Facebook, Cheese making, and Asking for help.

I just want to start out by saying not everyone will agree with me... boy certainly wouldn't... but Facebook is amazing.

To keep myself from spending pretty much any money, and to make myself get everything done that i have to, i really haven't left the house. Like, at all. In days.

The problem with that is by the end of the day i start to get sad. Especially random nights when boy has plans and i know I'll literally be alone and home from early AM to late PM...

Tonight, while having a mini sad-down, i posted on Facebook and asked what people suggested. 12 people wrote back. 12!!!! I'm literally amazed and thankful.

 

My friend [and neighbor] Jenny was randomly online, and invited me over for tea.[her husband was at the same event Boy was] We ended up making ricotta cheese from scratch while i was there which was BEYOND cool! Then i came home, painted and packed orders. It was perfection. 

Asking for help sometimes isn't bad. Even if it's online. Don't be scared you're going to annoy people or share too much. The right person will respond. Or in tonight's case... 12. 

#thankful

Hooray! It's Monday!

 

 Happy Monday friends! 

 

How crazy! I'm posting this post EARLY! ;)

But I'm babysitting most of the day, i won't have time to post later.

So.. this week wasn't quite as 'eventful' as last week, but i still did a bunch of fun projects as you can see!

 

I tried painting ala my friend Carissa Paige, and relized all of my tension about making the 'perfect' zine by JUST DOING IT! 

 

I made a super cute unicorn doodle, and make a BUNCH of jewelry! Last but not least, i sold one of my first Bar Mitzvah cards this week. [hooray!]

 

 

What did you do this week friends?

Hopefully fun things!

-Jenipher :)

Motivational Monday! YAY!!

^^ eeeee i'm SO excited to show you more of these...but FIRST... ^^

I know it's late and i need to keep more of a schedule for blogging, but it's REALLY important to me to blog my Motivational Monday post ON Monday. [and not the night before]. It's a great way for me to actually reflect on a whole work week to see what's new and exciting!

So this week as UBER productive!

My work got accepted into THREE more shops in addition to the Modca show i wrote about last Monday! [which is now going to be displayed in May, not June]

 

So! That's a total (5)!!! shops I've gotten into in LESS than a year! And one i can add more by the end of February! 

How freaking cool is that?!

 On Saturday i got my 1st shipment of canvas' for my art show and i spent almost all of Sunday painting painting painting!! 

I can't express to you HOW excited i am to get the opportunity to paint these and show all of them in a few month! I've only painted these few and have gotten SUCH good feedback to far!

Off to keep on painting! 

[and watching Big Bang Theory!!] 

What's new and exciting with you?

-Jenipher   

thinking about paint.

Thinking about painting; and how very much i miss doing it.

I don't understand how i can enjoy doing something so much, and yet, feel... trapped and overwhelled at the thought of it.

Maybe this weekend i can try picking up those brushes again and take them for a spin! 

I'm hoping i'm not the only one that feels this way. :D

Have a lovely day!

-jenipher

Magical Creative Day.

* Midnight painting adventure tonight.

* Decent work day.

* AM guitar playing/song writing.

* PBJ

* "To be Fat Like Me" - on Hulu. Good movie!!

* Smiles.

* Planning my trip to NY.

* ohh...so many doodles!

* Encouragement.

* i LOVE these paintings!!!!!!!

* Apples and Greek Hummus.

* bananas. always.

* Yoga was SO good tonight!

* My instructor, said i did a GREAT "pigeon" :]

I hope you are having a wonderfully creative day!

Love,

Jenipher :)

FIRST EVER nightly doodle PAINTING!!!!

:D YAY!!!!

More pictures soon!! :D

i heart Jim Houser's work.

A Day In The Studio of Jim Houser from Art In The Age on Vimeo.

Wow...his work is brilliant, and i LOVE this video of him working. It's very interesting!

Lovely Sparrows of Paper

Tuesday night i hung out with this talented lady. Andrea from Paper Sparrow. She makes awseome illistrations, and collages mostly, but dabbles in a few other genres as well. :)



I love this picture of her!! :)



I'm so stoked to have someone to bounce ideas off it, and to understand what it's like to try and make it as a working artist. Andrea and I have some great ideas in the works! Stay Tuned!



In the mean time...check out her Etsy shop!

Oh! Treasure[ry] yay!

The lovely Rebecca from Fuchsia Bloom Studio featured me in a treaturey! Yay!



