Small empires.

The best metaphor for the past 4 weeks...I hope some lucky squirrel made off with the cone.

I have been absent from my blog for a long 19 months, mostly because the concept of writing a post about how long I've been absent from my blog has been daunting. Fucking daunting, tbh. I have this stupid mind-set that my blog is supposed to be some sort of chronological diary and response to my daily life, ongoing projects and occasional feats. So, am I supposed to write about everything that has gone down in the last 19 months? Fuck. That. Thank you very much. Besides, isn't that the whole point of my damn IG account!?

Long story short: I am here, alive and mostly happy. And I'm empire-building, which I know is very vague sounding, but for now it means there will be more posts in the near future.

My largest show of the year (so far) was yesterday, and it was neither large or much of a show because insane heat kept the crowds smaller than usual, and we were violently rained off the field about halfway through the day (after a very long, tough set up in 40 degree, humid heat.)

I have been developing a new booth layout for shows and was really proud of how it all came together and looked together. I was hyper-organized for this show and expected the show set-up to be a breeze, but the intense heat made it one of the hardest set-ups I've ever had. But goddamn, my banner is aces...

I have spent today exhausted and slow, ruminating on yesterday and the lead-up to yesterday and how the entire month of July was essentially a pressure cooker of heat, stress and uphill climbs. Metaphorically speaking, July (and the first week of August) was like yesterday: an anticipated month interrupted by the worst kind of storm, that seemingly came out of nowhere, and that I was only sort of ready to deal with. To have a day like today, where there was nothing to do but ruminate, regroup and rest was such a welcome change that it felt as dramatically noticeable as driving under an overpass during a rainstorm: the constant, loud clattering suddenly, entirely, silenced. While I am very thankful for the sales that I had, and the people I got to visit and meet with, I've been a bit upset about the show today, but it is frustration and disappointment washed with resignation. Weather can't be controlled. Life can't be controlled. What can you do? We have to choose how to react. That's all we get. So in a weird way, the build-up to yesterday and its dramatic, sudden end in the early afternoon amongst lightning strikes and downpour really feels like an End. The end of July, of uphill climbs, of endless stress, of having to choose how to react. The lid off the pressure cooker. All that is left is resignation, rumination and to regroup.
And despite all of that, I am still burning with ideas. BURNING. I need to rest a bit more, a week maybe, to distill all this smoke and fire into some direction, but I am heartened knowing that this period of stress has stoked me up, not smothered me, like stress always used to. 
So, I guess if you've been wondering what I've been up to for the last 19 months, it's that; it's been learning the alchemy of turning stress and uncertainty into fire.  

I'm celebrating a rained-out, crazy hot, utter shitstorm of an art show with a pretty awesome sale over in my Etsy shop at the moment: 15% off until Aug. 13th. (Some of the same pieces that are for sale in the Etsy shop are also for sale here, and will disappear once they have sold off Etsy.)