New Portfolio Website.

I've wanted to get a website for a couple of years now, and I've officially taken the leap.  Please take a moment and check out http://juliawrightart.com

Screenshot of my website.

And stay tuned, because I will be adding more work as time goes on.

Lots of goals for the coming year.  It's going to be great!

My artwork went to the gallery yesterday.

One of the posters for the show.

I've been working on this collection of pieces since the beginning of the year.  Amongst the "Mommy-Mommy-Mommy"s and the udder-checking of the milk cows I somehow managed to churn out (get that little pun, churn--milk cows, I slay myself) 23 canvases ranging in size from 10x14 to 20x30 inches.  Yesterday, I loaded them all into the back of my vehicle and drove them down to Vincennes to The Open Gallery.

I titled my show "Memories, Back Roads, and Tangents" and that really seems to encompass the soul of it.  Each piece started with one of my photographs, and using found paper ephemera, from photos to handwritten notes, I collaged around them creating a unique story for each one.  Along with each piece I also included a poem that I felt best created a mood for the viewer to respond to.  In all honesty, these pieces are nowhere close to what I had originally intended to create.  However, when I got started, the canvases took on a life of their own, and I blinked and this is what emerged.  I couldn't be happier.

One of the pieces in process on the easel.

I also had some small photography prints processed to sell along side of the big canvas pieces, and wanted something unique to display them and my business cards with.  Enter my husband, and his incredible talent to make things.  He tore off some of the fence boards on the old corral at the barn.

Old fence boards.

He planed them down and revealed some of the most beautiful graining I have ever seen.

Freshly plained fence board.

Then he created these nifty little boxes that seemed to absolutely match the feeling of my photographs.  I'm so glad he "gets" me.



I'm very proud of the little group of artwork I came up with.  I'm very interested to see how they will look hanging on the wall.  It will be a surprise for me, since they were going to hang it up after I left.

All stacked up and ready to be loaded in the vehicle.

Below are a few of my favorite pieces.  All of these are 24x20 inches on stretched canvas.

"Accidental Wild Child"

"The Heart of Summer"

Willingly Tamed

If you don't have any plans, the artist reception is June 6, from 5-8pm at The Open Gallery, 329 Main Street, Vincennes, IN 47591.  I'd love to see lots of people there!  It's been such a fun journey to this solo show, and I'm excited to show it to everyone.

After I dropped of the pieces at the gallery, I decided to have a celebratory gallivant in Illinois before heading back home.  I will blog about that adventure soon.  It was such a fantastic jaunt!

Craving: Pretty Snip-Toe Boots.

How badly I want a nice pair of boots.  I own just a handful of shoes, and my boots are plain, dirty, scuffed, and pretty rough.  I can't justify spending over $300 for a pair of boots, but these are beautiful, and I'd love something similar to wear off-the-farm to make myself look a little more put-together.

Lucchese Women's Tumbled Saffia Boot via Country Outfitter.

Huge Goal Realized Today!

I have always wanted to make the front page with a treasury I created.  Well today was my day.  I got a convo from a fellow Etsy member telling me that a treasury I made yesterday was on Etsy's Front Page this morning.  Talk about a great start to the day.

You can see the treasury here.

Let's hope this trend continues.

Obsessing: Printmaking.

I was lucky enough to take a semester of printmaking in college--over five years ago now, yeesh.  I loved the etching process, but there were a lot of other printmaking methods (monotypes, screenprinting, linocut, etc.) that we didn't get to try out.  All of a sudden, I'm wholly engrossed by the urge to get back into printmaking. 

Goldfish Test Print by yours truly from my college days.

This image is what really sparked the jump back in:

"RED SKY"
(FOR JOHN ASHBERY)
BY WENDY MARK
7 1/2" X 7" MONOTYPE, 2010Via wendymarkart.com

Something about the colors, and the detail in the trees, and especially the fact that it was a monotype just sucked me right in.  I looked at every image in her portfolio.  I wanted to go and build myself a press and cut some pieces of plexiglass and just never stop making art.

I then went on Flickr and searched for monotype and printmaking.  I found artists Jane Beharrell, Bonnie Murray, Andrea Starkey, and was even more inspired to want to delve into printmaking.

