Well, I won’t go as far as saying these two are best buds but the personal space bubbles have gotten smaller and smaller and they are tolerating each other’s presence quite nicely. There are still little spats here and there, but they generally get along. Especially if there’s bird watching involved.

Although, when I see this cuteness, I have to come to the conclusion that they secretly like each other. A little bit. I know it looks like Khloe is being a princess and taking over the blanket pile (which she totally is), but I think Newly would have chosen the cool leather anyway. He always seems to prefer the cool tile floors too since its summertime. Once winter comes back around I’m sure they’ll be fighting over the cozy blanket pile again.

We’ve come a long way since the continuous hissing and hiding when we first brought Newly home.

I rode my rusty purple bike for the first time.  (the one Joe pulled out of a dumpster and fixed up for me)

Bike riding plus Coldplay on Pandora is a new form of free therapy for me. 

My whole bike squeaks and creaks when I slow down to stop. I can live with that. haha. I think I’m gonna need a cushier bike seat though.

These were taken the same day as our first art festival in historic downtown Shawnee. We found an alley, set up our tripod, and had some fun.

My ponytail was frizzing out because of the humidity. I decided to go with it.

Someone saw us taking pictures in the alley and told us there was some cool graffiti around the corner. Indeed there was!

Saturday, June 2nd was our art gallery showing for Sit. Stay. Art!  I was pretty excited about it, but it ended up being way better than I even thought!  We both want to participate next year for sure!! Before I start in with photos from the event, I wanted to show you these behind the scenes pics to let you know that my kitties were VERY involved in the artwork process. ‘

Khloe.

Newly.

Event flyer.

Artist Catalog.

A peek at our art inside the artist catalog.

Standing outside of the IAO gallery. 

Everyone was allowed to bring a leashed pet, so there were all sorts of friendly dogs roaming around.  One of my favorite parts of the evening was when I brushed past someone (the gallery was packed!) and smiled at her dog (his tail was going a mile a minute). The woman said “I’m so sorry, did he lick you?  He’s a knee-licker!”  And I couldn’t contain the giggles because here I am at my first “fancy” art gallery, wearing a dress, and hearing the phrase “knee-licker”.

Whenever I go somewhere that requires interacting with people I have to prepare myself. I get extremely overwhelmed by crowds. Talking with people (especially people I don’t know) drains everything out of me, even if I’m having fun.  So we arrived 30 minutes early (as we usually do) and sat in the parking lot so I could regroup. I was worried that the event was going to be too “fancy” for me. Joe was helping me relax and calm down when we looked up and saw someone in a dress shirt and tie climb out of their car carrying a HUGE stack of pizza. That was all I needed to get the courage to go inside. hahaha. I had expected the food to be tiny crackers with imported salmon flakes or something ridiculous like that, but when we rounded the corner to the food tables it was full of Hideaway Pizza, hotdogs, and P.F. Changs. Oh, and cupcakes from a local bakery. They even had vegan cupcakes so the dogs could eat them too.  It was all delicious.  

Near the bar they had a “doggie bar” set up with a bunch of water bowls lined up in a row. 

There were so many great pieces of art!  I thought we would do a lot of standing around, bored. But we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, browsing the art, talking to a couple of people, and eating food. A couple of hours breezed by and we couldn’t believe we’d been there that long!

My heart skipped a beat when I saw my art hanging on that gallery wall, and  my name in print next to each piece. I felt like I was part of something big. It was an awesome feeling. After seeing some of the other pieces, I was tempted to feel a little out of place with beginner artwork. I am slowly changing that mindset. The thing I love about art is that it is individual expression. It is open to interpretation. It is feelings, viewpoints, looking glasses. Here’s part of an email I sent to a friend recently:

