Home!

I'm home from my trip to Alabama and very happy to say that both art shows were a great success! I am so thankful to everyone who came out to see me and my work. The weather was perfect, the turnout was great, and I met my monetary goal for my trip attending Art on the Square alone! Thank you to the organizers of both Art on the Square and the Monte Sano Art Show for all their hard work. I know from personal experience the time and sweat that goes into planning events like these and I really appreciate how wonderful they are EVERY YEAR. I can't wait for next year!

I managed to snap a few photos of my booth setup at AOTS before the crowds got too heavy:

Booth Front

Booth Side

My helpers and sanity savers: my mom and sister. (My sister found those awesome shutters at an estate sale for $5 each, can you believe it? All they needed was a new coat of paint and viola! Perfect earring holders.)

It's too early for photos...And also, I need a third table for this much inventory!

This year was the first year I displayed some of my paintings. I am very glad I took the plunge. I figured since my degree is in painting, it was past due that I put my artwork up for sale. I am happy to announce that I will soon be selling art prints in a new Etsy shop! More details on that to come!

It's good to be home and I hope to have KeelyB open for business within the day or two. The holidays are fast approaching!

Come See Me at the Art Shows in September!!!

Why?
Well, there are two (main) reasons.
1. Some amazing talent shows up for these things, and
2. I will be selling some stuff that I don't sell in the shop!

For example, these really cool leaf pendants will be making an appearance:

The leaves in these babies were made by Mother Nature herself, so no two are alike. They are coated with some kind of wonderful silvery/gold metallic substance that looks really rad with the silver wire, if I do say so myself. I love how delicate they remain, though. You can still see all the veins and beautiful intricacies that Nature puts into her work. I carefully cut and grind the glass to reflect each leaf and its unique shape. I'm proud of these pendants, if you can't tell, and they are even better in person.

So! If you live in North Alabama, or near(ish), you should mark your calendars for the second and third Saturdays in September and come experience these art shows. I made a full post about the shows, here, and that post includes links to the websites which offer more details. I'll be sure to mention the shows at least one more time before I hit the road for Alabama, as well. You know, just in case anyone misses these posts.

Happy Hump Day! Have a lovely rest of the week! My parents are in town this weekend so you probably won't hear from me until next week!

September Art Shows!

Art on the Square
Sept. 10, 2011
Downtown Athens, AL.
(click the link for more details)

The Monte Sano Art Show
Sept. 17, 2011 (yes I noticed the typo on their banner)
Monte Sano Mountain in Huntsville, AL.
(click the link above for more information)

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I hope you can come to at least one of these awesome shows to stop by and see me! Both of these shows are juried, and have an amazing amount of talent on display. I am so proud to be part of them again this year!

Sweet Home Alabama

I hope your Memorial Day weekend treated you well. I know mine did. We took advantage of the extra day Daniel had off and went to visit family down in Alabama.

My weekend included lots of river views...

And turtle feeding. (They *love* dog food!)

Country sunsets.

Golf-cart rides.

And "cow wrangling".

(They mostly just ran away from us.) The closest I could get was to this yearling.

As usual, the visit wasn't long enough. But I'm thankful we got to go at all.
Happy Tuesday to you!

Tornado Relief T-Shirts

My dear friend Maggie is doing an amazing thing to help raise funds for tornado relief in Alabama. She's offering hand-printed (silkscreened) t-shirts for sale at her website for an affordable $15.00 each. All proceeds will go to the American Red Cross. Her goal is to raise $1,000.00 but I think we can all help her achieve more than that!

The design will be printed on high quality Alternative Apparel shirts (which I love!) and sizes available are Sm-2XL. Click here for more info. and to order one for yourself. Even if Alabama isn't your "sweet home", the tornado victims sure could use your help in rebuilding theirs. And besides, these are some awesome shirts.

A quote from Maggie:

"On April 27, 2011, several cities across the state of Alabama were devastated by tornadoes. I am blessed in that my family, friends, and home are all still safe...so many were less fortunate than I was. The death toll is nearing 300 and hundreds of people are still missing.

I called Tuscaloosa home for 4 years of my life when I was a student at Alabama and some of my close friends still live there. I have been unable to physically go help the relief efforts there due to work, but I'm going to do what I can to help from here.

I originally designed this shirt with the intent to sell it for profit, but I would rather donate the proceeds to the relief efforts across the state. My goal is to raise at least $1000 to donate to the Red Cross. I will be placing the first order for shirts on Tuesday, May 3, and printing them as soon as they arrive. I will continue to take orders after that as well."

So far, the response to her t-shirt design has been overwhelming. I am so glad folks can come together and support one another. The cleanup in the South will be no small endeavor. You are an inspiration to me, Maggie!!!