The yearly list is different from a resolution list. I associate resolutions with changing habits, while this is a list to help me stay productive and accomplish some goals. I will be able to refer back to it throughout the year to cross things off and remind myself to get going on others. So, here it goes:

31 Things to get done in the year 2009, my 31st year.

1. get my bike fixed Took my bike in April 24th, got it back May 2nd.
2. ride my bike/walk to work for a whole month (rain days exempt) first day? May 4th.
3. get back on sparkpeople (may18th)
4. geocache at least 10 times Did 3 geocaches on Easter and 1 the week before
5. found art balloon idea
6. create a tabletop ecosphere and keep a record/updates about life inside read here
7. start a daily art project (collage/mixed media?) and post daily to etsy for at least one month (august)
8. go to the Indiana dunes this summer (Completed August 14th, went w/matt, chris & dacia)
9. get down to dress size __ (purchased a jean skirt in this size that fit in August)
10. spend lots of time this spring/summer/fall at my “secret place“
11. unplug my computer and no internet usage for a week (complete the final week of 2009)
12. send in artomat package (Feb. 13th, 2009)
13. post daily for January NaBloPoMo (done January 31st)
14. post daily for February Thing-A-Day (finished February 28th)
15. visit at least two different photobooths and participate in photobooth friday (Went to Quimbys 8.2.09)
16. take the new car on a roadtrip (matt and i) (quad cities Feb. 13th, 2009)
17. ride in a hot air balloon (purchased and paid for, but weather canceled all attempts. completed 10.9.10
18. release my art themed geocache
19. get back on C25K and run 5K
20. eat at the signature room in the hancock center (completed November 14th)
21. go to luigi’s house and use gift certificate for dinner (done January 23rd, to celebrate matt’s new car)
22. alter calendar & post monthly (created 2010 date pages and left top open for image to be added last week of december 2009)
23. work on and send in mini moleskine book for group project
24. visit the quad cities and go to bierstube (Feb. 14th, 2009)
25. go to a hockey game (11.2.10)
26. read the time traveler’s wife finished 8.1.09
27. carve pumpkins (Completed 10.09)
28. decorate for christmas (completed 12.09)
29. send out letters and mail that should have gone out months ago (partly done feb. 11th, rest completed)
30. plant tulip bulbs in the fall (ever year I say I’ll do this and never get it done) (done 11.2.09)
31. redesign website

Now, I would like to invite all of you to create a similar list for 2009 and post it to your blog, so that we can follow along as you get things done for 2009. My only fear posting this is that there will be more things to add to this list that I will remember as soon as I post this.

I couldn’t ask for more

Published
by
robayre
on December 31, 2008
in General Update, goals and life
. 6 Comments

It’s new year’s eve and I want to wish everyone a wonderful, happy beginning to a new year. I’d give all my readers a kiss on the check as the ball drops, if only I could.

As the end of the year draws closer and closer, hour by hour, I think about what I have accomplished in 2008. I enjoyed following as HulaSeventy crossed off things from her list for her birthday year. I think year-to-year lists might be more productive than life lists, because there is a deadline. It’s a bit harder to get things done on Life lists when the goal is to just complete each item “someday“.

In the meantime, it’s maybe time to go back to the beginning of this year and reflect at how this year has gone so far.
I don’t want to be such a negative nancy, but my goals for the year did not go as well as I had hoped. Maybe it’s just that I am only remembering the goals I did not accomplish, but I honestly can not remember any others. I actually just looked back in the archives from January and it appears I never posted them there.

I know I had dedicated to creating a page a day in my page a day book and less than halfway through the year that fell apart. I blame the move partially. I have a studio now, but almost find that I have less time to spend working on things anymore. Darn that cable television, you are a curse!

I also took a leap and proclaimed a goal of having 100 items sold in my etsy shop by the end of the year. The beginning of the year started out with a bang. I was having a semi regular stream of sales. I was getting decent coverage by other websites. By the half way point of the year I had about 50 sales. Granted I started the year with around 15 sales. But here it is the last day of the year and I am at 58 sales. That is quite a slump. A month or two ago I took a leap and volunteered for my first official shop critique with etsy admin. It went pretty well. Admin, as well as the other etsyers, had wonderful things to say, noting I was quite the crafty diva. All criticism was strictly constructive, noting how links in my profile could be better displayed, mentioning the use of ikea brand frames in my yoyo pieces might take away from the description, and watermarks on my images prevents my products from making it to etsy front page.

I may have not succeeded in my 2008 goals, but this year was a productive one! As Rosa recently posted, having a blog is kind of like keeping a record, leaving a legacy, and if it weren’t for my posts I probably would have forgotten everything that happened.  In fact, the other day I was looking at older posts and saw one where I said I went to see Stomp. I do not remember seeing Stomp. I remember wanting to see Stomp, but if it weren’t for reading that I might still want to see Stomp, lol. That is sad, but true. So there you go, even writing it down doesn’t guarantee that you will remember it.

Anyway, it has been an amazing year and I am happy, I couldn’t ask for more.

I went to Minnesota for the first time. I guess I didn’t blog about it, but we went for Matt’s Oma’s birthday.

I was featured on several wonderful websites.

I sold a handful of pieces of my original artwork.

I joined the create a day group and have met some wonderful peeps. Blogger killed us, so we moved to wordpress and now we’re everyday create, we’re still getting adjusted to the site and often email rather than blog nowadays.

