Artist for another month!!!!!

I am doing my happy/relieved dance!!!!!! Nelson came through with flying wonderful colors.....I can pay rent AND feed myself for the month of Jan. Everyone was excited and complimentary and made purchases...I feel overwhelmed with positive enthusiastic energy. Thank-you! I have people that are interested in buying paintings..3 of them I have a person who wants a felted cat and a wonderful, vivacious woman who would like a hippo,,,,,everyone is very laid back about time lines for these pieces and I feel happy to do them...perhaps rent for Feb...we will see!!! I have a show booked for Jan 4th and a store owner who would like to hang my bigger pieces in her clothing store. My new "invention" are men dressed as super hero's..I made 2 and sold both of them..pictures to come. Hugs and smiles...Merry Christmas everyone!!

one market down, one to go!!

Hello world!! I hit the "wall" this past Wensday, and have been running on gas fumes ever since (not litterally.......more like coffee!!) The Yimer craft fair was Sunday and it was quite lovely. A town of 350 people is more about wonderful energy then huge sales, however I sold enough to truly make it worth my while, and received wonderful uplifting energy about my art!! I am in town today to bring in some more art to the Craft Connection, Say Hi to friends, buy food and wood and then back to the Valley for some house cleaning and laundry....things that have been neglected during the crafting marathon...it can no longer be avoided......the next market is this Sat. at the Central School in Nelson....I have quite a bit and this week may or may not be about creation, it may be more about sleep!!! I have some balls in the air for the new year......a trip to Van to see Fraya and Mark is on the wish list.....if sales are grand this weekend (meaning rent, food, ect is covered then road trip for sure....fingers crossed!!!) I am about to e-mail some pictures to a woman in regards to an art show in Oct...yup lots of artists in town, so huge wait lists....hugs kisses and x-mas smiles!!!

Full time job !!!!

Oh yes, crafting has turned into a full time job times 10!!!! I am exhausted in the most wonderful way....I am exhausted doing something I love!! I have a few pictures to share and then I need to rush off to the store to buy some eye hooks....5:10 bus and some wood cutting for me...4 days to finish what I can finish......
Annie, I wish you could be here too!!!

crafting melt down!!

Perhaps "melt down" is overstating, however a realization that in 10 days I will be at my first craft fair has propelled me into crafting marathon mode!!!! I always forget how long everything takes......completing all the finishing touches...naming, pricing, ect.......meltdown may be in near future!!!

Hi!!!!

I have but a moment befor my bus leaves sooo a quike one...I have been accepted at the Craft Connection and my pieces are hanging in the gallery as I type!!!! I have booked a table at the Yimer craft fair on the 12th of december....lots of work...yey for work!!!!!!
xo

cross your fingers please....

This was a spure of the moment, fly by the seat of my pants thing....The Craft Connection is THE spot in town for local artists, they do take %43 of the sale price...which is insane, however if you are an artist this is the store. They choose artists through a jury selection...rumour has it they can be brutal. Were am I going with all this? Well, I was walking by, when I decided to pop in and see when the next jury selection was...It was this past Sunday...laughing....however the woman I talked with was familiar with my work and asked me to bring 5 pieces into the store tomorrow........ to be juried..fingers crossed folks!!!!

And the horse goes gallaping along!!!

The horse is galloping, and I am holding on for dear life!!!!!!1 I have booked a table at the Central school craft fair on December 18th (mmmm might be the 19th...I have it written down) I also have another plan in motion...when (if) it lands I will tell all!!! In the meantime....I have been working on my A B C picture...did you know that finding an animal with distinctive ears starting with the letter A is not nearly as easy as one (meaning me) would imagin?!? It isnt done, however here is an in progress picture. I have been making owl pins,which brings me to this.....a lovely woman who bought an owl pin last year told me her freinds have been requesting her to felt them owls...so she is.....she assured me she wasnt selling them.....I am unsure how I feel about that.....whats that saying???? Something about imitation being a compliment.....She was very sweet and excited to tell me and I am not upset...just a little, well not as excited as she was.....and the horse goes galloping along......

mmmmmmmmmm

Waldorf school is full and well, not very friendly......oh my!

