Summer + September, full steam ahead

The summer has been so busy it felt like I barely had time to think! Below are a bunch of photos, I will write about them in order, I think they are pretty much in chronological order. 

1. As you know from the previous post, I released my first ever coloring book, Flora & Fauna, and sold a good amount of copies! I am so looking forward to seeing how everyone colors it in, so if you have purchased one PLEASE post on Instagram and tag me @katieebertsillustration so I can see. I am working on a digital download so it will be more accessible to everyone, so keep in touch to see when I get that together. 
2. I've been participating in the Les Cheneaux Farmers & Artisans Market at the Hessel School House on Sundays every once in awhile, and have a great time meeting people and selling my art. 
3. Old Shell Gallery opened on June 15th for it's 3rd (or 4th??? Oh dear, can't remember) season and it was awesome! We had about 20 or so artists exhibiting and volunteering their time to keep it open. 
4. My display at the beginning of the season at Old Shell Gallery. It looks a little bare in this photo, and I created a bunch of new work so it's a little more fleshed out now. 
5. A screenshot of my work on display at Lucky Bean Coffee House on Mackinac Island. I just love the vibe of this coffee shop and am so pleased to have my work on display there. This year I created 3 pieces called 'Coffee Bikes', using coffee cup rings to create the bike wheels, and doing the remainder of the bike in watercolor and colored pencil. They turned out pretty cool!
6. My piece 'Robin' that I donated to Dart for Art, a fundraiser for the Crooked Tree Arts Center in Petoskey. I started drawing and painting directly on the mats and really like how it seems to make the painting jump out of the canvas. 
7. Me at Dart for Art with my piece. Not pictured is my date, MOM!
8. A sweet little calico cat in the garden. Still playing around with painting on the mat. This piece sold to two really nice guys named Rob and Lloyd. 
9. I was and still am very into Prismacolor's Neon Pink colored pencil. The neon does not scan true to color, it's more of a light pink when I scan it in, which I kind of love because it makes the original painting that much more special. It's still for sale!
10. A really disgruntled turtle that my parent's neighbor picked up so I could take some reference photos. Expect to see him (or her) in paintings very soon.
11. A work in progress of a little blue bird. I sold this one to a nice guy named Scott at Music & Art Dockside, an art fair put on by the Les Cheneaux Area Artisan Cooperative in Hessel in July. 
​12. Me with my display at Music & Art Dockside. It was a beautiful day and rained right at the end of the show so we were all scrambling to pack up and get out of the rain. 
13. My mom and I bought a Boston Whaler!!!! It's my favorite thing. 
14. Folding and packaging notecards. It takes awhile but it's a task I really look forward to doing. 
15. Some of my cousins during our family vacation at Camp Echo. We are on a Yay Ride, don't we look happy?! It's something we've been doing since we were kids, and so it's fun to share it with our sig other's even though we're like 30 now. 
16. I am started to get more serious about uploading my art onto Society 6 -- they have some cool products and it's nice that I (through them) am able to offer options that I wouldn't be able to on my own. 
17. A new piece called Bunnies on Yellow (very creative name, I know). I'm starting to explore patterns as you can see in the background. 
18. Some framed art about to go on display at 1668 Winery & Dockside Brewery in Sault Ste. Marie, MI.
19. A giant collaborative coloring page I made for the 1668 Winery show. I thought it would be fun. Spoiler: it was. 
20. The Collaborative Coloring Page after the opening night reception.
21. The CCP after about 3 weeks. Cool color choices, right??? I just love it. 
22. My Great Lakes on display -- I was so pleased with this arrangement. 
23. A giant piece that I started like 4 years ago and never finished until about 3 weeks before the show because I needed to take up some space. I am so happy to have finished it. Once the show comes down I have no idea what to do with it. 
24. A work in progress of some Tickseed growing in my garden. I love the punchy orange in the background. 
25. I really want to get better at repeating pattern design, so I have set myself the challenge of creating a new one per week for an indeterminate amount of time. I am uploading them to Spoonflower, and my goal is to collaborate with a clothing designer on some cool funky pieces. If you know anyone send them my way! 

All for now. Like I said, it's been a crazy summer and I'm happy that things are starting to calm down a little bit here up north. I'm ready to buckle down and start creating some new stuff for the 2020 season, as well as catch up on some online classes and figure out what directions I want to take my art in. Thanks for reading! --Katie