Summer in Maine

Haven't been posting much for awhile. I've been working a few shifts a week at a second job (my old full time job - the Kennebec Tavern on the waterfront in Bath Maine). Great food. Fun, fun place!



It's tourist season in Maine and this restaurant on the water is hopping this time of year. So one full time job and a second job with 10-14 hours per week. I love the extra cash - but it leaves me little time for artwork or writing posts.

One thing I have found a little time for is going picking with my daughter. No not strawberries...I'm talking junk. As in flea market, vintage, rusty, old, etc. We have both fallen in love with picking at flea markets, antique and junk shops.

Between the two of us we have begun quite a little collection of items. We both love things like antique keys, old jars, wooden boxes, vintage handles - things that can be repurposed - or simply displayed.

Sara just opened her shop on Etsy. It's called Picked In Maine. She has already sold her first item! There will be more items listed daily.

Picking in New England, and especially in Maine is great fun because there are so many old places here - barns, homes, tons of 'antique' shops. An endless supply of junk! Do you like to go picking? Are there certain types of vintage things that you love? Here are some of the items in Sara's shop;
 

 

Spring is just 2 days away...

And it's snowing...again. I could really use some warm weather. I would sooo love to get outside and walk/jog for an hour or so. Can't even find the sidewalks right now.

We do get out most days to walk the dogs on trails in the woods, with our boots on, hats, mittens, and 'creepers' on our feet. (For those of you not in cold climates 'creepers' are stretchy elastic thingys that wrap around the bottom of your shoe, and they have little metal pieces sticking out that grip the ice so that you don't slip. A necessity for dog walking in winter! They are like snow tires for your feet!)
What's that you say?  You don't know what snow tires are either? Ok I'm not talking to you anymore.

 Anyway - that is a 'winter walk'. I want a spring walk. I want a clear sidewalk, and some buds on the trees. I want to just wear a light jacket and then need to take it off and wrap it around my waist because it got too warm. I want to see other people outside! I want to be able to not wear a hat and not have my ears ache from the cold wind.

I know spring is almost here. But in Maine - 'almost here' could mean April or May, and it could mean cold weather until June! Sometimes we go right from winter to summer. Which makes the summer season feel really short.

And sometimes spring is warm-ish, but very wet and rainy. When that happens, we don't call it spring...we call it mud season, soon to be followed by an early 'bug' season. Really fun. (ugh)
But when we do actually get a spring - it is sooo welcomed and enjoyed!

Here's hoping for an early (like say..starting next week?) and dry (just a few light showers please) spring.
Here's a piece I did  hoping for springtime,

OK - time to head to work...in the snow. We're supposed to get about a foot today. Good grief!!

 

here comes the sun!

Finally! - After about twelve days of dreary cloudy weather...
bright beautiful sunshine today! It's only in the 40's - but that's warm weather here after January and February.

The dogs are ready to go out for a long walk.  (That's Boru on the left and Gracie on the right.)
 

 (Gracie says "put down the camera down...can we go now?)

Here's a little sunshine I did in my journal notebook a while ago, just doodles.

Ok - time to head outside!!

www....World Wide Web

I've spent a lot of time surfing around internet sites gathering information on how best to get good image reproduction of my artwork, and then how to turn that digital image into good quality prints. I can't just take a picture of my artwork with my camera and then print that out on my inkjet. That would be a crappy quality print. I need to have high resolution images, taken in good light, preferably on a high res. scanner etc. etc. The prints are made with a printing process called giclée . (Fancy sounding word that means fine art print.) Basically more detailed ink colors, and archival quality to the ink (meaning fade resistant over years), on archival paper.

OK - boring, boring, I know. Long story short - I had to take my artwork to a photographer in Portland ME, - who created the digital images and put them on a disk for me, and then I had to send those images out to another company that could create the giclée prints for me. Not an inexpensive way to go!

In all my searching and surfing around online, I stumbled upon a photography website which just happens to be my neighbor - as in, the house right next door. I know the neighbors casually, we talk sometimes (when there's not two feet of snow on the ground and humans and animals are actually able to venture outside - you know...summer.)

(By the way - does everybody know the names of the four seasons in Maine?  They are...1.Almost winter, 2. Winter, 3. Still winter...and 4. Road Construction!
If you don't get the joke - you either don't live in Maine, or haven't traveled on Maine roads in summer!)

Back to my story...So my neighbor is a photographer! I reached out to her on email and told her about my art and needs for image reproduction. We both found it so funny that we live right next to each other, and had no idea about each other's online endeavors. We are going to get together soon. Perhaps I can use her expertise, instead of taking my artwork to Portland to get the digital images I need. (Also - Sara (my daughter) is getting married next year - and will be looking for a photographer!). I'm looking forward to getting together with my neighbor and seeing her studio and talking 'print reproduction!'

It's funny that while searching the 'world wide web' - I ended up on my own street about 200 yards away!