I've got a large machine press down at the barn, and there are plans to turn it into a printing press.  Those plans are about to be pushed to the front burner, because I'm about to burst with all the ideas I have in my head.  Sigh.  Here's hoping I get to play with some printmaking tools soon.  I want to make tons of monotypes, try my hand at woodcut block prints and linocutting, and perhaps a screenprint or two. 

Craigslist Cravings: Hereford Piglets.

Via Craigslist.

My husband is 100% against any form of porcine coming onto our property.  I, on the other hand, would love to raise some pastured hogs some day.  Hereford hogs would be a part of my breeding program.  As with my goats, I'd create a cross-breed that would be perfectly bred to thrive on our land.  Now, to just convince my darling husband of how great of an idea it would be.

I Could Live in Croatia.

I hadn't had a chance to check out Virtual Paintout for a couple of months.  I participated a while back, and I hope to again soon.  Essentially, a part of the world is chosen, and using Google StreetView you explore the area, and find a composition to paint (it's a lot of fun).  They change destinations each month, so I'm going to wait until November to participate again.  October's destination is Croatia, so I thought I would explore a bit for the fun of it.  The abandoned farmhouses are pulling at my heartstrings something fierce.  They are beautiful.

This little shack might have been a shed, but I think it was a home.

Via Google Maps.  You can find it here.

And this house is really interesting because part of the facing has fallen off and you can see how it was built.

Via Google Maps.  You can find it here.

This building appears to have a house above, and barn space below.  Note the chickens and ramp up to the little doorway a la chicken coop style.

Via Google Maps.  You can find it here.

A lot of the properties have fences that surround the house and barns, and gates at the road.  They have my perfect set up.  The rustic-ness of the architecture makes me swoon.

Via Google Maps.  You can find it here.

I am going to continue to look around, but I'll quit this post here.  If I don't, I fear that this post may have fifty pictures before it's said and done.

What a Day for a Daydream (aka 2012 diy Blog Cabin Giveaway)

An email just came into my inbox telling me to sign up for the diy Blog Cabin Coastal Retreat 2012.  

This girl isn't afraid of dreaming.  I'm signing up every day until the deadline.  Boy, the thoughts of winning a vacation home in Maine worth $700,000, it makes my head spin.  First off, I've always wanted to visit Maine:  the coastline, the seafood, the scenery, the antique shops, sigh.  Secondly, the money would change our life.  

We'd get our house finished without worrying about the money being spent.  The bank would be paid off, and Joe would have a decent start at a college fund.

2012 Blog Cabin.  Image via DIY Network.

Thirdly, we'd get to take our first ever family vacation (mind you, I'd have to pay someone to come farm-sit until we got back).  Joe seeing the ocean would be huge (you should see her when we play at the lake, I can't imagine what seeing the ocean for the first time would be like for her).

I'd also get a start on buying the old John Deere building in town and turning it into a gallery and community art space.  That's been a huge dream of mine for quite a long while, and with the extra money, I could make it a reality.  Not failing to mention, I could focus more on my artwork and photography and make it more of a career.

So, here I sit daydreaming about going to Maine to collect my prize, and where my life would take me after that.  Of course I have The Lovin' Spoonful's song in my head now, so I'll put it on here so it can be stuck in yours too.

Wish me luck, okay.  If I win, I'll put a huge giveaway on here from my shop.  So, see, I'll share the wealth.  Come on, Maine!!  And if you are the DIY Network, I would really, really, really like to win--if you couldn't tell.

A Life-Sized Dollhouse.

The farmhouse from a recent gallivant.

If I ever had extra money.  I mean a ton of extra money.  This beauty would be mine in a heartbeat.  I would fix it up and visit on the weekends.  It'd be a superb guesthouse even if it happens to be about 10 minutes away from my farm.  It would be a showpiece after I'd get done restoring every inch.

I love the summer kitchen.  I love the two-story porch.  I love the extra long windows.  I love the rolling pastures that surround it.  I love the must-be-ancient tree that grew up beside of it.

I don't know anything about it.  I think it's sitting vacant, but perhaps someone lives there.  I do know that someone keeps cattle back behind it, but there never seems to be any vehicles in the drive or other signs of someone living there.  They keep the grass mowed and that's about it.

Sigh, someday.

Craigslist Cravings:

Image via Craigslist Ad.

