BAM artsfair 2010!

It's Monday, July 26th, and that means I have officially survived the weekend! Hooray! I spent the last three days at the Bellevue Arts Museum Artsfair, selling my paintings and prints. And yup, I was nervous as hell last Thursday night, this being my first big, juried show. But an hour in, I had sold my first painting and was already blushing (beet red actually) at all the really lovely, positive comments. The long hours ended up going by very quickly as it was busy, and people wanted to stop and chat, which was lovely. And I had lots of friends stop by too, which always helps!

I lucked out and had great booth neighbours, Martha Monson Lowe with her incredibly graceful baskets, and Paul Counts who was as cheerful and entertaining as his colourful blown glass teapots and vases. All in all it was exhausting but fun! Lots of great folks and good art. A good combo. My two favourites of the show were there again: Brian Blackham with his monochromatic jars, and Diane Culhane who speaks to my fauve-loving soul. I wouldn't exactly mind sacrificing some (or all!) of our wall space for their work, and if Greg Klassen could please furnish the place then I'd officially be living in heaven...ah well, a few more artsfairs before I can treat myself to some of those goodies!!

I'll leave you with some of the comments I heard about my work. Apparently I don't do dark and tormented all that well, which is just fine by me. I'll take smiles and laughter any day:

Peaceful

Fun

Whimsical

Happy

Calm

Joyful

You've made my day and I've only been here 5 minutes.

Quirky

You look like one of the characters in your paintings.

Witty

and the best...

"Your lipstick matches your work!" Er, that was intentional of course.

xo,

Sarah

spring update

Seems I fell off the blogging bandwagon these last few weeks! I do have a decent excuse though: I've been working hard getting ready for the Bellevue Arts Fair. I am almost finished my last large piece for the show, then it's on to matting and framing. I think there's light at the end of the tunnel!

And last week my baby, who will always be my baby poor kid, turned two!! How did that happen?? He got a ridiculously large Tonka truck, which he approved of, and a quiet celebration at home with us and Grandma, and, of course, a chocolate zucchini cake. And for the long weekend we went up to Canada to celebrate all over again with our family and friends in my parents' new home. They had moved in two days prior, already had paintings up, and my mom navigated her new kitchen as though she'd been cooking there for 10 years and served us a delicious lunch. And to make a good weekend absolutely perfect, my dad and I escaped to a book sale and, both being bookaholics, each returned with a large box of books which we've wasted no time devouring.

What else has been going on...inspired by this blog, and utterly disgusted by the gargantuan islands of plastic trash in our oceans, I've been on a mission to have a plastic-free kitchen, and have replaced (donated) all our old, scarry plastic tuperware with glass storage bowls for leftovers and canning jars for grains and dried foods. I've also become keenly aware of the ridiculous amounts of plastic packaging that is used for food, and have begun opting out of these irresponsible items. Thank goodness for Farmer's Markets, bulk sections, and re-usable bags. I had my first ever all plastic-free shop today and I'm happy to report that it wasn't all that difficult. Even with a toddler in tow.

And last but not least, we've ripped up a big chunk of grass in our front yard and replaced it with raised flower and vegetable beds. Looks great, involves less mowing, and hey, what's better than eating your own front yard?

snail-mail and caterpillars

With e-mail and facebook and all these modern ways of keeping in touch, who needs snail-mail??? Well, I do! Especially when it looks like this. And when it comes all the way from my dear friend in London, it's even better! Now I need to convince her that what she really wants to do is move to Seattle and fall in love with a geek, but she's not convinced about the whole geek thing. Yet.


And today Miss Maia came home from school and announced that she NEEDED to paint again (hmm, looks like there are some artsy genes at work here). This is a caterpillar shedding it's old skin in the spring rain while walking through a maze. Oh to have such imagination.

spring!

Well, when it rains it pours and we have been juggling work and parenting and illness and I can't wait for life to slow down, but at least the sun is out and the kids have been making the most of it! C'est le printemps!

blog gossip

Hello!

Just found out that my work is to be featured on yet another blog tomorrow, oh the fame is hard to handle but I'll manage. That's a joke by the way. May I never be famous, or pretentious. Or both. Anyway, no idea yet which piece it will be. Find out with me tomorrow at Indie Icing, a blog that is, in these bloggin' gals' words "your delicious dose of indie handmade".

And now it's time to put those cranky kiddos to bed so I can watch Bright Star with my husband.

xo

Sarah

good news!

Six years after getting hitched, we finally made it to Maui for our honeymoon! Two kids, Grandma, and my youngest brother in tow meant a little more luggage and noise than we had first envisioned for our honeymoon, but we managed to find a ridiculously large taxi van to stuff everything and everyone into, actually made it to the airport on time, and even managed to have a lovely, relaxing week away.

And now it's back to reality. Which for me means finally setting up a proper studio space in the garage, followed by nail biting and a series of panic attacks, followed by prolific painting and much swearing and record-breaking consumption of goat cheese. And maybe a glass of wine or two. Why? Because I got into the Bellevue Arts Museum arstfair!!! Which is kind of a big deal. Promise me you'll stop by to say hello if you're in the Seattle area this July, it's quite the show.

Alright, I'd better get started on that studio space...

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

xo

Sarah

pickled pink

Has it really been a year since I started this blog? Apparently so, as here I am posting valentine's crafts once again. Maia made all 25 cards in one go this afternoon, phew! And she's planning on making more for family and friends outside of school. Needless to say I was thoroughly impressed with my 4 year old's ability to sit and concentrate and see the project to completion.

The mason jar stamp was perfect for a little girl who loves all things pickled! And in the process we all got covered in glitter and I think we'll be sparkly for the next 50 years at least!

Good to eat, apparently!