Clink the image or the link below to see it, and comment away! I hope it makes the front page! [[crossing fingers]] Thanks again
Rebecca!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=113170




Mission Possible.
$19.00

Sculpty clay and Colored Dyes. :D

I went to my friend Patti's house to do crafts last weekend and had a great time! We decided to paint and make pendants with Sculpty clay.

I've never used clay in any form, so it was such a treat so try and completely different technique.




They came out so cute!!

After you stamp the clay, you cut out the pieces and bake them for 15 mins.





We used colored dyes and mixed them with clay glue to paint onto the clay pieces.



I LOVE LOVE LOVE this stamp! I literally danced around with it, took MANY images of it, and then stamped it on quite a few pieces of clay.



After you paint on the pieces, you bake them one last time for 10 mins to set the color.

Look how perdy the pieces came out after we baked them a 2nd time!

This technique is super simple, didn't take very long and had great results, i HIGHLY recommend it!

Girls Art Day!

Some lovely craft lady folk came over last weekend to have a crafting day! Twas quite fun. We had delicious food, painted and a had a relaxing Saturday.





We decided to have a painting exchange. We all started a piece and then switched and switched until all 5 of helped create the final painting. It was a really cool idea and i hope we get to do it again soon!



We all set up shop in my stellar bed room and crafted for hours, listened to some good tunes, ate junk food and chatted.





We are at a really yummy organic, vegan, cafe in Orlando called Dandelion. Seriously! They have AMAZING food. I've never had a bad meal there. :D





A perdy image of our friend Amanda at Starbucks.



Playing "pass the painting" is actually a pretty neat activity. Highly recommended. :D It's really hard to start a piece of art and then ship it off to someone to finish. But it's good healthy challenge, i'd love to do again.

All and all it was a perdy stellar day. A day we're going to have MORE often right ladies? Like every month!!! :D [i hope!]

Colorful Colorful Life.

Sometimes life has SUCH abundant colors that you can't but embrace yourself in it's beauty.



This pretty butterfly was donated i believe in Hollywood Flower. I honestly can't remember the same of the artist, but they have a whole gallery on Lincoln Road, Miami. If you're ever in the area you should partake in this gallery! It's pretty fantastic!



My friend William painted this beautiful painting during a service at church one time. I love the message and love this photograph. :)

What beautifully colorful things have you seen lately??

Craft on!

Jenipher :)

These are a few of my favorite things....

I've always taken a liking to that song, so alas, i might as well take a liking to sharing some pretties i have found!!



1. "Remember" by Geninne. These colorful drawings are absolutely amazing!

2. "Cherry Baby" by Jen Nale. This plate is right up my ally! Can anyone guess why?

3. "Sorry" by PressaRussa is by far the coolest sentiment for sorry I've seen. -card

4. "Make Art" by Melissa Vest is a bag everyone should carry!

5. "Into the Woods" by Eva Soehjar. Her style, her jewelry, every things adorable!

Calorie Free Cupcakes

Jessie has a shoppe called Cake Spy. I've been happily reading her blog for some time now, and am quite pleased to write about her on my blog. Her drawing style is RIGHT up my ally! She has her own adorable drawing style, and humorous adventures her little "cake spy" takes.

I have been making stuff since before I can even remember! My mom has a picture of me in my high chair with pigtails, concentrating intensely and coloring happy faces.



That having been said, I am rather new to the crafting culture, and so far have only been doing framed pieces. I am looking to add cupcake plushies and figurines to my offerings soon.





I try to get inspiration from everyday life, in a flaneur-like fashion: bakery cases, cool buildings and architecture, and magazines and books. I also love a lot of "blogs" out there, from design-y ones like Oh Joy or Decor8 to foodie ones like Cupcakes Take the Cake, Whipped, Bake and Destroy and the Urban Housewife. In terms of art, I love great line drawings--some of my favorite artists are Saul Steinberg, James Thurber and William Steig; for painters, I adore Wayne Thiebaud (the cake guy!) and Jean Miro.





Some challenges I've found have been cost of goods--since I sell framed pieces, the costs can really add up so I have to be smart about that. Also, it might be a little bit outside of what you asked, but taxes!! It's a whole lot more to keep track of than if you had a day job and had your employer do it all for you. I have to mentally take 20% off of each sale for the taxman!



