Jes Lee

So. Much. New.

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I have so many images from Art-a-Whirl. What you see here barely scratches the surface.

It was a long week of prep leading up to Art-a-Whirl, and the weekend was quite emotional at times. But it was amazing. I have gotten to be part of an awesome group of people here, and I am forever grateful.

John has a video of me playing with fire on the last night of Art-a-Whirl…me, successfully making something out of glass! I will post that soon.

Last night I went to the Visual Journaling Collective at MCBA. I admit that I almost didn’t go…the past week had been so busy, and I, like many others, get very tempted to just stay home in comfy clothes….but I went, and it was great. I’m looking forward to going next month, and to journaling more in between meetings. A lot of people in the group focus on sketching, which is not something I typically do, but last night I created a couple of pages I really like in my book combining photos and collage and my water-color pencils. I don’t know how many journal pages I will share here, but I’m sure there will be a few posts of them coming up.

In other news: my updates on the Etsy sites have been slow lately. I ran out of time during Art-a-Whirl prep, and I have two boxes of new pottery waiting for me to photograph it. That is hopefully happening today. I also have a couple of journals left over after the sales that I would like to get posted in my Etsy shop as soon as I get some nice photos of them. Hopefully later this week I’ll be back to daily Etsy updates.

One last note: IT IS ‘ROID WEEK! Go to Flickr and look through the group pool. There are a lot of great images there!

More May-ness

Truly, May always seems like a crazy busy month in the art world.

Saturday was Craftstravaganza and it was great! One of the best years we have had there in a while! We sold a lot of pottery, and I sold a lot of cards and one of the journals I had worked on leading up to the show. Thursday I was on tv to help promote the show, and it really did pay off! We met many fun people, and had a great time. I try to do as much of my shopping locally as I can, so I did pick up a few things for myself, including new dish towels from Batch Dry Goods, a Dinosaur Planter from Scuttlebug, and some of the garden markers I have planned on getting for two years from 7 by 7 glass!

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After the festival, John promised to take me out to dinner and one of our local taprooms. I had been so busy leading up to this festival, that I had missed a few outings with his co-workers, and he wanted to make it up to me a bit. We had a lovely dinner, and then instead of going to the taproom, we went to a new-ish local book store – Eat My Words Bookstore – and bought a few treasures there instead. I love how that worked out!

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Sunday I had a bit of time between Mother’s Day events to actually plant the herbs I had purchased at the Farmer’s market last week, and get some of my new garden markers in the ground.

I spent time with my mom, and my mother-in-law on Sunday, and really enjoyed the day. It was the first in 17 years of not having to work at the restaurant on Mother’s Day, and it was a great switch!

Today is back to photo jobs, organizing to-do lists, finishing work on my new book to bring to class Thursday night, and of course getting ready for Art-a-Whirl. It will be another busy week, but I adore what I am doing and that makes such a difference!

Our Etsy pottery shop is back open! I had to close for a few days because of Craftstravaganza, but it is back with a few new things listed!

A Yellow Mix-and-pour bowl with green details and an Orange and Green vase.

Also, just listed in my photography Etsy shop: Autumn – a handmade book and Winter – a handmade book.

Love and a little shameless self promotion

It is beginning to sink in how much I love this new role in life of being an artist.

Only an artist.

Feeling like I have a bit more brain space again, time to plan, apply, create.

Having actual time for a hobby.

Feeling happy, and happy with the work I am doing…which I must get back to.

But first! A tiny bit of shameless self promotion to remind you that I do indeed have an Etsy shop where I sell all of the things I am creating. It is full of cards and prints currently. I have so much more that will be added soon.  Also, for pottery fans, here is a link to the pottery shop I work on with my dad!

And, this is my studio today. I’m so happy to be working here!

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