Getting married November 7th

I've been quite a bit busier than usual trying to get everything organized.   Well, my mom is doing the majority of the organizing as far as catering, layout, tent rentals etc. but that leaves me with dress + jewelry shopping for everyone, honeymoon reservations, picking colors, cake inspiration, guest favors, etc etc.  I've absolutely loved going through all the wedding amazing-ness on Etsy - I'm really trying to have a mostly hand made wedding.  It's obviously in the fall, it's outside and I'm hoping there will still be some leaves on the trees.  The colors are orange and pale aqua.  That's my favorite combination in my artwork right now so it's what's inspiring the whole color scheme.  Richard and I bought a house together over 3  years ago, so I guess this is just making everything official lol  - it will be nice to have a ring on my finger.  It's going to be a very small wedding, family only - the kids will be our bridesmaids/groomsmen.  It works out well that way, 2 girls and 2 boys (3 are mine and 1 is his).  And they're all around the same age - between 17 and 21.   Wow, that makes me feel older seeing that in writing.  I got married and had my kids super duper young though so I spent my entire 20's raising children (as did Richard). Now that they are older and pretty much on their own I get the opportunity to recreate myself and focus on who I am and who I want to be and I get to do  it while married to my best friend :).  I'm really looking forward to this next chapter in our lives.

Here are a couple of things I've been working on this week. I'll be bringing them to Knoxville on Saturday and Chattanooga on Sunday :). The above one is called 'Talking to Clouds' and the one below is 'Peachy Keen' which I thought was quite appropriate for the the Peach Market on Sunday :). I really love both of them although they're very different. Talking to Clouds is really neat because it looks like the telephone lines are going through the clouds - I don't even know how I did that lol! It had something to do with the settings on my camera and brightness of the clouds - the light somehow overtook the telephone line in spots so that it looks like the clouds are covering the wires. I tried to think of all kinds of names for it - Stairway to Heaven, How We Talk to God, Communion With Clouds.....I could go on and on - I finally decided on 'Talking to Clouds' to keep it simple. 'Peachy Keen' - well, it's rather self explanatory :). I love the warm, peachy colors and the vintage feel. It's fresh yet old-fashioned at the same time.

Thank you Chattanooga for the warm reception :)

Neighborly

So Chattanooga was awesome, I'm definitely going back this week. I'll probably make it regular Sunday thing now :). All the market goers were very friendly as were the other vendors (with the possible exception of one who will go nameless lol - backhanded compliments anyone?). But it was a great day, I met so many people. I also felt good because a lot of my customers told me their stories and explained what the particular photograph they bought meant to them. That it reminded them of something from their childhood or something that recently happened to them or their wedding day...there were a lot of little stories exchanged in conversation. I love that I can give people something they can hold onto that corresponds with something special in their life or from their past, it's that emotional connection to my work that makes it all worthwhile for me. I truly truly truly think it's important that we don't forget those parts of ourselves that believed in the magic of blowing dandelion seeds, or making wishes, or just laying in grass looking up at the clouds in amazement and awe. I think we get so caught up in our day to day rushing around or our immediate problems that we sometimes forget that all of that is still out there just waiting for us to notice it and believe in it. So when you go outside today, don't forget to look up - at the clouds, or at the birds sitting in a neat row on the wire on your way home from work, or just notice the happy little dandelions popping up in your yard (or your neighbor's yard if you don't like them in your own lol). It will make you feel lighter and happier inside :).

I'll also be at the Knoxville Market on Saturday - I hope to see everybody there!



The Seduction of Clouds (not in my shop at the moment)

Going to Chattanooga....

