Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

Gone Kayaking

  Over the last few months, my product photography has been undergoing a metamorphosis. While I do still really like the crisp white backgrounds, I was beginning to feel like they were a tad on the boring side (boring to shoot, anyway) and that I wanted to try my hand at more varied backgrounds and using props. I've been so pleased with the outcome that I can definitely see a clear direction for where things are going!

The Little Red Hen

My photography style isn't the only thing that's changing. For those of you who have been following fairly regularly, you may be noticing that most of the newer pieces I'm offering are slightly more detailed and sometimes more personal. I'm also introducing more sterling silver!

Snuggling Lovebirds

Sterling Silver Chain Upgrade

Right now, an upgrade to a sterling chain is just that: an upgrade. Over the course of the next few months, though, expect to see a transition into all silver pieces coming with sterling chains. Yes, this will mean a small increase in the price, but it will mean a significant increase in quality and that is what's most important here.

For the last couple of years (wow, couple? Can you believe it's almost been 2 years?! YAY!) I've offered a wide variety of designs over and over again. This will be changing starting in May. There are a few designs I will continue to make over and over again (because I am madly in love with them!), but basically from here on out, there won't ever be more than 1-3 of any given design made. Mostly, they will be completely one of a kind. Some will be offered on my Etsy shop, and others only on my website. Don't worry, it will be easy to figure out where to find things since I post all new items to my facebook page with a link to get to them!

I'm really excited about this because I already feel that these little paintings are super unique, but now there will be that added Factor of Specialness that comes with having a completely unique piece of artwork all for yourself!

I hope you are all as excited for all of these changes as I am! Wahoo!!

Sudden Realizations

Lately when I write either in my journal, for other blogs , or even in letters to my husband I feel like it's just one "sudden realization" after another. I've spent the last few weeks constantly examining my business: what do I like, what do I dislike about it.

As I examine things, I start realizing that there's a lot of stuff I haven't done that I really wanted to do.

What exactly stopped me? What's been holding me back each time? Fear, hesitation, a lack of motivation, or a dangerous combination of all three?

When I first started, I just took the leap! I didn't think about what I had to lose--I figured I DIDN'T have anything to lose, only room to gain, so what's stopped me now?

A good friend of mine said to me recently that she thinks I have one of the most active senses of adventure of almost anyone she's met. This really struck me since I feel that sense of adventure, but I can also feel that I've been squishing it down month after month for almost a year. Why?

Fortunately, this post isn't all sad. Remember how I started? Mentioning that "sudden realization" thing that keeps happening over and over? Well, I have had a lot of those! The fact is that without my husband here, I've had more time to just be alone and think. While I miss him a lot, I think this has been incredibly good for me and will be especially good for my business. I've needed to just sit and think and be faced with only myself when wondering who can be held accountable for things that slack.

It's time for change. I've been incrementally working towards it for the last few weeks, but over the next few days until the end of April, I will begin really implementing those changes.I will be writing about them here starting Monday, so be on the lookout! If you're interested in seeing my new work, check out my Facebook page where I post all the jazz whenever it comes up.

I'm excited for everything May will bring.

"Oh, brave new world!"
-The Tempest, Shakespeare

I'm On A Boat!

That's right, I'm on a mother flippin' boat!

Okay, don't get too excited. I'm on a kayak....which is awesome! My aunt and uncle who are being very cool and letting me haunt their house while my husband is at Air Force basic training happen to love kayaking and fishing. Last week, they took me out on the water in Mobile Bay to paddle around. I flippin' LOVE it! It would have been even better if my back hadn't already been giving me some trouble, but whatever about that. I really like being on water.

It's funny, I think of my kind of water as rivers and waterfalls. I don't know why that is, but I just think of it as me. My husband is definitely rain. Steady rainfall whether it's light or hard. That's his water. My father is also a river. I just associate the three of us with water. When I'm outside and hear wind in the trees blowing through leaves I am immediately pulled into the Appalachian mountains and can close my eyes and hear a waterfall. Maybe waterfalls are really my water more than the river, but it takes the river to make the waterfall, so perhaps that is why I see myself in both.

One of my favorite images of my dad comes from when I was little. He had begun fly fishing many months earlier and took me with him to a place near our home in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where an old bridge once stood and a new one for the road was now at. I played by the river picking up rocks, but the image of him in the water casting the fly has really stuck with me. I always think of him by rivers when I picture him in my mind.

I'm not much of a fisherman. I get distracted by looking at the rocks, but I like being in the river. I like being beside rivers. I could sit by one and hear it rushing by all day long. They fill me with an over whelming sense of peace and make me feel confident and sure of myself.

My husband loves rain. To me, his personality is very suited to it. I don't mean to say that he is downcast or dreary the way rain is often thought of. On the contrary! I mean a warm steady rain falling in green trees in the mountains or over the fields in the midwest, green and lush with spring. He's told me many times of some of his favorite memories from childhood where his dad would wake him up to see the lightning during a storm. Here in the deep south where it rains so often, I feel closer to him. He would love walking in this warm Alabama rain.

Being with my aunt and uncle on the bay felt like a glimpse into who they are. It's wide open with possibility! There is a sense of adventure, but also one of security. Not ready to be on the vast Gulf, but not willing to stay home either. It was a beautiful and delightful evening to be paddling around.

