Dreaming Big, It takes two.

Dream Big

Original Mixed Media by Harmony Lenasbunt 2012

Prints available here

Well, I just returned from the show in Chattanooga.  I am always amazed at the resiliency of my kiddos.  They took the 8 hour trip like champs and handled the busy show schedule with ease.  My now 5 month old spent the early mornings strapped to my front while I hung paintings and organized prints at the show tent, while my 4 year old busied himself with a "scene" of wooden birds he had stolen from my display and hid under one of the tables playing happily for hours.  The show was fun, with lots of great stories heard from various people visiting my booth, and new friends made from the amazing array of talented creatives that were vending beside me.  It was a terrible selling show, as we barely made back the cost of our space fee and our hotel bill, but I always love visiting Chattanooga, which made up for that fact.  My husband and I always call it the "city of wonders" because they always have some totally interesting or off the wall thing to explore around almost every corner in the downtown area, and we have had several family vacations there in the past.  This visit did not disappoint us in the slightest.  The weather, which had been promised to be awful (thunderstorms and constant rain), ended up being a mix of clouds, sun, and perfectly cool, a welcome respite for this heat wearied Floridian.  I was so blessed to also have the willing hands and companionship of my sister, her husband, my brother and his wife along for the weekend, so there was lots of help and plenty of time away from the booth to play with my boys and visit other venders and enjoy the art festival itself.  I actually really hate the selling part of shows, love setting up and seeing it all together and beautifully arranged, but when it comes down to watching people pick over what you created, it just feels odd and I want to be as far from the booth as possible during that part of the show.  I do love the stories though.  How a certain image or phrase sparked some memory for them or inspires a dream.  I love to encourage each person to keep reaching for that place of peace and happiness that they hope for, keep being creative, keep finding joy in little simple bits of life and letting it seep into their souls.  I hope my art can do that for a few people, and I send out my own gratitude to each person that took the time to look at my work and took a piece of it home with them.  You are inspiring my own dream, and so I thank you all.  

XO, HARMONY

A bit of catch up...

My world has been overwhelmed with good things lately.  Mothering, art making, new friendships, all good stuff, but I have been lacking in my posts here.  I am truly an introvert in that way.  When my life gets really busy, I tend to shut out any other social outlets that I can, just to keep myself feeling on top of it all.
So to catch up a bit, here's a few pics of my Easter Boys.

 Always the happiest baby in town, my sweet Zay celebrated his first Easter Day with all the Joy that the Lord has given.  He is such a gift to me, I often wonder what I did to deserve such sweetness.

 My oldest, Izzy, was not interested in a regular easter egg hunt, so my sister ingeniously incorporated his favorite game into the mix and viola! He was so excited to help the Angry Birds recover their stolen eggs that the pigs hid around his Grandmother's yard.

And then there was lots of train time with Grandpa...

I always forget to take pictures of myself and my husband.  I suppose all the cuteness just distracts me, but we had a wonderful weekend of friends and family gatherings.  I couldnt have imagined a better way to celebrate resurrection day!

So in my life right now, I have two art shows coming up in the next month, which has put me and my sister back together working again to get the booth, artwork, displays, all together and ready.   I am making some shifts and trying to do more ART shows and less CRAFT shows.  The crafting part of getting ready for a festival is like and addiction but the work load sucks the life out of me, so I am trying to quit.  I am on step 2 of the craft making recovery process.  It might be a long road ahead to a full healing, even now I've had two different moments this week of "I could totally make that and sell at my shows!", and then I have to stop myself and remember my promise to myself and my boys that I am done with mass crafting (no matter how stinking cute and easy it looks on pinterest!).   So I have reinvented my booth to feature mostly just art and prints and invested in a professional wall system.  Here's a booth shot with a quick mock set up I did the other day for a show application.

(of course I realize after the shot and everything was put away that the paintings in the back were crooked).
I  honestly wish that I could just make art and somehow it would find its way to the people who want it, without all this presentation and show, but I am trying to pay my dues to the process of becoming a selling artist, and I am very blessed to have my family supporting me in this and my sister's dedication as a teammate to helping me get there.  I have been working really hard on some new pieces.  I havn't been able to get them scanned yet, so I'll post them as soon as I can.  In the mean time, I did a few more digital artworks using layers of my own hand-illustration and vintage photos that I own.