'The Only Explanation'

I'm going to be going to the Chattanooga Market this Sunday to sell my artwork. I'm really looking forward to it. It's about 2 1/2 hours from my house so it's going to be a quite a little drive. I enjoy driving though so it should be ok. The Chattanooga Market's on Sundays so I'll still be able to do the Saturday market in Knoxville. This represents a big step in branching out for me. I've only sold (in person) in Knoxville so heading over to Chattanooga is the next step in my Big Plan. The Big Plan involves selling my artwork across the United States, not through my online shop but through travelling to art shows and markets and helping everyone find their 'happy place artwork' =). I've sold across the US in my online shop (+ Ireland, England, Australia, Hong Kong, Canada and Alaska) so I know there is an interest in places outside my local area, it just a matter of focusing and building up enough inventory to make it worth my while expense wise to do it. I generally just sell prints of my work at the markets with the occasional canvas but I'm going to have to build up a good canvas inventory to sell since they bring in more money. My goal is to get every single photograph printed onto a large canvas and paint it. I have a good start, but I have to organize my time better so I can spend more time in my studio. I absolutely love the process of recreating digital layers with acrylic paint - it adds a lot of depth and uniqueness to each piece.

I'll post and let you know how the Chattanooga Market goes...from what I hear, it's a very artsy market so I'm hoping all will go well! I just hope I don't get lost getting there....

We took Sesame to the lake last Sunday

It was really fun, we found a quiet spot where she could swim and we could wade and hang out. I got some great photos but managed to get my cell phone wet. Sooooo glad it wasn't my camera that got in the water!



That's Richard watching Sesame take off through the water, she's a Golden Retriever so she's a water dog :). I think this spot on the lake is my new happy place.

New website - yay!

I'm loving my new website.....I can update it easily and it has links to my Etsy shop (prints) and my Soleyne shop/gallery (canvas originals). Plus it has a place for news, exhibits, etc. I'm going to keep it updated (not like I ever get behind up updating things like my blog lol), and use it as the primary gateway for my artwork instead of Etsy. I think it looks great as well as being user friendly :). I had a really beautiful website before but I wasn't great about keeping it updated. It also had a shopping cart where the new one just lets you purchase at Etsy or Soleyne. It felt somewhat redundant to be able to purchase at my website and at Etsy since you were purchasing the same thing.

Anywho, here's some artwork I've been working on :


Tangled Up in YouJuicy Summer
Through the Looking Glass

Fresh Daisy Art

I love all the pretty little spring flowers popping up every where now. Here's some fresh art I'm working on =) :




Where Dreams Begin




Meadow - this isn't in my shop yet but will be this week :)

Went to the Farmer's Market Yesterday

I'm getting back to the summer routine of setting up at the Farmer's Market in Knoxville on Saturdays now. I think I'm pretty much clear as far as getting off from the day job on Saturdays. I might still have to go in around 5 and close the store afterwards but my mornings/afternoons should be free. Yesterday was such a great day! We have double the vendors this year, there's so many awesome things to see and buy :). I finally went and walked around toward the end of the day and left my booth to Mia (my daughter) and her boyfriend - I was in search of strawberries. They were already sold out though :(. However, I did get some awesome handmade soap (lemongrass....mmmm) and a pumpkin scone. I met some of the new vendors, some fellow Etsy sellers, and reconnected with some from last year's market. It was so fun. I had a jewelry artist in the tent right next to me named Kathy Davey and on the other side was Big Daddy of Big Daddy Lane and his wife. I hope I get in the same spot next week, it was a very pleasant place to be - I was next to the grassy area with several trees, I could here the water from the fountains nearby. I'm going to have to take my camera and take photos next week. We did have some rain, hopefully that will all be cleared out by then. My tent is a lot better this year too.....Richard made an awesome banner for me and I'm taking credit cards this year. The amazing thing is that every single sale I made yesterday was on credit cards. I think it's going to make a huge difference this summer with how much I bring home on Saturdays!

Getting ready for work...

I just had a couple of extra minutes this morning before work so I thought I might as well take advantage of it. I'm going to my day job, 2nd assistant manager at a Cato store. I really loved the job when I started but sometimes I think the shine is wearing off. Well, our district manager is coming today which always brings added stress. I was thinking for awhile that it would be awesome to be a salaried manger (in addition to my art of course) but lately I've been thinking 'not so much'. I think I'm sticking to my original plan of going as far as I can with my art. The day job will do until I'm making enough money to pay bills from my artwork. I'm formulating a new life map so I'll keep heading in the right direction. I actually made a vision board this week. I'll have to take a photo of it and put it up here. Well.....better finish getting ready. *sigh*. I don't know, I still like working there - maybe I'm just not looking forward to today.

