Crozet Arts Festival

This weekend since both of my boys had playdates at friends houses I took the opportunity to sneak up to Crozet, VA for their annual arts festival.  Last weekend was the Newport News Fall Festival and although I went to it, this was the first year I wasn't able to participate in it (since getting a full time job).  So that is two art shows in two weekends!!  I am still trying to get my creative mojo back and this weekend was what I needed.  I met three wonderful women with amazing talent and in the next post I will share links to their amazing works.  Thanks for stopping by! 

Update, I'm back!

Where do I even start?  Well I have decided to change the name of this blog back to KIMagination.  The main reason being that when I did art shows, and my sign read October Cat Studios, people thought I only sold cat stuff.  And while I do love and adore cats, I have never limited myself to one subject.

The last time I posted I had briefly mentioned that my husband and I bought a house.  As of June first we have lived in it a year and not only do my husband and I love it but our boys do as well.

In April my mom had hip replacement surgery so I flew up to WI to help my dad take care of her for two weeks and it was nice to see them again and to know what a big help I was.  They moved a year and a half ago to Wisconsin from my childhood home in Virginia.  I've had a hard time dealing with their move as I've always been close to them.  My mom's new hip is doing great though!

When I got home from WI I started looking for a job.  I have been a stay at home mom for 3 years but our boys are becoming more self sufficient and we have a house note to pay!  Within a week I had a new job! I am now working at a preschool with the two year olds (pray for me!)  "rejuvenating place" of art.  I haven't wanted to sew or quilt or paint or draw or anything for about six months now.  It seems like after the NN Fall Festival (my last post) art no longer brought me joy.  I have done a few projects here and there but I am now trying for get my creative mojo back to relieve the stress from working with 2 year olds.

Over the next few posts I'm going to be catching you all up on what I have done this past year AND what I'm working on now.

Thanks for sticking with me!
Kim

What I've been up to

     We are moving in June!  My husband is a Methodist pastor and if you know anything about us Methodists it's that the pastors move often.  Since we are in the Virginia Conference we will stay within this state.  When we got married we were assigned to a quaint little town on the Rappahannock river called Urbanna, Va.  Six years and two kids later we moved to Portsmouth, Va.  We have been here five years and are now moving to Lexington, Va.
     So, needless to say, this is what's been going on in my life for the past few months: helping the kids transition, packing and purging, starting to change our address on bills and looking for new doctors, etc.
     I am still working on my two young adult fantasy fiction stories but yesterday I revisited one of my other passions, zentangles!

So if you don't hear from me for another month or two it's because I'm knee deep in boxes.

More updates

Since quitting my job, and spending more time at home, I have started to clean out my art room. Purge, get rid of stuff that I haven't used in years.  I am at a crossroads as to which direction my art and creativity are going.  I figured that if I cleaned out (and I mean CLEANED OUT) my room it would be cathartic. Clean room = clean mind = fresh start.  I'm about halfway finished and it feels great!

My second update is that I've started writing again.  I wrote poetry and short stories in middle and high school.  I never shared them with anyone but I loved writing.  Since "picking up the pen again" I have been writing Haiku's.  I am working on another blog dedicated to my poetry and ponderings.  There I will share some of my older work (1980's) with my newer works.  I'm not great at it but I love writing my ideas and ways of thinking down on paper.

I am also revisiting my love of photography.  This was my first "artistic endeavor" and since cleaning out my art room I have stumbled upon some of my photography portfolios.  I used to take black and white photos with a manual film camera.  I will be incorporating my photography into my new poetry blog. 

A few days ago I had a free day so I went to an antique mall and took pictures.  This adventure was two-fold, not only was I polishing up my photography skills but antiques inspire me to write.  Yesterday I saw this little elf-boy that I remember my grandmother putting out at Christmas, my mind then went back to what her house looked like and what my brother and I would do while we were there.

On a positive note...

Tomorrow will be my last day of work "outside the home" which will now give me more time to focus on my family and my art.  I am already signed up to do two arts and crafts shows in the next two months and I'm thrilled!  I will be reopening my Etsy shop and will be posting a lot more on Instagram plus I will be able to blog more often too.  Life is good!

Big huge announcement!

Wait for it...

I will now be selling my stuff on Etsy!  I have been working diligently to create my whimsical and fun shop called October Cat Studios.  I will be selling unique, one of a kind gift items for almost anyone. I will focus on my fabric bowls, art quilts (mini framed and larger wall hangings), art dolls, traditional quilts and one of a kind painted button pendants.

In addition to selling my art on Etsy I will also have a Facebook page called October Cat Studios.  Please be sure to follow/like/join, it is open to everyone!  On this page I will be posting a lot of my previous artistic endeavors as well as new ones.  I will be sharing links to other artists I like and you can also travel along with me when I go to quilt shows and the like.  

Thanks for your support and please tell all of your friends about October Cat Studios.

