Small town treasures

I'm loving our time in Montana - there is something so delightful about small towns. Today we visited the Prairie County Museum in Terry. We found photos of my partners great grandfather, and before heading out drove past her fathers childhood farm.

We walked in to the museum about 4pm to find a handful of little old ladies just waiting to show us around...

Collabrative Consumption

Imagine a new way of consuming and creating as artists with fewer obstacles and limitations!

A post over on the Etsy Blog got me thinking about collaborative consumption in regards to the Spokane art scene. There are so many amazing tools for artists, but many of them come with enormous commitments, and not just monetarily...Imagine not being limited in the tools you could use to create, having resources of recycled materials, and free disposal of unwanted materials! That is just the tip of the iceberg.

Gutting and rebuilding our house (for almost two years now) we've been surrounded by power tools and supplies that I would have never been exposed to otherwise. Not only has my work changed and grown, but my mindset - some of the limitations I didn't know existed have been lifted. We had our friend Karla over last week just so she could play with power tools (it was fantastic). What would Karla make if she had unlimited access to tools when she wanted them?

Jacinda and I are dreading the day our fathers finally decide to steal everything back! We have purchased many of our own, but the big nice ones...nail guns, chop saws, belt sanders, etc - we have become so accustomed to using we are going to have to invest in for keeps. We've been spoiled.

I feel like there is endless potential, and on the other hand one bad egg could be disastrous. I am sure I have posted this prematurely...I must marinate this idea - but I would love to hear about your thoughts!...Or successes?

Meet the Hens

Introducing Mimolette and Lady Rene (completely adorable pieces of work). This photo was taken a couple of days ago and it's unbelievable how much they have grown since. I have a feeling you shall be seeing more of them, and our giant backyard chicken pen we're building. I can't wait to show you the free vintage door I found for it too. Viva la Craigslist.

♥

all that sparkles

 Something about glitter and flowers made sense today.

Flutter sparkles:
My Kolva Gallery opening went swimmingly last week. I had such a lovely time! There will be photos coming shortly - but until then, you shall be tempted by glitter photos from the most enchanting of cement floors.

The flowers:
Our yard is irresistible right now. So many things are blooming and the poppies have arrived in full force. We actually planted tons of different types. I am hoping for waves of color through out the next few months. OH - and peonies soon soon!!!

In other news:
I am starting my chicken coop fence this weekend. I found a most delightful vintage door free off Craigslist which will be used instead of a gate. My dad is driving over to help. I can't wait to be able to post baby chick photos! Eeeek, such goodness to come.

I wish you a sunny lovely weekend! ♥

Golden

I finally get to share with you our film we made for the 50 hour slam a while back. I had to sit on it for two months which was ridiculously hard!

I feel like we all bonded so much in such a short weekend. Chris Dreyer and I ended up with a tiny crew of extremely talented friends. Tiffany and Justin, two of the main actors ended up recording all the music for the film with the help of a friend at my work. They had never really played together before, and we had no idea what our film would be about at the time.

Not only did we get a fantastic topic....a lovely little tune as the inspiration for the film - but it happened to be a song by friend and fellow blogger Karli of Rough Gems. The other two mandatory items were the line of dialog, and including a statue on the Spokane Statue walk.

We shot the thing on my digital camera (d-5000), and the dream sequences on my little Japanese toy camera, the Digital Harinezumi 2.

You can check out the other films from the fest, some of which are wonderful and others a little hard to get through.

(Hints)
Also, we wouldn't mind at all if you wanted to vote for 'Golden' - http://www.50hourslam.com/2011/vote

♥

Spokane for Japan update!

A friend asked me for a photo of the finished Spokane for Japan mural for a blog post....which reminded me that I didn't even post it here yet!  Silly me.

Darcy Drury was a joy to paint with. Neither of us had ever worked on a collaboration piece before...not to mention a live one with tons of people watching. It was 8 hours of solid painting which was very tiring but at the same time really laid back and delightful. I couldn't have been happier with the result! ...and the bar likes it too, which is probably a good thing.

Friday is coming oh so soon. I can't wait to post photos from Flutter!

A Springtime Flutter

This post is actually two fold. First, sharing with you some progress photos of Flutter...(My exciting gallery exhibit that will be opening in a couple weeks). Then ending with my "I need to take a break from this insanity and appreciate the nice weather" photos of Spring showing up around our yard!

Doing a screen printed narrative actually turned out to be a lot more work than I had anticipated. I was illustrating at the laundromat, VA hospital, my partner's parents house, in bed, at the breakfast table, and in the car....pretty much living this project for the last few months. So...

Flutter deets: first ever narrative, first completely solo gallery show, and the release of my first zine! [I get excited about firsts!]

Mixed media screen prints with sparkly inks and hand drawn tidbits tell the story. The posters, each unique, are created in additions of three. The limited addition zine (of 50) is made up of a portion of the illustrated posters..(silver ink!!!) The zine is being printed via the most fantastic Chris Dreyer of Dreyer Press. And as seen above, super huge thank you/shout out to Scott Ellis of Blue Button for his screen printing assistance! They are amazing!

A public artist reception will be held during Art Walk at the Kolva Sullivan Gallery (115 S. Adams St.) June 3rd from 5-9pm.

And now for some springtime love...

 I will have happy poppies for you shortly. (Like hundreds of poppies taking over everywhere kinda happy! ♥)

new crush!

Doing research for work I stumbled upon Impactist's Vimeo page. Not only do they create delightful music -  they also make lovely, completely inspiring, animated videos (...even sometimes on an iPod). I definitely have a new crush. They are Kelly Meador and Daniel Elwing - a directing duo with backgrounds in film production, design, animation, music, and fine art.
Not only will you find the most amazing album sampler videos - there are also animated shorts, commercial work and some really cool reel montages...you should definitely check them out!...and be inspired!...And then go have a listen.

Did I mention the blog!!! ♥ ♥ ♥

Here are some video stills to temp you...

www.impactist.com