Sadie's Turning Six!

I finished the coloring book!! During the birthday party, but luckily the birthday girl herself was late so we didn't miss out on the party. What we thought would take about an hour or two in the morning ended up taking about 4 1/2 hours. That was completely maddening. As Dave put on twitter "@stephhagen is as stressed as I ever remember seeing her, and she's making a coloring book!"

I don't handle computer problems gracefully.

When the coloring book was explained to Sadie, she said, "Whoa. This is cool." And then all my hardwork was totally worth it.

So, anyway - here are some of my favorite pictures from the coloring book.

I really had a blast doing this project. I've already got two more orders for coloring books and some ideas for more. I'm thinking a coloring book for grown-ups is in order. Who else finds coloring extremely theraputic?

Time Hog

I'm working on a project right now that is 1) oh so fun and 2) a super duper time time hog.

All of the moments in my day that aren't already filled up... you know, those 8 minutes between getting home and changing clothes to leave the house again. THOSE 8 minutes per day are completely devoted to making a coloring book for a very sweet 6 year old and her upcoming birthday party.

I really forgot how much I love drawing. I mean, I doodle. All the time. Everything in my office has a doodle on it somewhere. But drawing drawing. Spending time getting faces and arms and birthday cakes just right. Today, I have roughly half of the sketches finished. And from there we do the tracing and digitizing and printing, etc.

Here's the first sketch for the book. I'm in love with it. And if you know Sadie... I hope you love her outfit the way I do.

Even though it's time consuming, I can't imagine something I'd rather spend my time on.

NashVegas Craft Fair

Saturday was the much anticipated craft fair. It wasn't what I would call a smashing success. But I'm still glad I did it. Really really glad I did it.

Dave made my booth and a little matching table from a bunch of old pallets he got FOR FREE. I got so many compliments on this thing. It was definitely the most unique booth. I was proud of it. He disassembled and reassembled the booth on Saturday morning before the fair. Earbuds in place, obviously.

And I snapped this picture below while thinking of my oldest little sister, whom we call Bean. She says that I'm all rainbows and unicorns and buttons, or maybe it's glitter and sprinkles and butterflies... something like that. I've obviously shielded her well from my dark side. Actually I told her something about myself once that is kind of weird that I don't tell a lot of people, (don't worry - it's not a juicy detail. Just something semi-private) and I asked her if that freaked her out and she said, "Nope. It just makes you more sparkly." For some reason I took that as a giant compliment, even if it wasn't meant to be one, and I teared up and I wanted to hug her - but she was all the way in Missouri. So, to make a short story unnecessarily long, when a butterfly landed on my table full of cutesy crafts, I thought she would appreciate it. Also, I miss her. BEAN, I MISS YOU.
This was Saturday around 12:30.

Things got a little wet for a bit. But luckily, my artwork can hold its own against the elements and nothing was ruined. The sun came back out with a vengeance and dried up my little booth nicely and promptly fried the dickens out of me. Notice the giant white pole to the right of the booth. That was to be my shade. It didn't work. Maybe you noticed.

I Can Do This, I Can Do This...

It is TWO DAYS until the NashVegas Craft Fair and my living room is a disaster. I have piles of unfinished journals, finished journals, paintings, unfinished paintings, windows, shadow boxes, messes, paper scraps, ribbon, and the list goes on. I am very thankful that I have a mom and a sister coming into town this weekend and they are both people that will love me just the same if my house is filled with piles. Don't believe me when I say piles?

Girl means piles.

It looks like Hobby Lobby was taking a walk into the woods and decided to leave a trail of art supplies through my living room so she could find her way back to Franklin without getting lost in Antioch with no cell phone reception or flashlight after dark.

I have too many checklists running right now. Things I want to bring, things I still need to make, artwork I want to display, etc. My booth has not been built, but Mr. Hagen is working on that so I don't have to think about it. Mr. Hagen is also trying to switch shifts at work so he can help me set up my booth and drive me to the craft fair because I am still without car. And he needs to switch because, think about it, he is SCHEDULED TO WORK on Saturday. When I need his arm muscles and math skills (counting change is not really "my thing") and moral support.

So let's recap. Messes, lots of "unfinished" things, no car, no booth, no certainty on whether or not I have Dave's assistance on Saturday, no idea what I'm going to wear yet (which is normally what I obsess over before this kind of stuff), and the blatant fact that it's really my own doing and really my own habitual procrastination at fault. I actually wasn't even stressed until I started writing this blog post. Please excuse me while I find a paper bag.

