Draper International Arts & Crafts Festival

It was such a treat to have a booth at Draper’s International Arts & Crafts Festival a couple of weeks ago. This is only the second year that the City of Draper has put on this festival, and it was noticeably larger than last year. There was over 100 vendors selling crafts, art, jewelry, textiles, and more.

They had lots of different performances on a main stage. Here is a link to a YouTube video that the city made about the event. I’m not in the video at all, but it gives you a good idea of the different booths that were there. There were lots of different food vendors too, which is usually my favorite part of any festival.

I had my 10x10 foot tent again, but this time I was somewhat limited to keeping all of my stuff inside my booth rather than letting it spill outside a bit. I also used two of the side walls to help with the wind and to give my booth more of an entrance and exit path. So this made it impossible for me to sit down and paint like I did at Draper’s Art in the Barn.

This turned out to be a good thing.

One: the whole festival was only from 10am until 4pm, so it was overall a very short day.

Two: it rained! Right around 2:15pm, a summer thunderstorm rolled in and it started raining. It rained hard enough to for me to move all of my stuff UNDER the tent and away from the edges. Of course, this was right when my taekwondo studio (along with my kids) was beginning their performance on the main stage too. Thankfully, I was able to watch it via Facebook Live.

It only rained off and on for an hour and then the sun came back out. Overall, it was a beautiful day, Quite a few friends were able to stop by my booth and say hello and buy a few stickers and prints. I had lots of kids stop by to pick up coloring pages or to just sit and color for a while.

A new thing that I had at my booth was a handful of blank, steel water bottles and tumblers. If you bought one, you could choose any two stickers to put on it for free.

Click on this image to see the Reel I posted about my booth.

All in all, having a booth at this festival was a really fun experience and I will definitely do it again next summer. Both experiences with a booth at a festival and an art show have made me want to search online for different festivals to judge the booth fees and potential travel expenses to see if it may be worth doing more often. I had a couple of people tell me that I would do well having a booth at shows down in Hurricane and St. George.

Off to do more research….

Draper's Art in the Barn

I did something scary this summer… well, scary for me. I submitted an application to be one of the artists in a local art exhibition. Every year, the Draper Visual Arts Foundation has an exhibition in a historic barn at a local park. I went to it last year and really loved to see the work on display from local artists. This year, the Draper Art in the Barn exhibition has been expanded to let artists showcase their art in tents outside of the barn too. So they will have more than double the number of artists than any previous year.

I was accepted to be one of the new artists and I’ll have my artwork on display outside the barn. I’m both excited and kind of terrified. This is an ENTIRELY NEW thing for me and to say I feel a little unprepared is an understatement.

I am confident in my art, thankfully. But where I feel unprepared is in the display aspect. I have to bring all of my own display stuff, table, tent, anything else. Thankfully, the show ends at 7pm, so I don’t need to worry about lighting. We are good on a tent and table, but I am having to research how to display my framed artwork in a way that is sturdy, because who knows if it’ll be windy that day. And whatever I do needs to be affordable. I have no idea if I’m going to continue to do this art exhibition thing. I want to, so fingers crossed it’s a positive experience.

Ultimately, cross everything that it isn’t windy! Thats seriously my biggest fear.

I bought myself a mat cutter for Christmas last year, so cutting my own mats will save me a bunch of money. This week I have been cutting mats and getting paintings and prints into frames. Custom picture framing is extremely expensive. I know, I used to be a picture framer! Being able to cut my own mats and use ready made frames is making this a lot less stressful on my wallet.

When it comes to displays though… there are so many options. I will probably get a few grid walls and hooks and see how that goes. Then I will display a few smaller frames on a table with little easels.

Both of these are originals! Both will also have a few giclée print options available for sale too.

I am planning to sell vinyl stickers and I’ll have a bunch of prints for sale in a handful of different sizes. I will have a few paintings in 5x5, 5x7, 8x10, a couple of 8x12, and a few 11x14. They are giclée prints and really beautiful. The giclée printing process provides higher image detail than traditional photo printing. It’s honestly hard to tell the difference between the print and the original… unless you’re me and know which is which.

I am not planning to sell a ton of original paintings because I usually make a few changes to them in Photoshop before I turn them into stickers or prints. But I am considering selling a few originals. A few I may attached a large price tag because I don’t really want to sell them… but I’d be willing for the right price.

All 3 of these are originals paintings

Wish me luck! If this exhibition goes well, I will submit an application to be a vendor at the Draper International Arts & Crafts Festival that’s in mid September too.

Samy and Leo Painting

My friend and taekwondo master Samery asked me if I’d recreate this photo of her with her husky, Leo in watercolor and I was more than thrilled to do it for her. Corona Arch is one of my favorite hikes in the Moab, UT area as is apparent with how many times I’ve painted it.

