Pile of new paintings

I just delivered this pile of new paintings to the cutest shop in the whole wide world.

Laurel Street Flowers is located in St. Paul MN at the intersection of Hamline and Randolph.  My childhood friend, Paula, is the owner. If your path has not crossed hers yet…its time to walk faster and catch up. She is a gem! Her shop is filled with local art, fresh flowers, two adorable dogs, sunshine and lots of laughter.

That’s Paula peeking around the coat rack. After this display job was done we snuck (snuck? sneaked?) next door to the lower level of the NOOK and shared a yummy cheese pizza (there is a bowling alley down there. no joke). Hey!! What a great idea for YOU this weekend.  A little shopping, laugh with Paula, have some pizza, bowl a game, buy local art, flowers for the table…

Hold on. Get in line. That’s what I”m gonna do. So fun!

December. Wait. What? It’s December?

OK. Seriously. Christmas is 6 days away? Oh my. I’ve been very distracted for the last few months with work, travel,  friends, family, Thanksgiving, life, etc. The intention of this blog, however, is to bring you a little closer to my professional side…the art part of my life. So I will focus on that. Or at least try.

These paintings can be found at the Fine Craft Collective in Northfield, MN. I have so much fun painting them! You can see the little photos of weeds, etc that I’m using for inspiration. ($38    3″x12″)

Oops. Already distracted. Well a girl has to eat! I’m not much of a cook. Ask anyone. But I think this turned out really pretty.

These vertical paintings come in a variety of colors and look nice alone or in a group. ($75   3″x36″)

Candles, Christmas decorations, little drummer boy, too many distractions…

Baked cinnamon ornaments…

wrapping paper,

Rudolf…baby Jesus, cookies, snow….Hand felted ornaments. Yikes. Painful when needle hits fingers. OK. Back to painting.

This was a custom Lazy Susan that was ordered a few days ago. There are four new ones drying in the studio…they’ll be at the Fine Craft Collective  on Wednesday the 21st. I think you should bring one home, wrap it, and put your own name on it.

I know. Gross. A dirty plate. But what you don’t see is that it’s actually success. A meal that was enjoyed by my daughter. So much that SHE actually took a photo.

What does this have to do with painting? Nothing. And everything. It’s all just part of this wonderful life!

Come back soon to hear a little story about a TV crew that came to Barefoot studio!

Back to the studio. (right after I do the dishes)

This was how the weekend started…

Sogn Valley Craft Fair was an incredible success. Beautiful weather, great art, happy people, food, music, aaaahhhh, a perfect day for most….but my Saturday started out a little better than it did for the average bear.

I was invited (along with my very cheerful girlfriend Geri)  by some incredibly generous and super fun people to enjoy a hot air balloon ride.

I still can’t believe it.

 

Pilot Mark had his hand on the red bar. We were NOT allowed to touch anything red! (good thing he told us that part…I think that was an important lever)

 

 

We took off from Webster and were floating further away from Sogn Valley at this point, at a speed of around 25 mph? I think? But we had no worries since our wonderful “chasers” were following us on the ground…prepared to hand over the keys to my Jetta so we could rush off to the fair.  Thank you Mark, Sandy, Neil and Erik! You really have no idea how much we both needed to be lifted off of this earth for awhile.

These are just a few of the beautiful pics we took.

 

It was a close call, but we managed to arrive back on the ground just in the nick of time. Luckily nobody will EVER know how fast I drove.  I think this is how every art fair should start from now on! (minus the speeding)

Here’s proof that we really DID make it to the fair…My helper Jorja (youngest daughter) came too. I didn’t get a lot of “professional” art pics this time…just a bunch of silly ones. Sometimes its ok to just HAVE FUN.

Sales were GREAT. I think it’s partly because the added energy from the balloon ride seeped out of me and onto the people who wandered into my tent. I hope so.

Thanks to all of you who came to the art fair! Without YOU we would all be very very sad…(and broke haha) It was so much fun to meet new friends. It was encouraging to know that a few newbies came after reading this blog. That is so COOL!