Campy

I'm doing my best to get ready for the NashVegas Craft Fair on the 26th. And by doing my best, I mean twice a week I decide to get some work done and end up doing one or two projects. I've finished a few new journals and a few paintings and I've talked over the booth ideas with Dave, who just happens to be a very handy carpenter. And one of those times where I decided to get some work done, I accomplished three very sweet and summery paintings, of which I am quite pleased. They're not quite finished... finishing involves power tools, and quite frankly, I'm a bit too lazy to do that part just yet.

This color combination is everywhere right now and I want to use it on everything. These phone pictures dont' really portray the colors right (at least not on this computer) but they're what I would call gray, mint, salmon, and neon yellow. Those colors remind me of sorbet, and anything that reminds me of sorbet is a good thing. Plus, these little wood squares feel very homey to me. They're very "Missouri summer vacation" or something. I'm tempted to title them, "The Herzogs take a trip to the swingin' bridges and eat doritos and shoot fireworks but end up not camping because it was too humid outside."

Mural, Mural On the Wall

When I was in middle school, I remember staying up very late one night listening to music in bed for no good reason apart from wanting to stay up late for bragging purposes. And while sitting on the bed, bored to death, fighting sleep, I started drawing pictures on the wall. For some reason, it didn't even cross my mind that I would get in trouble (a weird break from my normal "someone will be getting in trouble for this" mindset.) Luckily, I was right in that assumption, and did not get in trouble. I like to think that it's just because I did such a good job, but it's probably because my parents are really cool people. So all along the windowsill next to my bed, there were colored pencil flowers. I was really proud of that.

A few years ago, after my youngest sister moved into the room, we took it from sunny yellow walls with flowers along the window, to a vivid teal room with more upscale decor. At the time she was a firm believer in the, stick things everywhere there is a hole and never ever throw anything away, school of interior design. But she also was a believer in me as an artist. She and my mom decided that they'd like me to paint something on the wall. They trusted me, and I was proud of that too. So, I painted this.
And when I was finished I thought, "well I could get used to this whole painting on the walls thing."

Skip ahead a few years, and here I am again - painting on someone's wall. On Sunday, my very hip friend Lillian trusted me to paint a tree on her wall. My biggest mural to date! I kind of loved it.
And seriously, I could get used to this whole painting on the walls thing.

Dear Journal

Brand new springy products in the Etsy shop, friends! These sweet little books are totally blank, so they can be used for all sorts of things. I made one for my friend Jackson's 4th birthday, so he could practice writing stories and working on his letters (which he is so good at, I may add.) It was a hit, thankfully. I have one that I'm using as a journal, but they can also be used for scrapbooks, freestyle coloring books, sketchbooks... pretty much whatever you want. Check out my shop if you're interested in purchasing one. They're just super cute, if you ask me, and even if you don't journal or sketch or scrapbook (why is that a verb?), they're cute just sitting on a shelf! That's what they're doing in my house, at least, and I think it's cute. I may be a tad partial.

Craftacular Craftacular

Friday I'm leaving town for, what will most likely be, the most fun any group of people has ever had ever. I mean... I don't want to exaggerate or get my hopes up or anything, but seriously. Most fun ever.

Two good friends and I are heading out East somewhere (I don't know where exactly... good thing I'm not driving) to meet up with another three girls and we're going to craft ALL WEEKEND. I currently have a list of 15 - 20 items that I want to make. And most of them are sewing... since, you know, sewing is my arch nemesis I thought, 'oh this will be fun. 13 sewing projects in three days.' But I've been told that the moral support will help me complete these sewing projects.

Fingers tightly crossed.

Watercolors

So, in high school I really found my love for art. I always enjoyed doing arts and crafts, doodling and such - but I never really felt like an artist until high school. I didn't even take my first real art class until my junior year. At that time, I started learning the basics. Different types of paints, how to sketch an accurate point of view, shading techniques, etc. and I was in love. I started thinking of ways I could incorporate art into every class. Which made the coolest Algebra notes of all time, but not the coolest Algebra grades... ahem.

One thing I dabbled with a tiny bit in high school but never really fully understood was watercolor. If you've ever painted with watercolors you know that the setup takes much, much longer than say, that of acrylic painting. Acrylic - canvas, jar of water, tube of paint, you're ready to go. Watercolor - watercolor paper, jar of water, tube of paint, masking fluid, board for mounting paper, tape for mounting paper, paper towels, paint a little bit, wait for it to dry, paint a little more, wait for it to dry, etc. I am not that person. I don't sit and wait on projects. I sit down in front of the TV, or next to the iPod dock, and I do it. Start to finish. Or start to never ever going to finish sometimes (usually when I'm not happy with the start.) But, I don't often work in stages. So, when the mandatory watercolor projects were finished, I stopped.

