I spent my day Friday cooking up a feast for some of my favorite friend & family folk. I love cooking for people and I don’t get to do it very often.. Red lentil soup & curried butternut squash & cashews. My friend Jeanette brought a homemade apple pie with apples that she picked. Good, heavy, autumnal food for a cool, rainy autumn evening. Good times. And I was out like a light by 10pm.. and I’m back to work today after the rain caused me to nix plans to take my kayak out on the water. Can’t wait to get out there with my camera and capture some of the fall foliage in it’s prime from a different perspective. The Maple Leaf Festival is coming up next weekend in Baldwin City, KS. Lots of printing & prep to do, and I’m ready to get back to making some new art.. hoping to finish a couple new pieces to display there. Til next time..
And what he really meant to say was, don’t file an extension on your income taxes because you’ll just put them off til the last minute and wish there were more extensions.. I’ve been knee deep in receipts all day. My hands are covered with highlighter marks. I have to turn my info in to my accountant first thing tomorrow morning. In a city an hour away. Coffee brewing..
Major bummer that I can’t have a cat at my rental house. This young feller used to lay on my desk while I worked before I moved to my new abode. We still keep in close contact.
Trying to plow through my to-do list today ‘cus I’ve got a serious itch to make some artwork tomorrow. It’s been way too long.. too many to-do’s slowly but surely getting done.
My “Listen to the Rain” original paper cutting is on it’s way to its new home in North Carolina. I’ve also got a huge box of goods on it’s way to Collector Art Shop in Berkeley, CA, so any folks in that area can find lots of new prints & cards there in the coming days. I’ll be stocking up 1109 Gallery in Lawrence tomorrow. Dundee Gallery in Omaha and The Eclective in Topeka shall be stocked in the next week or so.
I just poked my head out into the dark night and listened to an owl sitting in a tree in my yard seemingly calling to the neighborhood dogs who eagerly responded.
I spent the better part of both Thursday and Saturday baking, which was my profession in a previous life. It was a nice change doing it for fun and for family and friends. And I actually ate what I made and enjoyed it. (Vanilla & cheesecake cupcakes, a gargantuan red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, and an on-the-fly concocted cheesecake: chocolate graham cracker crust with a layer of crushed whoppers, then the cheesecake and a layer of chocolate ganache on top of that, lined with more whoppers and colorful sprinkles. whoooooo).
I’ve been away from home and from the internet world a lot. It’s good to be disconnected from time to time. Or in other words, it’s good to be connected only where it matters most.
I got a bunch more supplies in — printing to commence in the next couple days for the Aaron Douglas Art Fair in Topeka next Saturday. This is a new show for me and I’m looking forward to it. I’m also awaiting my works in the mail from the Grimm Brother’s exhibit in Colorado that closed last week, so those will be available next weekend.
Today I walked through the Zona Rosa Art Fair in Kansas City, which I participated in during 2010.. it sadly has shrunken to what seemed like just a handful of artists. I think it was the first art fair I’ve walked through when I wasn’t participating since I’ve been doing these shows. Next Sunday I’ll be hitting up the Plaza Art Fair in Kansas City as an observer only as well (and maybe a purchaser too, if I can’t fight off my art buying urges).
Lots of other good things happening as well. Trying to catch up meanwhile. Til next time.
Thanks to all of you who placed orders over the last couple days — kept me busy today. Back to printing prints for this weekend’s show in Westport, Kansas City. I’ll be in booth #95 on Archibald close to the corner of Pennsylvania Ave.
FYI: all orders placed Friday, Sept. 7, thru next Wednesday, Sept. 12, will ship out Thursday.
Trying to clear the clutter in my workroom that’s built up over the last year since I moved in. My desk has faced every direction since I got here- now facing west. Facing north usually feels most natural – why, I don’t know, but it’s time for a change, and a window view.
I’m always trying to simplify and clear mental & physical clutter so all the good things & good ideas & good work & good energy can flow exactly like they’re supposed to. Sometimes I do it automatically; other times it has to be a conscious effort.. like in my workroom.
I’m inspired to spread the word about some local joints that I patronized today here in Lawrence, KS. It’s important to support local business, especially when you are one yourself. It all comes around…: LOVE GARDEN SOUNDS: Mmmm-records. I needed to get out of my own element today (my house & my head — it’s a work from home thing. Too much time in the same place can yield freaky results) and decided to go through the records at Love Garden. Unfortunately I like to look at them one by one so I had to cut myself off after a certain amount of time, but I came home with some great new music to listen to. Usually do.. STATIC SALON: I have long thick hair and I’ve NEVER been able to find somebody to cut it to how I want it or where it lays well.. I used to cut it myself after a few bad salon experiences, but I decided that I should take some pride in it a couple years ago, and today, for the first time ever, I had a great haircut on my long hair. Taylor (ask for her) knew just what to do. I still have all my hair plus the length but I feel like I shed about 20 pounds and a lot of excess energy. 715 RESTAURANT: The ambiance, the crowd, the food selection: I felt like I was back in NYC while eating dinner here. This can be either taken as a good thing or a bad thing (I always appreciated the good restaurants in NYC so I’ll say good). I had the apple-pecan salad and the last open dinner table. It’s good to know that such a place can thrive in a ‘small’ (compared to NYC) town like Lawrence.
Because of the extreme heat, I cut my long distance multi-night camping/ kayaking trip down to semi-local one night.. This hot sun has no mercy. On my way out, equipped with my cameras, including a new GoPro camera, so I’m hoping to come back with some groovy photos or video or something.. Til next time!
