My Carve Out Time for Art Interview

Have you heard of Carve Out Time for Art yet? It's a website and Instagram account started by Marissa Huber and Heather Kirtland and they're "on a mission to share inspiring stories of artists (who are also mothers) who are able to find time to create, despite hectic and full lives." They're also writing a book on art and motherhood because they're "tired of everyone telling new mothers that they can never do anything for themselves again." It's so inspirational, and I'm totally honored to have been interviewed by them this week. Carve Out Time for Art Interview with Jessica Nichols

Head over to Carve Out Time for Art to read my interview!

Thanks Marissa and Heather for having me.

New Logo + New Original Abstract Painting

Hello friends of Sweet Eventide! I've got two big reveals this week: a new logo and a new original abstract painting. First the new logo, which I designed to reflect a new mission and direction of including my hard-earned wellness tips with you regularly as well as to reflect what a large role painting is taking in my life now. sweet eventide photography art and wellness logo branding

I need to incorporate it into the website still. Since it's a square design, it will require quite a bit of tinkering, but I'll get there. This week I'm very focused on money: tax prep and setting up accounting systems. Stay tuned!

Next up is my new original abstract painting Spin to Me. This is a painting started last summer and put away for several months when I got stuck. Then I got stuck on a different canvas during my daily painting commitment and so I turned my attention back to this canvas. It's amazing how some distance impacts my perspective and then I knew how to finish the painting. One of my favorite things to do is go looking for the paintings within my painting and I included three that I found in this collage below:

original abstract painting by portland artist jessica nichols

 

Spin to Me is live on auction this week, so click here to place a bid if you have a blank wall in need of some color. Imagine if this was on your wall, how many paintings within your eye might find!

Bloom True with Flora Bowley -- a heartfelt giveaway

UPDATE: The giveaway has ended. Congratulations Natalie Joelle Schwarting! The next session of Flora Bowley's beautiful, soul-stirring, painting e-course Bloom True begins one week from today on October 20, 2015. As promised with the auction of my first painting, Raining Hope, it is time to host my giveaway for a spot in this course. Nominate a friend to get them a free ($297 value) Bloom True painting e-course with Flora Bowley! Leave a comment here on this post, on my Instagram post or on my Facebook post and I'll pick a winner on Saturday, 10/17 at noon Pacific.

Bloom True painting e-course giveaway with Sweet Eventide
Bloom True painting e-course giveaway with Sweet Eventide

This giveaway is happening because I won a space in this course in January 2015 and vowed to sponsor another creative soul in this class someday. I auctioned my painting and here we are! Flora has given away many spaces in her course in the past and I'm inspired by one particular method she uses to give spots away: Nominate a Friend.

She says, "This particular Giveaway has become a Bloom True tradition, and we absolutely LOVE it because we get to hear you gush about your favorite people and why they deserve a spot in the course.  We think this is a pretty great way to share your gratitude…AND offer something awesome to your loved ones."

be true be you photograph of flora bowley
be true be you photograph of flora bowley

So leave a comment on this post and nominate a friend and tell me why they'd be perfect for Bloom True and why you love them so much! I will draw a name out of a jar on Saturday, October 17, 2015 at 12 p.m. Pacific time and announce the winner. This way the winner has a few days to gather supplies. Here is where you can read about what materials are recommended for the course.

Bloom True was a huge gift to me during a very dark time in my life when I was trying to heal from lymphoma for the fifth freaking time. I do believe the joy and magic I feel while painting had a direct effect on my healing process. I have fallen head over heels in love with painting. I have shared a lot of my painting journey on Instagram under the hashtag #jessbloomstrue. I wish the same for you!

jess blooms true collage
jess blooms true collage

So go ahead and nominate someone! Let me know why they would be a perfect candidate for the course and why you love them so much. If you want to be entered, don't be shy and ask someone to nominate you! You can even ask me to nominate you. :)

I can't wait to hear the stories. Good luck.

Raining Hope -- Sold!

For those of you who have been following my painting journey since 2013, you will be pleased to know I have completed my first painting, Raining Hope. original painting with acrylics hung over bookshelf

I learned how to finish a painting by participating in Bloom True, the painting e-course by Flora Bowley. In fact,  I am auctioning off my painting in order to pay it forward and host a giveaway for a spot in the next session of Bloom True. Click here to read the beautiful story behind this painting that explains its name.

UPDATE: The painting sold within two hours of the auction going live! The most amazing part is it sold to the beautiful couple from the first wedding I ever photographed! And the bride was the Noodle's beloved babysitter when he was two!

