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August 9th, 2010
What have I been up to these past 5 weeks?
Not making paintings of guinea pigs, sadly. But hopefully there will be more time for that shortly. I’ve spent my days in a stifling hot middle school cafeteria working with an amazingly talented group of middle schoolers with the Stoneham Theatre Summer Program. Over the course of 5 weeks, the kids have 3 hours of rehearsal for a musical each morning, then two workshops after lunchtime.
The workshops I taught were Music Theory II and Auditioning for Musical Theatre. I was so nervous!! I’ve never taught a class before, and since everyone was at different levels of musical knowledge, it was a challenge to find things we could do in class that would be really fun but also help them learn and make sense to everyone. But I made it!
Last week, we had ‘tech week’ at the Stoneham Theatre where the kids got to rehearse on the mainstage and get costumes ready, lights, etc. I’m blown away at how talented and professional they all are. Sadly we weren’t allowed to videotape the show due to rights restrictions, but we have lots of pictures.
I didn’t get to watch the show because I was playing the keyboard for it (in my flannel and cowboy hat o’ course. yeehaw! see me a tiny bit back there in this photo?) And we had a phenomenal drummer come in and help us which truly just pulled the show together and took it from a great kids show to a really professional production.
Photos courtesy of John Howrey for the Stoneham Theatre, who was actually the music director for one of the other shows going on the same weekend, Footloose!
This all came to a close yesterday so now I’m feeling the letdown. What will I do with myself now? I’ve spent 5 straight weeks smothered in Old Broadway showtunes, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and sweat (ew, I know). Where do I go now? What’s next?
I guess breakfast, for starters. There’s no business like show business! 
August 1st, 2010
Wow this Summer is flying. It seems that every week or weekend I have something going on that takes me away from being able to relax and enjoy the Summer. Gah!
After this upcoming weekend, I’ll be finished with the Summer theatre program I’ve been teaching/music directing. But there is no rest for the weary just yet! The following weekend yields a wedding I’m a bridesmaid in for my friend. But that is going to be awesome because it’s on Cape Cod and we’re going to take it as a long weekend and treat it like a little getaway. Yay!
I’ve never been a bridesmaid before (only the bride. haha how often does one say that??). So I’m thinking it’s going to be a really fun time. I designed their wedding invitations and will post pictures once I have the motivation and actually remember to!
Wedding invitations are something I’ve been aiming to offer to customers. I just still need to perfect the process of printing them. I can’t seem to get my printer to print the right colors on paper that isn’t pre-stored as an ICC profile in its settings. I know there’s a way, it’s just complicated and I can’t seem to get it quite right. And I’m a computer nerd! Sheesh.
Oh! And how could I forget one of the other huge milestones in August? : ) Ma birfffday! August 25, baby. I’m going to be… :: gasp :: 26. WHAT? Where is my life going? Lordy me. I’m not so sure how I feel about it.
I’ve already been plucking gray hairs out of my head with tweezers, and there seem to be more and more of them. I don’t think I’m going to be able to keep up with tweezers much longer. It’s truly frightening. I know 26 is nothing. But I’m a frantic, constantly over-committing, over-achieving, over-dreaming art and music loving freak so when a year of my life goes by and I look back on it and don’t see myself in a drastically ‘improved’ place compared to last year, I get scared. But I am in a drastically different place now.
I don’t live where I lived last year. I’m not doing as many freelance corporate projects. I’m teaching theatre. I’ve opened an Etsy shop. I’ve written a musical. I’m married (what?!). And perhaps most importantly, I now have bangs.
So…
It’s been a big year.
Just a few more weeks before I’m past my quarter-century mark. Perhaps my ‘quarterlife crisis’ will begin to wane a bit more now?
July 28th, 2010
Ohhh where does the time go? I am so awesome at updating my blog, aren’t I?!
Amidst playing songs from Annie, Get Your Gun for several hours a day, wrangling pre-teen and teenage thespians, and scarfing down peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the 90 degree sunshine while scratching at mosquito bites, I’ve been reflecting on my love for the humble guinea pig.
I never meant to fall in love with guinea pigs. I never gave them a second thought. I thought they were weird-looking… I didn’t ‘get’ them. I had never held one. And then I met Gus, and my world flipped upside down, and suddenly my heart was melted into a puddle by this tiny squeaking ball of black and white fur with the cutest little pink lower lip the world had ever seen.
This was my wake up call to the captivating world of cavies on a rainy Saturday in April of 2005.
I said goodbye forever to that sweet little face on June 8 this year. I’ve been emotionally recovering since, but it still catches me and I get tugged into crying at times when I’m alone with my thoughts. Gus changed my whole life. And I had to see the life leave his body right in front of me at the vet’s office. We didn’t have him put to sleep. It was just his time, and that’s how it went. He was in such capable hands. All I could do was sit and watch in simultaneous horror and relief that his suffering was finally over.