I participated in the Thing a Day on wordpress, and posted daily for the month of

A gunman opened fire shooting 22 and killing 5 before killing himself on campus, where my boyfriend works, in my hometown where I still reside.

My dad broke his arm and had to have a very scary and dangerous operation.

I went to the art institute of chicago and was wowed by the edward hopper exhibit.

I moved out of my dungeon apartment, into a lovely duplex with my S.O. of seven years, Matthew.

Went to the Indiana Dunes again, ahhh, sigh. I don’t think of myself as someone who fantasizes about beaches, but I could really go for some warm sand between my toes right about now.

Finished my next artomat series, still haven’t sent them out though, shame on me.

Saw the Swell Season at the Chicago Theater.

Went on vacation to Door County and left some found art.

Got a little bitty kitten named Bishop.

Found my “secret garden” (I can’t wait till spring to go back)

Got a porch swing!

Got my hair did (dyed pink)

Went to our fourth or fifth renegade craft show in chicago.

Took a segway tour of chicago.

Made my very first edited movie.

Attended my brothers 2nd annual ghost story telling bonfire, where matt and I came in second!

Participated in the first ever Chicago MP3 experiment.

Participated in the first ever Pirates Vs. Ninjas protest in town.

I took a long road trip with my B.F.F. of 25 years, to Colorado and back. Stopping to see Carhenge, the largest ball of twine and the worlds largest truck stop along the way.

Participated in my own solo art show, thanks to my dear friend Erin who invited me to show concurrently with her.

Had to put my dear pet rabbit, Theo, to sleep very unexpectedly.

Held my third annual Gingerbread House Making Contest.

Went on our annual voyage to the Cheese Chalet.

Made a lot of awesome artwork, yay me!

I took down my show, and I’m very excited about posting and listing lots of those pieces from the show, as well as finally saying a last adieu to my artomat series as I send it out.

Goodbye 2008, you were a good year!

2008 Gingerbread House Making Contest

Published
by
robayre
on December 22, 2008
in Fun, General Update, Projects, goals and life
. 2 Comments


I can cross one more project off my list. This Friday was my Third Annual Gingerbread House Making Contest. Once again I failed at preparing ahead of time, so we used graham crackers again. I rented a hall with the help of my sister in law and we had a record number of people; 17 to be exact. The invitations went out only a week before and the day of the party we had a winter storm so I was very delighted with the turn out. I put paper down on the floor and when people came in they took off their shoes. My sister in law called her husband and friends ahead of time and so they brought slippers. We played Christmas music and had hot chocolate to sip and chex mix to munch on.

I think each year the houses get more and more creative. You can see we had some daring structures regarding height, and some creative structures with theme.  Check the photoset to see the houses better here.

Next year I think I will send out postcard invitations and hope for even more attending. I’ll also recommend everyone bringing slippers :)

fused glass

Published
by
robayre
on December 18, 2008
in General Update, My Artwork and goals
. 1 Comment

Last weekend I got a call from a friend who was over at this glass place in town (I don’t know the name yet). A couple of friends were there working on fused glass and invited me to join them. I’ve never really been huge into fused glass before, so I wasn’t sure about it at first.

I had actually been in the store before, because I wanted to see if they offered classes in hot glass. That is an area I am really interested in and have wanted to do for so long, but alas, they do not do hot glasswork there.

Anyway, my friends were putting together these pieces, shown above, that consist of layers of all types and sorts of glass. There is big sheets of different colors, patterns and textures, rods of glass and all the way down to almost sandlike pieces. You assemble pieces however large you want on the tile. The entire tile is put in an oven or kiln and then fired to meld the layers together. Once I got to see how it worked and the samples that my friends were making, I realized how limitless it is, and how each piece is like it’s very own little canvas, only dimensional. They let me make a couple, and I’m officially hooked. I can’t wait to go back and work on more. Here are what my finished pieces looked like, below.

They also do stained glass at this place. By luck, a coworker of mine was there at the time working on a stained glass piece and I got to watch her soldering it together. It looked pretty fun as well.

Big Sigh

Published
by
robayre
on December 8, 2008
in General Update, My Artwork, Projects, goals and life
. 1 Comment

Okay, the show is up, the opening is past and I’ve survived.

I’d love to show you pictures but it seems, oops, I don’t have any. I know a few people that took pictures, so hopefully I will be able to get some. There were only two people who wanted to semi-grill me on “what my work was about” and I think I handled it well enough with minimal moments of silence, blank stares and then flushing all shades of burgundy.

I’m actually very excited that now I can reveal some of the work I’ve been busy creating for the last few months. Once, I can gather some images I’ll have a post about the opening. I’m also excited to feel free to work on anything and everything my heart desires and not have this self-imposed stress of a show looming overhead.

There have been so many things I’ve been wanting to work on. I actually started a list because I knew once I was faced with an open schedule I would blank out on all the things I’ve been wanting to do. So here goes:
found art
order moo cards with RAK
start a possible daily art project (again)
knit graffiti inspired pieces
woven pot holders
make mini paintings for etsy shop (artomat style)
spinning yarn
vest from handspun
website redesign
decorate words SLEEP
frame and hang posters and artwork on walls
resin jewelry
clean garage
send friends packages
message in a bottle, corked and left in a fountain
knit a bulky cowl
list items in etsy (handspun yarns, felted bags, etc)
gingerbread house making contest
put up christmas decorations, lights, trees, garlands
make more staple books
make recycled christmas ornament decorations

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