A BIG thank you to the organizers of the Sogn Valley Craft Fair…and especially to the Makarios for allowing us to take over their farm for an entire weekend!

Please keep checking in to see where you can find hand made items  this fall/winter. Christmas is only 10 shopping days away! (just kidding)

It’s true. I love Monday mornings.

I’m one of the few people who loves MONDAY mornings. Annoying isn’t it? (Not nearly as annoying as the fact that my computer doesn’t type the letter “g” without extreme force!) I’m busy preparing for Sogn Valley Craft Fair. It’s happening THIS weekend. I’m excited to see old friends and hopefully make some new ones. It’s such a lovely event that I”m not even worried about sales. It will be a highlight to my summer/fall no matter what happens.

Here is proof that I”ve actually been painting…These pieces are 3 feet long and a few inches wide. They sell fast…I think it’s because of the unique size. We all have a spot for one of these…right?

Easily distracted…

Easily distracted would be a description that fits my mood today. While filing through pictures for my weekly blog post…I came upon this one. I enjoy doing mosaics SO much. This was my first mosaic ever. I installed it in a previous life in a previous home. I would like to do another one…today…but painting is my focus for the next few months. Focus. Focus. Focus.

Currently I am preparing for Sogn Valley Art Fair. This is a beautiful event. Be prepared to slow down and relax when you arrive. Great food, talented musicians, unique people and wonderful hand crafted art. You don’t want to miss this one! I’m honored to be invited to this show.

Ok. I”m gonna walk away from the distractions now…and get busy….unless I decide to take a little break and attend the Lakeville Art Festival today. I don’t think I can resist THAT distraction. Maybe I’ll see you there?

“You can’t sneak around wearing lime green”

“You can’t sneak around wearing lime green” is the sarcastic reply I received when I commented on a woman’s bright shirt at the art fair this weekend. Her sense of humor fit right in with mine…and she left my tent with a smile, a painting and a new friend.

This is just one example of why we “crazy artists” do what we do.

It was a great show. Beautiful sunshine, low humidity and the breeze off the river made it pleasantly perfect. 99% of the people were happy and smiling before I even had the chance to try cheer them up! I was too busy to snap many photos. Here is just one of my tent that I took before the crowds appeared. There are a few empty spaces since I had to run home and grab the paintings that I forgot…yikes, I need an assistant.

This coat hook was popular…a few more have been requested as commissions.

Most of what I worked so hard on is gone…I hope the paintings bring some extra joy into the homes of the people who bought them!

Now I get to do it all again….with a smile. I love my job.

Time to put the paintbrush down…

Whew! I reached my goal number of paintings for this weekend. I can spend the rest of the day printing price tags and fine tuning the rest of the chores that go along with preparing for an art fair. It’s a lot more work than the average consumer realizes. Heck…it’s a lot more work than ARTISTS realize. We seem to forget the pain…(like childbirth haha).   “Remind me again why we do this?” is common comment I hear from other artists while passing the time during a fair.

I’ll give you the answer on Monday.

If you arrive early…you can take one of these home! They are currently drying in my studio…oh boy!

I love to make crabby people smile.

This new block pretty much sums up my motto for the weekend that’s arriving in 3 days. Most people are happy to be at an art fair…but there are always a few wandering around that are a challenge. Bring em on.

I really do love to make crabby people smile.

“I’m not very normal and I like that.” A lot of us can relate to this one.

4 days away…

Riverfront Art Festival in Northfield MN (celebrating the Defeat of Jesse James) is just 4 days away. I promise to stop posting every day… I’m doing it just this week so I remember how, ha! Seriously. I forget how to do simple things in a website if I wait more than 24 hours after learning. What IS that? Since I paint mostly on wood…I decided to add some landscapes to scrabble pieces. Why not?

 

Today I will be painting more circles…like these:

I just finished painting a custom wedding gift for a new young couple. The “aunts” chose the colors and theme…I just heard that the newlyweds were very excited about the gift! yay. I forgot to snap a photo…something I have to get better at. It’s wedding season and Christmas is right around the corner. These circles are my #1 seller this time of year!