Recent Creative Developments

After my recent, rather lengthy, previous posts, I'm gonna try to make this one a bit shorter and just give you the highlights of my recent creative life. Just to keep everyone updated and mostly to try and hold myself accountable. So here it is!

As I mentioned on my previous post, my contract with Agora Gallery ended this March and I chose not to continue being represented by them due to their lack of sales of my work, despite the interest shown by the public during my November show. Fortunately enough I got approached by another Chelsea gallery earlier this year that wants to represent me. They seem to work differently than Agora and my images wouldn't be restricted under contract which is great, they also promised to be very focused on artists' sales and museum networking which sounds super promising. Unfortunately the way galleries work is that you have to pay upfront for representation, PR, printing material, etc and then you hopefully get reimbursed, ideally with profit through the sales of your work. As of now I'm waiting for the green light from the Universe to let me know when the time is right to pay for my next representation contract, hopefully one way or another my own art will pay for my this as was the plan all along. Meanwhile, I let the new gallery director know about my situation and not only was she extremely understanding, but she gave me an open invite. Whenever I'm ready all I have to do is fill out the paper work I already have and I'm in! Which is very exciting! So even though I have no active gallery right now, I will soon be back in NY😀
For the moment I still have some online representation through ART UpCLOSE and you can see my work with them here.

On completely different news, I opened a zazzle store over a year ago and then decided I didn't quite like it so I never truly advertised it and eventually I completely forgot it existed. But as a wonderful sign of abundance, a couple months ago at exactly 2:22pm the once forgotten zazzle store made it's first sale! So I revived it and have slowly been starting to add more products. It still has a long way to go from what it could be, but it is alive now and hopefully after I'm all packed/moved-out, I'll be able to dedicate some serious time into my designs there. In the Meantime you can check out what I have so far here 😊
After "resurrecting" my zazzle store my brain started working on new ideas again and thanks to inspiration I got for a gift for my otspsecretsister, I got back to making illustrations. Which btw I forgot how fun they could be! Anyway the illustration I made for my secret sis can now be purchased as a print of the original artwork on my etsy or as a mug or magnet on my zazzle!

Getting to work on my e-stores again got my inspiration flowing and I now plan to create a line of illustrations and products for both stores exclusively to help save the vaquita on the second half of the year and into 2018! 50% of my profits will be donated to this worthy cause and after vaquita I plan to create a whole line of art, in any medium that inspiration strikes to help other endangered species. I'm super excited about this 😄.

Meanwhile, I've been practicing purposefully opening up more to the infinite abundance of the Universe through my art, and entering all sorts of different contests and juried open calls. Even if I don't win, it's good practice because I am letting the Universe know that I am willing and open to receive and by doing so I might even get unexpected exposure out of it.
The contests I'm most invested in now are, as I mentioned on my previous post, with NatGeo and the WWF. The WWF offers different prizes including photo expeditions to see animals in the wild which is my dream! And the people's choice award is a trip to see polar bears!! But for this I need your help, I need your vote daily for any or all of my following images:

http://dailywildlifephoto.nathab.com/contests/2-2017-wildlife-photo-contest/photos/6599-puffin-rock

http://dailywildlifephoto.nathab.com/contests/2-2017-wildlife-photo-contest/photos/6598-into-the-eyes-of-our-cousin

http://dailywildlifephoto.nathab.com/contests/2-2017-wildlife-photo-contest/photos/6597-the-face-of-innocence-2017

I know it's a bit of a pain, but every time you vote, even if it's a 100 times, you get entered to win a $500 gift card, so the more you vote the better your chances of winning also! Voting goes through the end of the month and any votes are greatly appreciated💗


Lastly here's my random bit of information. This year I taught myself how to quill. I've always been so fascinated by quilled cards or art so I thought it was about time I learned. It's simpler than I expected by looking at the finished art but it takes a lot longer than I could ever have imagined! For now I'm focusing my practicing efforts on cards for friends and family but I hope to eventually be able to offer some cards through my etsy. If you have any ideas of something you would like to see please let me know!