Mom's

Mom's get up early.....6:30 wake-up, 6:33 wake up kid's.....everybody shower..make everyone breakfast..make lunch, teeth brushing, hair brushing, jacket finding, feed the animals, put in laundry, walk to scool...all before coffee....and with happy smiling face....being Mom for a week has been fun, and not being a Mom will be fun as well...in case anyone is wondering kids can survive on peanut butter and banana sandwhich's just fine!!!!!!!!! I am trying to book a table at the Waldorf school for x-mas...I have also gotten a request for some custom farries....am back on the "horse"!!!! The real Mom and Dad arrive home tomorrow afternoon.....then back to my valley home. I have been asking around and the Valley is indeed the "black hole" of tecnolagy....makes me laugh a bit! Alright blogging land, I am off to the elementry school to watch the rememberence day assembly!!!!!
xo

Back to square one....

I got a responce from the store I was hopeing to have an art show at....nope. Not a horrible "No" however it is a No. The woman suggested we stay in contact and would be interested is seeing new pieces as they are made.....maybe she was being nice to soften the "No"...laughing, but I intend on keeping her in the felt loop...a good connection, an honest responce from a sucsessful bussiness woman...a good thing. Off to drown her honesty in coffee and then jump back into "owl" land.......if one only encounters sucsess how can one grow stronger?
xo

Monday.......

I find myself at the Mall....yicky, however I wanted bananas and felt like a bit of a walk and found myself here...coffee at the Mall Internet cafe, and if one finds yourself at an Internet cafe why not dive in 100% and do some blogging!!!! Grandma Sandy has popped in to hang with the kids so I find myself free for a bit. Missing my home and felted craft land....I have made a handful of owls and will attach pin backs to them this week.....It is cold in Nelson and for the first time it truly feels like winter is coming...I feel displeased with that and as often happens this time of year questioning my decision to live in a country were snow and cold happens for a good chunk on the year......how can anybody effectively function when it is sooooooooo "unsunny" (Kim word!) The stomach flu is making its rounds through the schools and my goal is to surrvive my child caring responsibilities without anyone (including myself) throwing up.....fingers eyes and toes crossed!!! My internet time is almost over...back into the cold for the treck "home"
xox

computer meltdown and tears....

I am not a big crier....there are exceptions, this being one of them...explenation.....I am trying (the trying began at 8a.m.) to send an e-mail and pictures to try and book an art show for the spring, and it will NOT work....computer malfunction..every frickin time..I have tried to send this e-mail at least a dozen times....which means rewriting it EVERY time!!!!!! I am frustrated, I am irritated,..........update...16 year old to the rescue!!!! Sweet wonderful deer computer literate Kashya (age 16) arrived home from school and rescued me from sever over the top meltdown.....yup I am the adult in this situation........xo

Hello sweet internet!!

Hello my darling Internet world!!!!! I am logged into tec world...hello! I will be here (Nelson) until the 11th of November. I am looking after my friends children while they go on a well deserved vacation. I am now Momma Kim to a 16 and 7 year old!!!! It turns out the Valley is the black hole to all things "teacy" no Internet and a wonky phone has made communicating with the outside world frustrating.....despite that and the fact that my new home is quite literally situated in the middle of no place I do like it. I am creating, I am thankful for my little studio home, with the furbies and wilderness outside my back door.....I am lucky. More to come in the next week but here some photos.....the bus stop...bus story's to come....art in progress and the all done wall(s)

Dentist....

8:38 a.m and I am minis one root and have several stitches in there place. My mouth is frozen and I am fearful of drinking my coffee in public due to the "drool" factor. As far as root extraction goes mine was simple and straight forward...thank goodness!! Although he did have to split it in half to remove it which required some unfortunate sound effects, I suggest ear plugs on all dental trips from now on!!!! I need to find out when my bus comes..simple as it was I want to be snug in my house before the freezing wares off.......on the art front....no new art as all this doctor drama requires full days of travel however I had 12 pieces of art left at Queen B's on the island and 7 of them have sold!!!!!!!! I wont be in town until my Friday's doctors appointment and am excited to spend the remainder of the week nesting and making art!!!! Talk to you then!! xo

A day in the life of me........

