The Art Bar experience

About a week ago it was a cloudy Sunday afternoon. I've been staying with my sister and her family for the past 5 weeks until I could move into my apartment. I had gotten hollered at yet again and needed to get out of the house.  I researched art places in Columbia, SC and came across Studio Cellar; http://www.studio-cellar.com.   It's one of those places where you can go to a paint class and paint something specific that is instructor led OR they have an Art Bar where you can go and pick a canvas and use their paints and just create.  You can order some finger foods and some wine and create what you want.  

I loved this place. It was just what I needed on that rainy afternoon.  It's a beautiful brick building with hard wood floors, exposed brick walls and exposed wooden beams. It's decorated great with artwork all around including their bathrooms and there are the clear strands of light all around.

I got a small 6x6 canvas, saw an image I liked, ordered a mimosa and went to town painting for a couple of hours. I had great conversation with one of the college students who worked there who is an art major and learned about the art scene in the area.  I ended up creating my own image where I used the Palmetto logo for SC on my painting.  This was a great time and reasonably priced. The drink was a bit expensive but I decided to splurge on it. I'll definitely be going back!

So here's my story...

The past year has been an insane one for me.  It's been a bit of a roller coaster to say the least. I'll try to give you the brief version...

I decided a while ago that I was reaching a point in my life where I needed and wanted a change.  I enjoyed my job, all of the perks that came along with it and many of the people I worked with.  However, there were some administrative changes that I didn't agree with and didn't care for the way I was being treated by my direct management.  I think sometimes we can stay in a negative environment or we can do the brave thing which is say we deserve better, take a leap of faith and search out something different.

So that is what I did.  There was a lot of difficult decisions for me to make. I loved my home, my neighborhood, my neighbors, my friends and having my family not to far away. I loved Rochester and all of the art connection I had made. I loved the running groups and lots of race choices I had.  However; I strongly disliked the cold, winter and grey that lasted 6 months a year. That kept me inside, freezing and miserable. I disliked not being closer to my niece and nephew and being  part of watching them grow up on a more regular basis. I resented being a single homeowner and having to spend my free time and money fixing things left and right.  I wanted warm weather, to be a good Aunt, and to try something new.

This wasn't a decision that I made overnight. It took a couple of years and was a big process. This past year was all of the major steps though.  I finished up my 2nd Master's while doing an internship while working full time. I taught two classes on top of working. I didn't get to workout as much as I wanted to but I did do some fun races with great friends.  Most of all I spent every second I could scrape up spending time with family, friends and neighbors. I had a lot of fun and much support along the way.

I put my house on the market early March and sold it in a week. While finishing my Master's and working I also packed up my house, gave belongings away, and sold 83% of my belongings/furniture on craigslist.  I closed on my house right after graduating and ending work for the academic year and then spent the next 4 months traveling and interviewing.

I went to Thailand, New Mexico, SC, and presented at the national AATA conference in Minnesota. I interviewed, sent out resumes and interviewed some more. I got a couple of offers, neither perfect but one was a positive start and good change.  I loaded up my car and drove the 13 hours to Columbia, SC and started my new job.

Finding a place to live proved a little more difficult than I thought and there ended up being a bit of a wait. In 5 days after 5 month so staying on generous family and friends sofas, floors, and spare beds I will finally be in my own place again. I've downsized but am happy about it. Most people know I like my home to feel like home but I also believe in getting out of your home and living life. I'm excited to put all of my new home purchases together but am also excited to continue to get out and explore Columbia and the surrounding cities.

The new job has been a change the weather has been a change but most of I miss my family and friends. I have such amazing family and friends it will take time to find and build new relationships. In the coming blog entries you will get to experience Columbia through my eyes and what it's like to move to a new city and start all over again. I look forward to sharing my experiences with you all.

T-shirt Quilt

Also created within a couple of days at the end of July was this t-shirt quilt.  I had a bag full of 

t-shirts that I had received well working at the college.  Most I wore to events but then never again cause even if they were smalls they were huge. I was spending some time with my grandma and while we caught up on life I worked on creating a quilt out of the t-shirts.  

I always hate working with t-shirts because they are very stretchy and make sewing a pain. I did my best cutting out the designs and then sewing them together.  If I was making a true Naz quilt I would have waited and purchased purple fabric with yellow in it or did a purple and yellow striped back but I wanted something I could finish now so I used some fabric I had purchased a long time ago at Craft Bits and Pieces and completed the quilt. Not to shabby for a couple of days worth of work.

Another Furniture Redo

This post has been sitting here waiting to happen for a while now. I actually created this DIY Project back at the end of July but life has been crazy and time has flown by.  So I'll get straight to the topic and tell you how I did this redo.

