Pop-Up Market at Lavella

My apartment complex is hosting a pop-up market for artists and crafters on Dec. 6, so of course I signed right up. I still have some small arts on easels from the summer’s art show- those pieces are hot because it’s art you can grab-n-go, easily installed and in no time you find yourself showcasing original art pieces on a convenient easel that works on any flat counter space. No hammer or nail holes required. Also I like the small arts-on-easel because it’s movable. No problem to just pick it up and move it to another room!

So I already have some of those small arts on 8″x8″ 300lb cotton stock- nice and sturdy handmade square cards with a lovely cold-press rough surface, but I wanted to make something new for the pop-up market. I found myself pressed against the cold creator’s block, as I pondered what to make that I could sell. I was frozen solid, deer in the headlights.

Then I redirected my thought pattern to stave off the anxiety, and found myself begging, inside, to please let me make some art to fend off this feeling… and so I did! I picked up an extra-soft pastel and got to work, bleeding out the feeling through the color onto the paper; I liked what I saw next. I got my angst out on paper and then got some real art going. I had to get past not caring whether or not it would sell and just make the damn art. So, who knows whether anyone will buy it, but at least I made some art.

I really just wanted to make a Douglas fir and decorate it out in a snowy tree lot, and let it dissolve into geometric beauty. This color feels rich under my dirty fingerprints. I indulged in the idea of snow, and fir, and triangleness, and it felt good to the core. I made the arts, and that is what’s important.