Tuesday Set up...

Rich & I headed down to the Merchandise Mart yesterday morning to set up for my show which starts tomorrow. It was nice to have today to catch up...and I've still got work to do tonight but I should relax a tiny bit as the hard part is done. Some photos from the day:

 
 
 

The entrance into the underworld of the Merchandise Mart from Kinzie Street.

It was so dark I couldn't get a good photo so I desaturated it...it's remarkable how much freight goes in & out of this building in an average day. We have 500+ exhibitors for our event alone setting up over 2 days...you pull in, unload and they take your work up on giant dolleys. You then go park your truck and by the time you get upstairs: your work is in your booth! wah-la!

 
so before...
 
and after...

Will put more goodies and the magnets out tomorrow...okay..now I'm excited, I needed that visual reminder that I am really set up and pretty much ready. This really is an amazing event with lots of good energy and shoppers...and it's always so fun to catch up with my artist friends from all over the country! (and to trade with them! stay tuned..hopefully I'll have new treasures to share in a few days.)

Tagged: 7 Things You Didn’t Know About Me

I was tagged by Natasha Westcoat for "Seven Things..." here goes from my childhood:

1. I was a Barbie Doll fanatic, I built a Barbie city in my basement,creating homes and furniture out of boxes. I even confiscated bybrother's G.I. Joes' to add to the mix.

2. I was not a baby sitter, I was a lawn mower.

3. My early drawings were of Snoopy, Ziggy, Holly Hobby and models in the Sears & JC Penny catalogs.

4. I was a Brownie but not a Girl Scout: I was afraid to leave home to go to camp.

5. My favorite place to be in the summer was in the water, I swamat the pool three times a day and on weekends my family boated and camped onthe sandbars of the Mississippi.
6. My CB handle was "The Mississippi Cat". (I had many cats over the years: Kelly, Koko, Frisky, Brooke, Mandy and Katy)
7. Ispent countless Sunday mornings sitting in a Catholic Church mesmerizedby the stained glass windows...I only recently realized what a strongeffect this had on my painting style.

I'm tagging:
Kathy Frey and Susan Hinckley

Red + White + Blue

No Passing, RWB:  My only patriotically hued painting.
  Embrace YOUR FREEDOM = Exercise your right to VOTE today!

Inspiring color and light...

The color of the light coming through the turned leaves is so beautiful...I had to take my camera on the walk with Alice today, it's breathtaking under those golden trees.
 

 

It was in the 70's today so I'm riding my bike to Lill Street for clay class tonight. Upon seeing my clay trucks, my friend Kate Strong suggested I make a semi that is a butter dish, I just may do that. I made a creamer to go with my sugar last week...

My Pumpkin with her pumpkin

Happy Halloween! I'm glad to report that Izzy's biopsy came back negative. We added more drugs to help with the arthritis and she seems so much more comfortable. Thanks to Dr. Gaspar, she is a very sensitive vet who also does acupuncture on dogs and cats. We see her at Roscoe Village Animal Hospital where Izzy also sees Dr. Rovner, he is on the board of Chicago Canine Rescue Foundation and was treating all the fosters when we were first got Alice as a pup...we were very impressed with his attentiveness and knowledge and immediately switched Izzy and Oliver to his office. Of course Alice is the only one who likes going there...! She's the only pet I've ever had that likes to go to the vet, but she is happy anywhere she can get attention.

Picture 3

and Alice too (on the left)...like the upside down head?

Picture 4

Before and After the Rain...

Picture 11

Cute farmer Rich harvesting green beans on Thursday before

the big rain

...they said Chicago received up to 8 inches between Friday and Sunday. We were very lucky: no flooding in our basement. As I mentioned in my previous post the art fair was cancelled at the end of the day Saturday. I took it for granted I'd have this big free and easy day Sunday but instead I was very fatigued from tearing down as I guess I usually am on a Monday after a show...it was very slow going but I got myself together later in the day and tackled the carpet tread project I had been meaning to complete for the last 3 weeks.

Picture 20

These beautiful wood stairs can be very slick, especially for Izzy (who we still need to carry down). Looks pretty good...just wait, in not time at all they will be covered with Alice's white fur. I'm a crazy lady to have black rugs in my house (with a white dog) but I need them to balance all the color. (Have not yet painted the stairwell or 2nd floor hallway - I'm thinking red...!)

PS By the time I finished treading...the rains subsided.

Tah Dah...!

Phase II ...painting and more painting

If you ever find yourself going through all the trouble of clearing a space out to paint the floor, the first thing you realize is that it would be crazy not to paint the walls too. Of course you must do this first, so Saturday was me painting walls, and Rich cleaning the newly exposed pink peeling concrete. Once dry we both painted by hand the west side of my studio (because it was too uneven to roll) with the fabulous Aqua concrete paint, the very same hue we used in my old beloved studio..
Sunday found us touching up the west side, letting it dry most of the afternoon and then moving everything to the other side of the basement and cleaning the east side and painting those walls ...by the time I got to the floor it was very late...The floor was pretty nasty and some of it very scary looking in spots, likeback under our stairwell...Rich taped a paint brush to a broom handlefor me so I didn't have to crawl in there. When I saw this brush on astick it reminded me of going to see the Zhou Brothers paint at theCultural Center a few years ago...that's how they do their large scalepaintings. Not for me...not enough control!

So why didn't we transform this space right away when we moved here 2 years ago? Rich tells me he suggested it...I'm sure he did and I was so focused on what I was losing in my beautiful old studio that I wasn't looking for the potential in the new space. (also we were really concerned about what nightmare might lie under that old carpet). It's ironic as I'm casually scouting out possible store fronts and now have a space that I think I'll be much  more creatively inspired and happy in. Maybe all I was missing was that blue floor under me, like a fish out of water without it (I am after all a Pisces). It's amazing the transformation you can get from a few gallons of paint..not to mention how sore and tired!