update.

Well, now that my show is over, life is a breeze. Just kidding. For some reason, it seems busier than ever. Here are a few of the things that we've been up to in the past month or so...

• The show went up, the show came down. I hardly remember any of it.
• I got the killer virus right after my show came down. I'm not sure if it was due to post-show stress, general stress, or the new elementary-aged children I'm teaching. I literally had bronchitis, laryngitis, flu symptoms, a fever (sometimes) and conjunctivitis in both eyes. It was really kind of amazing--it was like my entire body was overtaken by the bug. It would have been funny if I hadn't missed an entire week of student teaching.
  
• Mike and I went down to Zion last weekend for some camping and plein air painting. It was fun and a very needed break. Mike hiked Angel's Landing for the first time ever and loved it. Oh, and I ran into a bunch of random boys from high school when I was sitting by the river painting, which was odd but wonderful.
• Lizzie turned 24 and we got to have a wonderful chat the day before...HaPpY bIrThDaY girl! Xoxo.
• Mike has been working his tail off going to school and doing independent consulting work with one of his professors. It has been incredible experience for the work force but has added a lot of stress to his life, too. I'm so grateful to have such a wonderful and hard-working husband!
• I keep making my elementary school kids cry. It has been a really interesting transition going from the most diverse school in Provo to one of the most sheltered elementary schools in the state.
• I have a serious case of senioritis and I don't know if I can handle another day of BYU anything.
• Michigan State is in the final four. It's nice to have someone to cheer for since Utah has been struggling the past few years (Mike is an insane MSU fan). And yes, it was established that BYU is "my school," but, I do not cheer for their sports teams (men's volleyball sometimes because they are so fun to watch).
• We're getting really excited/nervous/anxious/ready/fillintheblank about moving to San Francisco. I moved across the street when I was six, so, I've been really nostalgic about Salt Lake/nervous about moving lately. I'm glad Mike has experience with moving and international living (for more than three months) so that he can help me out when things get rough. I know there will be rainy days. But, I am also so excited for this new adventure and can't wait to make San Francisco our city!
  
• I love my nephews.

That was really long but it covers a lot of recent happenings/updates you on most of what's going on. Until next time...

thanks, izzo.

I know it's not all Izzo's fault, but, I think he said something influential during halftime.  I'm just happy to have a giddy husband for the next two days.  

Go Spartans! 

tweet.

I'm obsessed with newspaper crafts right now.  Text everywhere, all the time.  Love it.

love.

Today was my first day back to school since being sick.  I was so confused when I saw all the little kindergarteners (how do you spell that?) running around with green hair!  I guess I lost track of the days.  All I can say is that "St. Patty's Day" was never that big of a deal in my house (except for dad's amazing green milk), but, if S.P.D. always looked like this Google icon, I'd want to celebrate all year round.

putting up the shizzow

Okay, first of all, husband is going to threaten me for putting the "shizzow" in the title.  But it's just so funny!  Anywho, my final show is up.  And I had my opening reception.  And I've sold numerous paintings.  And after all the hype, I caught whatever nasty virus my mom had and it put me flat in bed for five days.  I'm still sick but slowly recovering...

Anyway.  Putting up an art show is quite a bit more complicated than I thought.  Sure, I realized that there would be a lot of details I wasn't aware of, and I figured that it would take me a long time.  But, the gallery director estimated a 3-hour hanging time.  I guess he forgot I had 30 paintings, because he was 6 hours off. Oh well.

So first of all, I had to figure out where I wanted each painting to be.  Wait, before that, I had to figure out how many paintings I wanted on each wall, if I wanted to hang all the work I framed, etc.  But, before I framed everything, I weeded a few less-favorites out, so I really just had to figure out if I had room for everything.  Then I figured out where I wanted each painting.

I realized quickly that I didn't have room for everything to fit nicely in the space they had given me, but the gallery guy told me that one of the "walnut walls" was available for me to hang some work.  I was worried that it might ruin the presentation of my show to put some paintings on the wall (while the rest of my work was in the middle of the floor), but in the end I liked it better.  Here is world's-best-husband-Michael helping me figure out where to hang the walnut wall paintings.  He was nice enough to come help me hang the show whenever he had a 20 minute break between classes.

So after figuring out where I wanted to hang each painting, I had to actually hang them.  This was a bit more complicated than I thought it would be, because although each painting was the same size framed, I had to take into account how high the wire on each piece was hanging.  At first it seemed overly complicated, but I got the hang of it pretty quickly.

Dear, sweet, wonderful, helpful Emily came to help out/keep me company/supply diet coke.  I couldn't have done it without her!

We were so excited about the vinyl lettering that we each took half of the letters.  I feel like the lettering makes everything look very official.

Unfortunately the walls of the gallery space were very dirty, so, we had to clean them.  

Note: These pictures are of Emily, but, I want to confirm that I did help do all these things as well.  She is not my slave, just overly helpful and wonderful.  She even considered downloading the leveling app for her iphone to help make the pictures straight.

And...here I am fake-sleeping after all the tedious work was done.  Being OCD and having wonderful helpers definitely helped make the show look great!  And yes, those hideous pasty white things in the picture are my arm and face.  I can't wait for summer!

PS: More pictures of actual images from the show coming soon!

new.

For whatever reason, I was bored with the old layout.  It was a bit too cute for me, I guess.  This is more hip and coolish.  And I've been stuck in bed for the past few days, so, I needed something to do...

wedding pics

Hey, they're up!  I've been so busy that I didn't even notice!

click here
pw: johnson

thank you/update.

I just wanted to say "thank you" to everyone who has helped me over the past few weeks.  There was quite a bit going on.  My apartment was turned into a studio:

Meanwhile, my seventh graders were making 3D projects out of household projects...

They also created a "Cow Parade".  They were featured in the Provo City gallery stroll last Friday.  Here are a few of my favorites:

My new friend Mike cut mat boards for me (while my husband Mike hung out with us/helped for three hours).

Here are the mats...

And some paintings...

And here they are ready for framing after way too many hours of work...

So thank you to my family for helping with cutting mats, framing, keeping me sane.  Thanks to Mike the random mat board man who was sooooooo helpful with everything involved there.  Thanks to EMILY for helping hang my show, run errands, hang out with me, and be a good friend.  Thanks to everyone who came to my show and made Friday such a fun night.

And most of all thanks to MICHAEL PAUL WALLACE for being supportive, wonderful, helpful, and the best.  

Love you!

it's there.

 

I can see it.

The "light at the end of the tunnel," if you will.

My show goes up in two days.  I can't wait.