Sugar High, Sugar Low. Goodbye 2011! You've Been a Doozy!

I've been on a bit of a sabbatical. I haven't painted. I haven't glossed. I have been wearing leggings and a hoodie. It's been GREAT! After a fall full of constant production of inventory in preparation for three art shows in four months after a summer filled with moving, relentless home repair, and grief over the loss of dear friend, I finally felt like I could sneak a little break, enjoy a little Christmas cheer, veg in front of the TV. Of course, I have two more shows coming up in February as well as a gallery and boutique to restock, so I'm sure I'll panic tomorrow, but for today, a little sabbath is in order.

Why am I being a couch potato? Because I just completed my biggest show yet...Fine Art in Brentwood Show and Sale at Brentwood Academy! I cannot begin to explain how much I anticipated this show. And by "anticipated," I mean worried, worked, prayed, worked, worried, worked, and then worried, worked and prayed some more. This was a big one. So many veterans of the Nashville art community...and me, the newbie. Once again, I was overwhelmed and blessed by the warm reception and genuine encouragement of the other artists and by the hard work and kind hospitality of the show staff at Brentwood Academy. Just to get into this show was unbelievable but to actually have a successful show with tons of sales and new contacts was beyond expectations!

So now on to the recap of the weekend!!!
-65 paintings on display
-35 paintings SOLD

Woohooo!!

I was on a constant roller coaster of sugar high and sugar low from the hospitality cart that came around ever 15 minutes with hot chocolate, coffee, cookies and treats. I'm such a sucker for that kind of thing (concession stands, airplane carts, ice cream trucks) so I indulged every time on Saturday. By the end of the day I was a train wreck. On Sunday I showed a bit more restraint!

One of the many blessings of this newfound career is seeing some of the same faces at each event. People who have come just to see me and my artwork. People who didn't know me before that first show at the barn and who show up at each event to buy, to encourage, to visit. And then there are the early encouragers of my work, the people who have been buying from me since the get go. To see Julie and Midget waiting for me at my booth on Sunday warmed my heart. They began buying pieces over two years ago and they keep coming back for more. People like them (and there are many) gave me the confidence to step out on faith and apply to shows and knock on shopkeepers' doors.

Never in my wildest dreams did I see where those first tentative steps would lead. C'est Moi boutique, Bella Rustica Barn Sale, Belmont Community Celebration of Art, York and Friends Gallery Memphis, Lipscomb Art Event, Featured Artist for American Heart Association's Heart and Soul event, and the Harding Art Show. Unbelievable. UN.Believable.

So here's what's coming in 2012 for little e studio:

The Lipscomb Art Event-February 10-12
http://www.lipscomb.edu/advancement.dlcs/Filter/Item/762/6780



American Heart Association's Nashville Heart and Soul Benefit--February 18
http://nashvilleheartandsoul.com/
For this event, a loft tour featuring wine and music, I will be the featured artist. One of my heart images will be used for advertising purposes and turned into a poster for sale at the event.

Harding Art Show-May 3-5
http://artshow.hardingacademy.org/podium/default.aspx?t=105613
I am still giddy, elated, thrilled, floating, flabbergasted, honored, humbled, freaked, amazed, overwhelmed that I got into this show. Knock me over with a feather. Pinch me. Or don't. I think I'll bask in this one a little longer!!

Believe it or not, there may actually be more good news, wild news, in the coming months. I covet prayers as I navigate this brave new world...that I can handle what comes my way without compromising my family or my sanity!

So here is what I have to say about 2011. Wow. WOW.

This year almost killed me with the good and bad.

The lowest of lows when my best friend died after battling ALS. Another low when we moved and our new house turned instantly into the money pit...exactly like the movie. A continual low in the struggle of balancing this new career and new motherhood. Guilt. Pressure. Stress. Fatigue. Anxiety. I can't lie. It's been difficult.

The highest of highs of watching my sweet baby girl run and talk and spin and giggle. The unbelievable high of getting accepted into show after show and shop and gallery. The high of encouragement and support as people actually buy my work. The continual high of getting to create for a living. Finding a dormant talent and watching it flourish.

I have a lot to reevaluate in 2012. Numero uno is trying to get some kind of organization, schedule, system in place to stop the madness! I also need to know when to say yes and when to say no. Make sure I am doing all of this for the right reasons.

