Word of the Year + Desktop Wallpaper

January 14, 2017

All the time I hear about making a "word of the year" each year to sum up what you'd like to do or accomplish. I finally decided to choose a word this year and I landed on "Present". My mind wanders a lot, often thanks to anxiety, and I'd like to stay more present in the moment and in my life overall. I made a desktop wallpaper with a digital painting of mine if you'd like to download! Let's get this year off to a great start.

December Wrap Up

January 4, 2017

Happy New Year! I am really enjoying writing these wrap up blogs, it’s a great way to reflect on what I’ve been up to creatively and enjoying in my life.

Here we are in 2017 and I am behind on getting my new online shop up and running. So it goes. The day job and real life...well, happen. I don’t want to say they get in the way because it’s all a part of a multi-faceted life. You know what I mean, right? Anyways, I am taking a look at my goals and working on ways to find the best balance that I can.

So, let’s look at December:

Started working on the Get Messy free intro to art journaling class
Discovered the How She Creates Podcast. I am loving it! The episodes often feature more than one guest and are a great round table discussion
The Reed’s Art & Craft fair was a blast! This was the second year I worked with Reed’s Local to put this event on
Worked on Katie Lee’s End of Year Awesome and it really put things into perspective for me. It’s so easy to focus on the negative and what I didn’t accomplish, but writing down what I was proud of doing this last year made me feel awesome.
I won a giveaway from Paper & Oats via Shailey & Katie’s podcast, I chose the Calendar & To Do List printable. Thanks ladies!

Art journal page, this sketchbook is almost full!

Images from the Reed's Art & Craft Fair

Working on Katie Lee's End of Year Awesome

November Wrap Up

December 4, 2016

Happy December all! I am writing this as I watch the first snowfall of the season in Chicago. I am definitely missing the Vegas sunshine that I had while on Thanksgiving vacation!

Here are the art and creative things I saw/did this month.

November Recap:

Saw a lot of great murals in Downtown Vegas. If you ever find yourself there make sure to check out the Arts District
Discovered the Art Supplies Posse podcast and I am so happy! I worked at an art store for a few years during college and I love talking about supplies. I found out about this podcast through Kathy Weller's instagram when she shared that she was on an interview on the podcast.
Checked out the clothing line launch of Pintl + Keyt at the Greenheart Shop in Old Town. Such beautiful patterns and fabric!
Attended the Day Job/Night Job/Art Job talk put on by Chicago Artist Resource. It was more geared towards artists who make most/all their money from their art, but I still enjoyed the discussion (I have a day job and do art on the side).
Went to Alexee McNulty's art opening at Reed's Local in Avondale. She had beautiful abstracts and pop culture pieces as well as prints of her work for sale. I picked up a print as part of my Christmas shopping.

Here are some photos from the month, enjoy!

How rad are these paintings by Alexee McNulty???

October Wrap Up

November 1, 2016

I have been itching to share more here and decided to start with a monthly wrap up series where I take a look at creative items from the previous month.

Let's take a look at October:

I have been inspired by Tara Swiger's podcast and decided to become a supporter on Patreon
A friend gave me some old books and papers that I can use for collage
Set goal to work more in abstract with paintings
Went to the Cornelia Arts Center open house
Studio/office is actually set up and usable

Below are images from the month, enjoy!

P.S- I love instagram, make sure to follow me there!

Early stages in October of the office/studio set up