Oh golly here I go tearing up just now. I’d better not write too much more.
I just feel so grateful to have had him in my life. Without him, I never would have known how sweet, smart, and loving guinea pigs really are. Not to mention how completely disgustingly CUTE. Ugh it’s sickening isn’t it?? I’m a little nutty but I can’t help it. I’ve barely had time to think about artwork lately but all I have to do is search ‘guinea pig’ on Google images and I get filled with more inspiration than I know what to do with.
So my public proclamation stands – I love guinea pigs. I think more people need to know about them and how great they are. And I’m going to keep drawing and painting them, because I can’t help myself. Nothing I can do can bring Gus back to me, but I can honor him and remember him with my artwork. I miss you, little guy. :’(
June 30th, 2010
Oh me oh my I have neglected this poor little blog so badly!
I’m contemplating moving the blog URL back to the main URL for this website, since I honestly haven’t used that homepage for too much. May as well make it as easy as possible for people to find the blog, and when you click the header it’d bring you back to the main blog page, which I think is what folks expect right now. Instead it brings you back to the home page (though I could fix that with some PHP loops if I just sat myself down for two seconds and focused!)
Things have been totally crazy the past month or two for me, hence the blog neglect and not very much new artwork in the shop. I don’t anticipate things letting up too much until September, but I am going to put my best foot forward!
Can I gush for just a second? Ok awesome.
I got to see a musical I wrote go up in front of a sold out audience this past weekend (!!!). I am still riding on that high right now, and I know most of you (all 5 perhaps haha) come to this blog to read about artwork or whatever, but ya gotta know there’s another huge side to this silly girl that writes these entries! Music is my end all be all mega passion gone with the wind style love of my life, other than art of course. I’ll spare you the details of how my frustrations in my career brought me to this point (perhaps in another post if we wanna get personal. ooh la la!) but I’ve been working hard for the better part of a year to make a musical, and it worked. I’m astounded. And so blessed.
So if I haven’t had a flood of new guinea pig paintings in the shop lately, it’s because I’ve been up to my ears in rehearsals! And of course there is no rest for the weary. I’m now starting working at a 5 week summer theatre program for kids in addition to rehearsing at night for a musical revue, oh and preparing to be a bridesmaid in my friend’s August wedding.
SO! The guinea piggies haven’t been forgotten. I just have to juggle my priorities and time and somehow try to remain at least a little sane. Though isn’t life a bit more fun when you’re slightly off your rocker?
xoxo
June 3rd, 2010
So I had this wacky idea the other night. I’m not sure where it came from or why, but I was thinking about how I wanted to include more artwork featuring the characters from the Guinea Pig Birthday Picnic scene…and I thought of school pictures.
I was looking at the birthday party scene and kind of examining each character I had created a couple months ago, and I was like, “aww…these little guys can’t just make a one-time appearance!” I feel like they have personalities yet to be created, little back-stories to tell. They’re a group of those inseparable type of friends that are always having some kind of adventure. Perhaps a children’s book someday? I don’t know. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, haha.
But the school picture idea kind of manifested itself and I’m still not 100% sure people are going to like it, but that’s okay. I’m enjoying myself so I suppose that’s what counts, eh? : )
So far, I’ve got the squirrel and the turtle. They need names. Names will come as I get to know them all a bit better.
The squirrel displays the classic “messy hair” motif that so many boys fall prey to on picture day. Just can’t tame those cowlicks!
 Hey, Mom! I styled my own hair this morning! Can't wait to send this to grandma! Then we have the turtle – such a sweet disposition and so lovable with those ironic tortoise-shell glasses. He tried so hard not to squint that he ended up getting startled by the flash and blinked. ::sigh:: There’s a retake day, right?
 Oops...I think I blinked. Can we reta- oh, I didn't blink? Oh ok. Thanks, mister! I feel doubtful that someone is going to see the blinking turtle and be like “oh awesome! I have to have that!” haha, but I have bigger plans, kids. As a loyal Facebook fan suggested, the plan is to have all the characters done and then offer them as an ACEO set. Wallet sized. Perfect, right?? And I also had a crazy idea to make a little yearbook of sorts, though I’m still figuring out the logistics of that in my brain.
Feels good to be painting again!
May 21st, 2010
Know where that’s from?? “…I’m gonna see a friend of mine. He’s round and he’s fuzzy, I love him because he’s just Pooh Bear Winnie the Pooooh Bear!” Oh man. The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – one of my most favorite shows from childhood.
But this post isn’t supposed to be about Pooh (though I love him more than anything and have my very old, worn out Pooh bear from when I was 3 that I still occasionally sleep with…I mean, um…that sits on a shelf. Right…). I need a motivation kick in the caboose.
