Where did October go?

Photo taken using A Beautiful Mess' iPhone app (using Greg's phone)

October flew right by!  Thankfully I can say I enjoyed it from start to finish.  As you can see I hardly blogged on here at all during last month and wanted to share a little of what kept me busy.  

Greg and I went camping with my mom and dad in the Adirondacks.  I made homemade butternut squash soup twice and roasted the seeds.  I went to a cool exhibition as a part of Project-U Arts in Utica, New York.  Donated my small illustration, "Soup Loving Mouse" to a local non-profit gallery, ArtRage: The Norton Putter Gallery, for a cheap art auction.  Created a new illustration for a call for art, applied (and declined) from a local exhibition. Baked up some apple crisp and had a little Halloween party.  Whew!

How was your October?  Did you make the most of the mid-autumn?  I hope you're doing a lof cooking/baking of tasty and comforting autumn dishes as well!  Squashes are still in season!

I've signed up for the Gallery of Mo creating mo'traits (self portraits with mustaches) to help raise funds to fight prostate cancer.  Click here to visit my profile.  That will most likely be occupying my drawing, as well as some good late-autumn cooking.  I still have two butternut squash, an acorn squash, and some pumpkins to cook up!

Limits

Today I loaded up my car with my three selected framed illustrations ("Tangerine Dream", " "keeper.", and Untitled (Muse)) to drop off for the small pop-up show @ Hotel Utica as a part of Project-U Arts, Greg's GPS (because last time I drove there I got lost twice and had to ask for directions), and a road sandwich (to eat after my shift and on the drive to Utica, NY).  I went to work at my part-time (very nearly full-time) retail job, unloaded the second merchandise shipment of the week (yes, I physically unload stock for the company I work for as well as manage my staff and help make sales).  Scrambled to "package" my frames a little better by creating make-shift bubble wrap pouches and then headed on the the thruway to deliver my work and help with any needed maintenance and assistance for tomorrow's mural paintings @ MVCC for the I <3 Utica Music & Arts Fest/Greensfest.  

I managed to drop off my bubble wrapped protected work successfully, but without remembering to include some business cards with it, and hopped back on the road to head to MVCC.  I found the actual campus of Mohawk Valley Community College fine, however trying to find where other members of Project-U Arts would be on campus was a different story.  I ended up circling the whole campus twice, looking around for any signs of a group with large pieces of plywood, all while my car is attracting the attention of any surrounding students with its loud exhaust.

Finally I decided to park my car and just walk around the campus until I could locate an information building or someone to ask for directions.  Thankfully I noticed large tents and also large pieces of plywood in the middle of campus and new I was on the right path.  Now, the campus center (or "quad" as we referred to it @ Cazenovia College) was not visible from any parking lot or road on campus that I was aimlessly driving around.    In the end I found the people I was looking for and they were all set with help in both areas.  I had 4 hours until the start of the exhibition tonight and no formal clothes with me, and no knowledge of Utica whatsoever.  I decided to drive back to Syracuse and make the drive back again to Utica tonight to show my support for the art collective, meet new faces, and familiarize myself with other artists at the exhibition.  

At this point while I'm driving on the thruway, barely going above 65 (max 70mph) out of sheer noise volume of my exhaust, I contemplated the following:

"Should I really go to this exhibition tonight or should I stay home?"
"Will my car make it to Utica and back tonight and tomorrow?"

"Will my exhaust fall off?"

"How much longer can I drive before I HAVE to get it fixed?"

"Will my car be able to all this silly driving to Utica and Syracuse, then to Buffalo and back next week?"

"Can I afford to ultimately fix this?"

I am going to need to get my exhaust repaired in my car very soon....like in a couple weeks soon.  It's the loudest I've ever heard it and as my Mercury Grand Marquis came to me being already used, I really have no clue how old the exhaust actually is.  After all my inner turmoil I decided it was best to not go to the exhibition tonight and save the driving for tomorrow's festivites and mural painting.  I've been working hard and badgering friends and co-workers for free old house paint to complete this mural project tomorrow, and I really can't say "no" to that.  

With that said, I need to go work on sketches for a design to paint on a giant 4 x 8' piece of plywood set upright for the I <3 Utica Music & Arts Festival/Greensfest.  This in itself is a brand new adventure and a brand new medium and challenge I've put myself up against.  Sometimes I put too much of a workload on myself and sometimes I think I don't do enough.  I'm 25 years old and I'm still trying to find my own limitations as a person through all my endeavors, passions, and good intentions.

-Caroline

To sell or not to sell?

This week I've been blessed artistically with opportunities of both exhibition of my work as well the potential sale of work.  I have one illustration that I just drove west to Buffalo to be included in a short exhibition at the quaint 464 Gallery.  Moments ago I was just mulling over what other illustrations to select for a pop-up exhibition in the lobby of the Hotel Utica in Utica, New York as part of Project U (this neat art collective I recently joined based out of, yes, Utica...lol).  

Once decided, I hopped on my computer to look over the information, as well as any new information added to the online group, and started feeling that lump in my throat when the word "sale" appears.  I've kind of sold some artwork in the past, which includes: a handful of recycled brown coffee cozies with little illustrations on them; and two illustrative painting (acrylic with marker added for detail) donated to a silent art auction and then bought by a very good friend and photographer, Shanna B.  In reality, I haven't sold a framed illustration "officially" as of yet.

