Jes Lee

adventures

May days

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May is almost here, and there are so many fun things going on! Between new jobs, art festivals, new shops with my artwork, and gallery shows, this may be one of the most exciting months of the summer!

First up: Saturday, May 10th, is Craftstravaganza! Once again Jes Lee Studios and Dad and Kiddo Pottery will be sharing a booth. The festival runs from 10am-5pm. Come early and get a grab bag! The first 100 people in the door get a bag full of goodies. There is a coupon from us in there as well! I have heard there is always a line up at the door to get one of these bags, so keep that in mind! We will be at booth #89. Stop by!

Art-a-Whirl is the very next weekend, May 16-18. Once again I will be hanging out at FK Art Glass gallery again this year. I plan to have a few new items for their gallery space, and I’m working on preparing some new demos as well. Details on demo times to come soon. Just like last year, there will be many other great artists hanging out there with me as well. And did I mention glass blowing demos? There will be glass blowing demos! I could watch them all day… Hope you can make it one of the three days! You won’t regret it!

May 31st is Johnstock! I adore this outdoor festival! Jes Lee Studios and Dad and Kiddo Pottery will as usual be sharing a booth, with many new things, and a few older favorite items. The festival runs 10am-5pm. Hope to see you there!

The Minnesota Center for Book Arts Artist Co-op will be having a group show in the binder gallery in May. Details on dates and a reception time coming soon!

The MCBA Artist Co-op will also have artwork up at the MacRostie Art Center June 1-30! There will be an opening reception and community art walk on Friday, June 6th from 4-8pm.

I am working hard on a new photo book. I am hoping it will be ready for all the above shows, but it will for sure be ready for the show at MacRostie. Here is a sneak peek:

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Last week I finished making the photopolymer plates for the text in this book, as well as one linoleum block. Most of the paper I had to order for this book has been delivered and cut to size. The size of this project is sinking in!

May also happens to be the month of our very last 10th wedding anniversary. When you have two wedding anniversaries, you get to celebrate so much! Each and every anniversary is special, and a reason to celebrate…but with all the changes over the past year, this one seems a little extra special. This weekend we decided that we were going to celebrate our anniversary quieter than we had originally planned, and I’m truly looking forward to that.

A very good friend is coming to visit this May for a long weekend before moving over-seas with her family. That weekend will probably be the last time I see her in the US for at least 3 years. I’m looking forward to that time to hang out, and super excited about the chance to travel to visit her. This girl is ready for some new adventures!

I’m stunned that April is almost over already. Last year I was nearing the end of the National Poetry Writing Month poem-a-day challenge. I’m glad that I didn’t try to tackle that challenge this year. However, I am looking at ways to get writing back into my daily routine, either through journaling or poetry or both. I haven’t written for a while now due to a list of excuses. I know it helps me cope with the day-to-day better, and I need to get back into that habit. I’m hoping in May to make it to the MCBA Visual Journal Collective meeting. Perhaps that will help kick-start my writing habit again.

Until next time,

~Peace~

 

leaving nests

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This year for the first time since we moved in (9 years ago!) I put a hanging basket of flowers on our deck. It wasn’t long before a family of house finches decided that little basket would be the perfect place for their nest, and they moved in. Mr FN and I watched as baby birds appeared, and started learning to flap tiny wings, sometimes hovering just above the flower-pot, before landing for another nap and meal. I watched as much as I could to see the moment when the baby birds finally took their leap of faith and flew away. Yesterday morning after settling in for a work day, I looked and saw that the baby birds had finally figured out how to fly, and were off in the world somewhere now. The mother finch came back a few times, sitting on the edge of the pot, and looking at her empty nest for a while before flying away, as if she was saying good-bye to the home she built, and going on to the next one.

After she hadn’t returned for a few hours, I took the basket down to look inside. I am amazed at how perfect and neat their nest is…though perhaps I am just too used to seeing sparrow’s nests. It is still this amazing, perfect little form, that held up to four baby birds stomping around in it, and me watering it a few times before I figured out my flower-pot was inhabited.

Last night we went out with friends for a little “going away” party. Two friends are going on a two-week trip to Africa and they leave this week. We chatted about how scary it can be at times traveling far away, how hard to plan, the difficulties of language barriers and cultural barriers and how you wonder if simple things (such as your hotel reservations) have actually gone through and if you’ll have a place to sleep when you get to the other side of the world. But, through all that, you finally leave home, take your leap of faith, and somehow all of those things work out. Yes, there are plenty of times that bad things happen on vacations that never should have to happen, but those times aren’t the majority. We just hear about them way more often than we hear about the good times. Taking that leap of faith and planning and leaving home for any time is hard to do when you don’t always know what you will find at your destination, but it is almost always worth it.

I can’t wait to hear about their big trip and the adventures they will have. And I can’t wait to plan our next big adventure, to buy the tickets, stand on the edge of the nest, and leap.

 

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