Those are all my latest creative news, keep a look out for new developments and products on my stores and remember to always consider supporting the artists in your life and conservation issues that speak to you!

Love and Light🌟
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My First Opening Reception at an Established Gallery in Manhattan!

So the day has finally come and gone. I attended my very first Opening Reception as an artist on view in a gallery at the Chelsea art district in Manhattan!
And believe it or not I think I'm more excited now that I'm writing about it and have had time to process it, than when it was about to happen or happening.

It was very different from what I thought and definitely a learning experience. I've done pop-up shows before and those are a LOT of work for the artists before the show for very small profit and networking. Contrastingly, this as an established, professional gallery made things leading up to the show extremely painless. They recommended the printers (who were super fast and have great quality works) and provided me with framing quotes which helped a lot in making an informed decision as to where to go. I ended up finding framers near me offering a pretty good discount and overall, everything went pretty smoothly and I even gained two NY trips to get everything done and delivered as well as get some more shots and enjoy myself in the Village :)

Arguably, the things I was most excited about getting ready for the show was having family come support me and making lots of sales. But I had another thing coming!
It's never good to have expectations, expectations mean you are living out of your head and ego and not from your heart, which just makes us lose out on the beauty of the present moment.
None of my friends or family other than my mom who is always with me thank goodness, could make it and sales rarely happen the way I pictured it in my head.
     I created so many expectations that I was a bit let down by reality. In my imagination the event was cocktail formal with waiters coming around offering fancy hors d'oeuvres and lots of art critics and collectors were trying to buy everything on site and write amazing reviews that led to movie-like opportunities in just two hours. All this while my family and friends were there beaming with pride at the fact that "they knew me when" lol.
In reality it was a Chelsea reception not a 5th Avenue one in a movie, it was very casual and if there were any critics or collectors I was never aware of it. I did see quite a few people walking around with price sheets though so who knows? People were friendly and I got very positive feedback from fellow artists on view in the same show, as well as the public. There was no food and you had to go to the check-in desk to get your own water and, since it was all about mingling, there was no place to sit. So here's what I learned for next time: NO expectations. Living in the moment is the best gift I can give myself, life rarely looks like the movies, the fact that no-one tried to give me all the contents of their wallet on the spot does not mean I will not sell in the future. I also learned to eat before arriving to the gallery and never wear high heels again when you have to stay standing by your work for three hours straight! LOL

Here's the biggest negative of the night: Having to speak in public and introduce myself and my work to everyone and talk about my inspiration and intentions with my art. I hate public speaking, I have horrible classroom flashbacks with all the bullies whispering and snickering! I have the worst stage fright ever! I've never understood why others love to make authors and artists speak, the point of these creative outlets is for the work to speak for us and for us to be able to express without spoken words. Explaining your work as a visual artist, when your frozen with fear, in my opinion defeats the purpose of showing your art lol

Here are the biggest highlights: Meeting two other female photographers that have also found Spirituality and Nature conservation are completely intertwined with photography. For one is all about saving animals, for the other is all about showing the Divine perfection out in Nature and within each of us! How perfect is that synchronicity? Three female photographers in the same gallery, with work on view at the same time all trying to show a very similar message with very unique voices and techniques. The artist that works more closely with conservation is currently involved in a program to help animals being captive, like in zoos, get better living conditions. The program is currently only in the Mid-West but we exchanged cards and there's hope for a collaboration in the future! And of course the other highlight was sharing my first big moment as an artists in Manhattan with my mom, and all the things I learnt from this experience :D

It was a fun and interesting night once I got out of my head and whenever I could distract myself from my foot pain thanks to those darn heels :P

And now, here's the youtube video for a glimpse into that night:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWleCT3fMnM 

Hope you enjoy it! And you can check my work on display physically at Agora Gallery until the last of the month or by clicking here.

New Creative Adventures = Etsy

Hi Everyone,

This is just a small post to share with you the opening of my brand new, first ever Etsy store!!