I am humbled and honored that I can sponsor someone in Bloom True. I will post about the giveaway once I have it set up.

Sneak Peek: The Crafter's Guide to Patterns book by Jessica Swift

Jessica Swift has received copies of the UK and US versions of her book that I photographed from the publishers, which she shared on her blog yesterday. It was a dream to work with her on her book and I'm looking forward to seeing it in person. The Crafter's Guide to Patterns by Jessica Swift, photo by Jessica Swift

photo by Jessica Swift, UK cover below, US cover on top

Here are the three images that appear on the US cover of the book, which is available for pre-order on Amazon right now:

 

The Crafter's Guide to Patterns by Jessica Swift, photographed by Jessica NicholsThe Crafter's Guide to Patterns by Jessica Swift, photographed by Jessica NicholsThe Crafter's Guide to Patterns by Jessica Swift, photographed by Jessica Nichols

Jessica's colorful world and positive, can-do, attitude made photographing her book the highlight of my photography career to date. I'm thrilled for her book to come out and I'm truly honored that she chose me for this important job. We photographed the entire book over several shoots earlier this year at a studio in Southeast Portland, with a quirky and heavy freight elevator to boot. You can see all our behind-the-scenes photos on Instagram using the hashtag #jessplusjessmagic.

The Art of the Art Fair Booth Display

I spent a fair amount of time looking at booth displays online in preparation for Handmade NW and I've pinned quite a few to a new board for your inspiration. With the busy holiday season upon us, I wanted to share the art of my art fair booth display. It was a creative challenge that I enjoyed quite a bit. I reused the reclaimed fence board wall I built two years ago as the main part of my display, but otherwise I redesigned my booth entirely. Without further ado, here are some photographs of my booth.

handmade northwest holiday bazaar sweet eventide photography booth

After taking a small amount of input, I opted for no sign at all and decided to let my canvas gallery wraps draw people over to my booth. I did find some awesome chunky wooden letters to spell out the word PHOTOS and went to a bit of trouble to figure out how to attach them to my fence wall but then forgot to put them up until the holiday bazaar was 3/4 over. Oops. The total footprint of my art fair booth was 6' by 4' and I had the following products to display: holiday greeting card sets, 2014 calendars, my first photo book (another blog post on that will be up this week soon), large prints, One Branch postcard subscriptions and clearance inventory.

Side note: isn't the trickiest part of doing an art fair deciding how much inventory to make and bring?! Yikes!

My mother-in-law Betty had the vision to try my IKEA Expedit unit in front of the fence wall, and it worked so brilliantly that I bought a second unit. I also purchased two clamp lights from IKEA as I knew I would have access to electricity. I shopped high and low for weeks for vintage (or new) wire baskets to fit in the cubbies and in the end, I borrowed the woven baskets I already had at home. My other incredible in-laws, Bob and Marcia not only lent me their iPad for a slideshow of my work, but they built me a gorgeous iPad stand from a Pinterest DIY!

handmade northwest holiday bazaar sweet eventide photography booth

handmade northwest holiday bazaar sweet eventide photography booth

handmade northwest holiday bazaar sweet eventide photography booth

I have switched to selling prints of my photographs only in large formats, but I still had some inventory from when I sold 8x12s and 8x10s. For my booth, I needed a way to let shoppers browse both my large format photographs and my clearance inventory. As luck would have it, I had a piece of expanded sheet metal* in my basement that exactly fit the opening to my IKEA Expedit pieces. It was white so I went to my local Blick art supply store and got a can of Montana Gold Acrylic spray paint to make it dark brown. My husband had the genius idea to attach the sheet metal to the Expedit unit with twine. (Well let's be honest, he used a bright orange bungee cord that didn't quite mesh with my overall aesthetic.) It was actually the quickest part of the display to set up on show day and it made it very easy for shoppers to browse my inventory of 16x24 and 20x30 photographs.

handmade northwest sweet eventide photography booth display

I knew I would be showcasing my One Branch cancer support postcards and not only did I hire one of my favorite local florists, Elizabeth from Espe Floral, to do a floral design for my booth, I also hired one of my favorite bloggers and illustrators, Bonnie from Going Home to Roost to design a custom illustration for my showcase product. Both of these talented women used their expertise to bring the quote that inspired the product's name to life.

handmade northwest sweet eventide photography booth displayAlthough I was very disappointed in my sales totals, I also knew it was not a reflection of me or my work. It is only a reflection of the crowd of shoppers there that day. I received wonderful feedback on my booth, my photography and my One Branch postcards. My art fair booth definitely stood out among all the standard six-foot folding tables.  I hope my booth inspires you to think outside of the folding table for your next art fair, craft fair or holiday bazaar.

