My lovely parents live on a little island off the coast of Vancouver Island. I don’t get over to visit as often as I’d like. The cost to ferry our car over is $200 round trip. Depending on how the 2 ferry schedules line up, the trip can take as long as 5 hours, even though the distance is very short. There’s a lot of waiting around.

Fortunately the cafe aboard the ferry makes excellent clam chowder. Dolphins can sometimes be seen swimming alongside the ship. I play a lot of Sporcle quizzes on my phone (even better on your computer, FYI). And when I finally get there? I get this:

Totally worth it.

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After I saw her listing on Pet Finder, I knew we had to meet her in person. She looks so much like my old dog, Sparkle could be one of her puppies! The rescue group I adopted her from, Rescued Paws, was wonderful to work with. Shelly, the foster mom who gave Sparkle a loving home while waiting to be adopted, was so patient with me as we emailed back & forth, answering my many, many questions & concerns. It didn’t take more than a day or two before she’d settled right in, always choosing to squeeze in beside the pug rather than lay in her own bed.

As I started writing out my goals for 2012, an overriding theme was pretty clear – slow down! I don’t know if this is a getting older thing, but my goals seem to be shifting toward getting organized, simplifying my life and creating a home I love. I want to have more time to paint, to write blog posts and to truly *enjoy* time with friends rather than be frantically working and trying to keep up with the insane schedule I kept last year. I worked my tail off in 2011! I love my job, so it’s not like this is some kind of hardship, but I definitely need to create more balance in my life and my home.

To start with, I’m finally allowing myself to take up a real hobby – one that doesn’t involve creating something for sale! It’s funny…when you make things for a living, it seems like you should always be doing something “productive”. Between craft shows, my Etsy shop and the retail stores that carry my work, I have to stick to a pretty strict schedule of making lockets and brooches and things. It’s also important for me to keep coming out with new designs, which means new paintings. Of course, not all of my paintings work well as reproductions either. Maybe this isn’t the case for artists who, say, don’t have credit card debt that they failed to pay off the year before, but I feel like I’m always supposed to be working, being productive, making money. This is definitely a recipe for burnout, my friends.

And so, after MANY hours of research and reading reviews and drooling over online fabric swatches, I ordered a book that’s going to teach me how to sew clothing for the first time in my life! *squeeeeee*

The Colette Sewing Handbook has received fabulous reviews and I couldn’t be more excited to get started! Here’s why:

I hate shopping.
I hate trying clothes on and being disappointed that the hips are too snug and the waist is too baggy.
I hate that it’s so difficult to find cute, vintage-style clothing locally. (sidenote: I love Anthro. I hate the prices.)
I hate gambling on ordering clothes online that are often poorly made and ill-fitting once you see them in person. (sidenote #2: I think ModCloth does shoppers a great service by allowing such thorough reviews by other customers, including their sizes and measurements. That being said, I’ve never spent more than $50 on something I couldn’t try on first.)

Solution? Sew my own clothes, obviously! I’ll let you know how it goes.

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The only thing making the season a little less merry is the nasty cold that’s been attacking my sinuses. I’m feeling incredibly fortunate that I managed to make it all the way through the winter market season without getting sick, so if it has to be while I’m on holiday? I really can’t complain. If I’d been feeling better, I would’ve ventured out to the art gallery & maybe stayed up past 10pm, but other than that, my holiday would have looked remarkably similar.

Wishing you and your loved ones the happiest of holidays!

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Aside from wanting to completely redesign my display (while still keeping it easy to load, unload & store away, of course!), I’m also freaking out about not making enough actual things to sell. How many lockets should I make? And which styles?

The short answer is: a lot!

Unfortunately, my brain seems to work best in a linear fashion. Get all of the print work done, then seal, then pour resin, then finish the lockets by adding the chain & charms & beads. I have several new paintings that I’ve been working on & would really love to see them as tiny wearable art pieces, so my brain is still wanting to be in the studio painting, not making lockets. Not yet. And this, my dear friend, is where the panic sets in!

