New Website!!!!

I wanted to put a million exclamation marks in the title, but thought that might be a bit superfluous.  But I'm so excited about my new site!!  I made it using Wix.com, which I must say is a fabulous site!!  It is so easy to use and there are so many awesome options, and you can make your site perfect for your needs!  (I swear I'm not getting paid to say this - I just genuinely love that site!)  

I've been wanting to update my website for a very long time.  I've used Blogger for the last few years, which is fine, but not ideal.  The finished site just looks too much like a blog in the end, and I wanted my site to look more professional.  I've tried WordPress in the past, too, and it's fine, but Wix is so dang easy to use, that having no programming background is not a problem!

OK, I'm done talking about Wix (for now?).  

One of the things I'd been thinking about regarding my website and my artist "brand" is my name.  I like my name!  However, there is an Australian paralympic swimmer named Katherine Downie, and apparently she's good, because she beats me on Google constantly!  I used to be most of the links on the first results page, but now I'm lucky if I have one or two!  I actually recently followed her on Twitter and commented on a photo she posted, and she followed me back - two Katherine Downies, out to rule the world!  Maybe she and I should start a club?

Anyway, back to my name.  I decided that, with the start of this website, I am going to rebrand myself as Katherine H. Downie.  (If you say that angrily, it sounds a bit like you're swearing...!)  (That's not why I'm doing it, though - I just think that's funny. My middle initial really is H.)  My website is still katherinedownie.com (I've given out too many business cards to change that now), but everything else from here on out will include the H.  I don't know a ton about SEO stuff, but I know enough to hope that there's no confusion with me and the Australian swimmer now that I've tacked an extra letter on my name. There may come a time when I'm knocking her off Google's search results!!  (No hard feelings, though, really - she seems like a sweet girl!)

I'm excited about 2015 - I feel like I'm getting things done that I've been meaning to do for a while (artistically), and am excited to make some changes this year.  I've been painting a lot more lately (thanks in part to some classes that I'm teaching), and will post more about that soon.  

In the mean time, be sure to go over and check out katherinedownie.com and let me know what you think in the comments below!

Wood Shop Skills, Take 2

Over on my Robot Tuesdays blog, I wrote a post a couple of years ago about my mad wood shop skills.  A few months ago I put those skills to the test to create a masterpiece of utility and practicality...though the aesthetics may have left something to be desired.

In my bedroom (which doubles as studio/craft room) I have a couple of sets of plastic drawers (the kind Target sells every year at the start of the school year).  These drawers hold glue, markers, colored pencils, my light table, crafting supplies, etc.  The problem with them is that the more you stack on top of them, the more difficult it becomes to open the bottom drawers. 

I decided that I needed to come up with a better solution, and my wood shop skills came to my rescue.  (That and my dad's habit of collecting wood and tools and other handy supplies.)  I took some measurements, did a quick sketch, and checked to see if we had the necessary supplies.  We did!  I got everything laid out, measured twice, and started cutting. I used 2 x 4s which, as it turns out, are not actually 2 inches by 4 inches.  Who knew?!  That caused a few re-cuts and some refiguring, but eventually I got everything cut to where I needed it.

I felt like I had a new and uncomfortable
layer of skin after a while.

After everything had been cut, I started assembling the structure.  I wasn't terribly neat about it, honestly - I knew that I mostly needed it to be utilitarian and that it would likely end up in my studio someday.  I used screws on some parts, a nail gun on others, and wood glue to put all of the pieces together.

 This is what I ended up with, before I painted it:

I did a couple of coats of white paint (which we had laying around), and added a touches of silver spray paint for a little flair:

Once the paint was dry, I brought the finished shelving unit up to my room.  I had help with this - it's quite heavy!!  I had measured my plastic drawers so they would fit in the unit, plus I wanted shelves above so I could store all of the things that had been stacked on top of them.

I'm really happy with how it turned out!  I've been using it for several months now and it is exactly what I needed.  The plastic drawers all open, I have places to store a lot of my supplies, and it's nice to have that sense of accomplishment from building something with your own hands!

Once the weather warms up again, I'm hoping to do some more woodworking, including building a couple of frames (for artwork).  I'll post about those as they happen.

Have you ever built or created anything that left you with a sense of accomplishment?  If you got stuck on part of the project, how did you get past that? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Birthday, Kandinsky!!

In order to help me get back in the flow of blogging, I thought that I would take a few moments to celebrate the birthday of one of my very favorite artists, Wassily Kandinsky.  His name may be a little strange, but his art was...well, stranger.  And wonderful!  When I was in New York City in 2009 I saw a few of his paintings at the MOMA and nearly cried!!  They're beautiful! (I often have that reaction when seeing in person the work of an artist I've studied - during that same visit I saw Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" and was like a giddy school girl!) 