Then came several years of hating doing art (because it was ALL mandatory) followed by the period that I'm in now where I'm falling hard in love with it again. So, I decided to try my hand at watercolor again. I bought some masking fluid and went to town. I ended up with this little (and QUICK!) project, and I couldn't be more pleased. I have a feeling someone will be getting some of these for Christmas.

The Infamous "craft room"

Once or twice, I have mentioned my craft room, my art room, or when I'm feeling fancy... my art studio. It is usually just a room where I can pile all my tiny scraps of paper, get paint on the furniture, and hang up whatever decorations I want without the husband getting annoyed. Me and my tiny bits of paper are like him and his cords. Millions of cords. All sizes and lengths. All different purposes. All over the house.

On a seemingly unrelated note - I've been sick for 5 days. A flu, perhaps, nothing of the swine variety, but annoying nonetheless. Because I've been sick for what seems like months and have hardly left the house (with the exception of a double feature at the drive-in, and a trip to buy some new fall clothes - half off all clearance, folks. Even sickness can't keep me away from deals like that) here comes the relation to the craft room... I was inspired to organize. I moved furniture, which I don't recommend doing if you've been asleep for 14 hours earlier that day, hung artwork and inspiring things, and finished up TWO projects that really didn't need to be finished.

It felt good. It feels good. I've been sitting in here as much as possible, when I'm not sleeping or moping in front of Dave so he'll feel sorry for me. The prettiest tree in the neighborhood just happens to be outside the window of my art studio, yes, it feels fancy today, and the yellow and orange leaves are creating some serious fall motivation. I feel very much like I'm a bear going into hibernation. Getting my cave ready for the long haul. Also packing on a few pounds, but that's not really a good thing, it's just a can't-stop-making-hearty-soups-and-chili thing.

Because I've finally cleaned things up in here, I decided to take some pictures for the world to see. Documentation that I can, in fact, be an organized artist.

These little suitcases are just the cutest, right? I wish I knew what brand they were. They house embroidery floss, buttons, and ribbon scraps. Yes, I have a container for ribbon scraps.

This bulletin board is a work in progress. The funky pattern in the bottom left is a tile from my grandma's old bathroom. I want to frame it someday. The map (which I bought thinking it was about 4 feet wide, long story) has little push-pins in the places to which I've sold artwork. And pictures of my sisters - wonderful artsy girls.

I finally found a place to hang these paintings, which I've been wanting to hang since I made them. Here's the description of these pieces.

This is the beautiful tree out my window. Not really anything to do with my organizational skills. But, pretty.

A DIY project I'm pretty proud of. Mixed nuts tins wrapped in pretty papers and ribbons. See, Dave... I do have a use for ribbon scraps.

This easel is amazing! My dad hand made this for my wedding gift. It's huge and awesome. Be jealous that your dad isn't as cool as mine.

This wall is a work in progress also. The painting on the left is a copy of the first painting I sold. The swirly, colorful thing in the center is a ribbon holder. My good friend, Lillian is going to post a how-to of one of these on her blog soon, so I'll let you know when that happens. And the painting on the right is one I did in high school. It's a painting of Dave from when we took a trip to Seattle for my brother's graduation. It's one of the first paintings I did... and it's really more sentimental than impressive.

This Looks Like Real Art!

I've said it before, many times, but I have the greatest friends.  Really.  If there were a competition, I'd win.  

One of my awesome friends is Lillian B.  You can check out her website here.  She took these pictures of my artwork, and I don't know about you...  but I think these are a little better than my camera phone pictures.

Thanks Lillian! 

 

You Can't Spell Heart without Art - part II

For the second installment of the current "series" of blog posts, I'd love to explain the inspiration behind the first painted window I did - titled "hope". Here's a picture of the piece.

One of my favorite singer/songwriters (a genre I have much love for) is Sara Groves. I have posted about her too many times...but one of my favorite songs of hers is about hope. Last year, I went through a really rough few months struggling with depression and hopelessness. I heard this song for the first time as I was coming away from that season. I was inspired by her lyrics and the song itself.