* Thank you cousin Jarrad for that idea and terminology. In fact, I would like to take a moment and thank my entire family and several close friends who supported me in prepping for my first art fair in two years. It sure does take a village to raise children and put art into the world.

Holiday Bazaar Prep

It has been 10 days since my last blog post? I promise I haven't disappeared off the planet, but I have been very busy prepping for my first art fair in two years. Here is a small collage of some of the behind-the-scenes prep work I have been doing for the Handmade NW Holiday Bazaar at OHSU. Preparation for Handmade NW Holiday Bazaar at OHSU

I am using the same installation but have made a lot of updates as far as my display goes. There is new furniture, a new medium (gallery wrapped canvas!) and of course, all new products (my first photo book and greeting card sets). I will have large prints and my 2014 calendar on hand also. (Remember I am not selling small prints anymore.)

I love my new bowl that I found to hold my business cards. I am going to be shining the spotlight on my One Branch postcard subscriptions at this event and I have two special plans in motion towards that end. You'll have to stay tuned till next week for the reveal. Today almost all of my inventory was delivered, and my dog Jackson was going berserk with the doorbell ringing so many times. It has been an exciting day here.

If you want more behind-the-scenes peeks, please follow me on Instagram where I update almost daily on all things Sweet Eventide.

Brave Intuitive Painting: A Beautiful Mess

My mother-in-law Marcia is now hooked on Brave Intuitive Painting just like me. So last weekend, I brought my paints and two brand-new wood panels over to her house and we painted together. I took some behind-the-scenes photographs to share with you.

"What art offers is space -- a certain breathing room for the spirit." John Updike

Have a beautiful weekend friends.

Brave Intuitive Painting: Inner Sea

I shared a new section from my painting on Instagram recently, in which I said, "The trouble is I love bits & pieces of my painting, but they are quite far from working together as a whole." The positive response to it was unexpected and uplifting. Someone amazing even mentioned wanting to buy a print! So I played with it, I only have lustre photo paper on hand though and I really want to see it on a matte paper with more texture. acrylic painting by jessica nichols

I'm not sure what is more engaging to me, the analog experience of saturated colors right before my eyes, on my hands, in my sink or the wholly unknowing of what is going to happen on the next layer. All I know is I love painting and it makes me feel joyful inside. Today happens to be my birthday and I got two trips to the art store as gifts! Lucky girl!

Brave Intuitive Painting: My Peacock

I have still been painting but in smaller dibs and dabs instead of working on larger areas. I thought I would show you the progression of my peacock. I shared the story of how he appeared in this post. I have shared some glimpses of the painting on Instagram but I'm going to dedicate Fridays on the blog to painting updates as well. layered acrylic painting peacock imagery

I have a brand new 24x24 canvas waiting for me. It feels as good to me as a shiny, new notebook always did on the first day of school.

Do you paint? Do you use oils or acrylics?

Brave Intuitive Painting

Two weeks ago (or so), I stumbled on Flora Bowley's book Brave Intuitive Painting on a library trip for the Noodle. Having just been to the open house for Soul Shine Studio, it definitely caught my eye. It was the final sign in a growing list of things calling me to try painting during 2013. Daler Rowney acrylic paint tubes teal pink aqua green acrylic layered painting by jessica nichols jessica nichols arm with acrylic paint smudges progression of layers by jessica nichols using brave intuitive painting book organically emerging shapes layered acrylic painting by jessica nichols organically emerging shapes layered acrylic painting by jessica nichols

I've painted approximately nine layers now. For the past four layers, (two of which went horribly wrong and taught me the term "overworking"), I've been wanting and hoping and waiting for something, anything to "emerge" from my layers. I was stuck on my imagery. I sure as heck didn't want to paint some random flower or branch or worse, a bird, on my painting. I want my painting to be organic, seriously organic.

Then it happened today. I woke up and was working on the dark blue sections and would you look at that! A bird showed up. I am so over birds on things. I live in Portland, come ON! But I'm going with it. I stared at the bird and instantly thought it looked more like a peacock. So I started reading up on peacocks and their symbolism: "Seeing a peacock in your dreams is a symbol of spring, birth and new growth. A peacock is a symbol of a good omen, signaling prestige and success and contentment with your career."

