Posts filed under 'I made this'
My spot in the Gonerfest program this year
Check out my ad for the gonerfest program this year (above) then if you want, check out my gonerfest photos after I take them later this month. The photo I used for the ad is of Thee Oh Sees and was taken at gonerfest 6 last year at the Hi Tone |[thee oh sees at gonerfest 6 photos on kandicook.com]|. This seemed to be a well-liked photo (I may be tooting my own horn here, but I was very proud to see this photo elsewhere on the internet: Their Bated Breath, Lemon Ice Forever, Maximum Rocknroll) plus Trip seemed to really like it… so… in it went.
(above: me at gonerfest last year. photo by Julie Remensperger)
I’m very excited about Gonerfest this year (it’s Sept 22-26, 2010) and am honored (and feeling much more confident) to be photographing the insanity once again. With the lack of sleep and huge crowds it may be inevitable, but I swear I’m going to try really hard not to end up with the worst debilitating flu I’ve ever had like last year and end up blogging about how PTI makes me anxious. I might even nerd out and take vitamins. Maybe I should start now to build up my immune system. Would that work?
#Germaphobe #IreallyWasDiagnosedWithOCD
4 comments September 6, 2010
Chemistry & free handmade giveaway
A little update for my friend John’s kickstarter project– there are about two weeks left to pledge and only about $200 is needed to fund the project! I wrote a blog post about the project here, and I wanted to remind you that the free handmade offer is still going on. (the deets). I’ve only had two people to make something for so far, and both of them chose paper goods… here’s a peek at what they got:
(Top two made with hand-carved stamps.) Deadline to pledge (and get some handmade goodies) is Tuesday, September 21st!
Add comment September 4, 2010
Project Sketchbook 2010 (and artists block)
This year I participated in Project Sketchbook 2010- a community project put on by the Rozelle Artists Guild here in Memphis. (Read the article in the Memphis Daily News here!). I was pretty excited about the project, but as the deadline to mail in said sketchbook grew closer and closer, I began to experience my usual feelings of frustration, anxiety and dissatisfaction. For me, most of the time a creative project + deadline = epic fail. I first experienced this in junior high school. My art teacher had chosen me to come up with a drawing or painting that would be in some sort of multi-school art contest/show. While honored to be asked, I just couldn’t come up with anything… I procrastinated and ended up with some drawing I rushed through and was not satisfied with at all. I remember feeling the same emotions then as I do now as an adult when forced to create something– I hate it, I get some sort of artists-block, and I usually don’t like whatever I end up with. I know a lot of people are able to, but honestly, I cannot just make something, no matter how many times I’ve done something or how comfortable I am with doing it– as corny as it sounds, this stuff has to just come naturally from within (otherwise it totally sucks).
This time wasn’t as extreme, but I did start to feel anxious about running out of time & frustration for not having some great idea (even though from the start I decided my main goal was for this book to reflect ME- not how neat or unique I could make the book itself). I finished my entire sketchbook in under an hour and a week before deadline. I went back and forth with considering not turning in the book at all. I also had this idea that I wanted a theme for my book, and my theme was going to be photography and/or embroidery. Then I changed it a few dozen times and ended up back at photography. I like it alright… I mean… I’ve been more satisfied with other things I’ve made and I’ve been less satisfied with other things I’ve made. Here are a few pages from my sketchbook:
I know there are a few supercreatives who read my blog– does anyone experience the same kinds of feelings when it comes to creativity and deadlines or expectations?
4 comments September 3, 2010
New photo series: Half Mile Cigarette
This series was a spontaneous one. You see, there’s this park not too far from my house, and one day I decided I wanted to walk over there. To get there, I have to cross a very high-trafficked street. Once I started getting close to the park, I noticed some strange things laying on the side of said street. A single glove, a very much abandoned “KEEP THIS COUPON” ticket, and discarded cigarette packaging. The closer I got to the park, the cigarette paraphernalia seemed to begin to repeat itself . Then I started noticing cigarette butts and packaging everywhere, and thus this series was born. I walked for about half a mile down the busy street and came across about a dozen or so packages and probably hundreds of little cigarette butts.
It was exciting to take a short walk on a mission (looking for butts & a variety of packaging) and sort-of refreshing to give notice to things someone else just wanted to get rid of. Eventually I just walked home, never visiting the park but having thirty or so new pictures and a new series on my mind. When I was prepping the images for upload, it made me angry to think about people littering and I wondered if I should glorify a bad habit by turning it into art. I did, and here it is:
4 comments August 30, 2010
The most unusual business card I’ve ever designed to date
Apparently, I really like making myself new business cards even if I haven’t run out of the old ones quite yet. Here’s my latest:: my name heat embossed onto a strip of processed 35mm film. Kind of nerdy, kind of really awesome.
4 comments August 25, 2010
(sneak preview) How my newest mixed media series came together
Ever since I was a teenager, about once or twice a year I suddenly get this uncontrollable urge to paint. Like, BING! I have an idea and I want to paint it. Since this doesn’t come around too often, when I feel like I “have” to paint, I’ve learned I better pick up that brush and go at it– because the inspiration seems to go as quickly as it came, and in the past I’ve missed that window more than once with regret.
This time was a little different than just painting– it was part an idea I kept writing down over and over, it was part technique I had already done before, it was part inspiration from something I saw on vacation, it was part my stash of cute, un-purposed fabric, part painting and part embroidery.
[ photos: Trip Cook ]
So far, there are eight pieces (four 16″x20″s and four smaller ones in various sizes) and I might make more, I might not. I decided I was going to sell the entire series (separately) at the crafty open house I’ve been selling at the last few years (Christmas at the Ritz), and anything that doesn’t sell there will be listed on Etsy around the beginning of the new year. I really like this mixed media series, it feels so good to have executed an idea so satisfactorily. (Is that a word?) Photos when everything is complete!
- Kan
6 comments August 23, 2010
It was a long drive…
My sister-in-law Katee and I drove down to Sandestin, FL earlier this month. It was a long drive… and I, as usual, had some yarn handy… (and a cell phone that doesn’t take very good photos):
Above: (Left):: Every time Katee and I have gone to a wedding or baby shower together the last three years or so and get little gift bags, I always take the ribbon and tie it around the handle above the passenger side door. (Right):: This is a little panel of knit and purl stitches that made an anchor design. I screwed up one of the last rows, so I “tagged” the passenger side handle above the door… which led to a chain/dc/sc crocheted strip around the passenger side mirror and then…
Above: A knitted cozie for a touch of super luxury when it’s time to switch gears… she said it was soft and I think she said she liked it. “What can I make next?!”…
Above: This gas station drink needs some clothes. (did I mention this was an 8 – 9 hour drive?)
Above: She’s always such a good sport.
Above: So was this flamingo… (and all the knobs, handles and cords that got attacked, too).
4 comments August 20, 2010
Handmade felt magnets
Magnets I’ve made lately::
A Jerry’s sno-cone made especially for its biggest fan…
…and a little heart with me and my husband’s initials embroidered on it. I’ve been making a few felt magnets lately and am planning on selling them at Christmas at the Ritz later this year (more info on that later). : )
2 comments August 18, 2010
Mail order dinosaurs
Sometimes the UPS delivery guy will deliver our packages to me while I’m at work. Most of the time they belong to my husband…
Me: “It came like this I swear.”
3 comments August 10, 2010
