I offered to make a door prize for my class reunion. Then ended up making two necklaces, three bracelets, and three hand painted bookmarks.
They are packaged on old book covers, with a note about being inspired by my love of our high school art and literature classes, and my friends from there. Each includes jewelry and a bookmark.
During my shoulder recovery days, I’d planned to use my down time productively. I was going to take advantage of having less responsibilities at Good Juju to see more movies, go shopping, visit friends, and experiment with loosening up my painting style. Maybe trying to add an element of abstract into my work by learning to paint left handed.
Well, I’m glad I signed up for a class my friend was teaching at the Mulvane museum in Topeka because I needed that incentive to give that last to do item a go. Because my weeks off weren’t as free and open as I’d dreamed they would be. Instead of having nothing but time on my hands, I felt like crap, and my healing period was needed for healing.
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It was mostly spent watching 15 seasons of ER while dozing in a recliner.
Since I wasn’t feeling as chipper or motivated as I thought I’d be, I wasn’t doing much at all. If I hadn’t signed up with a buddy and paid in advance, I wouldn’t have gone to that workshop and had such a nice day, learning about my friend’s art process, and attempting to smear some paint around with my good arm while using a couple of her techniques.
Jen’s work is inspiring and each canvas is full of surprises. It’s far away from my own territory when I paint, but her ideas were just what I needed to loosen up my own illustrative style and try to be more painterly.
Also, my recuperation scheme of learning new skills and enjoying myself wasn’t playing out as I’d hoped. This class was a welcome nudge to get me out of my recliner and be creative while mingling with friends.
I have tried to get something around the house or studio done each day, and at the beginning my tasks were simple. As the weeks have progressed, I’ve been adding more activities daily, plus trying to walk 10,000 steps, weather permitting. I also am working on my booth at Juju more than I’d expected.
Originally, friends and coworkers were going to redo my space each month for me. But after arranging furniture in advance, into mostly shelving that was easily filled, I did not require friends to pop tagged items into empty spots for me, I could handle it one armed.
The dealers are all pitching in during sales to do my job, but I have surprised myself by being able to refill the booth between events with minimal help, mostly from Rich. So quite a bit of my allotted “free time” hasn’t been as free as I’d expected. This two hours of painting has been the entirety of my time with brushes.
But as the doctors tell me, this is a long, slow rebuild and I can’t be impatient with it. There is a long stretch of time ahead of me, maybe I’ll still do more creative things from my plans.
I like to work while on vacation.
Of course, painting pretty flowers in a setting like this does not feel like work.
It feels like pure joy.
Layered in blessings.
Not work at all.
When I took down the holiday displays, I didn’t change much on my buffet. Mostly the main pieces stayed as is while Christmas glitz was exchanged for flowers.
Instead of Shiny Brites, the swan was filled with coffee filter blooms. I added floral pictures, tucked fake pink flowers and larger coffee filter roses here and there. Sugarwings placed her Lego bouquet into a depression glass parfait cup and we put it on a small pedestal.
That pedestal is actually a lamp base that I’d painted and glued a round mirror onto. I use it a lot, I feel like it shows off anything you set on it.
The biggest addition is this reclaimed painting. On a mini thrifting day, I popped into a Topeka flea market, and was attracted to the frame. I thought it was $12 and figured I could resell it, then noticed my own signature on the bottom!
Yep, this is one that I probably sold at Mission Road Antique mall in Kansas City 20 years ago and it’s made its way to a Topeka mall. I did not remember this piece of artwork at first, then once I thought about it overnight, it came to me. I’d painted a number of things in my mom’s hospital room as I sat with her in her last weeks.
This was one of those.
At the register, I discovered it was $42 not 12 and was a tad bit iffy on the purchase, but went for it anyway. Now I’m glad that I did because it has stirred some precious memories and I think it has earned a spot in my home.
Oh, and at check out I was chatting to the salesperson and told her the story of finding my own painting. She looked closer at the signature, and told me that she used to buy hand painted Christmas ornaments from me and recognized the name.
As we chatted a bit, I completely forgot that I’d just came from the Medspa and had microneedling done. And was wearing comfy, pj-ish clothing. This photo was taken a couple days later so I looked much, much worse that day. My face was bright red, more like Deadpool. I have to wonder what she was thinking?
“Poor Karla used to sell artwork and do well, now she has a ravaged face and is finding her art tossed aside to show up at flea markets.”
Maybe not, I enjoyed our talk and I don’t think she was too horrified by my raw face. And I’m so glad that I found the painting.
Another sweet addition to the buffet is this china frame from Beth. I haven’t decide what to put in it yet. A vintage photo? A picture of my grand fairies? An antique print?
The frame itself is pretty old, you can tell from the back. I feel like it probably should have something of an equal age, but I might be drawn to the idea of the kiddos framed in it.
I have no idea how long we’ve held this tradition, 20 years, maybe? Hmm, Sugarwings is 19 now, so maybe not quite 20. 18 or 17?
I tend to date events by the ages the kids or dogs were at the time.
It’s an evening I always look forward to.
Each year I try to make a gift to set at each place setting.
This year, it is hand painted book marks. I thought of doing Christmas ones, but I thought flowers might be more practical.
This is what I wrote for the backs.
Since they are watercolor, the paint needed protection. Originally I’d planned to laminate the tags with clear packing tape, but oops! It was too narrow!