But I can say this without a shadow of a doubt. THANK YOU. Thank you. Thank YOU! To every single person who bought a piece of my work, thank you. You didn't have to. You worked hard for your money. The economy stinks. My artwork is a luxury not a necessity. I hope I never lose the sense of absolute gratitude every time someone purchases one of my pieces. To know that you bought it because you loved it, because it makes you happy, because it was the perfect gift...I am humbled.

A dear friend and fellow artist sent me this note after the Brentwood show. I have to admit, I wept.
Art is a visual language - a visual communication of ideas, emotions, and experiences. An artist puts spirit and soul into his/her work to connect with humankind. It takes courage to open your "interior" to allow others to view and judge.
Congratulations on a very successful weekend of courage and communication. Your artwork has inspired a joyful spirit in so many people - what touched them even more, was your joyful spirit attached to each piece that you cheerfully gave with each purchase or admiring comment.

Oh how I hope that I live up to these words. That I am spreading joy through this endeavor.

Forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a NEW THING! Now it springs up! Do you not perceive it?
Isaiah 43: 18-19

May the New Year bring you many wonderful NEW THINGS!
little e

surrealism

I have no idea what is going on.

Seriously.

Let's just recap a bit to get some perspective:

Three years ago I quit my tutoring job and took a weekend art class with some girlfriends. Today my art is in a retail store and a gallery, I have two uber successful art shows under my belt and two more coming up in December and February.

Surreal.

But I digress. I haven't posted in a month. So much to tell.

Let's start with the Belmont Community Celebration of Art Show and Sale at Christ the King. This was my follow up to my first public venture, the Bella Rustica Barn Sale, which featured home decor and gifts along with art. The barn sale was a smashing success for little e studio, but the Belmont Show was a different bird. A real art show with committee-selected artists, all of whom were seasoned, trained, talented, experienced professional artists....and me. My weekend at the Belmont show was an inspiring inauguration into the world of art shows. I was selling my wares alongside seasoned, trained and talented artists who could have made me feel like an amateur but who encouraged and advised and cheered me on. I am still amazed, humbled, bumfuzzled by this crazy midlife career coupled with new motherhood, but my first foray into the art show world could not have been better.
The set-up was difficult, the hours were long, my dogs were barking, BUT it was all worth it! My sales were amazing, including my three biggest pieces the very first night, and it led to an incredible opportunity...my first bonafide art gallery!!!!

I am now represented by Ron York of York and Friends at his Memphis location, Market Central!!! http://yorkandfriends.com/ I hope to be in his Nashville locations soon, once I catch up on commissions and build my inventory for the Brentwood Academy show in December. I could not be more pumped about this opportunity. I went to see Ron six months ago to get advice about the art business. He represents so many well known local artists and I needed input on pricing, art shows, galleries, retail. All things I was, and am, still clueless about. What a full circle moment when he approached me about representation. Once again, surreal!

I have been trying, trying to catch up on commissions that I put off before the September shows. Almost done, so now I am working toward the Fine Art in Brentwood Show, December 2-4. www.fineartinbrentwood.com



And then I have the Lipscomb Art Event, February 10-12, the Heart and Soul event benefitting the American Heart Association February 18, and, as always, my inventory at C'est Moi in Brentwood.

Sur.Real.

So here's the deal. I don't know why. I don't know how. I don't know what in the world is happening. I am blessed, I am thrilled, I am confused. I am overwhelmed. I am busy. I am a wife and mother first. I paint during naps and preschool and after bedtime. I have no idea about current events. I do not watch any shows in real time if I watch shows at all. I don't cook or do laundry. My best stress reliever is Pinterest but it is the biggest time sucker after Etsy. I neeeeeeeeeed a vacation. But I am grateful and hopeful and humbled and amazed.

"Forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a NEW thing. Now it springs up! Can't you feel it?" Isaiah 43:18-19.

Thanks to all of you who have helped make this little side venture, my new thing, a full blown success.

little e studio

Bella Rustica...bella beautiful!

I don't have words to describe the beauty of this past weekend. Maybe it's because I'm so stinkin' tired. Bone-tired. Covered-in-sawdust tired. Coming-off-my-sugar-and-adrenaline-high tired. But I think it is actually because this weekend was beautiful on every level. Beautiful setting. Beautiful people. Beautiful merchandise. Beautiful cause. Beautiful encouragement. Beautiful food. Beautiful friends. Beautiful cows...seriously, they were amazing!!!