She's a very talented gal, so go check out her etsy, and then head over to Jessie's blog to read about the cake she spies. :)

Adorable Avocados

Abbie from Miss Avocado has adorable drawings of women. I really enjoy her style and unique layouts for her art! Although the image below is what 1st captivated me to message Abbie, i really really enjoy the cafe girl, and the angel man on the unicycle.



How long have you been crafting?

Growing up, my Mom kept a range of art supplies around: sequins, fabric, poster paints, construction paper, and more. I guess in light of this you could say crafting has always been a part of my life. I grew up making homemade gifts and sewing (although I have to admit I knit some outrageously over-sized sweaters as gifts when I was first learning).



Did you always craft in this genre?

For Etsy I've been producing collages and prints of my illustrations mostly. I do really enjoy working with textiles though and tend to knit and crochet a lot (easily mobile crafts are the best).





Who or what inspires you?

Old bookstores, good coffee, reading blogs, my nieces, going for walks, random trips to the library, design magazines, and new sketchbooks waiting to be filled up.



What challenges have you found while taking your craft into the business world?

I think a challenge for me is finding the balance between the creative, right-brained side and developing smart business practices (keeping records, research for instance).

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Check out Abbie's other prints at her Etsy site. :)

Not So Fishy Chairs.

I saw this painting below that Jill painted and thought it was brilliant!! Jill has a shoppe called J Dryer Art. [jdryerart.etsy.com] I love how she uses chairs in a lot of her artwork. I've always had a fasintation with drawing chairs as well. [although, her's are much nicer then my own] Her style is wonderful, and all of her work is really whimsical.



CRAFTING: I've always loved being artistic - and since about high school I knew I wanted to be an artist. But I got a degree in journalism instead (thinking there might be more career opportunities) and ultimately had a 15 year career in advertising sales. Looking back, I don't have regrets on the path I took since it paid my bills quite nicely and taught me a lot about the business world (basically laying the groundwork for having my own company). Now that I'm an artist full-time, my job is incredibly rewarding, I feel more balanced than ever and I look forward my work everyday.



GENRE: I've always enjoyed illustration and painting - so my medium hasn't changed much over the years. But the content varies from children's books and kid-related artwork...to corporate and commissioned pieces...to paintings that represent my own life statements.



INSPIRATION: I'm inspired by other people who are devoted to doing what they love. For instance, my friend Milton Mizenberg, a Chicago sculptor who has devoted his life to his art and to bettering the neighborhood that he lives in. It's a wonderful story of a man on the southside of Chicago who brought hope back to a neighborhood that people had given up on. As Milton will say, "he's a scrap man. He takes things that no one else sees value in and turns it into something beautiful".
There's also my friend Birger Juell who owns a high-end wood floor business in the Chicago Merchandise Mart. He's 91 and still goes to work everyday. He's lived an amazing life and always has wonderful stories to share - from coming to America from Norway on the boat when he was 17, Mackinaw Island sailing races, being a ski-jumper in the 1930's, etc. He is more excited about life than anyone I know and he lives everyday to the fullest. You really can't hang out with him for 10 minutes and not be inspired.



CHALLENGES: I think the biggest challenge is to find your niche in the marketplace and to figure out which things are working for you. For instance, I think it's important to have things at both high and low price points so you're always selling something. So for me - that means I sell prints on etsy at a lower price point and I supplement that income by selling original paintings and taking on commission projects. In general, I haven't figured out the perfect formula for making a strong living off my work just yet...but I feel like I'm getting closer to cracking the code everyday. It takes a lot of dedication and an open mind to run a small business. You have to be able to create without boundaries and still be willing to listen the realistic feedback that you get from buyers.



Most of all - I wish everyone luck on their artistic projects and would like to give a big thanks to those people who support handmade!



I just find Jill's work very joyful. I bet you'll agree! :) Head over to her Etsy Shoppe and let her know what you think! jdryerart.etsy.com

NOTE: Sorry, i'm at my family's house and thier PC won't let me link or spell check, i'll fix it when i go back home.

Love is in the Cards!

It was incredible difficult to limit myself to posting all of the items in Jill's shoppe Brownington Forest. All of her drawings are RIGHT up my alley. She has such a cute style and i love the colors she uses. She is also lovely to chat with.



How long have you been crafting?

I have been crafting and drawing my entire life. My mother was a big lover of crafting and a huge believer in the importance of imagination, so I started young.



Did you always craft in this genre?

