Yes, it's been awhile since I've written. I know some of you are going "Aha, I KNEW she wouldn't stick with it! She came in hot, and she's already flamed out."
No.
But summer is short in Michigan, and there's lots to do in a small window of time. So I've been spending more time outside doing, and less time writing about it. I'm sure that will change with the weather, and you'll have cussing, snark, old people shit, and poop posts galore to keep you entertained in the long, cold months ahead.
Meanwhile, we're still trying to get the yard back in shape after the Great Seawall Escapade of 2021-22. We've been getting out on the pedal boat, and taking day trips to our favorite getaway, Saugatuck. I've been hiking in the woods, and hitting a lot of car shows and cruise-ins, driving the classics while the weather holds. I consider all of this doing research for future blog entries!
I did only one art fair this summer, Lansing's Old Town ArtFeast in August. Getting away from art shows in 2020 made me realize I was a little burned out on doing the 20-25 per year I had been doing. So I scaled WAAAAAAYYY back. I'm not done with art, mind you--I have two online shops, I sell in a couple of local venues, and I've done several commissions and am working on one now. But I realized when I wasn't doing shows that I really didn't miss the physical labor involved; the packing, hauling, loading, setup, teardown, re-loading, unpacking...I'm not as young as I used to be (see previous posts), and doing all of this takes its toll. I did something horrible to my left hip and low back doing the one show I did in August, and am still not 100% back from that. Add in possible (likely) weather complications for outdoor shows--wind, heat, humidity, rain, storms--and it's a recipe for eventual burnout.
This was my second time doing ArtFeast since the pandemic shutdown, and in 2021 I wrote a little wrap-up after the show was over. It showed up in my Facebook memories this year, and when I showed it to Matt, he said "That needs to be a blog post". So until I come up with something new and original to write about...enjoy this snapshot of a day in the life of an artist from 2021.