I love Craigslist with a passion.  You just never know what you're going to find.  This morning I'm wishing my husband didn't hate pigs because I do believe a couple of these gilts would start off my pastured hog project rather well.  They are part Red Wattle Hog and part Blue Butt (which is usually just a Hamp/York Cross).  So, they have the wattles, but have a red with black spotted rump.  Sigh, someday.  I figure when I have a bit more land (almost twenty acres isn't enough) I can put them in the farthest pastures without much of a qualm from my significant other.

I'm sure not everybody dreams of having pastured pigs, but this girl sure does.

Birthday Wish List:

My birthday is less than 3 weeks away, so I thought it'd be fun to put some things on here that I'd love to receive on my big 26th. A few are attainable, but most are pretty out of my reach. Enjoy.

A few Etsy finds:

Summer Harvest by jmbarclay.

The Little Sharpshooter by solocosmo.

Old Feed Store Painted Photograph by JPuzWilson.

Infrared Pennsylvania Landscape via jessegradl.

Good Work Poster via quaillanepress.

Fields of Gold via buckscountyframes.

Homecoming by Alicia Bock.

And then of course I wouldn't mind going and seeing the most amazing program in the world before Garrison Keillor retires. He'll be in Louisville mid-August I think. I'd have to go by myself because my husband just doesn't 'get' NPR.

Here is the website--I suggest listening to some of the old shows.

And here is a "definitely not going to happen" present-a $6,000 sofa from Anthropologie, but my goodness it's awesome. I will have a "Bottle Green" couch someday.

Atelier Chesterfield Sofa via Anthropologie.

Then there is this beauty. A typewriter that types in script. Incredible!

This Mint Green version is Reserved for somebody else in meedily's store on Etsy.

This is what the type looks like. Crazy, amazing. Also via meedily.

Then I'd really like a Borzoi/Irish Wolfhound cross puppy like this one from Marble Falls, Texas that's for sale right now for $200.

Via Lunashounds.com.

A couple Brown Swiss steers would be great too, but I can't seem to locate any.

Photo via Mallady on Flickr.

Finally I'd really, really like for somebody to sit down and tutor me on the ins and outs of my dang sewing machine because I'm dying to make a quilt like this one on Etsy.

Via SouthernCharmQuilts.

So, there you have it, a long and odd list for my birthday. I'm guessing I'll maybe get a dinner or a movie night with Mike and that's better than anything on this list. But it's fun to dream a bit.

Anybody Want To Go On A Roadtrip?

I want to go to Gualala, California. There is a place called "Mar Vista Cottages" that I want to visit. Right by the ocean this place is a dream. They have a garden and chickens, so the guests get fresh eggs and vegetables at their doorstep. How neat is that? More than anything I'd like to go in order to ask them a million questions. I'd really like to have a farm-stay program at my house someday, and they would make a good template to mimic.

All images via Mar Vista Cottages' Website.

I found this place via books.google.com (I know I'm always finding stuff there, but it's amazing). I was looking up gardening articles and this one popped up. It's a great little write up about the unique cottage inn. So pretty, and it's quite reasonable on the prices too. So, yeah, if you want to go...just hint it to me, and I'm sure Joelee and I can pack our bags in a hurried manner.

Real Estate Hankerings: New Found Website Love: Sotheby's International Realty.

Image via Sotheby's International Realty.

Do you ever drool over real estate? I do. And usually I don't care if it's a run-down shack or a mansion I'll find merit in it somewhere. Well, I happened to see an ad on the side of the page of an article I was reading. It was for Sotheby's International Realty. Holy Cow--big price tags, but amazing architecture. Take, for example, this Belgium Beauty of a castle. You can have it for about 8.5 Million dollars. I'm in love with all the amazing houses I've looked at so far. It's neat to see what's available all over the world.

Been Busy: Shop Updated.

Sorry for my lack of posts the past few days. I was working on a deadline to get an order into the printers on time. I just sent it out, and I feel completely exhausted. I've been working during any free moment that I have on my inventory for The Gallivanting Girl. I decided at the beginning of the year that my etsy shop was getting a complete overhaul. I found a professional printing service, bought a negative scanner, and I've begun the long process of editing and creating new work to add to the shop. Things are looking great though. My first order to the printer had over a hundred prints (all on metallic paper, which I'll be excited to see). Below are some of the items that are going to be in my shop (if they haven't been added already). I'm hoping to get all the new listings added by this Friday. Tell me what you think.

"Will You Wait?"

"Morning Graze"



"Is it any Wonder?"