Featured Etsy Blogger for March

I'm a member of the Etsy Bloggers Street Team and we feature a member every month for all team members to blog about. This month it's Design By Nora. Nora has some fabulously cute earrings and some wonderful pocketbooks. The purses are the creation of her talented Uncle Naz who has had his own leather purse business for 30 years now. Without further ado, here are the goodies she has in her shop :


I love these cute little post earrings - what happy colors. She also has these same colors available as star post earrrings. Super cute!







Here are 2 examples of Uncle Naz's beautifully crafted purses. I'm loving this orange color :





And what a great look for spring :



So go over to Nora's shop and see what she has to offer - I'm sure you'll find something fabulous!

A new month is here :)

Soooo. I didn't win the Dogwood Arts competion. Phil Savage's Woodruff's won - he had an awesome photo. I am however exhibiting this month at Three Flights Up. We had the opening last night and it was pretty awesome. I got to meet a lot of interesting people and sell a little bit of art :). I love opening night of an exhibit, it's so fun to just mingle and talk to people about what you do. Getting ready for an exhibit - well , that's a whole other story LOL. It's stressful trying to make it all come together with a deadline. But then you go to the opening and it's all worth it :). I'm doing canvas for the exhibition, well pretty much everything I sell locally is on canvas now. I'm using a company in California - I send them the photographs, they print them on artist grade canvas and then ship them to me rolled together in a tube. I then mount the canvas on stretcher strips and luann board and use transparent layers of paint to give them a distressed, nostalgic look. I really like the way they turn out. Here's what I'm exhibiting this month ( all these are 20"x20" ) :








I did these in a smaller size ( 10"x10" canvases) :

Get out the vote! Please :)?

So, every year there is a contest in Knoxville to see whose artwork will represent the Dogwood Arts Festival. It's down to the seven finalists and I'm one of them. I'm almost in 2nd place at the moment as far as online voting goes but it would be a huge help if everyone could vote for me :

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/feb/17/vote-dogwood-arts-limited-edition-fine-art-print/

It's Jennifer Simpson and 'Delicate' . The winner receives $2000 for the rights to their artwork. That would be so awesome! It will also mean a lot of press and exposure for my art. Voting ends Sunday February 22 at I think 6 pm. Please go vote if you can. This is my artwork :





I will be eternally grateful to everyone who votes !!!! :) :)

We FINALLY had some snow...

It was just a dusting of snow, you probably wouldn't even call it snow if you lived up North lol. It was fluffy and beautiful and inspiring though. I worked that day at Cato (my day job now), came home and took no less than 85 photos . Here are a few of them :






I only have one in my Etsy shop at the moment but I'll be putting the other ones up as I go along this week. The ironic part is that I'd decided to totally launch into spring with my shop photos lol. We just never get snow though so I wanted to get these in there while it's still winter :).

Are you on Facebook?

Do you love it? It's such a great waster of time lol. I was just on there doodling around and I thought - hey, I really should be posting on my sadly neglected blog. I just put a bunch of photos of my kids and Richard if you want to go have a looksee :) ... Jen's Facebook Page I'm always so curious about people I meet online and what they look like. I think everyone has a mental picture of the people they interact with here.

I drove about an hour to Knoxville today, I picked up a canvas that I'm entering in the Dogwood Arts Festival competition. If it wins it will represent the whole festival in their posters and things. There will be an exhibition of all the artwork chosen and the public will pick the representative art. The winner will get $2000 as well as the status of their artwork being on limited edition posters, etc of the festival. It's a big deal to win it as far as getting your name out there. I'm totally hoping I'll win! This is my entry :

It's actually all beautiful and glowy in person, it looks almost zen-like for lack of a better word lol. I'm doing it on a 30"x30" gallery wrapped canvas so it will be really big!

Hope everyone is enjoying the new year and not freezing their butts off! It's 6 degrees right now here and for TN that's pretty extreme cold ..brrrrrrr.