I love the way that Kandinsky uses color, shapes, and line to create so much movement and excitement in his paintings.  I won't give you an art history lecture, I'll just include in here some of my favorites of his paintings for you to enjoy!!

If you'd like to see more of his work, check out this website (link here) - you can also click on the images above to see their source and find out more!

Happy Birthday, Kandinsky!!

Weeks 23-25: The End

This post has been sitting in my "posts" list for weeks now, and I just keep putting off posting it - I think I'm in denial!  But I'm going to do it....NOW!

It's over, my friends!  How sad is that??  I can't believe that it's already been SIX MONTHS!!!  Weird.  The last few weeks of my residency were incredibly busy with moving my studio home, teaching, working, being sick, going out of town, etc.  It's been a little stressful, to be honest!  I wanted to go out with a bang, but things didn't go exactly the way I planned.  

I started working from home a few weeks before the end of my residency, since my studio-mate got really booked up with photo shoots.  It ended up working fairly well, actually! I was able to get quite a bit done and see that it would work.  I knew I'd need more storage, though, and I was able to work on that the last couple of weeks.  I'll write more about that in another post.

I was thinking a lot about the end of the residency, reflecting back on what went well and what didn't.  It got me thinking about job interviews, where you're often asked the question, "What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?" I think most people are usually wondering how honest they should be about the second part.  I think we're often very aware of our weaknesses, but do we want to tell them to someone who could potentially offer us a job??  I think we all want to say, "I care too much," or, "I work so hard I forget to stop and take breaks."  I mean, come on, no one's gonna believe that...  

Margie, the director at Two Twelve and amazing woman who gave me this awesome opportunity, told me that she likes how open I am on my blog, so I thought I'd share with you my honest answers to the above two questions.  It's a chance for me to do some self-reflection as well as to own up to my weaknesses in the hope that I can work on making them strengths (2 Corinthians 12:10).

What are my greatest strengths?

Hmmm....this is tougher than I thought...

OK, so I'm generally a very organized person.  I think this could possibly go in the "weaknesses" category, too, because I have a hard time getting going on a project if I'm not organized.  But, when I am organized, I can really get a lot of work done!  Also, I am great at researching and love a good brainstorming session.  I can crank out ideas like crazy when my thinking cap isn't pinching.  I can also take an idea and create something real from it, whether it's a work of art or a shelving unit for craft supplies (the latter will be featured in a future post). 

I keep thinking of strengths I have that are unrelated to my residency, like, "I make really good soups," and, "I procrastinate like a BOSS."  Well, that last one is a good segue into the weaknesses part actually...

What are my greatest weaknesses?

The biggest one?  I put things off.  Yes, I know that's basically the same as procrastination, which I listed as a strength, but I feel like there's a slight difference.  With procrastination, I picture someone doing other things in order to avoid doing The Thing They Should Be Doing.  With "putting things off," it's more just not doing The Thing.  OK, maybe they're the same.  My point is, I'm very good at just not doing something.  (I'm also very good at not doing anything, but that's a subject for a different post.)  Doesn't matter what it is, whether it's working on art, responding to an email, going to bed, writing a blog post - I'm just really good at putting those things off.  98% of the time, the things I put off aren't critically important to others - it's just my own stuff, and let's face it, I'm just being lazy.  

Good news, though.  I at least acknowledge the problem, and that's the first step to recovery, right?  Well, I'm working on it!  I'm writing this post, aren't I?

(Side note - I can hear the marching band practicing "Gloria" a few blocks away as I write this - I love autumn!) (P.S. that side note was not me putting off finishing this post, for the record. P.P.S Altering the Batman pic so it said "putting it off" may have been...)  :)  

I could list other weaknesses, such as being easily distracted (like Dug the Dog, if my sister Elizabeth has anything to say about it), or not trusting my talents enough, but I think my self-reflection energy is waning.  (And if I go much longer, I'll put off posting this again...!)

I feel like I learned a lot about myself over the course of this residency, which is helping me as I work to decide what direction to take my life next.  (Ending up in France for any period of time would certainly be nice...!)  And most importantly, I also got such an amazing start to the children's book!!  I could never have achieved so much without all of that concentrated time and space in which to do it!  I feel like I can finish it now and I won't falter the way I have in the past.  

I'll keep blogging here, as well as on my other blog, and will keep you up-to-date on all of my artistic doings!  Look for a post on my mad woodworking skillz coming soon!