Although I am not a musician, I have always had a passion for music. Emotions for me are really intertwined with music, so after hearing this song, I decided to literally have a hope window. Looking at it always reminds me of the song and how "hope has a way of turning its face to you, just when you least expect it."

Here are the lyrics to the song, and I urge you to check out the link, which also has the lyrics, but will let you listen to a piece of the song.

http://www.saragroves.com/store/tellmewhatyouknow/lyrics/itmightbehope/

You do your work the best that you can
you put one foot in front of the other
life comes in waves and makes its demands
you hold on as well as you're able

You've been here for a long long time
Hope has a way of turning its face to you
just when you least expect it
you walk in a room you look out a window
and something there leaves you breathless
you say to yourself it's been a while since I felt this
but it feels like it might be hope

It's hard to recall what blew out the flame
it's been dark since you can remember
you talk it all through to find it a name
as days go on by without number

You've been here for a long long time
Hope has a way of turning its face to you
just when you least expect it
you walk in a room you look out a window
and something there leaves you breathless
you say to yourself it's been a while since I felt this
but it feels like it might be hope

You can't spell heart without art - part 1

Warning! This is going to be a long post. As the first "installment" of the series I decided to title "You can't spell heart without art", I chose my favorite pieces. Because they are my favorites, I have put the most thought and heart into them, and thus - I have a lot to say about them.

Because my artwork has always been such a personal thing for me, a few pieces come out a little extra personal. Some of which I plan to never show the world. Ever. Others though, are very personal and still manage to eek out into public somehow. This set of 5 paintings is the latter. They are currently untitled because I'm not quite sure how to sum up all the emotion and love that went into these with just a word or two. Here they are all together.


The paintings are done on the pages of an old storybook, and are attached to old barn wood. The book pages are not necessarily significant, but the barn wood is. I wanted something damaged, beat-up, and dirty. I think it's important for people to know that beauty comes from despair. It's a lesson I have learned, and I'm sure will continue to learn. So, to turn old barn wood covered in mud into a piece of art was a way I felt I could represent that.

Each painting was inspired by one of my favorite verses from the Bible. Verses that mean a lot to me in different ways.

"gaze upon the beauty" is based on Psalm 27:4, which is "One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple."

Quite a bit of my dependence on God was taught to me through my dependence on people that couldn’t handle my dependence. They were not created to fill every need in my life. I know that now, and I continue to learn from those relationships. In the midst of learning those lessons, I often find myself crying out to God just asking for stability, comfort, or strength.

If I could ask the Lord for anything, just one thing, I’m not sure I would know what to pick. This verse says, “One thing I ask of the Lord,” and that astounds me. Not only does the writer choose just one thing to ask of the Lord - who holds all in His hand - but his one request is to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. Just sitting at the feet of God, in His temple, in His time – gazing upon the beauty before him. With all my brokenness and selfishness, I pray that I will one day grasp that the one thing I need in my life more than stability or strength is to seek Him in His temple.

"sour on wings like eagles" is based on the verse Isaiah 40:31. “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

This verse is one of my favorites for several reasons. I get tired pretty quickly when it comes to most things. Whether it’s my future plans, my job, or my growth in relationships – I get tired of the waiting. I catch myself thinking that I’m stuck and I get so tired of being stuck. Isaiah tells me otherwise. This verse tells me that I am not stuck; I am soaring on wings that the Lord gives me through hope. If I can keep my eyes hoping in the Lord, I will not grow weary, I will not be faint, I will soar on wings like eagles.

"I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
Ephesians 3:17-19

That verse really hits me. A love that surpasses knowledge. A love that can fill me with the measure of all the fullness of God. A love that is so amazing I have to have the power of all the saints to understand it. And that’s the love that He’s giving away. No effort on my part, no amount of studying, no natural ability will bring me any closer to understanding why God loves me the way He does. But He loves me in such a powerful way. His love is wide. His love is long. It is high, and it is deep.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."
Jeremiah 29: 11-14

One of the things I find about myself to be a stumbling block is my constant wandering, as I affectionately call it. I am always looking for a better situation, the next step, or the newest accomplishment. I have a hard time being content where I am. I always think that if I could just do this thing, then life would be better.

What I love about this verse, specifically, is the phrase, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you.” I am a wanderer at heart and whatever it is that I’m constantly looking for – all the man-made splendor of society – is rubbish compared to what I truly should be seeking. So, instead of seeking the world with a half-hearted effort, God tells me to seek Him. With all my heart. And there, I will be content.