Honestly, the thought of losing a piece scares me a little.  Ultimately I want to have prints made of all my pieces, so that I can at least have a physical copy of the original.  I want to be able to exhibit prints to sell without the worry of the heavy sense of loss.  I haven't found the right printing shop yet, or the right amount funds to set aside and do so, but it is on the horizon.  

It all may sound silly, I being the ring-leader, but until I can have prints successfully made, I feel I'll be attached to the originals I show.  I just feel that I work so hard to think of and physically create a piece that when I actually do sell it, it will be well worth my hard work and effort...hopefully.  Maybe I'm holding myself back or maybe I'm doing what I need to do for the moment....or until I figure things out.

-Caroline

I need your help & votes!

I recently was accepted to a call for art at 464 Gallery in Buffalo, New York, United States.  464 Gallery's Online People's Choice Awards is an online competition through Facebook where the work of accepted artists is anonomously grouped in a gallery and subject to viewers "likes."  The artist who's work receives the most Facebook "likes" wins a free 2-week solo exhibition at 464 Gallery in Buffalo along with some other neat things.  

I really want to win the free 2-week solo exhibition!!

I've submited three different illustrations (shown above) and am now at the mercy of whomever votes and "likes" my work.  I'm asking all of you who look, scroll, read, follow, or just randomly browse my blog to "like" my work in this competition.  
Voting runs from August 23rd-September 6th @ midnight.

I need all the artsy support I can get!!

How to vote/"like" on Facebook:

1. Log on to www.facebook.com

2. search for 464 Gallery (Buffalo, NY)

3. hit "like" on the 464 Gallery page

4. scroll down to the photo gallery labeled,"Vision Art Awards 2013"

5. hit "like" on my illustrations (the ones shown above)

Thank you for helping to support both myself and my art!  I am truly hoping for a great positive experience through this competition and have strong confidence in my art.

I genuinely appreciate the support!

Summer Planter Theme

potential Summer color scheme for terracotta planters

It's almost mid-June and I'll admit I'm not doing particularly well in the sprout department.  I wouldn't say I have a black thumb (when one just cannot keep any plants alive), because I do manage to keep some plants thriving.  I suppose I would say my thumb would be a muddy green in the color spectrum of gardening and figurative thumbs. 
 

That said, I've gone and purchased more seeds and plan on purchasing some new terracotta pots to decorate.  I decided to buy some organic, non-GMO seeds from Seedsnow.com.  They had almost everything I'm hoping to start again with the exception of lavender contained in a basic seed packet.  The majority of the seed packets I chose were on sale for $0.99; with the exception of oregano.  I find that these seeds were cheaper than purchasing them from a chain home improvement store and I feel a bit better about planting them. 

 All I need now is to pick up some classic basic terracotta pots and start painting while I wait for my seeds to arrive in the post (and for my cold to go away).  Above is an idea (hand-drawn and scanned) for my expected seeds to grow in with a funky summer color scheme.  Thank goodness it's still early enough in the New York growing season to start seedlings over again.

Syracuse, New York

I began my journey in Syracuse, New York after sub-leasing a room in an apartment building from a recent environmental graduate going back home to Jamaica.  It was within my budget, and walking distance from two fantastic independently-owned coffee/tea cafes, a library, a couple pizzerias, as well as a couple ethnic food restaurants.  I lived surprisingly well with a Colombian woman working on her PhD in architecture, as well as an small family that was comprised of an Indian woman and a Greek man who had just moved from Alaska with their two sons (her parents lived in Syracuse).  I truly enjoyed living with these people and we all managed to share the tiny bathroom and apartment exceedingly well for the amount of people living there.

I moved to this apartment because I had enrolled in one summer course at Cazenovia College to get a class out of the way senior year.  It was one of the hardest/most interesting summer's of my life filled with being as broke as I've ever come in my life, dumpster diving, and being as creative as I could with stretching a budget, staying creative, and eating as healthy as I could.  At the end of my three-month stay sub-leasing this apartment my boyfriend at the time (now ex-boyfriend) had moved in with me as well as his good friend who had just recently moved back from Hawaii looking for work again in central New York.   

I've bounced around five times since that first sub-leased room on Westcott St. (one of the small hip cliques for coffee lovers, vegans, and Syracuse University attendees) living in a tent in a friend's backyard, living in a low-income area only to have both my car and apartment broken into, as well another apartment, sharing 1/2 of a two-family home, to a small two-bedroom condominium that I currently share with my current beau, Gregory. 

My point of this anecdote is that Syracuse was not a "planned" move in my life growing up.  I had no set goals of where I was going to go after receiving my undergraduate degree in the arts and basically made the best decisions with what I had.  I feel that Syracuse was that place where I would save up for my next big move, work on my art, and be mainly as a in-between point for me on my journey.  I felt this way up until yesterday morning before work when I had an epiphany concerning local venues where I could potentially show my work as well as create small solo shows.  I had reached an epiphany on my fate in Syracuse and realized that maybe I was "intended" to stay longer than I had originally anticipated here.  This in-between state was meant to be more rooted than that...and that maybe I was meant to make stronger connections here with my art before I depart.  

This may not seem like much of an epiphany to anyone else, but I feel differently about my stay and my artistic outlook of Syracuse.  I am currently researching graduate schools in the United States as well as requesting catalogs to determine my next move as an artist and the step in my education (I am very passionate about continuing my education and learning in the arts).  By the end of my stay here, I hope to have some solo exhibitions under my belt and be a better adversary to any upcoming exhibitions I apply to.

-Caroline