The party was that night and I didn’t have time to get extra wide tape. So I experimented by using an acrylic clear coat. It went on fine, no smearing. I was surprised and happy. I hope they hold up.
Before we even had August’s sale at Good Juju, I was making big plans for September and October’s events.
The back wall of my space is brick, and I cannot hang anything on it, so I had previously hung a big Karla’s Cottage banner down from the ceiling beams to fill the space. Well, I got to thinking that I need a Karla’s Haunted Cottage sign for Halloween, but the spot is pretty hard to get to,
After consulting some people whose minds think in a more engineering way than mine does, we came up with a pulley system to hang seasonal banners without going to much fuss to change them!
I immediately got to work painting a 6’x8’ canvas drop cloth with a spooky theme. Now that it’s done, I’ll flip it over and paint a gingerbread cottage on the back of it. I’m excited about all of the possibilities.
A drop cloth is nine bucks, I need about 8 hours to prime and paint it, and can do artwork on both sides. Heck, I’ll be wanting to switch them out every month!
Hmm, my time might be better spent making things to sell, not just display. But dang, this was fun to do.
I painted my shoes.
Not because I wanted to, but because I blopped a chunk of coconut oil on them and couldn’t scrub it out no matter how hard I tried. I’d only had them a couple weeks, they were warm, cozy and worth saving.
They needed to stay neutral, so I could still wear them with most things. So I kept my palette monochromatic.
I’m not sure yet if they are exactly what I wanted. The white might be too bright? I’ll give it some time and see if I enjoy wearing them. I do know that I’m very happy to get them back on my feet with no oily blotch.
A few weeks back, I found a boxful of these floats. After keeping a bowlful for myself, I tagged the rest to take into our July First Friday Weekend. That is today!
If you are done with leftover potato salad and your fireworks have all been set off, you should celebrate the remaining part of your holiday weekend by coming in to see us at Juju.
My red, white, and blue is packed away, but I can still wish you a happy 4th.
Well, I need to get to work, I’ll leave you with photos of the space.
Between being away so much, then coming home with a cold this time, I wonder how I even still have a booth filled with stuff.
Lots of stuff.
I even made new fairy dolls to bring in.
As well as jewelry. These bracelets are vintage charms I added to the chains. I made a couple of charm necklaces too.
A couple dozen new paintings on old text. 
A bunch of old books, and cute creations.
With a rusty truck.
The upper shelf sometimes gets neglected, but this month, I took every single item down and started over with new merch.
Speaking of new merchandise, I’m trying something different. Here is a tray full of stone and silver rings. I hope my guests enjoy oohing and awing through them as much as I did when I picked them out.
The schroomies are restocked.
Mostly just in neutrals. I don’t know why I have so few spring toned ones.
Actually, the whole, overall feel isn’t quite as springy as I’d like. Although there are plenty of tokens of the season.
There is also a lot of neutral areas. More August than April.
While I am thrilled to have filled the space, and to have so many new items to fill it with, I am at the same time disappointed in the overall look of it.
Notice that I’m mostly showing you close up vignettes?
Because to get everything in there and ready before I went to Georgia and Florida, I had to cram the furniture into place and say “good enough” instead of taking my time and planning it out better.
Kind of a “make it work” situation instead of a creative process. I seriously need time to empty the whole spot and rethink it, like I did on the upper shelf. A clean start.
I don’t know if my customers would notice, or if it’s just me. Or maybe it’s just my mood? But I’d love to have a couple of days to switch it up completely, not just rearrange and add to what’s there.
Maybe May?
In the meantime, I’ll try to just feel proud of myself for pulling it together at all and getting new creations tucked inside. It’s been a rough, sad few months lately. I still cannot believe my beloved sister is gone. And so quickly from diagnosis to death.
Yep, I’ll go easy on myself as much as I can and just be glad I have any display at all.
While my sister was ill, I spent as much time by her side as I could each day. I tried to balance wanting to never leave her with respecting her immediate family’s needs to be with their mom. So, I’d arrive in the morning, set my painting supplies up by her, find some of her favorite movies to watch, then just hang out together until her kids arrived. Some nights we gathered with other family too, but if it was just her girls there, I’d leave so they had private time.
I’d help with meds, drinks, shampooing, etc if needed, but mostly we were just together. Each day Bobbie slept a little more than the day before, but I’d always tell her not to stay awake for me. Rest and be strong to see her daughters and those grandkids at night.
When she was gone, I felt rudderless. I couldn’t be with Bobbie.
How on earth was I going to fill my days?
The world just keeps turning. And we do fill our days. Sissy and I went with her daughters for a day out to see a shark movie Bobbie would’ve loved. We all had craft days together making Bobbie’s favorite bracelets.
We spent time with family.
One afternoon, I painted this chair for Sissy. She loves the designer, Gudrun Sjodren, and wanted this done in her style. It was an excellent distraction. Painting chairs is good busywork, with all the spindles that are tedious, but also give your mind a chance to wander. Then practicing a style that I am not used to kept me focused. It was a project that let me both reminisce yet move forward.
For me, keeping busy, staying creative is helpful. After I lost Ryan, I filled my closet with hand embroidered shirts and worked in the garden until it was a mass of blooms. Each activity of creating doesn’t exactly heal, but maybe gives me hope? And a sense on continuing.