Updates

I've been trying to make my blog better, mainly by adding different types of content like "Featured Artists" and links to other blogs and artists that I like.  But when I sit down to type I just stare at my blog and then think "Hey I want to change the background" or I end up rearranging my gadgets.  I spend an hour playing around with the look of my blog without really adding any content.

I will be taking my yearly "mommy getaway" in two weeks.  Hopefully I'll be able to come up with lots of new content and links.  My main goal, however, is to figure out how to post pictures directly to my blog from my iPhone.  (I think that photos make a blog)  If I am able to do that I will be coming up with a new category of art called something like "How my brain works" because a lot of times I get asked "How did you come up with that idea?" so I will take you on one of my creative expeditions.

I will also be posting a lot of new things I'm working on for The Newport News Fall Festival.  Oh, by the way, I was accepted into the Newport News Fall Festival last week!!!

Updates

I just finished my first year of my new career, teaching!  I will be updating my blog this summer AND I promise to post more.  Today I started thinking about all of the fun stuff I'd like to share with you all and boy is my list growing!  I will be taking my yearly "mommy getaway" vacation in about a month to Amish Country.  I've also been listening to a lot of crafty podcasts so I'll be reviewing these here too.  Wow so much to talk about and so little time to type it!

Great news and MORE great news!

My first bit of news is that I got a job!  I have been a stay-at-home mom for a few years now and since both of my boys are going to school full days I decided to look at the job market again.  I know finding a job is hard and career changing is even harder but I have the most loving and caring husband, he encouraged me to find something that I liked and to not take any job that I was offered.  I am excited to announce that I have been a pre-k assistant teacher for four weeks now and I absolutely LOVE it!  This is quite a career change since I've been in the retail industry and in banking BUT since having kids I now know that working with children is my passion, besides art of course.  Art will be in my blood forever.

My other bit of news is that I got my packet for the Newport News Fall Festival of Folk Life two weeks ago and I cannot be more excited about my location!!  I am in J1.  What does that mean?  I'm in the first spot on the juried side, I am the first person you see as you enter the juried section!  Woot Woot!! And since I'm "front-and-center" I figured I better step up my game and order a banner so you all can find me easier.
  

Six days until the Newport News Fall Festival!!!!!

Great news!

First I want to apologize for being so negligent in posting but I have great news!   One of my dreams is finally coming true!  Secretly I have always wanted to be in the Newport News Fall Festival.  Here is a link to last year's show at Newport News Fall Festival 2012 My mom has been in this show for years and I thought if I could just get in I would feel like my art was validated.  I love what I do but it's a little on the "whimsical" side (I haven't posted a picture yet of my cat/pig or my bat/fish).  A few months ago my mom, in passing, said that I should apply to the Newport News Fall Festival.  She planted the seed but might not have known how much it meant to me.  My mom, an artist, was validating me!  Yesterday I found out that I had been accepted into the juried side of the Fall Festival! So if you're in the area please come out and see me this October in Newport News Park.

Next, I bought a dry erase board for my work area because I have so many projects going on that when I sit down to work on one I don't know which one to pick up first!  So here is a look at my list:

 

Here is a look at some of the dolls (and a bat like creature) I'm currently working on:

 



And last but not least I'm still working on my Hoffman Challenge doll.  I LOVE the way her skirt is turning out but I always have trouble painting faces so this is usually done last on my dolls.  Last night I sat down and painted her face.  I'm pleased with the way it turned out:

The green eye shadow isn't as bright in person as it is in the picture; and her gold blush is a lot more translucent too. I haven't attached her hair yet, I just layed her head in the hair so you could get the full effect.  She will probably be wearing earrings too.  I just went back to the only store in the area that carries the Hoffman fabric today so I can get started on her peacock this weekend.

So I think that's about it from My Art Room in Portsmouth, VA.  Thanks for stopping by!

I'm still here!

Wow I can't believe I haven't posted in 2 1/2 weeks!  Sorry guys but it seems like this cold and flu season has decided to check into our house for a while.  We are on the upswing now though.

I feel like I've been in another creative rut lately but when I made a list this morning about new blog posts I discovered that it's not a rut as much as "all over the place" and not really focusing on one idea.  So I have 4 new posts to do but not enough time to do them but I have my trusty list that I will refer to in the next few days/weeks.

For starters I have moved into a smaller space at Olde Towne Art for financial reasons.  But I also found that with the large space I felt that I needed to create large pieces to fill that space and that just isn't me.  I don't work in large scale.  It felt more of like a burden to create pieces instead of an inspiration.  It did get me to think bigger though. 

So here are a few pictures of my new smaller space and believe it or not every one of my pieces in my large space fit just fine in my smaller space.  I actually think it looks a little better because your eye isn't jumping from one space to another, it now just flows through my work.

And since taking this picture it's changed again!  They love when I come in because they know that I'll be moving stuff around.  My art dolls weren't selling so I took those down for a while but since this picture I've taken them back in and hung them on the walls like my mermaid.  I am also working on 4 new pieces that I hope to finish by the end of the week so more changes will be happening again in my little space so stay tuned!