Instead of trying to describe every detail of this sensory overload experience, I thought I'd recap in true Emily style...a list of favorites! I especially annoy my husband with my insistence that he tell me his favorite part of a trip or movie or meal or event. Then I go on to ask his second favorite...and third favorite...you see how it goes.

So here are my favorites from little e studio's public debut at the Bella Rustica Barn Sale benefitting Agape:

5. The Venue...Tap Root Farm, a little piece of heaven on earth. Rolling hills, hay bales, baby cows, blue skies, picturesque barn.
4. The Owners of Tap Root...the most precious people. I just want to squeeze them. I want them to adopt me! Watching their reactions to the transformation of their working farm to a bustling marketplace was adorable! 3. The Food...goo goo cluster ice cream, Elvis cupcake with cinnamon sugar bacon crumbles, burgers fresh from the farm, kettle corn, strawberry lemonade slushie. I felt like I was back at the fair. I don't have pictures because I devoured each tasty treat with supersonic speed. Yummmm....

2. The Other Vendors...not only did the other vendors have incredible merchandise, they were incredibly gracious and fun as well. I feel like I made new friends and was honored to be part of this community for the weekend. Kelly Montana of Me and My Canvas
Vintage Junky


Cowgirl Bloomers

TOTEally Posh by Erin Jones

1. The Customers...overwhelmed by the crowds. It was nonstop until about 5:00 on Saturday. But seeing so many friends and neighbors coming out to support me and this wonderful cause just filled my heart to bursting! My neighbors from my childhood, whom I haven't seen since I was 12, drove up especially to come to my booth. They were there at 10:00 on the spot Saturday and bought 6 paintings!!! And they brought me a Halloween gourd they had carved. Amazing! New neighbors, oodles of ladies from my church, former coworkers, Matt's coworkers, Matt's coworker's mothers (for real!), dear friends. And then there were all the new people I met who oohed and aaahed over my work and labored over what piece to buy! I wish I could bottle that feeling!










So how did I do? I sold 31 pieces. THIRTY-ONE pieces!! Are you kidding me?!! I more than exceeded any little goal I set for myself. The only downside to selling that many pieces is that I will have to lock myself into the basement for the next two weeks to get ready for the Belmont Community Celebration of Art September 30-October 2. Just keep painting...just keep painting...

On behalf of myself and of Agape and the families whose lives will be positively affected by your support of me and this event, thank you ever so much!

little e

PS. I forgot to mention that i got invited to participate in the Art Event at Lipscomb February 10-12. Yep. That's number 4. More on this great event soon! Let's just say it is a full circle moment. Blessings abound!

the countdown is on...

Less than two weeks to my first major public display and sale of my artwork. www.bellarusticanashville.blogspot.com



holy shnikeys.

Second major public display and sale of my artwork is a mere 12 days after my first. www.ctkart.com


I need about 40 paintings per show. 40 +40=80.

The third major public display and sale of my artwork is December 2-4 at the Fine Art in Brentwood Show and Sale, just two months after my second show. www.fineartinbrentwood.com. Those two months include Halloween, 2nd birthday festivities and Thanksgiving. I need 40 paintings for this show as well.

40+40+40=120.

Eek.

I am up to 77 paintings in some form of completion.

I have to create inventory lists, create displays, fill out paperwork, price paintings, arrange childcare, plan set up and take down.

I have paint permanently under my fingernails.

I have a 22 month old who could care less that I have two art shows coming up.



Did I mention that I moved this summer? Or that the house we bought needed everything from the roof to the floors to the plumbing to the electricity to the paint to the A/C to windows to a thorough hazmat-suit kind of cleaning?

Good times.

So yes, stress is a constant in my life right now, but how blessed am I to have these amazing opportunities? The timing of my success may leave a little to be desired but I am grateful and humbled that these fun, happy, peppy, colorful, layered, textured, glossy bits of my creative spirit are bringing joy to so many homes!


Say a prayer that I survive this month!!!

little e

Just keep painting...just keep painting

When I first started selling my artwork, I set a goal to get into two shows a year at some point down the line. I thought how lovely it would be to do one show in the fall and one in the spring and spend the months in between in my happy place, honing my skills, all while being the most excellent wife and mother ever.
Well, two years into this new career path and I have managed to get into a store and into three shows this very fall. I have applied for two more in the spring. I am swimming in paint. Timing is everything they say. I have timed my art world debut to coincide with moving into a new home and with the onset of the toddler years. Not stressful at all. Good times. Good times.

