The Brooklyn Flea

Well, I'm back. I spent 8 days in New York, and it was very much hard to leave. Since moving away, I've visited 3 times and each time this odd feeling of displacement comes over me. Nothing is any different, and I feel at home... it's just.... there's no home. It's weird.

Sunday, the second day I was there, I went to the Williamsburg Bank, which is the wintertime site of the Brooklyn Flea. I busted out my new Canon Rebel to take photos. I don't like to take direct photos of artists' tables. There's something that sort of irks me when I'm selling at an event, and instead of buying anything, people take photos of individual art. I also hate getting caught unawares in the middle of a wide shot. I have found myself on Flickr in other people's photos, which were most unflattering of me. I turned my camera on the extraordinary interior of the building instead, which I'd never been inside before.







^I couldn't resist taking a photo of the above 3D image, though my writing up above is whistling a different tune. I am actually kicking myself now though, for not purchasing this thing. I mean... it's.... it's just amazing. What on earth is going on?? Who is that kid? Who are those pervy rabbits??

Impending Vacation!

It's not really a secret: I miss New York. That's why this weekend I'm going back for a third time since moving to NW Louisiana. I'm super psyched.... even if it's wintertime. I survived winters up there! I can make it! And as long as there's no gross, brown slush on the ground, my shoes will make it too.

I'm quickly unloading a few things into my etsy shop that I've been meaning to get to, before I got busy with commissions. I'm only taking the time just now to type this up because my head is covered in red dye and I'm trying to be as still as possible.

Oh! Right, and speaking of New York-- I'm going to go to the Brooklyn Flea! Twice, if I can help it, as I'm going to be there two weekends. I'd kill to have a table there. In a figurative sense, at least. Prior to leaving the city, I never could, because I had a day job that would interfere with weekends. It also prevented me from visiting. But I'm gonna hit it hard on this trip! I'm psyched.

I'm a fan of Claudia Pearson's blog, so it'd be neat to see if she happens to be there any of the days I go.

I quite like her tea towels.

random photo

About 3 years ago, I was in an off-off-Broadway play (envision any old female prisoner exploitation movie. now replace the women with witches.), and we had signed up to march in the Mermaid Parade on Coney Island. Absolutely none of us had any idea of what to wear. We had no theme. Hence my origami cranes.

Another Treasury

So this is neat; I ended up in a second treasury... this time with two pieces. They included my current favorite watercolor mini I have, my little barn owl in a fez...



I really like the rest of the items they picked too. My owl and chipmunk are in great company... I freaking love this plate:

Aha! That cute lil' taco I'd put up on Etsy--that subsequently was inserted into a treasury-- just sold! Coincidence? Or is it just a case of someone plainly and purely loving the hell out of some tacos?

SUPER

So, depending on your sensibilities, you may or may not share my excitement over the upcoming film release 'SUPER', by the amazing James Gunn. Do you cover your eyes when something icky is on the screen? Do you plug your ears, screaming "la la la" when somebody drops an F-bomb? You may not want to watch the following clip.

No, seriously, it's NSFW:

FUN FACT: that girl standing behind Rainn Wilson at :09? That's ME!

Okay, so anyway, that's a clip of 'SUPER'. It's the tale of Frank D'Arbo, a sadsack short order cook whose wife leaves him for a drug dealer. In Frank's warped, skewed sense of reality, a Christian comic book hero appears to him and convinces him to become a superhero himself, in order to win her back. And a LOT of violence ensues. And NO. It is NOTHING like 'Kick-Ass'.

In late 2009, James Gunn and his crew came to town to film this. And I sort of fell in with them, getting my artwork into the film. Frank likes to busy himself doodling important events in his life, and I managed to pick up a gig creating these drawings. I had to force myself to draw badly, which was sort of inexplicably exhausting. But the pay-off is going to be huge, when I can go sit down in a theater and watch the film. There's at least one scene where most of my drawings are on display, and I had the privilege of going to set and watching them film that day. Before settling in to draw over 200 or so of these pictures, I read the script. I said at the end, that I would preemptively just call 'SUPER' my favorite film of "whatever year this comes out". The script is F'ed up. But it has heart-- it's moving. And I can attest to watching Rainn Wilson act in a certain scene that he's really just great.

The movie isn't for everyone. I'm not gonna let my mom see it. Hell, even the clip above is almost too risque for some, but this is something I'm eager to see, and proud of. I didn't get a lot accomplished in 2009, or even 2010, but this kind of is my crowning achievement for that time. Even if it is a little bloody.

Etsy Treasury Time

It turns out I've been featured in a cute little watercolor treasury.... My 'Taco = Love' mini was included.

My thanks to Etsian moonstr!

The Maker's Fair

I couldn't believe it approached without my knowing, but Halloween Weekend was the first weekend of the first annual 'Maker's Fair' here in Shreveport! I'd been lamenting the lack of a crafty community and events since moving here, and this just snuck up on me. I found out after reading some tweets by a friend who would be selling gumbo. It was too late to participate that weekend but the lovely Ms Dahm found space for me at the last minute for the second weekend. I borrowed a tiny table from my boyfriend's studio, and set up. I didn't even have time to get any prints; I just had originals! I literally had about 48 minutes to get things together by the time I heard back that there was availability. That sort of last minute panic is.... well, kind of fun. In a sick way.

I didn't get any good shots of the table, because my battery managed to die the moment I whipped it out to take a photo of my handiwork. But I did take a single photo of one of the paintings the day before. Yeah. Seriously, just the one.


what can i say? llamas are the next big animal. move over, owl.

I did pretty well, and from the looks of it, so did most of the other sellers. Shreveport and its outlying areas have more crafters than I would've expected; there were knitters, weavers, screenprinters, toy makers, sculptors... no one did exactly the same thing as anyone else, and that was fun. Now to get this thing to happen on a more regular basis than annually.

Pinklight Revisited

Old news, but I like this random photo from the Pinklight Bazaar in June-- I think I was contemplating the neon sign overhead crashing down on top of me and the next vendor.


OH. And hey, check out this video that was produced about Round 5... Super cute. Unless you hate Cyndi Lauper.

Pinklight Bazaar from Matt Morris on Vimeo.

Oh, Pinklight!

Last Sunday was Round 5 of the Pinklight Bazaar in Orlando, and the third one I've participated in.

I quite enjoyed the first two, but was not at all sure how things would go last week. My first stint at the Pinklight, on its inaugural run, was a wild success. I virtually sold out of everything. But, the second one, ehhh. Not so successful. I had a great time at each, and really, what wasn't sold then was sold at conventions or online. Truth is, you may know your audience, but you don't know if they will feel like spending money.

I am happy (and relieved) to report, however, that this third foray was a success! I did quite well, and had some super excellent cupcakes as well. All the vendors were interesting and talented; jewelry, handmade soaps, charms (that looked like cupcakes!), vintage clothing, ceramics, and so on. It was a great variety of stuff. I'm very appreciative to the ladies who run the event for having me.





me and my half-sold-out table

I was chagrined to realize after the fact that my business cards directed people either to my website, which has no splashpage or index at the moment, or to this blog... My real, new business cards are in limbo thanks to a magnificent screw-up by Overnight Prints, and so I had to just grab whatever I had left over from last year's cons. I felt quite annoyed when it dawned on me that people weren't going to the right location on the internet for me or anymore of my artwork. For right this instant, however, I'm updating the etsy, which you can see to your right... and if you've found me here from Pinklight, hey! Hi! Hello! There will be more here, and more on etsy, quite soon. Stay tuned!