The last few days have been a flurry of locket-making activity as I finally forced myself to put down my paintbrushes. I have a few new faces already making their debut, so if the rest of the gang has to wait until January, I guess they’ll just have to be patient. Not ideal, and certainly not what I was hoping for this season, but this morning I already feel HEAPS better than I have for the last couple of weeks. A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

Usually when I get really stressed out, I go into hermit mode & isolate myself. No blog posts, very little Twitter action & as my friends & family can report, good luck trying to get me to answer the phone! This time has been different though. I’m fortunate to have several crafter friends in exactly the same boat, so I’ve had lots of support from people who totally get it. I thank my lucky stars that I have fabulous girlfriends to drag through thrift stores searching for the perfect antique picture frame or old wooden box to hold my cards.

There’s also been a whole lot of this:

Fall in Vancouver is such a beautiful time of year. The leaves along my street are shades of yellow, vibrant red, burgundy & a few hanging onto their greeness. And they’re so BIG! The puppies are endlessly fascinated with the piles of leaves that my neighbors rake up. And I am endlessly grateful that I’m now living in an apartment & no longer have the job of raking up leaves! They’re a lot prettier this year when they’re not also a task on my TO DO list.

Speaking of TO DO, time for me to get back to work! I’ll be in Whistler for the Bizarre Bazaar in less than 2 weeks. Excited & terrified? That’d be me right now!

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I love fall. Sure, the beach & sundresses & cold iced tea are all wonderful things, but there’s something about this time of year when the weather begins to turn cooler that feels like home to me.

I’m a hermit at heart, so crisp fall weather, warm cozy sweaters & hot cups of coffee in my studio go together swimmingly. I don’t feel guilty about staying inside & painting away the afternoon like I sometimes do in the summer. When you live in the Pacific Northwest, there’s an odd pressure when the sun shines to get outside! Do something active!!! It feels positively criminal to sit inside at my desk when I could be playing tennis or biking the sea wall or…I don’t know…doing yoga atop a kayak.

Fortunately, my dogs drag me outside at least 3 times per day for walks – rain or shine. While walking through the park today I noticed the trees dropping these large reddish brown nuts. I’m not sure what kind of trees they are, but between the inky black crows and the bushy-tailed squirrels flitting among the branches, the nuts fell every few seconds making the loveliest thwunk sound. It was a dense, rich sound & sometimes you could see a little flutter of movement as one landed in a pile of yellowing leaves.

Beautiful.

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photo credit: Tourism Vancouver

Looking at my calendar for September, I think stocking up on coffee may be in order. 3 more outdoor markets, Bloom in Fort Langley, Portobello West at the end of the month plus the very last class I need to complete my certificate in Fine Art Techniques from Emily Carr University. It’s only an 8 week class & covers the business aspects of art, so I think it will be interesting, if a little less fun than painting class.

Next up – Main Street Farmers Market on Wednesday, Sept 7th (2-7pm) then the West End Farmers Market on Saturday, September 10th (9-2pm). More info about all the Vancouver Farmers Markets can be found on their official website.

Happy September to you!

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So while I haven’t been too keen on sitting inside on my computer & updating my…ahem…blog, I have been doing lots of this:

And plenty of hanging on my new balcony with the puppies:

And though my studio is feeling pretty toasty these days, possibly better suited for working at night, I’ve been doing a bit of painting too:

These guys are being a bit tight-lipped, so I’m not sure what their names are yet. As soon as I figure that out, I’ll add them to my shop.

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I know I shouldn’t complain when the rest of the country is experiencing crazy heat waves, the kind of crazy heat that actually kills people, so…yeah. It’s been quiet ’round here.

That’s not to say that I haven’t been busy! I’m still hauling my stuff out to all of these events, trying to stay dry & bringing things to work on so I don’t get too bored, but it’s tough when your income is directly influenced by the weather. When it rains, you can expect less than half the normal turnout to an outdoor event. Obviously that’s going to take quite a chunk out of my earnings!

Hopefully summer is finally here to stay as I gear up for some very long hours (9am – 11pm! yikes!) at the White Rock Spirit of the Sea Festival this weekend. I’ll be at booth #59 along the west beach promenade. They’ve got lots of activities planned plus fireworks & a candlelight lantern procession. Let’s just hope we don’t get rained on!

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