It was a very busy weekend with an art show at Collector in Berkeley, a workshop in SF with Dana Haim, an art show at the Citadel Gallery, crafting for a baby shower and taxes. Whew! I have been overcommitting for the last two months and while I feel lucky to be involved with all these projects, I have been feeling really burnt out. Luckily, I'm on a cleanse so that's really helping things! Ha, not really. I am cooking or preparing every single meal since I have not been consuming dairy, grains, legumes or sugar. It makes it hard if I go out to eat anywhere since I can't eat much of anything but salad. I've been somewhat of a homebody at this time. Anyway, I'm doing it to myself.
FRIDAY
Great turnout at Collector
Talking with an art fan
The art show opening at Collector was fantastic! A good friend, artist Elissa Nesheim came out all the way from Gilroy and there was a really nice crowd. I love working with this art shop. Skye and Christina have a great eye and they are so good to the artists. The shop has art-filled walls and an incredible selection of artist prints and handmade goods. Collector also now carries prints of my work. It was so hard to not eat the brie and drink the wine at this opening!
SATURDAY
Dana Haim in the center of all this yarn
All my poms
My friend Anabella and I headed up to San Francisco early to attend a pom-pom workshop by Brooklyn artist Dana Haim at Makeshift Society. I saw her Pomifornia workshop tour on the Jungalow blog and posted by Makeshift Society. It seemed like it would be really fun. Dana was so great and I learned a ton from her. The other guests were super fun too. I am brainstorming a summer project with these and hoping to include glittery yarn. I love learning new things and Dana Haim has transformed pom-poms into something new and exciting. Working on these fluffy little spheres was addicting. I loved "painting" with the yarn and experimenting with the designs. It reminded me that I love working with a variety of materials from paper to textiles and that I just love color so much.
Faye Moorhouse at Faye's Video
After the workshop, we headed over to Faye's Video & Espresso Bar to see the work of UK artist and illustrator Faye Moorhouse. I love her quirky, wonky work. Faye's wonky movie posters were just the thing I needed to see.
An awesome turnout at Eye Tea at the Citadel Gallery, including Bella's parents seen in the foreground here.
The show Eye Tea opened at the Citadel Gallery on Saturday night. It was awesome to be a part of Slow Art Day. We were the only venue in San Jose to take part. The theme of artists reflecting on social media and information technology seemed really fitting for the idea of slowing down. Slow Art Day asks participants in galleries worldwide to view 5 works of art for 5-10 minutes each. The average time viewers spend in front of a work of art is said to be about 17 seconds. Slow Art Day asks viewers to stop and view the art.
String Theory, art installation by Frances Marin and Anabella Piñon at Citadel Gallery. Watercolor, paper, dyed string and cans.
Anabella and I came up with the installation String Theory. Two kids talk on a tin can, but there is a lot of noise and eavesdropping happening around them. A fairly simple and straightforward message here. We had been spending many hours on this in the last few weeks. I will be posting about the behind-the-scenes of this project soon.
SUNDAY
I spent time crafting in the morning for a friend's baby shower that's happening this weekend. We made banners and other decor for this. Afterward, I went to Bryan's jiu jitsu competition. It was so cool to see him win his first match.
MONDAY/TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY
Still in my robe as I write this!
And then, taxes. For the last few years, I gather up my documents and data early in the year and get about 75% finished with my tax work. Then, life and projects get prioritized and I end up scrambling at the last minute. Since I have a variety of streams of revenue including teaching, wholesale, several online shops, events, direct sales, etc., my taxes are quite a bit more complicated these days than they were a few years ago. I am quite proud that I am so much more organized and knowledgeable about bookkeeping than when I started. It took years of hard work, but I feel really good about being able to handle this aspect of what I do. I have to be honest about not keeping up with bookkeeping in the last part of 2014. When I sat down and went through the numbers, I was really happy to have made more than I thought. I am determined to get my taxes done earlier in 2016. I'm also determined to stay more on top of bookkeeping for the rest of this year.
Now it's time to slow down a little. I'll be going on vacation for the last week of the month. I think it's well-deserved after this crazy schedule I've had. I have a few fun projects to work toward until I leave, but it is so much less than I have had going. On the trip, I will have limited internet access and I think this will be a very, very good thing.