I've got a lot of painting to do and not much time to do it in. And most of the time I'm home I can't paint because (well, just trust me on this one...I've tried to do it with Pele around and it's a disaster. The pieces I work on are very small and one bump or slip and it messes them up). I can't seem to distract her while I'm painting. So I do whatever I can quickly and the non-painting parts first. For example, I just sanded and sketched out what I was going to paint on the wood pieces. So at least I'm making some progress. But it limits the time where I can paint to whenever Jeremy is home or Pele is asleep (which is sporadic in the case of the latter thing).

Essentially I have about twenty pieces to make in less than two weeks--and I want to have most of it done before the end of next week. The first show I'll be in is on October 10th and I am not actually going to be present for most of it because that's the day of Jeremy's birthday party and I have to set up for it and also just spend time with Jeremy. But I really, really wanted to participate. It's the last French Nest Open Air Market of the season. I went to one before this and even though I didn't sell anything then it was good exposure and I got an idea of the market. It gives me a chance to see if it's the timing that's off or my product? Or where I am selling? Anyway...for those locals that enjoy outdoor markets with everything from handmade soap to jewelry to hand-sewn clothes, etc, then The French Nest Market really is a very good one. All local and funky artists of all sorts and very little mediocrity to be found. I mean, I am not bragging--I am speaking about the other vendors that I've seen there.

Then a week later I'm participating in an event in Loveland for Sage Moon Originals. There isn't info up on-line about it yet, but I will post about that, too. It's the weekend that Jeremy will be gone, October 17th,  so once again I will only show up briefly because a wild toddler and an art show don't mix very well. But I would still like to set up a small area with some of my pieces.

I did this to myself, however. I knew that if I didn't make creative goals for myself that had strict deadlines and accountability then I wouldn't complete them, or at least nothing significant. I was so much more driven creatively last year and I have lost SO much momentum this year. I know the awful sleep doesn't help. But I think sometimes a person just needs a jump start. Thankfully I have an internal mechanism, an alarm that seems to go off periodically to tell me that, 'hey, you're being complacent, you're letting your creative energy go to seed.' It's not necessarily a mean voice but it's an impatient voice. I gave myself some slack, though, because I know that I haven't been feeling that great lately on most levels and fallow periods are necessary to artists of all kinds.

Despite the frequent headaches I've been having (I just took a dose of BC's headache powder) I am enjoying researching new images and ideas for pieces. The new necklace series I'm making is revisiting an older idea/series that used designs inspired by vintage fabrics from the 40's-80's. There are some great ones in there. Unusual colors and interesting patterns. I sorted through a TON of images of vintage fabrics, altered them, cropped them and use them as reference, but I always change things some because I want them to be original and not exact copies of what the fabric. 

After I finish this series (which is about 1/3 done at the moment) then I'll start on the small wall hangings. I think I really only have time to paint 2-3 of those. In any event, I will post images of these series when I'm done.

In the meantime, here are some of the vintage-inspired designs that I made earlier this year:



In Discomfort and Productivity,
Hannah