This photo proved to be an interesting challenge with the position of the sun and shadows. Samy and Leo are sitting in the shadow of the arch with the sun behind the arch itself, but the shadows have been brightened up considerably. I chose to scoot them forward a little so I could give them a nice cast shadow. This grounded them to the rock better than when I tried to put them in the shade on an early sketch.

Of course, then I was left with what to do with the arch itself with the sun right behind it. The arch should be much darker than it really is and the sun causing a flare on either side. Rather than figure out how to do this in watercolor, I just gave everything a rim light; the arch, Samy, and Leo.

There’s just something cool about a rim light and a cast shadow.

What do you think?

I still go back and forth on whether these were wise decisions and I have debated brightening up the sky in that space where the sun is supposed to be, but the end result is still something I’m happy with. I’ll cut a custom mat for it before giving it to Samy.

Below you can view a TikTok video of the process in time lapse. I did continue to make a few changes after I stopped filming, but it’s pretty close.

10 Signs Your Child Might be a Foodie

How many of us start out this parenting gig thinking we’re not going to “let” our kids become picky eaters? We introduce them to a variety of flavors and textures early on and make sure they are encouraged to try everything. You try expose them to foods from different ethnicities, then watch helplessly as they spiral into the threenager stage and will only eat mac n cheese, chicken nuggets, and foods that aren’t “noisy” or “squishy.” What went wrong?!?!

I think most of us can agree, even the most devout of foodies will have kids who go through picky phases. We just have to do our best to keep showing enthusiasm, rule out or work with any allergies or sensitivities to textures or flavors, and do our best to muddle through it; hoping for change as they get older.

My kids went through very picky phases. For a while my oldest wouldn’t eat beef because “it takes too long to chew.” As a toddler he LOVED broccoli, peas, and spinach and then at age four he refused to eat anything that was green.

My husband and I are both big foodies. We try to make a variety of different foods at home and now that our kids are well passed the toddler stages, we usually include them in meal planning. When we travel, what we can eat plays a big role in deciding where we go and we make a point to not eat at restaurants that we have at home. 

I’d love to think that our enthusiasm when it comes to food played a role in how un-picky our kids have become, but I know a LOT has to do with their personalities. We have plenty of foodie friends whose kids are still struggling to outgrow their pickiness.

HERE ARE THE SIGNS:

1. In their head, trying new foods is an adventure rather than a chore or something to fear. Almost ALL samples are tasted at grocery stores and Costco. Latest discovery? Pâté. Our grocery store was sampling a rosemary and duck pâté, spread on little toasts and my son literally closed his eyes and moaned with his first bite. Then he asked if we could buy some for Dad, not knowing that he already loves pâté. 

2. Ask them their favorite food and it will be something many kids (and even many adults) don’t care for or think is gross or weird. My kid? Salmon sashimi. Shoyu ahi poke (raw, marinated tuna). Deep fried chicken livers. Lengua (beef tongue) or cabeza (beef head) tacos.

3. It’s library day at school and your kid checks out cookbooks instead of books about Fortnite or soccer.

4. Their birthday is coming up and rather than ask for a party at the local trampoline park or playground, they ask for a Chopped or Iron Chef-themed party at the local grocery store that has cooking classes. 

5. “What do you want for dinner?” is followed by requests for Japanese teppanyaki, Korean BBQ, Indian curries, or Hawaiian plate lunches.

6. Trying a new recipe? During dinner your foodie kids critique the dish with an assessment worthy of Iron Chef: “The texture is wonderful, but I think it needs to be seasoned a little more.” “I love the blend of flavors, but maybe a side of rice would be better than pasta.”

7. Foodie kid opts for summer cooking classes instead of ninja warrior camp or taekwondo camp.

8. While on vacation you have to explain to your child that they cannot have salmon or tuna for six days in a row… because there’s a mercury thing. I have actually had to have this conversation with my oldest. 

9. When having dinner at a sushi restaurant, your foodie kid ditches their family to sit at the sushi bar and chat with the chef about where the tuna came from or different ways to prepare salmon.

10. Your foodie child skips the cereal or candy aisle at the grocery store and instead browses different spice blends and the meat counter to see what’s on sale. 

I’m so, so grateful we’ve left the picky phase with my kids. Every day I count myself lucky that there are almost no foods that my kids won’t at least taste. They’re still working on foods that are even remotely spicy and raw veggies and salads are still a no-go, but we’re getting there.

Laura's Holiday Card - 2021

Laura never disappoints with unique and creative ideas for her family’s holiday card. Every year she jokes about doing a “normal” card and freaking out their friends and family thinking there’s some kind of hidden Easter egg of kookiness. Nope!!

This year Laura had fun with Photoshop and some fun, fake book cover ideas. I helped out with some Photoshop too; especially getting her son’s head and their pug, Mr Bean into the Last Action Hero poster and coming up with the book type. I also threw together the plaid background and the actual books that each cover is part of. This was SO much fun to work on!!

A little zoomed-in action. Thanks for this EPIC holiday card concept, Laura!!