I haven’t made a new painting for my shop since the ladies at tea (which I completely forgot to post here) a few weeks ago. No excuses! Yes, I have had rehearsals and music-writing sessions for our musical we’re doing in a month, and various other commitments and commissions and whatnot, but still…I feel that I don’t really have a valid excuse for not having more artwork up more consistently.
I don’t know how you juggle things like this, you successful people out there. I have so many varying things in my life that I want to do and accomplish, and my brain always wants them done yesterday. I’m not very patient and I’m not the most focused individual, but I think that’s what kind of helps me push forward and try new things. I’m not content to sit at one job day in and day out and slowly climb a career ladder. I need to feel like I’m making things, like I’m furthering some creative journey, or like I’m making an impact *right now*.
I think this may also be a symptom of my generation as a whole. We’ve grown up being told we can change the world, make a difference, that we’re important and can ‘be whatever we want to be’ if we just put our minds to it/want it badly enough/don’t give up, etc. Sometimes that provides great fuel for moving forward and pushing ourselves. Other times it makes things feel awfully discouraging!
May 5th, 2010
There are so many articles, forum posts, etc. regurgitating the same information over and over and over about what it takes to be successful, what ‘magic recipes’ there are to get a lot of views or sales on Etsy, for example, things like that. At first, I read everything I could lay my eyes on, but there comes a point where you realize you’re reading the same things again and again, and then it’s kind of exciting because either you’ve reached a point where you’ve actually learned enough to know what to do and start doing it, or everyone else is just repeating what they’ve read.
It’s kind of hard to discern the two sometimes.
But I think it’s a mix of both for me. I’m able to skim things that I know I’ve already read, and pull out nuggets of really helpful information among the ‘fluff’, so to speak.
For me, what’s really the most important about establishing myself as an artist and growing a client base (because that’s really what it is… it’s fun to know people have your artwork in their house! But you have to also think of them as clients with your business) is having a product that my target audience falls over themselves for. If a product I have in my shop isn’t getting much attention, I don’t automatically throw it away and assume it’s a failure, but I try to look at it and think of what about it might not be *as* appealing to my target customers. It might be cute, but for whatever reason, it doesn’t push them over the edge into “OMG WANT”ville. Otherwise they’d buy it.
This isn’t to downplay the importance of things like great photography, properly distributed and optimized keywords, marketing both online and offline, etc. But at the end of the day, if your product doesn’t speak into your customer’s ear like a beckoning lover enticing them to buy it because they simply *MUST* have it, then all the marketing in the world isn’t going to help.
Be awesome. Make awesome products. And most importantly, continue to make your awesome products awesomer. See what happens!
(Oh and snag a guest spot on a really popular tv show or get featured in a national magazine or any other 1 in a million chance occurrences. But don’t count on it happening to be the reason you’re successful! Roll that snowball instead of waiting for a blizzard!)
April 9th, 2010
Oh my gosh…. I just found something on the front page of Etsy and I am IN LOVE.
This artist has had the ingenious idea to take a 1967 yearbook and do pencil sketches of each of the students. It’s seriously like sitting down looking through my parents’ yearbooks. What fun!
I mean,…look at how cute he is!
And this hairdo? How fabulous is she?
The rest of the 50 portraits (if there are still 50 left. Get ‘em quick!) are at the Etsy shop, NancyIllustration. She also has a Web site at NancyIllustration.com with even more goodies to check out!
April 4th, 2010
From When Guinea Pigs Fly and the adorable guinea pigs that inpire this artwork, have a hippity, hoppity, happy Easter!
March 31st, 2010
I’ve gotten this question a few times: Where are the Kitties?!
People have even flat out told me if I draw a cat (or a dog, too, actually!), they will buy it. So how can I turn down a guaranteed sale?
I don’t know…
I’m kind of struggling with the notion of what inspires me versus what’s profitable. I loooove cats; don’t get me wrong! I have a kitteh myself and I am pretty much obsessed with her (and Gus and Max the guinea pigs, of course!). But for some reason, I don’t feel compelled to draw cats.
I don’t know if it’s because I’ve never particularly found it easy to draw cats, or if it’s something else, but when I sit down to my sketchpad, cats never make an appearance. Neither do dogs. Elephants, whales, giraffes, groundhogs? Sure. But for some reason, not cats or dogs.
So there’s the conundrum – do you create something because you know there’s a demand for it even though your heart isn’t 100% into it? Or do you stick to your guns and keep plugging through with what you’re passionate about and hope that passion resonates through your artwork and gets others to catch on, whether they originally thought they liked guinea pigs or not?
I don’t think it’s a huge ethical dilemma but it’s something I’ve been mulling over. I don’t see myself as “selling out” if I draw a cat or a dog now, haha. But I just don’t want to lose sight of my original vision and focus for my shop, my brand, my work.
Have you ever faced this situation with your business or art? I’d love to hear about it!
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About Me 
Why hello there! I'm Lesley. I'm 25, and I'm an artist-turned-geek-turned-artist. This is my blog. Enjoy!
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