Naptime has turned into painting express. Nightime has turned into panic-stricken list making. In-between-time has turned into just-stay-hydrated mode...did I mention that it is hotter than hades out there? Obviously, I am still working on being the most excellent wife and mother ever section of my previously mentioned goals. I'm sure at some point I'll either find the balance or fall off the deep end!

So you know about the Bella Rustica sale September16-17 and the Fine Art in Brentwood Sale December 2-4 already, but did you know I also got into the Belmont Community of Art Show and Sale at Christ the King September 29-October 2?
http://ctkart.org/Belmont_Community_Art_Show/Welcome.html (this is last year's poster)

I am thrilled beyond belief that I got into this show as well. To be included in the roster of artists for both the Belmont and Brentwood sales is amazing, humbling...and a bit intimidating to be sure!!!

On a more somber note, I cannot be true to myself or my work without mentioning the great loss of my sweet and talented friend, Christy, who lost her battle with ALS on July 15. To say that it stopped me in my tracks would be an understatement. I owe much of my aesthetic to Christy. She was a talented designer whose furniture and paint colors and space planning blessed my life on a professional level and whose laughter, stories, and tender spirit blessed my life on a personal level. If you have bought a little e studio piece in the last two years, you have bought a little piece of Christy. She gave me all the leftover paint from her condo renovation and I have used her brown in almost every piece since then. It is the perfect brown, of course. Last year I auctioned off a painting to raise money to send Christy and her husband, Doug on a dream trip to Italy. Through the generosity of so many, they got to go on that cruise and create wonderful memories. I thought I'd share the painting one more time.
Heaven is a much prettier and a much louder place now that she is there...

Hope to see you at a show! My first ones...holy shmoly!!!

Here is a little preview of what I've been working on!

pinch me!

Actually, don't!! Too much good stuff happening and I don't want it to stop!

First, I can barely keep up with the demand for my work at C'est Moi! My chunky chunks of love hearts are selling as soon as I drop them off! I'm churning them out as fast as I can!
Second, I have been selected as a vendor for the Bella Rustica barn sale September 16-17! Not only will I be surounded by amazing artisans and vintage vendors but I will also be supporting a great cause since this sale is benefitting Agape! Check out the blog where I was recently highlighted, www.bellarusticanashville.blogspot.com
Third...this is the BIG one...I'm still in shock...are you sitting down? I got into my first real, live art show, Fine Art in Brentwood, benefitting Brentwood Academy, December 2-3. This is a huge deal! The publicity, the exposure, the advertising, the foot traffic, the other artists, the amount of inventory. Huge. This show could be the difference in my artwork being a hobby or a true profession. I applied early in the process and knew that invitations should have been extended by the 15th of June. When that day came and went, along with several more, I just resigned myself to the fact that I didn't get in. Imagine my surprise 5 days later when I went to the mailbox and a nice, fat envelope from Fine Art was waiting in the mailbox. It had gone to the old house and took several days to find its way to the new one! www.fineartinbrentwood.com

I feel immeasurably blessed by this season of success! Why is confidence so elusive? I wish that I could trust myself and believe in myself without needing so much validation. I guess I can finally start calling myself an artist without making quotation fingers!!!

little e

hotcakes

little e studio has had quite the month. Whirlwind doesn't begin to describe all the emotional and physical toil of moving home and studio.

Before all the selling, buying, packing, and moving started, I had begun making cold calls on businesses and galleries in hopes of expanding my little business venture. Sales out of my studio had been so encouraging I felt that I was ready to take this next step. Unfortunately cold calls involve overcoming a plethora of phobias and a perpetual case of social awkwardness. I've had some pretty wonderful cheerleaders in my section who had set me up with a few shop owners, but even with them paving the way, I was a basket case. Ironically, it was on the way to one of the shops belonging to a friend of a friend when I made a wrong turn that landed me plop in the middle of a fabulous boutique in Brentwood named C'est Moi. C'est Moi has "funky junk", jewelry, original art, home furnishings, and Dash and Albert rugs all arranged with an artful eye and a nod to whimsy...in other words, my kind of place. After browsing for a bit, I gathered my gumption and my artwork and introduced myself to the owner. In the words of Sally Field, she liked me, she really liked me!!! She wanted my paintings in her store-a real, live store!

I was so excited, but my inventory was super low and I had committed to a street festival in Brentwood around the same time...oh, and I was moving!!! What was I thinking? I dropped off the planet for about a month while we uprooted our life. I tried to paint in between packing and chasing a crazed toddler, but i was derailed again and again. I had to drop out of the street festival at the last minute and wondered if I would ever get little e back off the ground. I decided to call C'est Moi and see if the owner even remembered me. She did! The next day my paintings made their retail debut! I felt like a singer hearing their song on the radio for the first time! Giddy!!