I do firmly believe that as long as you're open to receiving and trust in the Universe, abundance will always come to us infinitely, but as the co-creator of my own reality, I've decided to help the Universe out by sending this new energy into it so it manifests things faster. :)
With the thinning of the veils that just happened and this Fall energy of transition in the world, it's an excellent time to put things out for the Universe to help us manifest.

I'm in the midsts of very exciting times right now with my first ever, Manhattan Gallery show opening this Thursday, some possibilities for adventures "cooking" right now and trying to successfully launch my store! :D
I'm both nervous and thrilled! But I figured creators have to create right? I'm usually jumping around so much between different craft and Fine Art projects anyway that the results just end up forgotten, left somewhere to collect dust or when people show interest, just given away. But I've decided, by some gentle and the occasionally not so gentle, nudge from friends and family, that these projects deserve a chance to see the light of day and be part of an energetic exchange of abundance. So this is what I'm focusing the Etsy project on now.
     There's not a lot on the store yet, but I'm hoping to continually add products and slowly branch out as inspiration strikes. I'm also working on infusing some of my products with Reiki energy so they're not only functional/decorative (depending on the piece,) but also bring their new owners an influx of good energy into their lives :)
I'm very enthusiastic about this project and the creative chances outside the Gallery world it can provide, as well as the liberty to sell some of my open ended prints at very affordable prices and the opportunity to create up-cycled products which is super important to me, to make something beautiful out of something that would otherwise end up in a landfill polluting more... So without further ado here's the store!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/coliBreeMultiFantasy

Hope you check it continually as I add more options and find something you like <3 And if you're familiar with my work at all and would like a specific print to be added feel free to let me know!

Until next time, I leave you all with this lovely affirmation we could all use :)

June's Inside the Theme

I can't promise I will do this #Insidethetheme thing every month, but while I wait for my newest Family and Disney-venture to start (tomorrow! aahh!) I thought I'd give it another go since it's a fun way to let you know a little bit more about myself and connect to other members of the Iggle community ;)

This month's theme was all about crafts which was totally in sync with the creative energies at work in my life and it provided new ideas for me to try out! How perfect is that?! So without further ado here are my answers for the month.

1)What is your favorite type of craft, and why is it so amazing?

I'm such a restless spirit that, true to my hummingbird tendencies of trying out all the pretty flowers, I like or would like to try all the crafts that do not involve sewing/knitting or cooking. But I probably do tend to favor paper ones like scrapbooking, ATC's, DIY stationary, etc. Although, don't leave me alone at a Michael's 'cause I will want to take up EVERY craft as my new hobby!

2)What would your preferred weapon in the Craftamageddon be?

I would like to go with paper and micron pens but that could fall into the Fine Arts realm so if we're being strict about just crafts then probably washi tape! You can washi everything to make it better :)

3)Where on a scale from “Look At This Pair Of Shoes I Just Made” to “What Do You Mean You Own A Pair Of Scissors?” do you consider yourself? Do you have any funny craftastrophe stories?

I usually create more art than crafts but sometimes the line between these two is so blurry, and like I say I like to try all the crafts haha, so I guess I'm closer to the Shoe making side of the scale, as long as I don't really have to make shoes! LOL

My creative process is in itself a "Craftastrophe" hahaha, I'm constantly covered in glitter, glue and paint and manage to cut myself more than the paper :P So I can't recall a particularly funny story, I do find my attempts at creating a cup on the pottery wheel laughable if that counts...

                          

4)3 Things You Would Bring To A Deserted Island, Craftamageddon style! (Because why wouldn’t you bring a glue gun and washi tape as opposed to survival necessities and loved ones?)

Only three? Hmm.. ok a giant pack of multicolor paper (that counts as one right?) Scissors and... WASHI tape!!

5)Show us a DIY project you are (sort of mildly) proud of

Ok so I showed you my most recent new crafts for this month on my previous post and I'm sort of mildly proud of them hehe, but I'm sharing these others from the past month I really liked, hope you like them too <3

Paper "Feather Smudging fan" for my Native American class

Glass bottle I stained for a friend

Angel silk scarf I painted for my mom

Aaannndd, that's it for this month! Hoped you all liked my little ramblings for June. 

Love, Light and Laughter to all of you <3