I finished up my tiny painting for The Pocket Show tonight & it felt incredibly good to dust off my paintbrushes. This summer has been filled with plenty of work, but it’s been either the locket-making, market sort or packaging orders/off to the post office kind. This is precisely why I enjoy signing up for group art shows. There’s often a theme & there’s always a deadline, which means I get to put painting at the top of my TO DO list. Hopefully one day my life will be structured in such a way that creating art always comes first. A lovely dream!

On to the show! The Pocket Show is a HUGE group of artists (close to 100) exhibiting some very tiny art – nothing larger than 4″ x 4″, to be precise. I have a bunch of ideas sketched out in my sketchbook (thank goodness! one does start to worry when it’s been a while…), but the small size restriction meant saving some of my ideas for larger canvases. Since I planned to work on a 4″ x 4″ wood block, I decided to go with a more illustrative style & really enjoyed drawing on the wood in detail. I will often do a vague sketch, but then go over all of the lines with paint, completely obscuring them. I’m quite pleased with the way my girl turned out & hope she’ll fit right in at the show.

Only Dates Men With Beards
graphite, acrylic on wood
4″ x 4″ x 1.5″

For more details or to RSVP for the show’s opening, check out the Facebook event page.

The Pocket Show
156 West Hastings (@ Cambie)

Opening night:
Sunday, September 5th ~ 7:00pm to midnight

Show runs until Sept 18th

Thanks to everyone who came out to see my work plus the other fantastic artists at Dirty Pop on the weekend. There is a cute recap video posted on YouTube with lots of familiar faces, plus shots of the work. Check it out! Also worth checking out – Mori Pablo, the artist who won the People’s Choice award after the votes were tallied at the end of the night. Love the Big Lebowski painting!

Here’s me all dolled up with somewhere to go:

I wore a dress I snagged at the Swap O Rama a few months ago, which was a smidge too tight (OK…I could barely breathe), but I lurvvvvved it so much that I had to wear it. I was also sporting the new shoes I treated myself to as a reward for working such crazy hours this summer – my first pair of the much coveted Fluevogs:

So cute! And SO comfortable!!!

Now I’m trying to balance work (catching up with orders, stocking up on supplies, figuring out which fall & Christmas shows I want to do…) with getting some family time and relaxation in before summer is over. A trip to see my parents is in order, which serves as a holiday too since they live right on the ocean. Lucky ducks!

I have 2 paintings in the group show Dirty Pop which takes place tomorrow night at Box Studios. The artist list has some of my favorite names on it, so I know it will be a fun night. You can RSVP on the Facebook event page here.

BOX STUDIOS + FRANKLIN ROOM

by Rheanna Fancypants

by Kristen Ferma

Click here to see the other pieces or place a bid!

See you on Saturday!

How can there only be 2 more weeks left until the end of August? Technically the boy doesn’t go back to school until September 7th, but to me September = fall. Boo! Hiss! Stop the clock for just a little longer please!

In light of how little time I have left this summer, I’m really glad that I decided to take 4 out of the 6 days I had in between markets last week to head down to Washington & visit with friends. It was a lot of travel time (stupid border line ups & stupider ferries booked solid) for only 2 days of relaxation, but I’m glad we did it. Highlights:

Since the clock is still ticking on summer, I’m making a list of the things I really want to do before we’re back to raincoats & rubber boots:

• ride rides at the PNE
• swim in the Stanley Park pool (overlooking the ocean – awesome!)
• take the dogs to the leash free swimming area of Buntzen Lake
• eat yummy food stuffs at Richmond Night Market
• ride my bike along the sea wall to Go Fish – one of the best spots for fish & chips in Vancouver
• have at least one lazy summer day where I do nothing but read, doodle in my sketchbook & drink iced tea (or sangria)

That makes for a couple of very busy weeks & since I still have a boatload of work to do, I’m thinking a lot of iced coffees may be in my future. Which is just fine. I can sleep in October.