2009

I'm so glad the new year is here! Did everyone make resolutions? I don't really call them resolutions, more like goals for the year I suppose. I have way to many to put them on my blog but here's the condensed version:

• Do a painting every week
• Be more assertive about your needs
• Make a daily list the night before of things to accomplish the next day
• Keep better records of art sales
• Do a photo a day (at least one)
• Offer gift certificates and matting in your Etsy shop
• Open a vintage shop on Etsy
• Fine more venues to sell your artwork online and locally
• Keep up with your Etsy teams requirements (Etsy Bloggers Street Team & Design Style Guide)

Plus a cazillion house goals - pull up the disgusting purple carpet downstairs, do stained concrete floors, install concrete counter tops, paint downstairs, paint the hallway upstairs, etc etc etc. THAT list is pretty endless lol.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and the new year makes all your dreams a reality.

Featured Etsy Team Member

I featured a team member from the Interior Design Street Team last Sunday, this Sunday I'm featuring another fellow Etsian from the Etsy Bloggers Street Team. Maybe Sunday is going to become my "Featured Artist Day" lol. I try to set aside different days to focus on different aspects of my online life and Sunday has turned into team day/post in blog day. The featured artist that was chosen by the Etsy Bloggers this month is......*drumroll please*....... A Keeper's Jackpot. She is a fabulous jewelry artistan at Etsy. Here are some examples of her work :

This is a wonderfully chunky necklace in shades of gray. I love the colors and the dramatic appeal. It reminds of peaceful rainy day complete with puddles and storm clouds.







Below is a beautifully intricate bracelet. I love the colors of the beads combined with the silver wire.




Next we have the aptly titled 'Root Beer Earrings'. I think they would look amazing with anything that's the color of the minty green bracelet above.



Below we have another fantabulous pair of earrings in my favorite shade of green. These are so pretty and fresh, perfect for summer.



And last, but certainly not least, these very unique earrings made from tree bark. I don't believe I've seen anything like these on Etsy.....they are natural and beautifully made.





I hope you enjoyed your tour of A Keeper's Jackpot :). Pop in and give her shop a visit, I'm sure it would make her happy. She has lots more wonderful creations for you to browse!

Life is Challenging

Overlooked


Quote for the Week:

"Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst, a spark that creates extraordinary results."

-Anonymous
Delta Dawn


I feel challenged right now with our circumstances which tends to give me a bad, downer attitude. We're really trying to make things work out - working from home together, paying our bills, making sure all our teenagers have plenty of food to eat. It just seems like things haven't come together well for us the last couple of weeks. Or they've come together but just barely. The economy probably has a lot to do with it, the fact that buying art is an optional rather than a necessity. I've decided to view this time period as a challenge and keep a good perspective on it all. I really want to focus on the good things that we have now instead of worrying about the things we don't have yet.



Pointless Sentiment

Featured Artist - Funky Chicken Designs

I'm starting a new feature today - I'll be featuring artists from the various Etsy Teams I'm a member of. Today's featured artist is Funky Chicken Design and she's on the Etsy Interior Design Team. Her primary focus is light switch plate covers although she does pillows as well some adorable push pins and magnets. I also spotted this incredibly awesome magazine bowl in her shop that was obviously very labor/time intensive to make.



This bowl and the frame below were done using recycled magazines. Michelle, the shop owner at Funky Chicken Design, is a big believer in recycling as she uses recycled packaging when mailing out her fabulous creations as well.


Here is a frame done using similar materials. Very intricate and colorful.

She obviously enjoys working with paper and decoupage is her primary art of choice :). Here are a couple of my favorite light switch plates from her shop. She has a ton of styles and color schemes to chose from, you're sure to find something for every room of your home.




She also has items for your home office including pushpins and magnets. Here's some oh so cool pushpins. Once again she has several different ones to chose from.



Here are just a couple more items from her shop - a nightlight perfect for your rockabilly boudoir and a gorgeous pillow that would be right at home in your bedroom or your living room.


So head on over to Funky Chicken Design and pick up some cool items for your abode :)!