 The Dancer  2012 by Harmony Lenasbunt

I Vow Forever 2012 by Harmony Lenasbunt

You can find prints of both of them in my shop.  I hope you are having a wonderful April.  I will be on the road with my family next weekend doing my first OUT OF STATE show.  YIKES! I am a bit nervous, but it should be lots of fun.  If any of you are around the Chattanooga area, come on out and see us at the Chatty Crafty.  Well, there's a little boy yelling my name, so I'll sign off.  Be blessed and check back for new painting updates and pics from our next show.  Ciao Bellas!

XO, HARMONY

Show Update and Look Back at Myself

This week has been flying by for me, mostly because I have been locked down at my house prepping for shows.  I know I keep saying that in almost every post lately, but I promise it's true.  You might be wondering what exactly is involved in this process.  Well, it's designing covers for journals (like the pic above), printing prints, signing and packaging them, ordering selling and display supplies, designing and ordering new biz cards, creating this years calendar and ordering the cases, finishing paintings that need to have sides painted, or framed or varnished, making lots and lots and lots of art journals, making wood mounted prints, signing and pricing everything, checking the tent, my signs, my display signs,  deciding on my set up, cleaning display shelves, finding all my table linens washing and pressing them, making buttons/magnets/mirrors (cause you have to have items in every price point!), and that's not even getting into organizing all the financial transaction materials, UGH! (It's tedious work, which I am terrible at doing efficiently, so everything seems to take me twice as long.  Plus last year I had a helper and this year I am flying solo.  So, I really apologize for not responding to comments and emails very quickly right now.  I will get to them when life slows a bit, I promise.  I thought it would be fun to take a look back at myself one year ago, doing this same show.  It was my first REAL show.  I learned a ton of lessons through it that I shared and put up a short video of what it all looked like in the end.  Check it out HERE.  If you do shows or even if you only attend craft/art shows, it's really a fun post to see a bit of what the vendors are going through behind all the pretty displays.  Have a blessed day in whatever is on your agenda.  I hope it goes productively and efficiently. ;)

XO, HARMONY

My Confessional: I Have Artistic ADHD

I am a bit overwhelmed today.  I am blown away that August is now over, and I have only 6-7 more weeks to get ready for the fall craft shows.  That might seem like a lot, but from my point of view, which includes a seven month pregnant belly with a very active little guy inside and a very active 3 year old boy bouncing around me on the outside, I am feeling unsure at my ability to get everything finished in time.  What happens to me in times like these is that my creative process morphs into something that makes me look downright certifiably dysfunctional, think ADHD meet Schitsophrenia and you've got me right now.  I currently have 8 different projects in process, and I buzz from each to each like a maniac whenever I can steal an hour away in my craft room alone. 

 I am not condoning this behavior. Even though I am loving it, it's not healthy, and it's totally exhausting, but it has always been my norm for meeting deadlines.  I am the work slowly (or not at all) until it's almost too late and then cram into overdrive for the last stretch before something is due, type of girl.  Deadlines motivate me, but only when they are looming too close for comfort.  Any of you do this in your own life processes?  I know I'm not the only crazy crammer around here.

As I lay down on my pillow last night, body exhausted, and trying desperately to shut my head off from all the swirling thoughts and ideas of things I still need to finish, I made a decision to be more intentional with my time, and if needed, I will cut back on my expectations for the shows to allow that to happen.  I desperately need some down time in my day, and right now between mothering/ household stuff/ and art time, it's just not happening.  My art time is usually my downtime, but not when I am in craft show production mode.  Then, while still really enjoyable and stimulating, it drains my energy just as much as my other roles during the day. 

 So here I go, day one of starting fresh, taking one project at a time and making a non-negotiable stop time, where I have to put down the paints and walk away and decompress.  Do you need to practice the art of slowing in your day? Or do you have a particular process that helps you stay balanced?  What does decompressing look like for you?

*all pics are from my art room, just a few of my latest partially completed projects.

XO, HARMONY

The 5,4,3,2,1 of My Creative Process

I saw this profile series first on Mollie Johanson's blog Wild Olive.  Its a simple set of 5 questions about yourself and your craft, started by the super creative people at Craftzine.  I thought I would add my own 5,4,3,2,1 to the fun and so here goes...

One Product You Are Particularly Proud Of
The Magic Dinosaur painting that I did with my 3 year old son.  I could never sell the original, I love it so.  To me it completely embodies his playful spirit, the innocence of childhood, and the simple beauty that can be created when you let go of your expectations and free yourself. 