“Joe has been so supportive of me. We’ve been a support to each other, really. I have loved watching him blossom and stop hesitating when he tells someone he’s an artist. The beauty of art is that its a window into how someone else sees the world. In a strange way its deepening my friendship with Joe to get to see things through his eyes (and vice versa). Do you ever look at someone’s artwork and think it looks “funky”? I do that all the time. Like one eye will be bulging or the nose will be crooked or something random like that. That’s my favorite part. It proves why people have a hard time communicating because we all come such different places and viewpoints. It reminds me of another thing I wonder about…if we all look at a color and call it purple or blue or orange, but who knows what shade or color we each actually see. “

My pieces didn’t sell, but will be available in an online sale soon. The proceeds will still go to Pets and People Humane Society. Joe’s piece sold within the first hour we were there.  By the time we made it through the crowd to his piece it already had a red “sold” sticker on it.  In the small amount of time we stood there, so many people stopped to admire it, asking to touch it, and asking Joe a million questions.  Everyone told him he seriously priced it too low. He is excited to do more next year, maybe even some much larger pieces. 

We couldn’t last the whole event without making a weird face.

My favorite piece was by Artist Brittany Raeann Kelly. It was another mustache kitty, using Mar the cat as a muse!  She used a map as her background, and added dimension using beeswax. So cool!

They also had a flipbook photobooth set up, but it wasn’t free and we sadly didn’t have enough $$ to pay for it. It would have been cool. They create a short video of you in the photobooth and then turn it into an instant flipbook for you to take home.  It was great for those wiggly pets who are impossible to photograph. 

Oh! We did see one brave kitty there!  She was wearing a pink harness and was just lounging on a pair of shoulders, blinking sleepily and taking in the sights. She was totally cool with people petting her and didn’t seem the least bit concerned by the crowd or the dogs.  It made us want to try and see if Newly would take to harness. We’d love to take him to this event next year!  Joe told Newly he could only come if he wears an artist’s beret. Newly’s thinking about it.

Afterwards we walked around Oklahoma City.

In fancy shoes.

The end! 

Previous posts about this event:

Muses for Sit. Stay. Art!

Sit. Stay. Art! Completed Pieces

We went to our first art festival (as vendors!) a few weeks ago!  It was in downtown Shawnee. We had a blast meeting other artists, listening to live music and spending time outside. We both were sunburned and happy at the end of the day, so I’d say it was a success! We even sold 2 flowers!

Colorful banners make me happy.

Our neighbors. 

Joe’s shadows.

Sorting M&M’s by color…

Okay, here’s our table!  There are a million things we want to change now that we’ve experienced our first festival, but you have to start somewhere. We were pretty happy with it!  I LOVE the big stump that we painted white. It put the flowers at eye level and so many people stopped to look at them.  I’d like a better table cover (we used one of our bedroom curtains, hahaha).  Our price chalkboard was supposed to stand up, but the wind kept taking it so we had to lean it down pretty far. Next time Joe’s going to screw it into a heavy stand so it won’t blow away. 

Joe looking dapper in his tophat back there…

Our business cards, designed by one of my bridesmaids and long time friends, Beth. (Here’s her website.)  Lots of people took cards, so hopefully they’ll check us out online! Joe carved pi into a rock while we were sitting there, and it helped hold down the cards (since everything was blowing away. It’s Oklahoma!)

My ponytail was running away with the wind too…

The end!  Can’t wait to do it again! 

Facebook: Pioneer Artisanworks

Etsy: Pioneer Artisanworks

I love it!!  The color is a little off because off the weird bathroom lighting, but its pretty close to the actual color. I hope it doesn’t fade too quickly. 

We met some road tripping friends at a pizza/arcade place tonight and had a really fun time. We didn’t get a single group shot that wasn’t blurry, but I think these captured the fun anyway.

Clarissa got a hole-in-one during mini golf while wearing flip flops and holding her baby boy. We declared her the winner based solely on that fact.

Coffee with my daddy.

Toasting the cows and the sunrise.

Hiking the back pasture with my momma.

That’s what we call it when Newly flops over on top of our feet with each step we take. He is always ready for the petting to commence.

Can’t….quite….reach….