New this year, my first tattoo! This is inspired by my Mamiya C330, the first medium format camera I bought in college, the first medium format camera I photographed with, and one that I still use today. I have thought about this tattoo for a very long time…and I am thrilled with how it turned out!
*tattoo by Poohki at Evolution Tattoo. I am not getting any sort of compensation for posting about this here….I’m just super excited about my new tattoo!
I have started, and deleted this blog post three times already.
This year has already had so many ups and downs, it hardly seems like a new year anymore! But it is, and like every other year, standing at the top of it, I do think back on how many things have changed, how I have changed, and look forward to the shiny new year to come.
What do I wish for this year?
For more peace and goodness in this world.
To survive my job and the challenges it brings.
To learn what I really love, try new things, and know it is ok if I don’t love/choose to do/enjoy all the same things the other people I enjoy being with do. I know that seems simple, but it was a big revelation for me last week.
There are a few people who have already made a huge difference in my little world this year, more than I can ever tell them.
My goal: to live with more gratitude, not that I was living without it or unable to express it before, I am just feeling today like there can never be too much. The more, the better.
This year, John and I ended and started 2014 and 2015 in one of our favorite countries, visiting some amazing and very generous friends. I am very lucky! There will be photos and posts about that trip very soon.
In fact, one other thing I realized already this year, is that I like this little blog, and even though I have made many resolutions to post more, I believe I actually will this time.
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!
I believe this week will be my last “non-crazy schedule” week for a while. Next week will start a new epic adventure. Tuesday, September 3rd I will be starting a part-time internship at the Hennepin County Public Library in their preservation department at the main branch in downtown Minneapolis. I’m so excited! I will being doing many jobs, some of which will include helping to repair old bindings and make new enclosure boxes to protect aging materials. So, like any nerdy over-achiever, I have been practicing my box making skills.
It is really nice to have my new studio space set up so I can make things!
The boxes that are made at the library are a style of clam shell box. I’m not exactly sure what their specifications will be, but I have made clam shell boxes before.
This one I made over a year ago in a class taught by Jana Pullman.
I found instructions from a workshop I took from Jodi Williams last winter and started figuring out what I needed to make a mini box.
Mini boxes are great, since the pieces are never too big, and you can usually use scraps from other projects to make them!
This past Saturday I decided John and I needed a break from yard works and house work. We took our kayaks down to Long Lake and had a lovely quiet afternoon paddling around. Somedays you need to just be somewhere quiet. Having a day like this helped a lot.