Throughout my childhood I was always drawing and writing and at home we did so many different arts and crafts projects.
I continued to do arts and crafts in college, especially with the children I would nanny for. In college I minored in art instead of majoring in it because I thought there was no future in art. After college I did faux finishing and decorative house painting for a while and then went back to school for textile design, which I did for a few years.
Last summer I gave up the career in textile design to work on my own artwork. In late October of this year is when I first started selling my artwork.



Who or what inspires you?

Nature and animals have always inspired me. I spent most of my childhood outside in the woods around my house. Since I was young I adored all animals and insects, they make me smile. I feel most alive and happy when I am outside and close to nature. Everyday life and people also inspire me.



What challenges have you found while taking your craft into the business world?

Sometimes it feels like I face many challenges, just figuring out how to run a business of art and what exactly do do with my art is a challenge because there are so many possibilities and no guidebook! Some of my challenges may stem from my tendency to think too much about things. One challenge I have had is finding great quality art paper that is either recycled or made of organic cotton! I still have not found anything.
But the biggest challenge of all for me is how to make money doing what I love- I am still trying to figure that out. Although it seems like I have been trying to figure that out my whole life, really I have just begun trying to sell my art and products a few months ago. These challenges are good, with them I grow and learn. If everything were easy I wouldn't grow at all. Also because of them I can appreciate my accomplishments so much more.



I suggest peeking at her Etsy shoppe to see the rest of her swell art work!

Like Munieca To My Ears

Andrea has the cutest shoppe called Munieca. She has these fun little characters she has created that come to life in her colorful earrings and brooches. The best part, and the most original part, is that all of her creations are made from paper. What a nifty paper artist she is!



1.How long have you been crafting?

I think that always did crafts. I remember when I was 3 or 4 years, my mom gave me little potatoes with strange forms. I was painting birds and paces on them. Then until now I love to draw, write and make collages. I really enjoy making things with paper.



2.Did you always craft in this genre?

I always did and do crafts with paper. Love to make sculptures, or use the paper like a support for other things, like paintings, jewelry, etc. I think that the paper is a material very generous.



3.Who or what inspires you?

My mom is a figure important. She is a crafter as well, but I always feel inspired by big artists, crafters that I found on Flickr, blogs and etsy. Always inspired me the oriental culture, like the anime, movies, folklore. So I think my little dolls, the infantil faces, birds and flowers are present in my crafts.



4.What challenges have you found while taking your craft into the business world?

My first challenge was show out my little things to others. Then day by day, I try to renew me and grow up. I can't leave my principal material, the paper, but I always try to create over the created, with that I'm feel comfortable.



I think she's utterly creative, and i know you will as well. Enjoy looking at her Etsy! :)

Art For Dreamers

Cari owns a great shoppe called Sea Dream Art. When i saw these amazing tree painting, i saved it as a favorite for quite a while. It's just amazing! When i finally wrote a messege Cari, she was so sweet!! She not only wrote me a reply, she went out of her way and sent me the art card!! I was floored. Thank you so much Cari! I hung it on my way.:)



How long have I been painting?

f.o.r.e.v.e.r



Did you always craft in this genre?

I pretty much will paint anything that doesn't move. Sometimes even things that do move...my cat Jules is a good example...he likes to "help" me paint. :)

Who or what inspires me?

Poets. Especially Rumi, Hafiz, Victor Hugo, Poe, etc. Musicians.Especially Led Zeppelin, Peter Gabriel, Don Henley, Stevie Winwood.





What challenges have you found while taking your craft into the business world?

Hmmm, probably just the very act of marketing it. I would be happy if I could just stay in my studio and paint all day and have someone else do that part, but I know it's a necessary evil so I do it.



Check out Cari's other prints and paintings at her Etsy shop!! She would love to hear from you!

Good friends + Good Days = Wonderful!!

I've been living in my home since March and have never decorated. Well, after certain circumstances, i've decided decorating is very important!! Thus, the new wall color.
Inspired by one of my most favorite artsits, Alicia Paulson! Check our her blog at the link to the left. She is absolulty AMAZING!!!!!






Today was a very cool day indeed so i wanted to just share about it. I went to Austin's with my new friend Courtney and had a great ol' time chatting. I did some work around my house, talked to my friends Brian and Yolly on the phone and then had pizza with my friend Ben. My friend Lindsey called and stopped by Ben's house so i got to see her for a few. Then, Wesley was AWESOME!!! After ther service, I had some rather fun, spunky, and random banter and it was just grand. Overall, twas a wonderous day.