Suffice it to say, I am in love with painting. It's so different from photography. It has nothing to do with my business. It's offline, analog, trust, faith; it's swirly colors and finger prints and pretty drips; it's maddening some of the time and exhilarating the rest of the time. I wake up and think about my painting.

"Unused creativity manifests as grief in our bodies."

Brené Brown

This is good stuff that I'm doing. It's all working together this summer: I'm taking in less information, I'm taking a break from my personal Facebook, I'm taking a break from business. I know it's leading me somewhere better because this is me listening to my needs. I have no idea what's next: in my business, in my life, in my painting. It's okay. For once, the not knowing is okay.

If you want to know more about Brave Intuitive Painting, this video of Flora painting is absolutely delicious. I've watched it about seven times so far.

The Perfect Art

Last week, I asked the Noodle for "some art that would look good on these walls."



Boy did he deliver!

To be honest, these walls are much more to the green side of green-blue than I normally prefer. But his art is making me rethink my automatic decision to repaint. For one thing, it photographs pretty darn well. However, the rest of my framed artwork will clash mightily on this color.

I am only speaking of paint now, three weeks into our new house, because we only decided yesterday that we would stick it out. We arrived to discover a bad combination of improper renovations, a lease that requires constant notification of problems to the landlord and a landlord who does not have the personality to hand out lease requirements like that. So we stopped unpacking after one week of terrible interactions with him and started stalking Craigslist again, much to our terrible dismay. Folks? There have been exactly two listings in this neighborhood since then. Rentals are scarce. So we will have to find a way to all get along and now, I can finally finish unpacking and start painting.

It's been too hard to even talk about it with close friends and family! Moving to a new state is hard enough, but to think about moving again immediately was over the top hard. Onwards & upwards!

The Cocktail

At Anthropologie recently, I bought The Cocktail by Jane Rocca and illustrated by Kat Macleod.




This year we've been learning to mix cocktails like our key lime martinis and toasted almonds. The book is organized by type of liquor (champagne, gin, rum, sake, tequila, vodka and grain -- whiskey/bourbon). While the subject matter certainly attracted me to the book, it was the illustrations that sold me.






I had intended to post this as an artist profile, but Kat has been well covered in the blogosphere already. See more of her work here, her home here, and how she works here.



My laptop, Mistretta, is now sporting Wallpaper 1! Check my Facebook page for the recipe I want to try first.

Swirly Designs

Do you remember playing with these as a kid?

I did and when I saw this set at Restoration Hardware last Christmas, I indulged myself. Here is one set of swirlies (as I call them in my head) that I've made so far.

apparently it's sold out due to popularity


Of course the red, blue and green pens that came with the set just wouldn't do for me. So I set out on an expedition for better colors. You would be surprised how hard it is to find a) good colors in a pen that b) fits in those little holes. But I accomplished my mission at a local and adorable Japanese stationery store.

I have been a wee bit busy lately but this weekend I may have time for more swirly activities like this. You see I've planned a surprise weekend away with my husband! It's been a long time and the countdown is on. :)

(I am able to spoil the surprise just a bit on the old blog because I had to spoil it last week to prevent a working weekend instead.)

Alameda Antiques Faire

Yesterday I finally made it to the famed Alameda Antiques Faire. Marsh and I did our maiden voyage together. It was fantastic, huge, fascinating, overwhelming, nostalgic, delicious and much, much more.

Enjoy the show!
{We sure did.}


All photos by me!
© Jessica Nichols

1. Does Not Compute, 2. Love Me Some Retro Fabric, 3. Hard Luck, Get It?, 4. What Up G?, 5. Blockheads, 6. Lost at Sea, 7. File Me, 8. Spillage, 9. Shipping and Receiving, 10. A Couple Of Metal Js, 11. The Bell Tolls, 12. Throw Away The Key, 13. Keep The Key, 14. Pair A Sol, 15. Treasure Trove, 16. Who is the Fairest?, 17. Bicyclette, 18. Blue Heat, 19. My Grandma's Valise, 20. My Grandma's Other Valise, 21. Blue Seat, 22. En Francais, 23. Daisy Cokes, 24. Texturized, 25. Error Repeat, 26. Victor Counto, 27. Sunny Side Up, 28. Formica Baby, 29. Rook Shack, 30. For the Love of the J, 31. 2 is the Loneliest Number, 32. Rack Em Up, 33. Mother and Child Reunion, 34. Girlyness, 35. Measure Twice