My parents gave me this piece of furniture (or perhaps I mentioned really wanting it). ;)  It had a horrible scallop design at the front of each square box which I thought made it look dated. Plus I prepare simple looking furniture. So I got the crowbar and a hammer out and took the scallop edges off. Then because there was a varnish on the entire piece I lightly sanded down the main form and all of the boxes inside and out. (aka the yucky part) 

Then I purchased flat black spray paint and sprayed the entire main piece of furniture.  The coral spray paint was the trickiest part.  I looked in multiple stores and online and the only place I saw the color I was looking for was on amazon. I bought 2 cans to make sure I had enough and I ended up using both cans. I used the coral for the boxes.  I found some chalkboard spray paint and decided to tape of blocks on the front of the bins. I thought since I was going to be using this piece of furniture for my art supplies in my new place it would be cool to be able to label the bins. However; the biggest mistake I made on this project was using chalkboard spray paint. Even taping off every inch of the front of the bins there was still an over spray that left the lines not good.  I ended up using chalkboard paint on the entire front of the bin which I ultimate liked better but there still continued to be some over spray but it worked out okay.

Overall this piece turned out just how I envisioned it. I can't wait to get it to my new place and put my art supplies in them.

Travel Journal Inspiration

Yes, even though I’ve been traveling a lot this summer I have still been carrying my sketchbooks and pens with me and creating.   I even added some markers and most recently some chalk watercolor paint to my travel collection.

One of the projects I worked on was taking some photos of certain pages from my journal and then creating hardcover books for a couple of my close friends. I gave them each certain images that I thought would be inspirational for them to see when they need a “pick me up”.  I think they enjoyed receiving the books (this is based on their responses). :)

Below are some of the newer images I’ve created.

DIY Project- Going Retro

My mom found this ugly metal stand at a flea market and thought of me. She was right on for this particular piece of furniture.  I immediately had a vision. Below is how I transformed this piece from ugly to retro chic.

Steps:

1.  I started by sanding down the metal.

2.  Then purchased Krylon Spray Paint color Ocean Mist glossy and put a couple of layers on the stand.  I taped off the wheels so they wouldn’t get painted. And took the drawer out and painted it separately.  **Wait at least 24 hours before moving on to the next step.

3.  I thought I’d leave it plain but then got inspiration from my new phone cover. I found some painters tape and created chevon stripes. Once taped off I used Krylon black glossy paint to spray the exposed areas. It was a little difficult only having two hands as I had to take a piece of cardboard and move it along the edge of the table top in order to not have any spray paint get onto the sides of the table.  

4.  I waited half a day before peeling of the tape to see the results. It’s not perfect but then again neither am I.  Bottom line- it came out pretty cool.  (to avoid any jagged edges on the stripes don’t rip the tape like I did, lesson learned- use actual scissors) Yeah I know duh!!!

5.  Even though I used glossy paint which is fairly rugged I did use Kryon Crystal Clear Glossy spray to finish off the just the top of the stand. I figure this may help protect the top from wear longer.

M & M

I’ve spent the summer traveling. From Thailand to New Mexico, to South Carolina, then Minneapolis, and lastly Montreal. 

I went to Minneapolis for the National Art Therapy Conference where I presented on the work I do as an art therapist.  (It went great.) This is probably one of the best conference a person can go to. Where else can you find a photo booth, an open studio full of supplies, the opportunity to participate in a huge glass tile mural for a local organization, homemade crayons in the bathroom, and inspirational cards where you lease expect them. The only thing that one have been better was if I hadn’t had a bad cold the entire week. (Thank you Kim for putting up with my sniffles and coughs!)  

I had never been to Minneapolis but found that I really enjoyed it. Or rather the few spots I managed to go to on my off time.  The conference was located downtown and I enjoyed walking through the Greenbelt area. I also went to a few galleries including The Walker Contemporary Art Museum and the Minnesota Museum of Art.  I found the later Museum the best as frankly I just don’t get contemporary art no matter how hard I try.  I also had some great food, desserts and drinks. :)

I came back to Rochester for a less than a week and spontaneously headed to Montreal for a weekend with a good friend of mine.  Neither of us had ever been there before but heard great things about it.  The way up took a little more time than expected due to some traffic issues but eventually we made it to Montreal by dinner time. 

We stayed at a very urban stylish hotel called Hotel Zero. It felt a little 50 Shades of Grey’ish and NYC’ish due to the walls being cement and all black and everything being condensed into a small space.  We dropped our bags off and then walked down to Old Montreal exploring Old Port, shops, artisans out selling their goods, a lot of neat street performers and some great food.     

My fav stop was Poutine with chicken and a large Sangria for dinner. Yummy!!! The Poutine restaurant was set back through a stone walkway and in an open courtyard surrounded by stone buildings.  We sat next to some really nice Canadians and chatted them up. They told us of an International Firework competition going on during the summer and it happened to fall on that night.  So we stayed wondering around the streets enjoying watching everything going on until the fireworks began. China ran the show and since they were the creators of fireworks they made sure to not disappoint.

The following day we got up early and headed to breakfast followed by the Montreal Contemporary Art Museum. We both left very disturbed and felt the need to cleanse our souls, so we were on our way to the Notre Dame Basilica when we came across the “Laugh It Out” Comedy Festival that was being held for 2 weeks. We explored the festival a bit bummed that we weren’t there long enough to see any of the great performances that were being held but we did discover Bad Monkey popcorn.  Oooooo so good!   After the Basilica we found some ice cream for lunch and then walked through Chinatown.  

Montreal is a great place to visit (okay perhaps only in the summer/fall). I wish I could have stayed there longer because there was so much more to do. Perhaps I’ll make it back there again someday.