Road Tripping in Wisconsin

Ooo....boy. July was a busy month. There was a lot of cutting cards, packaging items, traveling and way too little sleeping. I think I might actually start taking midday naps just to give myself a little break.

July started with finally finishing my insane waterfall illustration. That piece had been a work of progress for quite some time. All of those leaves drove me a bit insane, I kept having to take breaks because my eyes would go all cross-eyed. The water and the waterfall were surprisingly easier than anticipated, I can't say the same for the rainbow though. Trying to make sure the colors were bright enough but also keep it semi-translucent so you could see the water behind it was a pain in the butt. But I did it and it looks gorgeous!

Then there were events. The Northside Farmer's Market in Madison was my first one for the month and a lot of fun. The Northside Farmer's Market will always be one of my favorite events. All of the other vendors there are so nice, there is such a good variety of goods to purchase and I always get to meet some amazing people.

Shortly after the farmer's market I then took part in the Mount Horeb Art Fair which was a ton of fun. I haven't done many weekend long events and I don't get to take part in many strictly art themed events so I was a little nervous but it was absolutely amazing. It was so cool to meet all of the other artists and to see their work. Bonus, because it was a bit of a drive we stayed at my parents place to be closer to the event so I got to visit my parents too. :)

Immediately after the art fair we went home for the night and then left the very next day for Eau Claire for the three day Wisconsin Farm Technology Days. Now I had no idea what to expect with this event. There was the arts and crafts fair taking place at it and that was about all I knew. This event was so big they set up temporary street signs to help you navigate the entire place. This event was larger than the Wisconsin State Fair but instead of carnival rides there were tractors and other farm equipment. While the event was large and there were a lot of people there, unfortunately it wasn't a very ideal place for artists and crafters. Despite having a lot of Wisconsin themed products I thought people would love I rarely made any sales and a lot of the other arts/crafts vendors suffered too. Despite the letdown it was an interesting event to take part in and hey, at least I tried and now I know for next year not to do it.

When we finally left Eau Claire we went to my grandparents place that wasn't too far away and stayed with them for a night or two. I haven't seen my grandparents in over a year so it was really nice to visit with them. Grandma even made me a gluten free blueberry peach cobbler. It was delicious. Once my brother and parents arrived we went up North to the Hazelhurst/Minocqua area where my parents had rented a cabin and we just relaxed for the week. We did a little hiking, rented a pontoon boat and relaxed on the water. With the cabin near the lake we sat on the dock and watched the sun set a few times with a drink in hand too. It was so nice. We even made some animal friends. Mainly it was just Chipocalypse and Chipageddon constantly trying to get into the cabin but it was still cool, they're adorable. It was so weird when we finally came home since we had been gone for two weeks solid.

Oh and let's not forget the Artless Bastard Gallery in DePere. I was accepted into their landscapes exhibit for my Devil's Lake and Autumn in Minocqua pieces so at the beginning of the month I got to drive up to DePere to drop those off. It was so cool to see my work there and all set up on opening night. This may be the third gallery I've gotten into but this is the first one where I was actually able to go and see my work all set up at the gallery. It was so exciting.

While juggling the events and driving everywhere I was also doing a lot of prep work. I had printed about 950 cards and was slowly cutting, folding, trimming and packaging all of them. I had also purchased matting and backing for my art prints and was packaging those as well. It took me over a week to do it all and I still ended up doing some of it in the hotel room when we were in Eau Claire. Thankfully my husband is a saint and got a head start on the packaging while I did the cutting, folding and trimming. He is so amazing.

While in Eau Claire and on vacation I finished a fantasy themed illustration I had been working on of a weird, gigantic fantasy octopus.

I also created a new floral card while on vacation. With the cabin by the lake I got to see lots of bald eagles, loons and water lilies. Water lilies are so gorgeous!

I also created this dapper as hell cat. Isn't he classy? He turned out so good. It was so nice to sit in the cabin and listen to the thunderstorms outside while working on this.                                                                      

August will be another busy month for me and it may still involve a decent amount of driving but thankfully the trips are a lot shorter. As to projects I'm not entirely sure what I'll do. I know what I'd like to do but realistically who knows how much will actually get done. I'd like to start another nature piece, another dapper animal illustration and dear gods I would love to finish the penwork for the Three Billy Goats Gruff but we'll just have to see. My health is still all bonkers (I got to start the month with a colonoscopy...ew). There are a lot of updates I would like to try and make to my website, social media and etc but all the tech stuff usually gets neglected since it's my least favorite thing to do. I can't avoid it forever though, it has to get done at some point. We'll just have to see how this month goes with events and how well I manage my time. I'm excited to see what this month brings. :)