"Foggy Morning"


"Bright Eyes"

I'm really liking my new edits. They should make really neat postcards/notecards which is something I'm hoping to add to my shop too. Right now I've just got 4x6s listed, but have prices up for larger sizes, and I ordered some 5x7s so they'll be getting listed too. I'm also wanting to design a 2012 calendar to sell next fall as well. Never a dull moment around here.

In other news, I put my buck and doe rabbit together again, so in about a month we'll have another litter of rabbits. I've moved them to their new quarters down at the barn which will make life a lot better for all of us. They had been bunking in temporary cages in our little shed by the house and they had plastic catch-trays that I was having to wrestle out to dump in the icy tundra that is our yard. Down at the barn their cages are suspended above the stall area, so clean up is a breeze. The bucklet, as I call him, (the only remaining kit from their last breeding) has become my little buddy. He loves attention and is a very pretty boy. I'm hoping to buy him some ladies this spring, so he'll get to be the new breeder buck.

Walmart / Healthy?

I watched the news last night (believe me, I'm not a fan of the news, so this isn't a regular occurrence), but there was a bit about Mrs. Obama supporting Walmart in their push to lower sodium, trans fats, and sugars in its house brand products. They said it would help lower childhood obesity. Are you kidding me? That's like saying changing the color in wine will cure alcoholism.

I'd much rather see them re-work the recipes in their products to quit adding so much corn and soybean substances that aren't necessary, as well as the chemicals, preservatives, and unnatural ingredients that fill the ingredient panel (as well as scare the crud out of me). I understand that things must have a shelf life, but it makes me a bit uneasy when I read the ingredients of bread and there are so many additives besides what should be there: flour, salt, water, and yeast. On a common brand of honey wheat bread this is the ingredient list: unbleached enriched wheat flour (flour, malted barley, niacin, iron, thiamin, mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, yeast, whole wheat flour, honey, high fructose corn syrup, wheat gluten, wheat bran, soybean oil, salt, cultured wheat dough conditioners (ethoxylated mono-diglycerides, sodium stearoyl lactylate, distilled monoglyceride, calcium peroxide, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, enzymes), calcium carbonate, yeast nutrients (monocalcium phosphate, ammonium sulfate), calcium sulfate, soy flour, vinegar, and soy lecithin. I don't know about you, but that really makes me feel sick. I don't know what half of those things are and yet it's just in plain old bread? I don't want to feed my daughter that. Not even if somebody told me that every one of those ingredients is safe in the amounts they are in, and you want to know why? Because the only things that really need to be in it are flour, water, yeast and honey. End of story.

No, the true obesity problem is that we are a nation obsessed with convenience. The faster, simpler, and easier we can get to exactly what we want we are hooked. Diet pill promising results with no exercise or dieting, sold. Supper in a matter of seconds in the microwave, why not? We don't care where the food comes from as long as it's cheap and can quickly get to the table.

Not me, I enjoy taking a meal from a batch of simple ingredients to a nice, healthy supper. It isn't nearly as time consuming as it is made out to be. Honestly when was the last time you cooked a meal from scratch? No boxes of Macaroni with the bright orange cheese, no packets of pre-mixed spices, no frozen pre-made entrees. Just a recipe card and fresh ingredients? That's what I think would help the obesity problem more than ever is teaching the population how to actually use all the beautiful produce and meats out there. If more people used them, then more farmers could grow them to meet the demand, and the prices would be more consumer friendly. I'm a big believer in the farmer's markets.

Here is an example of a farmer's market in Jackson, Mississippi via NatalieMaynor on Flickr.

I see this and I want to run to the computer and search for a yummy way to use all the pretty vegetables. It's not daunting, but exciting. I imagine it will take a major change in our behavior as a population for the food industry to try and bring the quality and nutrition that a farmer's market can offer, but at least farmer's markets are becoming more prevalent in our society. I just wish they were the norm instead of the exception. Maybe that will change in the next ten years.

This is an example of a farmer's market it Dallas, Texas via muddbutter on Flickr.

