X in DC

About a year ago, I did this great event called X in DC. It was great fun, and I'm really excited to be asked back.

I hope you can make it out!

2 events!

One definitely-

I'll be at the Ballston Art Market this Saturday and possibly next Saturday at the
X in DC monthly event at BeBar.

I did the XinDC event about a year or so ago and it was super fun...that one isn't confirmed 'tho so maybe I shouldn't post it? Ah, I will anyway.

Hope to see you there!

Art in other cities

You know Banksy Right? Well check out this large mural that went up in NY Pretty great huh? Or maybe you're thinking it's not your bag. Which it might not be. He's an aquired taste to be sure. But I have to give NY props for letting this happen. And happen so quickly. That's one thing I hate about DC- it takes 14 people to agree on anything before something even becomes a thought.
Good for you NY! This is why you continue to school the rest on the country on why artists flock to you.

Just listed

Slowly....ever so slowly will I get my etsy shop back up! err....started maybe since I switched names.
Today I listed Henri Owlington:

And a set of 5 postcards featuring Astro-NOT!

To the crafter go the spoils

I made a few key purchases on Sunday at Crafty Bastards.
I bought this necklace from Imogene


The smallest size of this vase from KG+AB

Both were things I've been agonizing over for a little while. I purchased the whale hoop earrings at Crafty Bastards in Silver Spring last june. I'm wearing the necklace right now.
I also picked up a book from Robert Ullman
who will also be at SPX this weekend in Bethesda.
Which I intend to go to if effing DC ever mails me my paycheck for September.
But that's a story for another time. Preferably over margaritas or something.

volcanoes and kittens

This is Hot Head- my newest character that debuted at Crafty Bastards

And then because some people have asked- two photos of the kitten

On the table at the vet:


in my lap at the vet:


He's eating like a champ and getting more playful everyday.
Sadie (my own, 10 year old cat) is less than excited. So let's hope my mom loves him! Because my roommate is getting attached to him as well!

Thank you!

Hey, if you're reading this because you came to Crafty Bastards, thank you.
I had such a splendid day meeting all sorts of lovely people and bought a few great pieces- I'll get some pictures up tomorrow...maybe even pictures of the kitten...

What a great show- Kim Dorn and Sarah Dick are geniuses.

lost afternoon

Good intentions, bah.

This afternoon, I intended to go to Ikea and pick up some things for my display on sunday. I took kennilworth ave instead of BW parkway and see what I thought was a black squirrel darting in and out of traffic. It was infact a teeny tiny black kitten.
I swung a u-turn, parked my car, ran across traffic, hopped a guardrail and coaxed the scrawniest black kitten out of weeds. Which reminds me, I should shower with that poison ivy stuff tonight, because knowing my luck...
So I have the kitty, he's stopped squirming and i'm holding him to my chest and petting him and he's calm now. I'm not sure what to do because I already have a cat, but my moms dear cat lucy suddenly died on wednesday. Really suddenly. So i figure it's fate and i know a good vet in the next town and take him there to get his feline -hiv/leukemia test.
He passes and the vet tells me he's probably 8 weeks old, since he has a full set of baby teeth, but he's so malnourished that he's the size of a 6 week cat. At this point, the cat is perched on my shoulder and licking my ear. He's really incredibly sweet and hungry so now I need to keep him separated from Sadie (my cat) for 2-3 weeks incase he has a respitory illness.
My mom isn't sure she wants a cat yet, let alone a male cat so I don't know what to do now. He's really really sweet and I shelled out for his first distemper shot as well...so if anyone in the DC area is looking for a sweet baby black kitten, give me a shout.




Now, about crafty bastards!
I lost 5 hours this afternoon dealing with the kitten so I need to get cracking!
Weatherly of the blog Spotlight On... was kind enough to write a little blurb about me after seeing my owls at Arts on Foot two weeks ago, so if you go to her blog, you'll find a coupon good for a surprise at Crafty Bastards....which is the day after tomorrow....oh god...I need to get back to sewing!
But it's so hard to sew when there's a baby kitten in the house!

they're here! they're here!

I had postcards made of Batty and Astro-NOT!
I didn't want to say anything until they were done, but they look so cute! And the cards have rounded corners! I'm a sucker for a rounded corner, aren't you?