In the mean time, I'm back to substitute teaching (joy?), teaching at Two Twelve (joy!!) and the Saline Senior Center (also joy!!), and continuing my creative efforts!  Be sure to check out my Etsy shop for some of my fall fun and creative craftiness! (I clearly need to add awesome alliteration to my list of strengths!)

Week 22: Art Camps

This week I taught a couple of art camps at the school where I used to be the art teacher.  It was strange to be back there teaching again, but it ended up being a lot of fun!  The camps were a part of their larger camp offerings, and it just so happened that this week was the Harry Potter themed week - perfect!  (I'm a not-so-closet Harry Potter junky...)

My morning camp was a drawing camp for kids ages 6-9, where I teach them drawing basics.  Along with the regular instruction, we also have fun with some drawing games.  We played a game called "On your mark, get set, draw!" where I tell them something to draw and a time limit.  For example, I'll tell them to draw an owl in a tree in 50 seconds, and they go for it.  Then I'll tell them to draw a pirate ship in 60 seconds, and they have to try to incorporate that somehow with the first thing I told them to draw.  After telling them 7 or 8 things, they have to tell a story about how those things work together.  It's a lot of fun!  

Another drawing game I play with them is a "Parts of a Sentence" game.  I have little slips of paper that are red, orange, yellow, and green.  On the reds are adjectives, the oranges are nouns (animal or person), yellows are verbs, and greens are nouns (place or object).  They pull one of each, put them in rainbow order, and have to draw whatever is on their papers.  For example they might pull, "a sleepy giraffe skateboarding in a pool," or "a grumpy ballerina jumping rope at the mall."  This is a favorite game because of the absurdity of the sentences themselves, and then the fun of drawing them out!

In the afternoon I taught a Comic Book camp for 9-12 year olds.  It was fun to do character development with them, and I learned that I have a skill for it!  I had a list of things for them to consider for their character, and found that I could rattle off stuff off the top of my head and create some really awesome (crazy?) characters.  The kids struggled with it some, and I kept telling them that they were over thinking it.  The quicker we came up with things, the easier it became!  

The kids had a lot of fun coming up with their characters and drawing out their silly story lines.  It was interesting how secretive some of them became about them, though.  I had to insist that I be able to see their work so I could give them feedback! They didn't want anyone to steal their ideas, and I had to assure them that we were working in a safe space and that no one would steal their work!  

Teaching full-time reminded me how exhausting it can be!  I may have taken a nap or two...or three...this week.  But teaching also reminds me that I can learn a lot when I work with kids!    

Week 21: Back to Work/Wedding Time

Last week was finally back to work as usual.  Sort of.  I met up with Kat, my studio-mate, and we synced our schedules and worked out who would be in the studio when.  Then I was able to get some work done!  It was great to be back in the studio and sketching outside of it as well.  

Being on this side of vacation has made me realize just how little time I have left in my residency.  I feel like I'm mourning its loss, and it's not over yet!  It's just been such a miraculous blessing to be able to focus on creating art for the last five months!  Unfortunately, there have been some big distractions (camps, the Celtic Festival, etc) that have kept me from the studio and taken away from the time I have.  I'm grateful to have a few more weeks, and know how hard I'll have to work to prepare myself for whatever comes next.  I have no idea what that will be, by the way.  Any ideas, anyone???  I think that, unfortunately, it will come down to substitute teaching again while I work on finishing up the book and trying to get it published. (A process I haven't really begun to think about...yikes! If you know anything about that process and want to enlighten me I'd be glad of your help!)

Last weekend I headed to Grand Rapids where I was a bridesmaid in my friend Cori's wedding.  It was a busy but fun weekend!  Friday night was the rehearsal at the Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM), where the ceremony and reception would be held, and then yummy pizza at Big O's.  Saturday started in the early afternoon with make-up and preparations at the museum, and then photos in front of the museum and by the Grand River.  (My poor feet...stupid high heels!) 

The ceremony started at 6 and was really nice!  It was HOT out in the sun and my toes fell asleep in my tall yellow heels, but no one passed out!  (We were genuinely worried about that...the pastor told us during rehearsal that if someone started to get dizzy and signaled him, he'd throw in an extra prayer so we could sneak off and sit down rather than pass out...!)

The guests all went into the museum for drinks and mingling while family photos were taken, and then the wedding party went through the basement and up to the second floor for the big entrance.  We came down the long, zig-zag staircase into the main entrance area, where the tables were set up.  We found out later from one of the bridesmaid's spouses that those seated just below the staircase could see up the bridesmaids' dresses as we walked down the glass-sided stairs!!!!!  Humiliation number one of the evening...