This painting, "from the fullness of His grace" is based on the verse John 1:16. I have blogged about my love of this verse before - and that is actually what inspired me to do this set of paintings. Here is the link to the post talking about this verse and its significance to me.


Well...that is the first installment of "You can't spell heart without art". Stay tuned for more. I'll give you a few days to read part one, since it's so dadgum long.

Inspiration and Validation

Express was amazing. Thanks so much to all of you for supporting me in my venture into public creativity. It was a definite challenge, but I pulled through as a better person, I think. Taking what is normally such a personal thing for me and putting it literally on display for hundreds of people to see was no small thing. All of your words of encouragement and prayers have not gone unnoticed. So...thanks!

The festival was finished around 4:30 on Sunday afternoon, and I had such a sense of calm after it was all over. I felt inspired by the number of artists coming together over the act of worshipping through art, I felt validated in a strange way, and I had some really amazing bonding time with people I had never met before as we discussed my most personal artwork. I hope to be involved next year as well - and I will have (hopefully) grown a lot as a person and as an artist.

Here are a few pictures from Sunday. In the next few days I'll post a few pictures of specific artwork from my booth as well as some detail about how each piece is an act of worship to the true Creator.

Here's Amanda (who was kind enough to let me use her camera!) checking out my booth.

Although Dave was having a little fun playing with the settings on the camera, this was the best photo we got of the hallway where the artist booths were set up.

Here I am in with the artwork. Not pictured, the amazing boots I borrowed to wear Sunday.

Express

Our church has an arts festival every year called “Express”. Artists, musicians, and writers can all be involved, and it’s a great way to meet new people in the church. This year, since this is the year of “putting myself out there”, I submitted a request to be one of the artists at the festival. I have to get my artwork checked out by the team of people reviewing the submissions and then create like crazy in the next few weeks to have enough stuff to fill my booth if I’m selected. I’m really excited about the idea; I’m just beginning to get confidence in what I’m doing and I can’t wait to test it all out on a live audience. Here is the most recent painting I did. It's a mini-set of 9. Each canvas is 4"x 5". I think I'm going to use this as one of the samples I bring in to the church to be reviewed. I’d love to hear feedback from all of you, as well. Any favorites of mine that you think I should bring in? Any comments are helpful and welcome!

I'm a Real Artist!

I have sold my first painting! I ended up losing 6 cents on it, but who's counting? (Shipping and packaging is apparently a total racket!) While "talking up" my sale yesterday, I was able to hand out a few business cards as well - which resulted in selling two more paintings! These two will be custom, so I'm pretty excited about that. I don’t quite feel like a fake when I say that I’m an artist now…which is also pretty exciting.

Although art has always been a hobby of mine, I kind of lost all desire to paint and create for a couple years (coincidentally…or perhaps not so coincidentally… the two years that I was an art and design major in college) and I’m feeling such a relief now that that part of my life is back. Creative outlets are so therapeutic for me. I can just sit and turn my brain off while I’m painting or drawing and ignore life outside my apartment for awhile. Not to say life isn’t worth paying attention to, but sometimes it’s best to get away from it for a bit.

Illustrations

Since I am one of the typical "looking for my life's passion" women in her twenties, I have persued many avenues. Maybe persued is not the correct word. Maybe...showed slight interest in is more accurate. I have quite the tendency to get fired up about something right at first and then slowly lose interest completely. One of the many things I have wanted to be passionate about in the past was illustrations. I've always loved to write children's books, and I love art, so why not write and illustrate children's books? Sounds like the perfect relationship, but in reality my love for illustrations is having an affair with my inability to stick with something. It's a disasterous relationship, to say the least. Here are a few examples of stories I have started and not finished.

This was from a story I was writing about a girl who's constantly getting in trouble.

This story was never actually written, but I like the illustration.

This was a story about a girl who loves shoes (about a real girl) and pretends to be different people based on the pair of shoes she's wearing.

And this one is about a girl trying to decide what she wants to be when she grows up. Fitting?

Old Books, New Art

I love old books. I can spend hours just flipping through them - smelling the pages, finding new and unusual phrases that just aren't used anymore, and laughing at the illustrations. I don't read as often as I'd like to, but I always have a book in my hand. I have been making art for my apartment for awhile now using old book pages. I repurpose the covers into journals, and use the pages in collages.

Here are some new items in my shop. I'm planning to do several paintings using old book pages, like the ones below. Just need to make a stop at Hobby Lobby for some more canvases. Oh how I love Hobby Lobby.