Two Mistakes You Made In the Past
1.  Putting too much pressure on myself to be an instant success as an artist selling on Etsy.  I  started to feel like it was a reflection of my talent as an artist when months would go by with no sales.  I wanted to give up and forget that I even tried.  I was painting and creating constantly worried whether it would sell, and it was just totally wrong for me and my creative process.  Lesson learned: create only from your heart and never your head.

2.  Not understanding what a non-juried "art/craft" show could be like before I bought a table space for an event.  Oh man!  Nothing prepares you for trying to sell your handmade wares that you slaved and sweated over and poured your heart into positioned in between wholesale sellers (you know those people selling off-brand purses and hawking low-priced cologne).  It was a very disheartening weekend of sitting alone in my booth full of my creativity, while customers shopped for deals on either side of me.  Lesson learned: Do Your Research!  Just because it says it's an arts and crafts show, does not mean that only artist and crafters will be there.

Three Things That Make Your Work Unique
1.  Pairing bright bold colors with Natural ones.  I just adore the juxtaposition of a totally unnatural color, like neon pink or bright teal with a dark natural green or a mustard yellow.

2.  Mixing the textures of sewing, fabric, paper, and paint to create my paintings.  I love the soft and hard mediums working together to make something really beautiful and interesting.

3.  Not being afraid to try something new in my mixed media: I love grabbing bits of whatever I can find around me when I paint to add into the composition.  You never know what you might find hiding in the paint layers.

Four Tools You Love to Use
1. Brightly colored oil sticks - these suckers will draw in wet paint!

2. Hand Carved Stamps to build a background

3. Vintage Papers and Photos - I stock up on old books at library book sales, shop flea markets, and raid my relatives' attics at any opportunity to find vintage materials

4. Distress Ink Pads - love this product! I want to own every color they sell.  Right now I have the linen, aged photo, and lipstick colors and I use them on everything to create depth and make something new look vintage.

Five Inspirations
1.  My Son!  I love to watch him draw and paint.  His freedom and playfulness with what he creates inspires to me no end to be more like that in my own process.

2.  Art Books.  I am obsessed with collecting art books of all kinds.  Modern, classic, abstract, photography, painting, paper arts, sculpture, you name it I have some of it on my shelf.  When I am needing a creative idea, I look through one of my books and get inspired by the master works of others before me. 

3.  My Artistic Peers - There was a reason why famous painters from the same era's all came from the same school's of art.  Nothing is more inspiring and motivating then surrounding yourself with your contemporaries and influencing each others work.  Nowadays there is the internet to connect with people from all over the world and build a support network of emerging artists and crafters and letting their talents push my boundaries and bring new ideas.

4.  Music - I love to play music when I create and different kinds of music creates different feelings and ideas as I paint.  I love how my process changes when I am listening some old-school Tori Amos vs when I'm grooving to Jazz.  No matter what I am listening to, I always have more ideas with tunes going in the background.

5.  Nature - God's incredible creation all around us gives me boundless inspiration and ideas.  From mimicking a shape, texture, or color palette, the natural world never ceases to be the creative master at producing unexpected and original ideas.

There you have it, my 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Things About Me! Try it yourself.  Now it's your turn! Do you own 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 post to your blog or social networks site, and leave a link to it here in the comments.  I can't wait to learn about your creative process!

XO, HARMONY

Dreaming Big and Small

Hello dear ones... I have officially finished my shows for this season.  (Whew!)  I am amazed that I made it through with little to no real problems.  I am astonished that I actually own a business selling my own creations now.  I am so proud of myself for finally taking one of my BIG dreams and making it come true this year.  Most of all I am deeply blessed and honored to have met so many incredible women through this process, and let your stories touch my heart and inspire more of my art, and let my art create a sacred space in your lives.  What an incredible ride it has been!  It was just 8 months ago, that I decided to start painting again, (after a 6 year hiatus) and thought I'd try to do 1 art show.  Now I have completed over 50 original artworks, finished 4 successful shows, and am excited to continue down this road for years to come and see where it takes me.  I COULD NOT have done this without the loads of encouragement I received from you my dear readers, the support and financial backing from my incredible family, and the hundreds of free labor hours from my incredible sister.  For most of my life, I felt like all I did was come up with new dreams, but never do anything about them.  I felt like a failure, like I wasnt good enough to do these big things, but now I know better.  I am more than enough!!  And now, I can only feel nothing but excitement and curious wonder for where I will find myself one year from now.   

So I thought I would share with you my list of 10 dreams (big and small) that I have been holding on to and am ready to let free for this coming year (2011). 

1.  Graduate with my Masters in Counseling and Education Specialist in Marriage and Family Counseling (I am almost there!!)