Even more thrilling was the call the next day that FOUR paintings had sold the first day plus they got a commission for another and a request for more small hearts for gifts!! Then the next day two more sold! Then a few days later, a customer took two out on approval and bought a big 24x24 heart! 7 days later, only 3 out of the original 13 were left in the store!! Selling like hotcakes!!!!

Needless to say, I am just in awe of this little streak of success! It could be a fluke but what a lovely fluke it is!

I just dropped off my second round of paintings today!
Check out C'est Moi if you get a chance! It is behind Judge Bean's on Church Street. I'm sure that you will find a few things you can't live without!!
shopcestmoi.blogspot.com

little e

So Long, Sweet Studio...

Blog posts have been few and far between the last few months. We are moving. Leaving the home we painted, remodeled, tweaked, tiled, refinished, landscaped, furnished, designed, decorated, loved. We bought the house for the light, the land and the location. It is still ideal. Still fabulous. Still a great house. Still a home. We brought our baby home here. We buried our two furry babies here. It is hard to leave.

Better school districts closer to church and friends have lured us away to suburbia after 16 years in the city. We swore we'd never cave but having a baby tends to change things.

We are also leaving behind my sweet, airy, original little e studio tucked into the carport behind our home. It began life as a craft/hobby room when I used to have a booth in an antique mall selling refurbished thrift store finds but quickly morphed into a cozy, creative, inspired place to paint. It has not been without drawbacks, With only a small window unit to heat and cool the space, I have been at the mercy of the weather, practically shutting down in winter when both my paints and fingers were frozen.

My new studio will have about five times as much room, its own A/C, tons of storage and display space. Definitely a selling point! But let's face it folks...it's a basement. Not the same as my open-aired, high-ceilinged, french-doored, happy place. However, I'm up for the challenge. Turning the new studio into an inspiring, bright, creative space so that little e studio can grow and expand will be a blast! I can't wait to scour thrift stores and thumb through magazines to get ideas!!

And if you were wondering why or how little e studio might be growing...stay tuned! I am coming to a gallery in Belle Meade, a store in Brentwood, and a street festival in Brentwood as soon as I can get cracking with my painting!! I'm up to my ears in boxes right now, but hopefully I'll be up to my ears in orders before long!!!

Happy Day!
little e

a banner day

 

Last week, little e studio had a HUGE day. Not in sales or productivity or exposure. But in encouragement. My favorite local artist and major inspiration, Deann Hebert, just heaped encouragement on my head by meeting me for coffee, giving me oodles of advice, and most humbling of all, becoming the proud new owner of this little heart:



As a primarily self-taught artist (and as just plain old me), I can easily succumb to self-doubt. I am oh so easily intimidated by those whose talent and training and success far exceed my own. I am hesitant to market myself or believe those who compliment me. I am quick to succumb to what I describe as the "American Idol Syndrome"...that people are just saying they like my art because they don't want to hurt my feelings. My steady stream of sales, repeat customers, and facebook fans have been trying to tell me what Deann finally validated for me over coffee. That I have created something unique with value and style, that makes people happy, that is worth pursuing, that is worth selling, that is worth buying, that is worth creating.

That, my friends, is a good day indeed!

little e

fine feathered friends

Spring is finally in the air! My fingers are crossed that the warmer temperatures and sunshine will stick. This winter seemed so long, frigid, blizzardy, gloomy, sickly and overcast that I am having a hard time actually believing that daffodils are poking up all over my backyard. I have decided not to put my winter clothes up just yet. Not because I'm being pessimistic but I just don't want to jinx spring!

So in honor of birds chirping, trees budding, and sky blue-ing, I've put together a little montage of tweets!

oh so happy day to you all!

little e

More love...

I am not sure what sparked this new heart series (is it February 14th looming just around the corner?), but I do know that i heart it!!!

Now, as a disclaimer, hearts have never been a favorite of mine...something to do with growing up in the 80's with lots of country blue, mauve and peach and heart motifs in everything. However, I have to say, I seem to have changed my own mind about them with fresh new colors and texture out the wazoo!

Check out this scrumptious new color palette...dove gray, soft yellow, chocolate brown and creamy white! Love it!



Enjoy!!
little e