Street Sculpture

There's a local artist named Mark Jenkins who I like a lot. A lotta lot. I first saw his work in 2004 or so at the Artomatic at the Children's Museum where he had his tape people and also these digital collage-things that looked like oriental rugs but it was digitally tiled images of body hair which were both intriguing and, I'll admit, a little bit revolting.

If you're lucky, you can catch his work on the street before DCRA or some other organization yanks it down.

Jenkins might be called a situationalist I guess, by taking things he finds on the street and turning it into something playful and creative- The lamp posts on Thomas Circle being turned into a Merry-Go-Round


Or large angels suspended in the unused alcoves of Malcom X Park.
I find work like his really inspiring- the ability to see something unique and beautiful and useful in an otherwise mundane and under-utilized location. His pieces are largely independant and do not cause stress or damage to their locations. Unless they are wildly misinterpreted by small minded people who apparently need something to do or complain about.

20x20

Sondra Arkin is putting on what looks to be a really cool show and she asked me to participate. To say I'm nervous is an understatement, but I am extremely honored.



The opening is this Saturday. Hope you can make it...hope I can make it!

Yikes, so much to do!

Thank you!

Thanks to everyone who braved Saturday's heat (and Friday's rain!). What a fun show!
Now I have to chain myself to my machine for crafty bastards in two weeks...yikes!

Before I do, I have to give Susan and Pam of As If Bags a huge thank you for their more than generous donation of gorgeous fabrics to turn into owls.
Check out their page for their beautiful bags!

Tomorrow!

Tomorrow I'll be at Art on Foot in downtown Washington, DC with some of my little guys. Cross your fingers for better weather than they're predicting!

Long weekend

The past two weekends have involved traveling (Chicago and Pennsylvania) so I'm excited to be staring down a three day weekend, and my roommate left for Brazil for about 2 weeks which always means full first floor craft-X-plosion.

Also, I found my fabric printer for my gocco last monday which is exciting, cause I bought a bunch of blank kitchen towels...so now i'm scheming up idears for new towel designs!

These Owls currently at Pyramid Atlantic!

DSC00911
Originally uploaded by tigersscareme

I think...I know one of them (the smaller brown one in the lower left) sold as I was in the store...

Public Art can excite

Last week I went to Chicago and made it to Millennium park which has two really exciting pieces of public art. The Crown Fountain by Jaume Plensa and Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate (Also called 'The Bean')
The Crown Fountain is two glass brick towers that face each other and features video of about 1000 different Chicago residents. There is also a spout where water pours out from the 'mouth' of the residents every once in a while. It's really entertaining to watch people interact with the towers and to see residents who may have been filmed check out the towers to see if they'll show up on the glass block screens.
Kapoor's Cloud Gate is perfectly placed to almost fully reflect the grand architecture of Michigan Avenue on one side and the park on the other.
There's a good article on the resurgance of public sculpture in the New York Times today. It also does a kind of drive-by review of the Koons show (also in Chicago).

Getting with the times

I have a new cord for my camera!
Pictures of Chicago and more owls to come!

Also, I bought myself a pro account on Flickr, so I'll get that going as well. Join me as I take baby steps to being an artist who is trying to be an OK business person as well, won't you?

I'm back!

Whew- Chicago is a heck of a town. I feel so comfortable there, I really do.
But now I'm back and I have to get to work!
I figure I want to have about 130-140 pieces for arts on foot which means I need to finish at least 6 things per day from now until the 12th or 13th or whenever it is.
Also, I was notified a few days ago that space opened up so I am a crafty bastard after all!!!!
So that's two huge shows in September plus one more secret thing that I don't want to talk about yet because i'm very freaked out about it.

other camera things

THanks to Art who suggested I check out "the ebay" for a new camera cord.

He wins nothing, but my eternal gratitude.

This thursday I will be flying out to chicago to visit some friends, see other friends get all married and just generally have fun.

I love chicago a lot. If I could i would probably move there but I don't know if i want to be that far from my family. which is such a weird thing to say, but i'm pretty happy that I'm able to say that now.

So if you have any chicago tips/suggestions for things not to miss, leave them in the comments, won't you?
xoxo
beth b.

Did you know?

If you lose your USB cord to your camera, you're kind of screwed?

I purchased a 'card reader' to replace lost cord, but the software is on a mini disk and the users guide to my Mac basically threatened to cut me if i tried to insert a minidisc into my computer.

so...I'm at an impass. Unless i can find a way to download the software or a replacement cable that is not a 50 dollar 9-headed beheamoth multi-culti replacement cable.
cripes.