── ⋆⋅── ⋆⋅☆Ren. Fest. & A New School Year☆⋅⋆ ──⋅⋆ ──
Well, howdy y’all. It is now the first Tuesday of the month and we are welcoming September with a really sticky heat wave. Is it the corn sweats? Is it summer trying to hold on to us a little longer? We also began school this week. Today was our first full day and I’m thankful I’ve had my husband home with me or it would have felt WAY TOO quiet without my babies running around. Every parent knows exactly what I mean when I say I was excited for them to start but was also extremely dreading it because as much as they drive me bonkers, I absolutely love having my kids with me all day.
We finished out our summer season with a camping trip to Holly, MI’s Renaissance Festival with some friends, which was our first time visiting the park. OF COURSE, we dressed up. It was a BLAST. My kids had several fits throughout the day and to be honest, reflecting now, so did I. It was a LOT of over-stimulation, a lot of walking & waiting, and a LOT of people. But it was well worth the trip! Some of our favorite parts included the playing of the carillon, the wild jousting and sword work show, the many many MANY vendors and shops that had literally everything whimsical and swash-bucklin’ you could ever possibly ask for, everyone’s costumes and good humor, and the pickle man constantly yelling to sell you pickles. He yelled “Bigger than your boyfriend and just as cheap! Get your pickles here!” into the crowd- He probably sells an abundant number of pickles. I also slightly swooned over a merman who let me cut everyone in line because he thought Ozzy was adorable! (Picture for proof below!)
Photo captions-Cover Photo: A wee little butterfly on the Truffula flower on my porch. Photo 1: My big 3rd grader -`♡´- Photo 2: My big 6th grader -`♡´- Photo 3: The entire family, YES INCLUDING OZZY, at the Ren. Fest. Photo 4: My girls & I in our costumes! I could not believe how all out some people go, it was SOOO much fun! Photo 5: The noble maiden lady with her forbidden archer lover her daddy will never approve dowry unto Photo 6: My girls by the wishing well Photo 7: See?! Merman. Photo 8: The hibiscus hybrid I planted earlier this season is finally bloomin’ (as long as I can keep the deer off of it…) ˃ ⤙ ˂
I am a little disappointed because I am putting my large painting of “Felt Cute, Might Usher Souls Through the Underworld Later… IDK” on hold BUT it is for a good cause: Since my painting “Pathogen” was accepted into Northville Art House’s Off-Center: Art That Pushes Boundaries exhibition happening the entire month of October, I will need to make a smaller piece than the one I had started to fill the empty spot where Pathogen now hangs at the Arts Council of White Lake. That also means I do NOT have a bunch of time to work on this new painting, but it doesn’t mean I can’t try! This piece is a 16×16” canvas & will be a painted version of Edna, my strawberry anglerfish! I’m excited to give her the time she deserves. My daughter asked me today why I’m “not making anything new”. And I don’t necessarily look at it that way, I see it as revisiting pieces I’ve already loved and bringing them into a new light they deserve to be viewed in. To be honest with you, every time someone saw my art, they would say: “That would be a great tattoo” or “you should be a tattoo artist!” and, yes, that is a compliment… But I wanted my art to be good enough to stand alone. To be viewed through the lens of “fine art”, but because of my subject matter, or the execution of their drawing, or perhaps a combination of the two, no one took my work too seriously. However, by revisiting them in paint on canvas, i feel I’m challenging the “timeless fine art” one sees in museums and my own ‘art niche” and blurring the line between the two. It has already proven successful; my gallery appearances have already multiplied significantly, and this has been my entire goal for my art this year! I went in not expecting much, hoping to feature in ONE gallery in 2026. As of right NOW, I have been accepted into FIVE including one art museum! ₍₍⚞(˶>ᗜ<˶)⚟⁾⁾
Alright, I shant keep you any longer but I WILL be back with you very soon! Enjoy the rest of your toasty week, friends! & behave yourselves! ᓚ₍ ^. .^₎
xxx- Kanda ꫂ❁