2.  Get published in one of the major crafting/mixed media magazines

3.  Get preggo with my second child (Izzy needs a sibling and I am ready to hold another newborn)

4.  Do at least 1 art show each season

5.  Visit Asheville, NC (my husband and I want to leave FL in the next 3 years, and this town is top on our list to check out)
6.  Get 1 of my items from my Etsy shop listed on the Front Page of Etsy 

7.  Visit - in person - 1 artsy friend that I met on the internet

8.  Attend 1 Art Retreat

9.  Teach a Mixed Media or Art Journaling Class

10.  Take at least 1 art class to help push my abilities further. (i am tired of it taking me way too long to get a painted figure to feel right to me) 

11.  Hit 200 sales in my Etsy Shop

12.  Start working on an inspirational art book concept

(all pics are my own digital artwork creations)

So what dreams have you been holding on to?  Are you ready to let them free and take the leap of faith in yourself this year?

*Just as an FYI: I am listing all the items I have left from the art shows, lots of beautiful journals, necklaces, prints, paintings, wall hangings, and more.  If you are still seeking a gift for that creative girl on your list, please take a peek at my shop.

Weekend SALE SALE SALE!

2010 Christmas Journal Ornament Available in my Etsy Store

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!! I am so excited that the true start to the Christmas Season has started. My favorite holiday! Christmas Lights are starting to pop up, you can see twinkling trees in homes, the happy cheesy Christmas movies come out, the cities and towns are starting to decorate... I Love It!

I will be spending the next couple days at a craft festival running my art booth, so I feel a little bit scattered today trying to get everything finished for tomorrow, but...

Here it is!!!  (weekendsale20off)  My first Etsy Coupon Code!! Put that code (minus the parentheses) into the coupon box at checkout in my etsy shop and you will get 20% off all purchases through Monday night.  Hooray!!

I also reduced the prices of all of my original paintings and will offer 20% off of the art journals in my Big Cartel Shop (discount for these will be refunded through pay pal)!!  I have several paintings left that need new homes for Christmas.   I will be listing more items all day on etsy so keep checking back.  Happy Shopping!!

I am now off to battle the actual black friday crowds. (UGH)  I ran out of paper for my art prints and there is only one place in town that sells the good stuff like that.  I have prepared myself for this 30 min errand to take me 2 hours.  Any of you brave and courageous souls taking on the Black Friday Crowds this year?

Alright dont forget:

ETSY SHOP coupon code weekendsale20off

and 

BIG CARTEL SHOP has lots of original work on sale 

and 20% off on art journals

Silly Excitement

I am so excited I could bust!  And over the silliest thing too....  Calendars.  Yes, calendars.  About two months ago, I decided to create a mini set of monthly calendar cards to sell at the craft fairs.  This is when I discovered how incredibly inept I am at fiddling with photo editing software and graphic design type projects.  It literally took me days!..working hours on end each day... getting all the numbers correct in their grid for 12 different months, with my artwork images fitted above them... only to discover that they were a tiny bit too wide to fit the desired print size...have to do it all over again...only to discover that the type I chose was too hard to read when printed...do it all over again...whew success!  Then off to the printers to make my order.  Well the end result just arrived at my doorstep this afternoon, and I have been in calendar heaven all day.  They are seriously the cutest things I have ever held in my hands.  Well, second cutest....

my little man 2 weeks old 2008

or maybe third cutest....

Mr Darcy is a serious lap pup.

Anyway, at the very least... really really cute.

My 2011 Art Calendar with Case 

(different original artwork for each month)

More info and pics HERE

I bought little plastic cases for each set of cards which doubles as an easel to display them on a desk or shelf.  I have to pay homage to the creative lady that I got the idea from.  Andrea Lauren from Paper Sparrow is not only a lovely artist and cello player, she is also incredibly sweet and shared her insider information on how she made this same type of calendar last year with her art on them.  She has a great blog about her art and life that you can visit here

I am also incredibly close to finishing my mother and child painting, and I am really excited to share her with you and give you a bit of the story behind the painting very soon.  I hope you are all having a pleasant start to your week.  I've been working through a short panic attack when I realized I only have 3 weeks left before my craft fair chaos begins.   For those of you who have recently been following my blog, just know that I am taking on art shows for the first time this fall and have 3 BIG shows coming up, and I have no idea why I chose to do 3 at once or what they will be like (thus over compensating through making a million things to stock my tables and fighting nervous anxiety about whether I am ready for this).  Only time can tell. :)