Hi gang! I have had several "interesting" days...good, bad, and laundry.....A reminder to myself..when ones washing machine lives outside, it is important to close the lid when done otherwise one will have to empty it of dead leaves and stink bugs before use....good to keep in mind for next time!! I would like to point out the blue sky..not a raindrop in sight..doing a jig in my chair as I type!! Yesterday I overcame a fear..of what you ask? POWER SAW!!!!!!! Thats right..I, Kim O'Brien used a power saw to cut wood for frames, by myself, with no supervision...and all my fingers remain intact!! I feel empowered, I feel powerful, I feel "not scared of power saws" any longer!!!!! My new landlord has a workshop that he is allowing me to use on occasion.....life is good! Now, on to the bad....my tooth fell out of my head...let me explain. Ten years ago I had a root canal and a gold crown attached to my back tooth, Three days ago while biting into a dried pineapple the crown fell out of my head. Are you kidding me???!!!!!! Nope. I have a dentist appointment in half an hour. The fact that I have chosen this time to be a "starving artist" and it was at this time my mouth has fallen apart is very financially inconvenient....such is life!! I may have to dive back into the work force sooner then expected......mmmm, I may have sworn under my breath...sigh! As for the ear drama...it continues...the antibiotics that I was taking did not fix my ears however it did give me a yeast infection....not kidding! Between the drops, creams and ointments my bathroom is looking like a pharmacy....o.k. off to the dentist.....fingers crossed for cheep dental fix..is that possible?

In the big city......

Hi all!! I am in Nelson for the day, the Valley is wonderful!!! The first week took a bit of adjustment however week 2 I have found my groove...and am grooving out!! I did not inform you all that the new Valley studio has no internet, thus no blogging. For someone (that would be me) who believed that I really didnt use the computer very much and would not miss it if it were gone...I was full of "poo"...I MISS THE INTERNET...there I said it!! I am moving through the stages of grieving...I am pretty much at the acceptance stage....Valley home=rustic living=simple living=no tecnolagy....On the crafting front....It took me a wee bit to regain my crafting hands, 3 crafting "mishaps".....no injeries, just unfortunate art...however I am back, I am good and happily creating my felted world!! Besides the bird cage I have been scavenging and have come apon some HUGE window frames as well as odd scrapes of wood...no big instilations yet, however I am stock pilling..hopefully by spring!! In the meantime I am making ferries and owls and am creating a comforting nest with wich to live and work. I have included pictures of my new space as well as the new "all done wall". I am in town for a doctors apointment, thats right gang.....ear saga continues...if anyone is keeping track we have entered into month 5 of ear "fungus".....I have another apointment next Friday...blogging then......hope all is well in everyones world!!!
xoxoxox

1 more sleep!!!

Tomorrow is moving day!!!!! Gotta say people I am EXCITED and SCARED mmmmmmm and back to excited!!!! I don't know if you will recall my frame frustration of this summer...but it was huge and ongoing....well I am happy to report that I have been relieved of frame frustration for the moment...his name is Patrick and I have helped released his inner quirky wood builder. He made me 17 frames today, each one quirkier and wonkier then the one before it....I LOVE them. I have said to hundreds of people (wee exaggeration) I dont want my frames to be perfect...just strong. Put math and plum lines and square angles in your back pocket and go higgly piggly......Patrick listened, got excited and made wonky frames!!!!! THANK_YOU!!!!!!!!! I cant wait to plug in my kelly green vintage electric sander....after the move Albert (that would be the sander) my frames, the furbies and I are going to have a cup of tea and then get down to wonderful messy glorious work........in my very own studio!!!!!

2 more sleeps!!!

2 more sleeps, and then I will be in the valley in my art/living studio space. I need to be creating. I am positively bursting at the seems with inspiration. I need the time and space to delve back into experimentation. The last several weeks on the island I felt like I made several breakthroughs.....I am excited to put these "breakthroughs" to the test. I purchased a wooden humongous bird cage today...cheep as it needs a little repair work, I am working towards bigger installations and this bird cage will be the first in what I hope to be a long line of interesting re purposing!! I am going to try for some sleep...if I succeed then I will be down to 1 sleep!!!!!
xo

hi!

