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Road Tripping the PNW Coast, Holiday Market in Long Beach, and Four New Photo Product Lines!
in art, northwest, photography, Washington
Road Tripping the PNW Coast
How can I even begin to tell you all how much I am enraptured with this new camera?! It's as though it sees what I see... finally!!... it's my "mechanical eye." In fact, I think I will call the wide angle lens my "black eye" because it can see so well in low light settings, which we know the north coast for having as its default weather. There are all kinds of great features I invested in that allow me to take clear shots of the landscapes I explore... and sometimes I even get lucky when visiting these terrains to happen upon some if its wild locals, such as the juvenile red-tail hawk pictured above, taking off over the Columbia River on Thanksgiving Day. I'd be honored to share my photos with you through social media on Facebook and Instagram. This NotYourEverydayDreamer site is a great resource for viewing my portfolio and reading the directions I am taking via my blog, but the day-to-day grit will be posted more frequently on the other sites.
Holiday Market in Long Beach
This December, I am participating in my first ever holiday market! I am SO excited to finally be a part of one in the center of where I shoot. The Adrift Hotel will be hosting my table of photography goods (and myself!). This is so very special because I am one of the designers of the hotel! That's right -- if you stayed in one of the rooms, you would be familiar by now with the forest and beach pillows that stand out on the clean white beds. I designed those! I will have my full catalog at my table for you to order from, with a few for sale that I can fit on a six foot table! That's Sammy in the picture above, resting with my forest pillow -- I even have furry fans with tails! (photo Credit goes to Linh -- Thanks Linh!)
This event takes place on Saturday, December 16, 2017 from 10am to 4pm, downstairs in the little side room near the lobby. There will be clean bathrooms, fresh hot coffee, and an upstairs dining room called the Pickled Fish for you to enjoy if you come out for the day to shop with me. What a great place to catch the sunset, up in the Pickled Fish!
I have been busting tail here in my home studio to introduce four new product lines in a month's time. Am I crazy? Crazy-inspired and persistent, yep. These new lines will range in price from $4 to $50, all being small gift-able items for yourself or a loved one. This means they will be easy to ship, too! All of them will incorporate my coastal and forest photography, and I'm gonna make you come and check it all out before I spill the beans too soon. Please come on over and say hello, I would love to talk to anyone interested in my work! I enjoy sharing local knowledge and stories about this beautiful land we call the PNW.
Here is part of my philosophy as a creative. I've heard of some artists going only after big projects... but I believe in everyone being able to afford art in their lives. It makes art more prevalent, influential, and visible. By making small affordable art that is functional as well as decorative, art can have a larger presence in our lives, and we do not have to settle for chain store, mass-produced stuff. Think about how many art pieces you own that are worth more than $120 each... probably not many. But how many creative magnets, cards, small prints, bags and other small things do you have that enhance your daily life because you are able to enjoy the inspiring, creative, local imagery artists have put on them? Exactly!
Here's my Instagram again if you want to follow along... I just might post a few photos of my new stuff the week of the holiday event. You just never know.
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Going Pro in Photography & The Art of Pattern Design
Going Pro in Photography
Well, if it didn't take a decade, I finally invested in a professional full frame camera. C'mon already! And in that process I learned some great advice for independent creators - first, don't take it outside until it is insured, of course. "Scheduling" a specific professional item such as a camera is the way to go! Scheduled items are protected through your insurance company outside of your annual deductible for a small additional cost. In return, you get world-wide life-long coverage as long as you own it. I highly recommend doing this for any other valuable tools you may own, too.
Having a full frame camera is so exciting! It's not the brand that matters to me, it's the better quality of lens construction as well as the option to get everything I see in my "vision" in the full frame when I take the shot. I have been operating on "crop frame" sensors for the past decade, ever since the time I shot on 35mm film in college. I'm so excited to do some island-hopping in the Pacific Northwest for some killer shots and serene soul-quenching experiences.
Here is a mini slideshow of a few of my newer prints that I have released on Etsy tonight (click here to shop).
There's so much inspiration in my surroundings that I'm sparked with ideas every day, but I couldn't chase them all! That's part of my favorite aspect of the beauty of working for one's self ... you get to create the vision as you go and see what draws you strongest. It's an invigorating experience of getting to know yourself better, as well as seeing the world around you with completely different eyes!
The Art of Pattern Design
In the medium of design (since I do photography as well as product design...), I took a course through Sitka College of Art and Ecology over the summer and learned to make patterns. This is exciting because patterns can be applied to so many things, beyond even the printed image and cloth, which are probably the first two surfaces that most people think of when they think of "patterns." I can already think of an application where the pattern is not being used, and I've done market research on it... things could explode!
Here is my first one, titled "Baja Breeze," which has elements from my trip to Mexico last winter.
And if you are wondering, that's a bottle of Pacifico, not Corona! So stop drinking Corona already - Pacifico is much better! My design is already available on a variety of products, including floor cushions, rugs, coffee mugs, zipper pouches, and more over at Society 6 (click here to shop). It's been fun to play with! This image was originally created as a pencil drawing, then arranged into a pattern and carved onto linoleum, hence the handmade look. The knowledge I gained in that class blew my mind! I felt like I was learning some "ancient secret" on how to make patterns.
Winter Workshop Potential
Speaking of which, is anyone out there interested in taking a class from me this winter? I have a few topics in mind that I'd like to teach, namely, how to put your art on products as well as how to market yourself on a budget. Please use the Contact page HERE to give me your name and email to put together an idea if there is interest in learning.
Thanks for reading my blog! I hope you learned something or were inspired, or maybe you'll even want to buy some of my art over in my Etsy store, who knows! Please "like" this blog post below to let me know I have readers out there.
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Sou'wester is Stacked with Goodness!
Last spring, a beautiful thing started between me and Sou'wester Lodge. I had heard of this strange place that seemed to be a time warp into the seventies. Vintage trailers co-habitate around the 1892 lodge with marks of history everywhere, nothing seeming to be new.
I discovered the wrap-around porch where an honor store exists. Bands that have played there leave behind a few records or cassette tapes to sell. Crafters leave hand-made wares huddled all cozy in baskets and arranged on shelves. Artists leave prints and photographs for others to discover. I was happily welcomed into that family of vendors when I presented my photo tote bags last year, and this year, I have revamped the stock to include some photo prints on archival paper as well.
If you have not been to this place yet, you will stop in your tracks when you first get there. I promise. It feels like nowhere else I have been in the northwest. Lots of discoveries await you here, not to mention it is right at the entrance to the Seaview beach and just down the road from a 3rd floor bar/ restaurant/ music venue called the Pickled Fish (where they serve a delicious "illegal" drink called a Pisco Sour.) Be sure to also stop at the Cottage Bakery in the midst of Long Beach tourist shops (it's worth it!) to be dropped back into the eighties with some great pastries and decorated cupcakes that have plastic trees and deer stuck on them, and swing back into the present moment by filling your growler at North Jetty Brewing with some Leadbetter Red Scottish Ale, a reminder of the beautiful solace I found at the top of the peninsula.
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