Bohemian Mermaid Palace

Holy smokes... as my good friend Fred so politely pointed out, I've been gone a while. Offline, except at work, and living temporarily in what I now refer to as The Homeless Studio. It wasn't so bad. I mean it could have been much worse - if we had been living in our van or forced to mooch off of friends. Basically, the housing in my area STINKS. We jumped the gun giving notice at our last place and it backfired on us. Just as school was starting at the college. Bad to worse. So, for 6 weeks we have been camping out at my art studio in Arcata. Nobody there really cared. There are a handfull of art students who live in their studios in that building, in fact the lady who had my studio before me lived there too. And there was room for the essentials... bed, movie collection, tv, clothes, dog. On the down side, however, it IS a commercial building with business activities going on. Like the woodworkers next door (ie on the other side of the wall by the bed) who start up the table...

Does it ever end?? Well, first off... I had a GrEAT time at the Caspar World Folk Festival! I knew the second I got outa my van I was in the right place. It feels a lot like home down there... right on the coast, super nice folks, beautiful scenery. It was a small event compared to other festivals I have attended, but the quality of music, crafts and people more than made up for it. Quality over quantity, you might say. I actually did pretty well, considering the small crowd... and broke all my previous bartering records. Man, I came home with some GREAT goodies! And new friends galore. Really really fun. The other side of my recent adventures involve moving into my art studio while we continue to find a home. Sigh. It's very cozy... and easy to get work done. Ha. And we sure are saving money! Aaaanyhow... my projects now include some illusion necklaces for my good friend Leisa's wedding, a bunch of tie-dyed bandanas for a friend of my little sister, and misc items ordered at t...

"Does Miss Mermaid know, She is made of sausage And a friend from the sea?" (Note: When I googled 'crazy mermaid' I got this pic. You MUST look at this guy's other Japanese kid's lunch haikus . Awesome!) I like to keep busy, for sure. But seems like the past couple months have been craaaazy busy. What with craft fairs every other weekend and my day job, i've been using every day off either working in my studio or selling at a craft fair. Whew! So, I was looking forward to July... no big fairs until August. I thought I would relax and beef up my web site , etc. But noooooo. We decided to move into a bigger house, and to push ourselves into motion, gave our notice on July 1. You know what that means... we are near panic as we continue to try to find a place to live (housing up here is nuts, have to race tons of other folks for the good ones). Meanwhile, the current land lady wants to show our place in a few days. Hahahaha. We haven't done a bit of house ...

I finally took my camera to the Trinidad Farmers & Artists Market... ...there's my booth... The view from my booth across the way... too bad you can't see the woven scarves very well, they are gorgeous. This is my friend, Marianna with her lovely wares... she's a fun booth neighbor, and her sister (the lady with the little oyster shell paintings) gives me snacks. Woohoo. Again, the music was excellent. A group of guys singing old-timey tunes, twangy harmonies and all. Rooster Something, McClintock? Close. Anyway, that's my weekly Trinidad Sunday Market report. Read more about it in my earlier posts. Good times...

...California, that is. Ok, so I started the Trinidad Farmers & Artists Market yesterday. Well, started to do it regularly anyway. I've mentioned it before, but it's worth mentioning again I think. Trinidad, for those who haven't been up to this end of the state, is maybe the prettiest town in the area. It's got some cute little shops, restaurants and B&Bs... as well as gorgeous beaches and ocean views. It's also right next to a ton of camp grounds and state parks, ie redwoods. Really beautiful. So, this little Sunday market happens each Sunday throughout the summer, in front of the grocery store there. The quality of crafts is very high, for such a dinky market. We just have a ton of talented folks around here, what can I say? There is also music each week and it's really pretty fun. Yesterday (I wish I had taken my camera, maybe next time) went very well... I thought. The music was exceptional... I think they were called The Fabulous Blue Jays (or was...

(ok my photo thingy does not work at all anymore!! AAAAAAAhhhhhgh!!) Man, it's hard to get outa the chair on a hazy day off... b ut there is work to be done! Yeah so, I'm getting ready for the 4th of July festival up in Crescent City, a bit up the coast from here. I'm a little nervous, this is my first time up there for a show... but there are issues with all of the 4th shows. The Arcata one is best for me of course. This is my town and my peoples... my customers expect to see me there and generally I do well at any Plaza event. However, as usual, the folks who run these fairs keep increasing the cost for the honor of selling in their little town. Man I get mad. This year, this ONE DAY event costs the same as the North Country Fair - a two day kick-ass festival in the fall. Not only that, but the 4th allows imports (not only handmade-by-the-artist goods) and they are notorious for placing say, 3 jewelers in a row. Or, like last year, my booth next door to two big booths of ...

So... what was I going to write about day jobs... um... Well, the one I have now I totally love. And I've been thinking about how it compares to the other jobs I've had the past couple years. Let's see... Since I started my Mermaid Biz about 5 yrs ago, I've spent 2 of those years unemp - er - SELFemployed. The first year, I worked in that cushy office job mentioned below... running a storage rental office. That one really got my business started, I just poured all my income into it. Plenty of energy left over, even working 40 hrs per week, to do all my artgirl activities. Later, I worked as an arts instructor in a day program for disabled adults. Man, that was a cool job. I basically played all day with a group of about half developmentally disabled folks, and half with various dimentias like alzheimers, stroke, brain injuries... as well as some physical disabilities mixed in. It was challenging and I loved it. I realized I have a bit of a talent for teaching and I go...

That photo below is actually a postcard... it's stuck under the glass on my desk at work. I didn't put it there. I love my job.

You know... I've been doing this art stuff for a long time. My entire life, really. And sometime in high school I decided I could make a living at it. I still think I can. I sincerely believe that if you put your energy into what you love most, what your real talent is, everything works out for the best. You are happier, more productive... and karmically pretty taken care of. Plenty of jobs out there if one is creative about it. About 1/3 of the way through college, I stopped working as a (miserable) waitress, and lived off of student loans and grants... so I could pay more attention to school and art. At some point I did my best to take only art-related jobs, when I WAS working. I was poor, but oh so happy ... and I felt like a 'real' artist, actually getting paid for making things. I did all kinds of art jobs... I designed a website character for an internet startup... I designed and crocheted a ton of custom sweaters for a lady who just loved hand-crocheted stuff... I wo...

Well... it's my day off from Officegirl Land. Aaaaah. That really makes me want to sit around in my pj's all day and drink coffee around the house in a generally irresponsible manner. HOWEVER, a Mermaid's work is never done... so... What I'm actually going to do today (after I'm done drinking coffee in my pj's) is head downtown to take care of some bidness. It is a beautiful and (for us) warm sunny summer day in Arcata, so it will be nice to bop around doing my errands. This is what I really love about living in a small town that IS NOT set up in a sprawling manner, like many other places in the state... I can drive to my studio, park and walk the 2 blocks to the plaza, where I can easily get all my errands taken care of. AND there are lots of folks walking around doing the same, like a community should be. WE get out of our cars and say hi to eachother. What a concept, huh? So... first I need to meet Marianna at the studio, so she can pick up her table and the ...