On: My Big Art Sale, an Update

Silk-screened cards

Soon after coming back from Spain, I got a crazy idea - sign up for an art fair. I had no art ready, no supplies, but a lot of drive and inspiration and an endless supply of past-projects that I knew could be re-tooled for sale  in a flash.

Right away, I saw that I'd missed the deadlines of all the big shows by months but had just a few days to apply for Bucktown's 13th Holiday Art Show. So I did, got accepted, forked over a ton of cash and suddenly had to do something about that.

BUTTONS

And since then I've been accumulating projects and, when a smaller art sale suddenly popped up, I've been frantically buying supplies, printing, cutting, gluing, assembling and sleeping little and eating poorly. But it's all almost over. The BIG art show is this Saturday and Sunday and I am almost ready. If it were tomorrow, I'd be OK even. That in itself is a tremendous accomplishment for me and I am thrilled at the challenge this project has presented over the past 3 months.

Prints!

This weekend, I will have 25 8x10 prints, 40+ 5x7 prints, 80+ 4x6 prints, along with buttons, round and square magnets, magnet sets in gift tins, pins, bookmarks and silk-screened cards. It doesn't look like I'll have the book bags silk screened in time, but that's ok! There is plenty of other work ready for sale.

The best part, for me, is that I at last have arrived at a concept in which to wrap all this work. It has a name, a logo, and soon - an Etsy store and website. More on that when I get to it, maybe after the sale, maybe 2012.

Until then, I have just a backdrop to make, some risers to paint and maybe make more cards. Also Mom is driving in from Ohio to help me and that is a huge bonus and reward - I get to sell art, meet people, talk up myself AND hang out with my wonderful mother! Until then, I am taking it easy and thinking ahead. I got a lot done, but there's just as much still to do.

On: Spain, the Importance of Travel and the Finding of Purpose in Changing. Part One

Mom & I in Madrid

Last month, my mother and I spent two weeks in Spain. We spent a few days seeing sights in Madrid, then visited Toledo, Segovia, Cordova and it's Grand Mosque, Granada and The Alhambra and I managed to see Bilbao & its Guggenheim, before returning to The States.

Of course, the trip was amazing. The rich culture, the amazing history & sights, the language, the food, the absurdly good looking men, they all combined into an unbelievable, humbling experience that was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And being able to see and share it all with my mom added an entire level of awe to these experiences. We met in Madrid and spent most of the trip together, exploring, getting lost, squabbling, but still enjoying every minute together. My obsessive research was often crucial and my mother's simple charm was just as useful as we navigated transit, winding medieval streets and foreign customs.

But, after two weeks, I was anxious to get back to Chicago, to this amazing, magical city I call home. I was anxious and, this is an aside, but I felt like I was was living the scene in "Inception" where the dream-people started to turn against you - suddenly everyone around me was always angry and those last few days alone while my mom began her linguistic conference in Logrono became a surreal experience.

Almost getting stuck in Bilbao was worth this view.

But. I came back, and although everything was exactly as I left it - right away, it also felt completely different. Within hours of being back at work, I felt itchy and uneasy. It may have been the remnants of jetlag at first, but the sensation continued the next day and for several days after my return. It was an acute sort of uncomfort, where my limbs felt lanky and odd, and every thought was incomplete - in a way, there suddenly appeared massive gaps between the shell that is my body and whatever it is that occupies that shell. In those days, my body was an outfit two sizes two big.

By the week's end, the sensation has dissipated, but a change has come. Now, weeks later my routine and situation is largely the same, I have the same job and friends and yet I feel and AM different. It is inexplicable, and I am in no rush to quantify the change. It is a new road that has showed itself to me and is tempting me. It is not an easy road, but it is paved with fulfillment and self-realization.

So this is a beginning. I will write more when more becomes clear. But now: courage, ambition and hard work.

On: Life; an Update

Oh my.

So much has changed since I was last here, that it's hard to remember how life was before I moved to Chicago. It hasn't been easy, but it also hasn't been dull.

Where to begin? What to say? Since moving last May, I have been working in the wedding industry, in catering, then venue sales. Then, I started getting paid to Facebook for small businesses and then I moved into food retouching and cleaning product package design. Dabbling in product comping, I then spent two weeks in Spain. And now, I am moving into some serious marketing, PR-type social media campaigning for a large national brand. It is a thrill.

But I am also re-discovering myself as an illustrator and that has been a true gift. As such, I am reviving this place as another venue to show-case the many ideas, sketches and thoughts that filter through my brain daily. I've been quiet so long, my voice is very rusty, but I am looking to fix that.

Won't you join me?