Trades...lovely benefits of being an artist!

Kass Copeland is a Chicago artist and illustrator who creates wonderful witty assemblage/collage pieces. She also does a lot of design work for Red Moon Theater. I got this beauty as a trade at a recent art fair we did together...

LUCKY ME ! It looks fabulous on my peacock blue walls. Title: "The Bad Fairies". She assured me they were not evil just mischievous. I asked her to name them, they are Prudence and Cornelia...she said the dog's name is up to me...hmmm..any suggestions?

Traffic Circles

I just started another session at Lill Street in Corinne Peterson's "Dreams, Myths and Stories" class and realized I never shared my finished work from the spring session. This started out from a drawing I shared in my January Newsletter with a wish to make a functional tiered server...instead it turned into a very whimsical sculpture...sometimes it's nice when things don't turn out the way you expect them to...happens to me a lot when it comes to ceramics!

My Creative Friends...living their dreams

Today I visited the lovely shop of Chicago jeweler Sara Lenart (1924 W. Byron) with another wonderful copper enamel artist and friend Mary Laskey. We all belong to "Art Girls" a group of women that has grown to an evite list of almost 20 over the last few years. Most of us met doing art fairs and decided it would be fun to get together outside of the shows and more often than once a year at the annual Bucktown Art Fest's Patron's Party. We started out meeting once a month at restaurants and have moved more towards rotating potlucks at eachother's homes which is great because there is nothing more interesting than seeing the living space of other artists. On Thursday we met at the home of amazing jeweler Kathy Frey - she just had her first book published! Our talk on thursday was of blogs...and art business and a cook book that we'd like to put together. These art girls are some fabulous cooks...we have quite the tasty pot lucks and you will often find a spouse or partner sticking around to fill a plate - in spite of the sometimes deafening sound of a dozen women joyously conversing around a few bottles of wine...!

So back to my field trip to Sara's store...I am dreaming of getting a store front in Chicago, one where I can be more accessible to my customers and have more space and ceiling height(!) to work in. It's  a very big move to make so it was great to hear nothing but positives from Sara who has had her space for over 2 years...very inspiring.

Brilliant Hues...

I'm having great fun with this painting...I would have to say the most fun since moving to this new space almost a year ago...just playing with color and composition, not trying to control everything. I guess I was afraid I had lost that "  ?  " ...I don't have a word for it..I'm just really glad it's back and hope I can keep it going. This is the kind of painting that I would do in my old studio when I would work until 3 am...go up to get ready for bed then have to run down one more time before going to sleep to take a peek because I was so excited about what had transpired on the canvas and needed to see it one more time. An amazing feeling...and a huge relief as my inner critic never seems to shut up, I've had a momentary reprieve.

You Say Tomato...

And I say we just grew our first Tom-ah-to (that made it!)...Well, it's Rich's tomato -I cannot take credit. It's beautiful and has a lovely little greencrown. I decided to give it a throne...a whimsical soap dish I made atLill Street.

17 Years Ago Today....

Seventeen years ago today, I moved to Chicago. 1990, age 23, no job, knew 2 people, none close friends, with the exception of an x-boyfriend but that didn't count except that he did introduce me to Rich...so I guess that does count! My plan was to stay 1-2 years and then move out to the west coast. I was so scared but also very excited to finally be in a BIG city. I was so excited to live only blocks from Lake Michigan (never mind that I was too naive to know how edgy my neighborhood was back then) Rogers Park area Kenmore & Granville. I was filled with a feeling of adventure not knowing what great things...and not so great things, awaited. My 10 day stint at an art foundry (I thought this was going to be my dream job)...left me frustrated and sad, the man I worked for told me "you are never going to make it in Chicago". So I"m a little emotional...so what, I'M STILL HERE. I think it just added to my resolve to find my own way. Then I became miss interviewee and corporate temp...I had to buy a suit (I didn't even own a skirt) and start wearing panty hose and heels - killer for a gal fresh out of art school. I found a job by December as a convention and meeting planning assistant. I worked there for 6 years. None that I regret in retrospect as it later proved to be invaluable to running my own business. Which I guess I better get back to...Happy Anniversary to me!

New Paintings in Progress...

Last week I started several new paintings on some very nice wood cabinet doors...this one came from my sketchbook. When the power went out, I lost my last minute 'super anne' power painting time which I needed to finish pieces for the Bucktown Art Fest...hopefully I'll have them completed for the Lakeview East Art Fair on Sept. 8-9th.Note to self, procrastination painting not always a good idea.

Before the lights went out!

Just before we lost power from the crazy storm that passed through Chicago on Thursday of last week I got to read the article 'One Honkin' Big Picture' that Bill Hageman of the Chicago Tribune posted on his "Unleashed" Blog. I'm not very good at interviews and didn't look online for tips until AFTER I spoke with him...(genius huh?, now I know for next time!)

We also got a very exciting call from The Ellen Show a week ago, but have not heard back since so I won't get my hopes up too high...but it would be so great to get any kind of exposure on her show! She is a wonderful animal advocate...