All I'm saying is that the thing we need to change is the fact that we can't raise enough healthy food (ie, produce, meat, and dairy) in a way that we can feed everybody without significant change on everybody's part. If you want to eat steak, why not contact a local beef producer and ask about purchasing some from him? If you want eggs, stop in at one of those signs along side of the road advertising for "Fresh Brown Eggs." If we take advantage of what's right next door, then we not only know who raised it, but also that it is fresh and healthy for us. I also wish we'd push legislation to bring direct-to-consumer agriculture into everyone's life. Smaller farms would have a better footing in the industry which would help local economies, build community (by getting people out and talking with their neighbors), and would (in my opinion) greatly reduce the food quality issues that we have now (smaller scale/diversified farms don't run into the myriad of problems that the larger scale 'factory farms' do.


I also would like to see cities allowing backyard and rooftop flocks of chickens, and lots of gardens in any available plots (rooftops included). I'd like to see dairies in all states find a way to be able to sell directly to consumers (even if it would require a signed paper indicating risks that the consumer acknowledges because as far as I can tell that's all that's holding it back is liability). All-in-all I'd like to see Americans be able to fend for themselves a bit, and be actively involved in where their food comes from instead of what is commonplace: opening a bag or box and placing it's unknown sourced contents into the microwave and not caring what you're putting into your body at every meal.


What do you think?

Getting a Good Start.

Image by Dorothea Lange (October 1939) via Library of Congress

Detail said: "Interior of Mrs. Botner's storage cellar. 800 quarts of 'food for the winter.'..."

This is my dream pantry. I'd love to not have to go to the grocery ever again. That would be glorious. I have already ordered my garden seed for the year, and I'm really looking forward to what it will yield for us. I got $25 extra to spend since I spent $25, so I also bought a Cherry tree which I'm giddy about. My other purchases were: green beans, peas, carrots, roma and cherry tomatoes, onions, spinach, butternut squash, broccoli, pumpkin, garbanzo beans, cannellini beans, black turtle beans, red kidney beans, eggplant, and garlic. I'm going to be a very busy girl this summer.

I also ordered myself a scanner from Canon to digitize all my film negatives. This may not seem like a big deal to you, but I could literally do a jig I'm so happy. I've got my film from photography class in college as well as film from before I had my digital Rebel that I've not been able to reprint and after I get them on the computer they will be easily printed for selling. Hopefully this will push me to sell at festivals and bazaars because I won't have any excuse not to.

Otherwise this spring is going to be full of livestock. Currently I only have a small batch of chickens, two goats, and three rabbits (my original buck and doe and one of their buck kits). Just a week ago I had seven other kits, but we got them butchered and put in the freezer. I was leery about how I'd take the butchering, but it was quick and not as awful as I'd envisioned it to be. I'd never had tame rabbit before and it was a very nice surprise how delicious the meat is. Rabbits are a very dismissed meat animal. They are cheap to raise and very prolific breeders. Butchering 7 kits I got 28 pounds of healthy, tasty meat. They give a much better return than cattle, hogs, chickens, or lamb for sure. I'm going to build three or four grazing pens to raise kits in, and I'll be buying three or four more does this spring. I'm also going to raise a box of ducklings and perhaps another box of chicks, and I'm hoping I can find some goslings as well. We also have three horses, but they don't contribute to the farm much except for their manure which goes on the garden.

I'm a very busy girl, but I couldn't be any happier!

New Year's Resolutions.

Photo via Me. And can be purchased here...hint, hint.

I've got a nice big list of resolutions. I love writing down goals; it's actually a guilty pleasure. I have multiple lists and I go back over them often to see what I've accomplished. Silly, sure, but I get a big sense of pride knowing my dreams are coming true. My biggest want for this year? Well, I want to get stronger. Pregnancy took a lot out of me (and added a lot to me I'm afraid), but I've vowed to get myself back to where I feel like myself. My weight is fine where it is now (I've been working my butt off for that), but now it comes down to toning and building some of my muscle back.

Another resolution is to take my camera with me everywhere. I have a really bad habit of coming across perfect potential photos when I'm sans-camera. I was really bad about only taking my camera with me on scheduled gallivants, but this year I'm going to not only take my camera with me everywhere, but take tons more photos too.

I also have made a resolution to sell my work at a minimum of three festivals, learn a new skill, enter projects at our county fair again, plant a decent garden, write (not mattering what or how much, just write), go to five (new to me) auctions, try a new recipe a week, and quite a few more that I won't bore you with. I highly suggest, if you have a free moment, to grab a piece of paper and jot down a few resolutions of your own. It might just spur you to complete one or two of them.

Happy Belated New Year.