Number two for me came later when there was dancing.  They did the traditional dances - bride/groom, bride/father of bride, etc - and then they invited the wedding party onto the dance floor.  I sadly didn't escape fast enough, and was forced out into the middle of the room.  One of the groomsmen asked if significant others should be out there, too, and the DJ said yes.  I despise that DJ...

I'm never really bothered by being single, but at weddings sometimes one's single status feels like it's on display as much as the new bride and groom's happiness is.  Part of the problem for me this time was that the wedding was on the other side of the state, so asking a date would have been complicated, and then being in the wedding party and making said date sit at a table with people he didn't know seemed slightly cruel.  The other part of the problem was that I only really knew the bride & groom and a few members of the bridal party, so I felt fairly isolated.

So, there I was, on the dance floor, the only single one, with the wedding party and their spouses/fiances/boyfriends, etc. all around me.  A song came on, one of those horrible ones that starts out all slow, and the couples all paired off and started dancing.  Tears sprang to my eyes as every single guest stared at us and I tried to think of the most graceful way to flee while holding my dress down so they didn't get a second free show.  Thankfully the maid of honor, Taylor, and her boyfriend came and started breaking it down right by me until the song picked up and everyone started dancing.  The bride also went out of her way to come and dance with me, and I was very grateful for the way they went out of their way to help me feel less...solo.  

I ended up having a lot of fun, and enjoyed being able to hang out at an art museum after hours!  We weren't allowed to wander through the whole museum, but it was still cool.  It was also wonderful to see my dear friend get married and see how happy she and her new hubby are!!  What a blessing to be a part of their big day.

I also got to spend time with a very good friend from when I lived in Grand Rapids with whom I stayed Friday and Saturday nights.  I went to church there on Sunday and saw many more wonderful friends from my years there - friends are such a blessing! 

This week I'm teaching a couple of camps at the school where I used to be the art teacher, and they are reminding me of how many naps I used to take when I was teaching art full-time...!!!  It's been fun, though, and I'll share some of our experiences later this week.  

Week 20: Vacation!

Last week I went with some of my family on our annual trip "Up North" in Michigan to my favorite place, Ludington.  Ludington is on the west coast of Michigan, right on Lake Michigan, and is a really fun and beautiful town.  My family has been vacationing there since I was around seven years old, and it's a tradition that we love to keep!

My maternal grandfather spent his teen years in Ludington while his father worked for the CCCs helping to build the beautiful beach house at Ludington State Park.  As a result, when he was grown with kids of his own, my grandpa took my mom and her siblings to Ludington for a few visits, and my mom and her sister took up the tradition as adults as well.  We rent a cabin north of Ludington on Hamlin Lake, which is connected to Lake Michigan by the Au Sable River.  It's heaven on earth there, my friends!

I spent the week sleeping, sitting on the front porch reading, laying on the beach reading, laying in the hammock reading, hiking (too hard to read and hike), swimming in the pool with my nieces and nephew (also a difficult place to read), eating ice cream, playing games (charades, Yahtzee!, Cabby, Golf - the card game), kayaking, sitting by a campfire, eating s'mores, playing shuffleboard, walking out to the Ludington Lighthouse, watching sunsets...  Heaven.  Here are some photos from the week:

Kayaking with my nieces & nephew & sis

My favorite flavor ice cream at House of
Flavors (best ice cream place) - Eskimo Kisses 

On a sunset beat ride with my Aunt, Uncle, and Fam
(pictured with my nieces)

My lone peanut - on my last leg playing Cabby!

Big waves!! (...Come at a cost...high winds...) 

My nephew hiding from the wind with me on the beach

Changing of the flags from yellow to red....
A bit of a crazy day at the beach!

Skyline Trail at Ludington State Park

More ice cream...

"What?" :D

Carved on a tree on one of the State Park trails

Our favorite tree on the trails -
perfect sitting spot for a rest!

View on the State Park trails - gorgeous!!

S'mores + campfire + ghost stories = magical!
(My uncle's friend tells the best ghost stories!!!)

Hanging in my sister's hammock and
comfortable with my favorite view!

The view from the front porch
of our cabin

My uncle and cousin got some lanterns
that we released one night - it was pretty!

Swimmin' in the pool
(doesn't it look so refreshing?!) 

Sunset on Lake Michigan near the lighthouse

Can you tell why this is my favorite week of the year??  It relaxes me and brings me great peace.  It renews me!  I feel ready for what comes next after spending time there.  Sigh.  I miss it already!

Now it's back to work!!  Six more weeks...