chalk art at Avant

This week I'm technically on spring break! Technically because all the schools I teach at are on break so I don't have any scheduled art lessons. This is great because it gives me full days to work on my own projects and even take a little time for myself. 

Yesterday I spent a couple hours at Avant Tapas & Wine in Buellton drawing on their chalk wall. A good friend gave them my number and they asked if I'd like to come by and have at it! I've done giant chalk murals before on the side of the C Gallery but I wanted to try something a little different this time. I had so much fun drawing this beast out, definitely a nice break from all the intricate and small watercolors I've been making lately. So this may be the only break like thing I do this week, but at least it was an artistic break!  

summer so far

June went by so fast! I can't believe July starts on Monday...pretty crazy how fast the summer is moving already. These are some of my favorite photos from this past month. This first batch are from the last Los Alamos Third Saturday. My littlest sister came along to play saxophone while I worked on the mural, it was great to have some music to work to! 

These next photos are from the first day of summer. I took a walk around our property to catch some of the summer light. We have some pretty epic looking oak trees up here. If it weren't so insanely hot now, I'd love to hang next to one of them and sketch all day. 

Feels like there are a lot of colors that keep popping up around here. Warm yellows, some reds and cool blues. These are slowly becoming my designated summer colors. What are your summer colors?

weekly wishes

Summer work starts today! The anxiety is already in high gear...I've been more or less awake since 4 am this morning. I've come to expect this before any big event or work thing happens. No matter how zen I try to be the day before, how prepared I am, how many Melatonin I pop the night before...inevitably I will wake up between 4-6 during the night before. Che palle. 

Even though I know today will likely go smoothly, I think my anxiety is left over from last summer. Last summer I worked 8 weeks in a row between 3 jobs with no days off. To say I was a bit high strung is an understatement! I barely had time to create, but when I did I was too exhausted to do much of anything. 

So, this summer I'm trying to change things. I'm not going to spread myself as thin as I did last year. I'm also going to jump on the bandwagon of Melyssa's weekly wishes. I mentioned this on Friday, but you pretty much pick a goal/wish to accomplish during the week and link up to her blog. As well as visit other link-upers to motivate them with their weekly goals too!

In order to make sure I stay sane this summer and keep on track with my 25 before 26, I'm going to pick a small, relatively achievable goal to do each week or one from my list to make sure I'm setting some time aside for myself. And so! My goal for this week:

Spend at least 15 minutes per day just sketching or doodling for fun!

Pretty simple? Not always...my new schedule has me at work from 8:30 am to about 1. Then I'll have private lessons in the afternoon, and then come home to work on commissions. Easier said than done, but completely necessary to keep my sanity in tact! Want to join in? Write up a post about your goal and share it on The Nectar Collective! 

The photo up above? That's the latest mural installment at Los Alamos' 3rd Saturdays! This month's theme of course was fathers. So the little flower gal was joined by Paul Cezanne, the father of modern art! 

bits & pieces

It feels like things have slowed down so much but a lot has still been happening! Most of my lessons have finished for the school year but there are still some little art gigs happening. There are some HUGE things for the future being set in motion too. And then some very random bits happening here and there too. The slower pace is very welcomed, especially before the summer picks up! Either way, here are some bits & pieces from the past week or so...

1. Some new little succulent clippings to add to my collection! These were also used as table decor at the wine/art market on Sunday. 

2&3. Another mural at the C Gallery! This month's theme was "flowers," perfect for a little Diego Rivera. I really loved how the preliminary sketch looked on top of the old murals. Crazy how they are still hanging on. 

4. Our house has been taken over by a family of opossums! The mum died under our house about a week and a half ago (that smell was pretty horrific) and the babies keep surfacing in the garage, usually in the middle of eating the cat food. So far we have caught and relocated 5 of them! 

5. I helped out one of my old 1st grade classes with a sidewalk mural of a giant Georgia O'Keeffe poppy! It was so much fun getting all messy with some very chatty munchkins...

6. A bee through a magnifying glass. I love bee's wings...too pretty...

7. And a quick little watercolor of Tuttles for a friend! It's nice to draw his sweet face again!

Have a nice weekend! 

market prep & murals

To add to the summer mayhem, I'll be doing some markets. I have my first one on May 11 in Santa Barbara and there are a couple I still need to research and sign up for. I'm feverishly making cards and printing prints and making earrings. As well as plotting what I want my booths to look like! I really like the look of Amanda of Whit and Whistle's booth from a show she recently did. I love how simply she organized everything but still kept with the overall aesthetic of her work. 

It's hard to decide what I want my booth's appearance to be. I have watercolor accents on my shop banner and business cards which makes it pretty playful, but then I also use mandalas on my blog and website. I don't think they'd conflict too much when together but I want to make sure everything is cohesive. I'm hoping to stamp out a table cloth with my carvings and I have some baskets/containers ready that I've hoarded but I still need to figure out signs and such.

This past weekend was another 3rd Saturday Fest in Los Alamos. The theme this time was "farmers," so there was a mini Farmer's Market. I was able to test out some displaying ideas that I've had and test run some of the new goodies.  I love my green bottle collection with fresh flowers, and the little berry boxes I spruced up. I'd love to get my hands on some galvanized tin boxes or make my own wooden boxes out of old pallets. What do you think?

The mural this time was also farmer oriented too. It's pretty funny how the older ones are still pretty visible. The branch from my mural last month is still there, and the "contest" from last year just won't go away. I'm excited to do next months mural, but also curious to see what condition the canvas will be in.