The thing about blogging is that it requires writing, not my first love and so can easily be pushed to the side. I took quite a blogging holiday, however I am back! The end of my summer on Hida Guii was so lovely, although extremely wet...My creek did refill with water, bathing did resume, and yes I am still dealing with my ear infection. I had my art show at Queen B's with an all out art opening...pizza, jelly beans, coffee and live folk music...it was grand!!! I sold some big pieces and received some wonderful and supportive feedback. Five days later I flew off the island and back to Nelson........and found myself waitressing, drinking coffee, gossiping about the same old things and decided I had come to far to retreat to the familiar. In true fly by the seat of my pants style I gave my notice at my job (one and a half weeks in) Found a little studio in the valley (30 min from Nelson) and this Friday (Oct. !st) resume the life of a starving artist in the wilderness. In this moment my art appears to be resonating with people....I am taking this moment and I am flying to the moon with it!!!!! Six months from now I may be begging for a dishwashing job in order to pay my rent however for the moment I am o.k. and happy and excited and brimming with creative energy!!!!!! Many people (including myself) spend too much time wishing instead of doing......turns out doing is far more fun!!!!
To my dear blogging readers we are about to reenter camp wilderness Kootany style.....should be fun!!!

Update

Internet is up and working at the house....weather is still cold....water crisis continues....ears are still infected....have rediscovered bagels and cream cheese, very yummy!!! Last minute felting in progress, and yes my fear of commitment and completion are still in play...Art opening poster making this afternoon with Jodi.....update complete.

Fear of commitment

I have some commitment issues, they range in intensity and typically involve committing on what I want for dinner or plans with friends ect. (you thought this was going to be a boy thing...nope!!!) Right now I am having difficulty committing to gluing felted folk in there frames and calling then done.....I feel mildly neurotic!!! The nature and charm of felting is it's slight imperfections, it is one of the quality's I adore...perfectly imperfect. I have no idea were this fear of the final finishing came from and yes, find it slightly irritating......that is it...as soon as I get home (I am at the coffee shop) I am going to plunge into finish land!! Finish land has never seemed quite so daunting....oh my goodness, I AM completely neurotic!!! On the wilderness front....I am adjusting to the water crisis and am still finding humour in it, laughing makes challenging situations way less challenging!! We have hit a cold snap and all washing has been suspended...way to cold to strip down... My art opening has been switched to Sunday afternoon..Pizza party with music..Aug. 29th, 2-5...should be fun!!!! I also have no Internet at the house...not sure why however it is a lovely excuse to hang at the coffee shop..yup I am a regular!!! Alright Blogging land, till next time...
xo

The fungus that was not.....

Does everyone remember my fungus, the one that had taken up residence in my ears? Well it is not a fungus......the Doctor swabbed my ear and sent it away on the off chance that it was something else....I was at the thrift store (yes, I have an addiction!!!) when I was tracked down (I have no phone) and told that the doctor needed to see me. Off I trotted to the clinic, slightly perplexed as to what the issue was. Bacteria.....every kind of bacteria the ear swab was tested for came back positive. How does one get that much bacteria in ones ear? Swimming in stagnate water is one way, or having that stagnate water "hosed" into your house, and then bathing in it is another!!!! I have to say I was very giggly at the pharmacy getting my perception filled........
Annie, I am working on some new stuff, so pictures are coming!!!!! Thanks for the "rainbow"...made me smile!!!

Water

I found the problem with my water, 2 problems really. I took pictures of my bush walk...documentation for when the bear ate me and people wondered what had happened....thankfully no bear!!!!!! First of all it was mmmmmm kinda silly...bush whacking for sure!!!! I didnt really know were I was going, just following the hose that was to bring me to the creek..through tons of brush...... The hose kept changing colour, was covered in moss at certain spots and buried in others...slightly problematic! There were some markers to follow which was fantastic however some of them were on the ground which was less so! Rox came with me as did Simon it was a family adventure!!! O.k. so the problem? The creek is dry. not 100% dry however I would say 95% dry, in theory leaving 5% to come to the house...the second problem is a leak in the hose!!!! The irony of the situation is not lost on me however I love the sun too much to curse it and I cant quite bring myself to wish for rain........Oh dear!!! Looks like sponge baths are in my future!!!! Giggling, I just wish the town girl could have taken one more bath before becoming bush girl........me and my inner dirt are about to become good buddy's!!!!