year in review : 2013

january 

this feels so far away, i can't recall a single highlight of last january, so moving on...

february

went to las vegas, had dinner on top of the stratosphere (never again. it made me sick. i have never had to work so hard to keep it together while sober.) visited my dad who treated my husband and i with tickets to see the beatles cirque de soleil show (he and his wife watched our littles, too. date night = awesome!). my dad also took us to hoover dam, we had a nice beer and burger on the way, and once there i nearly had an anxiety attack. heights and water and no.

at the boulder brewing co., boulder city, nv

lake mead

bridge over hoover dam.
i could not take photos of the actual dam because all i could do was imagine falling in.

march

for my birthday i took a distressing workshop with the beautiful, ultra-sweet + talented amanda louise spayd. she and her pal, chris ryniak had a show @ stranger factory. if you're not familiar with her work, it's aha-mazing!

amanda and chris.
photo-qual is meh because i was still rockin' the iphone 3GS. hee.

one day i will have a dust bunny original. oh yes, i will.

april 

baby was sicker than i've ever seen a kid, it was fairly traumatic for both of us. he turned the corner and was well enough to play some wii and have some cake on his birthday. also, solo trip to tucson to see modest mouse, visited some friends in phoenix and went to ikea. w00t! i reeeealllly didn't want to spend 14+ hours in a car by myself but i did it. and it was worth it.

may

participated in my first gallery show at metallo gallery in madrid, nm and made some new art/business world connections.

june

took mini roadtrip with awesome papa to see mumford + sons in taos. the rain and the cold and the amount of people there were all a bit much but it was memorable and fun. on the way home the next day we stopped along the river and then took a surprise detour to tesuque and stopped at shidoni gallery + foundry. through casual conversation i was invited to submit some artwork for representation but, as of yet, have not completed the body of work i started with shidoni in mind.

took pics with awesome papa but he doesn't like to show up on the blog.
solo foto di mia.

riverside.

on the way to shidoni.

artwork i started (to submit to shidoni) and artwork which no longer looks like this.
i have completely embraced the trusting process while making art,
but i truly think i should have stopped while ahead with this one.

july

had a nasty sinus infection that i finally cleared with a neti pot after finally deciding to stop being afraid of them. teenager moved back in. dad came to visit. this was a super intense time and A LOT was going on. no photos. except this one from the best show ever because i can't think of a neti pot without also thinking of ruth and the infamous "nostril pot"!

six feet under in case ya didn't know.

august

also super intense. i have an entire blog post dedicated to just three days in august, but it's probably book material more than anything. took my best friend to colorado to live with another friend...super surreal as she and i had traveled the same stretch of road, ten years ago, on our way to aspen. also on labor day weekend. that trip was life-changing as was this year's, though she and i may not understand the gravity of it all for some time to come. what's weird about it, too, is that her friend lives in an itty, bitty town where another friend of mine once lived. they were introduced (we were all mutual friends forever but her friend and my friend hadn't met until they both lived in colorado) BUT on top of that...this is a place i spent some time in as a kid and have always loved. my dad's mother still owns a summer cabin there, and in fact, if i'd been able to stay longer i could have visited with my dad that weekend . the trip really solidified the fact that i want to live in colorado and that i will, someday. also, 6+ hours in a car by myself, on the way back, was like. no big thing.

on the way up north....

somewhere in colorado. actually operational, too. they were showing smurfs 2.

in the itty town. the only two story people i saw in the only shop we went into.
a sure sign if i ever saw one.

on the way home. it rained. i cried. beauty everywhere

september

i got to spend a day in santa fe with some very special ladies, including, the amazing tracy verdugo! then i took a two-day workshop with her on my old stomping grounds at the university of new mexico. it was indescribably awesome and truly the highlight of this last quarter as so much of what's happened since has been related to the entire experience.

tracy showing us her some of her process.

hadn't been in art department bathroom since i changed
 my minor from art studio to religious studies in 2003.

my canvas after day one.

tracy and i (and our canvases) after day two.

october

• sold my first painting at the charming meme boutique in ohio, which was one of the networking perks of doing the metallo show in may. 

• my biggest commission yet arrived safely in canada. for team bamboletta, known for the super amazing waldorf dolls. and just. wow. the entire process was one of my most amazing experiences in terms of personal and professional growth, so thankful to christina and the lessons i was able to learn (like, maybe don't use new supplies on a big piece without spot-checking first. you know, practical stuff...and also, maybe don't sell yourself short.) i originally underestimated both the time and cost, but christina was a wonderful, patient, kind patron and all the while i kept pinching myself and saying, "i'm creating a painting for a DOLL MAKER to hang in her shop!?!?" because, when i was a kid, i used to bring home doll catalogs from a superfancy doll shop and pretend that i was running my own doll shop. full. circle. amazeballs.

photo courtesy of bamboletta

in it's new home, photo taken by bamboletta

i also started a few dreads (haven't yet decided if i want a full head of them), nearly went blind AND sent in my first submission to stampington + co. like, physically mailed in artwork. has been on my list of things to-do for years but all things in their time.

november

• sold my second painting at meme boutique!
• started working on my first collab book for real for real. it's been a year+ in the making! woohoo!
• awesome papa and i had the epiphany of all epiphanies about moving to colorado AND what to do once we get there (basically the sum total of all of our wishes, desires, triumphs, and failures over the years culminated into the perfect plan and we had a complete "what took us so long?" moment. more later...) 
• decided, that yes. in the meantime, for real for real, i'm going to teach art. even managed to get two students, ready to start in january (and i need to get on that...no more procrastinating!)

december

• got moving on the first retreat i will host (and co-teach with some super-highly awesome other artists!). i am seriously excited to spill all the beans about this but details are under wraps until they come together a little more. you are not going to want to miss this, though! it's good stuff with good people!
• put together a wonderfully sweet and last-minute commission that arrived JUST IN TIME for christmas (questioned my sanity on this one, but so happy that i was able to stretch my "deadline" wings and i'm smitten with how it came out!) 
• let the last minute become the very last minute and just accepted it. for the first time, ever, i didn't wrap a single gift until christmas eve and was not as stressed out as i might have been in the past. love these little, obvious signs of growth.
• also...as the month came to an end, so did a lot of things come together. proof that what we need is always there, always within, with us. it reveals itself when it needs to. big lessons in trust and seeing the magic. always + forever.

sisters.
last commission of the year.

whew! 2014 is going to be just as filled with love and full of wonder. there will be books and news, new artwork, travels and teaching. will reveal a bit more soon, along with my word of the year (it still hasn't come to me. i tried to force it, and there will be a theme, but the word is a mystery yet...)