April Showers bring May... Travels?

I think it's ironic that my last post was titled "Staying Motivated" and then I fell off the bandwagon with writing more.

The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy for me. Between getting taxes all wrapped up, making a lot of new pieces, working out (which is going well), and other general errands I'd just blown off writing here.

April may continue to be a bit slow, but prepare for a fascinating May! Here is just a preview of the places I will be driving through during the month of May (that's right, driving. I'll be road tripping over 5,000 miles):

A, B, and C represent my drive out for my husband's graduation from basic training and back again. Should be fun since it's all down I-10.

D-G represent my travels between leaving Alabama and getting out to Kansas where I'll stay until I'm notified that I am allowed to join my husband (finally).

It's going to be one hell of an adventure! I'm pretty excited, actually. My route really won't be quite the same as pictured above. Those are just rough estimations Google Maps strung together. I'll photograph all along the way and will share as many of my adventures with all of you as I have! So while April may seem like a dull month around here, just be ready for the excitement May will bring, because it will bring a lot of it.

Hitting Resistance and Overcoming It

Running Love, wearable art necklace

 Working myself through a funk is a long and winding process. It seems so easy to be inspired when I'm in a peppy go-go-go attitude, but when I hit the wall and slump, I really slump.

The past month has been a bit of a study in this. Hitting resistance comes with the territory of being in a creative line of work. We thrive on bursts of energy which can last for hours or even years, but eventually we all hit the wall of resistance. Why do you think the phrase "writers block" is such a common one? We've all encountered it.

A few weeks ago, I decided I was going to make some big changes in my life first and let them work outwards. I'd noticed for almost a year the growing stagnation inside myself. It crept like a swelling river flooding over the banks of my veins and drowning me in its soul-sucking power. By the time my husband left to begin his career in the Air Force, it was all too easy to let it consume me.

After a little over a week accomplishing nothing I decided enough was enough and I sat down to take a serious look at my life. I realized that I'd been dragging my feet on things for a long time. I'd been gradually becoming more sedentary and becoming less peppy. I started to think, "I'm not sure I know me like this." I realized immediately that my body needed to move. Just like a puppy needs to be walked and run, so did I, so out I went.

For Love of Running, contemporary wearable art

 I ran and ran through the neighborhood until I was so tired I thought I might collapse. I kept it up for days...then that become a week... then more, and finally here I am four weeks later. As I ran each day I started realizing something: when my body moved, so did my mind. It was like I could physically push myself through that wall that resistance had built up in front of me! This gave me even more strength and courage to keep it up!

Resistance is a rough thing. Until reading through the book for my AAG team book club, "The War of Art," I hadn't really put a name to that invisible barrier that was stopping me from doing what I needed to. I kept thinking that so long as I was functioning and capable that was enough. But it really isn't.

Are you stuck in a rut? I seriously encourage you to find some way to get your body moving whether that's running, dance, yoga, pilates, or jump roping! Your mind craves the energy your body provides. Don't ignore those puppy-like urges to play! As creative people we should be playing everyday to hold on to that child-like sense of wonderment and to keep the beast of resistance at bay. 

*Originally posted for the Aspiring Artisan's Guild blog.
**You can keep up more with my running and daily life at my personal blog Color Me Redhead. 

***Inspired in part by Lee Wolfe's post regarding making time for AGTeam.

Staying Motivated

Today was the day I really recognized my greatest ally in the battle against being stupid lonely and also the deep south rainy weather: the treadmill. It had been lurking there all along, a lone sentinel. I'd run on it a few times already and given it no more thought than that, but then, late last night when everyone else was asleep, I needed to get some pent up frustration out of my system. That's when it occurred to me what running has really become in the last few weeks. It has become more than just this thing I do to be in shape--it's the way to stay focused, clear, and OK.

I've never been particularly athletic--certainly no runner. I think what I really needed was to have some meaning to it. Well, now it does. The meaning it has is that it keeps me sane and happy. I guess that's what every exercise routine or lifestyle change needs is purpose. It's hard to say, "I'll run today to burn off this fat." You have to really want that fat gone to give your will power the kind of energy it needs to push you on and keep you going day after day.

I'm not particularly interested in burning fat...that's just an added bonus. For me, it's not even really about physical health as much as mental. I'm so thankful this Thursday that my aunt and uncle who have been amazing enough to let me stay with them have also got this treadmill right in the room my bed is in!

What keeps you moving?

April Showers...

I'm so glad it's April! This month could not have come soon enough. I'm on the downhill slide now in the wait to see my husband again and that feels good. Just having broken the back of the thing makes this day feel so much better. 

 

 It's been rainy outside which I am very ok with. Although I already went running once today, I'm feeling spritely and may have to go again. Everything looks more beautiful and more fresh when it's wet. I love being outside right after rain when that lingering smell of the storm settles in the air outside and lets me dream of spring. 

My goals for running are right on track if not ahead of schedule--which is great! Spent a few days with my calves feeling like they would just snap at the tendon and roll up like a window blind from tension, but that's passed and now I'm moving forward. 

Everything feels better and possible now that spring really seems to be here!