Hello, 2016

I'm in this weird place. The start of a new year is exciting and full of promise but it also makes me a little hesitant. I regularly struggle with wondering if I'm going in the right direction with what I'm working on and I have a hard time picking a priority in case it's not the perfect choice for that point in time. This post is a little brain-dump to hopefully clear out the weird start-of-a-new-year-trepidation fog.



1.) Post for the Parks is COMPLETE!

2.) The Post for the Parks shop is under construction and should exist later this month! (Prints, pins, stickers and a poster featuring all 59 watercolors.)

3.) I need to catch up on my estimated quarterly taxes but I don't really know what I'm doing - or maybe I do. Who even knows? Probably the tax people, maybe they should just do it for me.

4.) I recently started going through my books and donating a lot of them to the library. Books that I have realized I will never finish or have finished ages ago but don't need to read again. It's helpful and makes space AND I love to think about others enjoying books that I enjoyed (or started to).



5.) 2015 was pretty good to me. We had some nice adventures to Shenandoah, Acadia, Baltimore and New Hampshire. We went to see friends get married in Western Mass. and had a great road trip with other friends there and back.

6.) There are a lot of new projects I want to work on but I am sort of stalled trying to figure out which one to work on first. I'm in the middle of designing and painting my brother-in-law's wedding invitations so those are definitely first on the list and I hope that by finishing those I will magically be inspired to pick the next project.

7.) Etsy has been SLOW. The holiday season was just mediocre for me which is worrying but also slightly freeing?



8.) I'm already looking forward to this year's garden season. I saw one of my garden buddies out in the real world recently (almost didn't recognize him bundled up in a coat) and I can't wait until my $30 is due and I can count myself in for another year.

ANYWAY. Everything is great, I just feel weird and a little overwhelmed by the promise of this fresh new year. As I'm typing this I am also realizing that I feel very strange without my Post for the Parks deadlines. They were really good for me and maybe even if it's not a whole project, I may need to set some other kind of scheduled goals.

I guess it's time to get to work!
Happy New Year. I think I'll try to post more. Maybe.
xo
Sarah

New England Craft Fair Round-Up!

Hello Friends!

Do you like shopping small, shopping handmade? If so, I have got a list for you!

It's holiday craft fair season! New England boasts some incredible shopping events and I thought I would make a handy place to find 2015's fairs and markets. (If you know of one I missed, please leave a comment so I can add it in!)

Scroll down for a list with links!



Concord Handmade (Concord NH)
Nov. 20 - Dec. 29

Craftland (Providence RI)
Nov. 27th - Dec. 31st (also year round)

Bust Craftacular Boston
Nov. 28 & 29

Herbstalk Winter Herbal Market (Somerville)
Nov. 28

Craft Fix 2015 (Portsmouth NH)
Nov. 29

Harvard Square Holiday Fairs (Cambridge)
Throughout December

JP Crafts Fair
Dec. 5

Society of Arts&Crafts' Craft Boston
Dec. 11-13

SoWa Holiday Market
Dec. 12 & 13

Picnic Portland (Portland ME)
Dec. 13

Gather Here's Handmade Holiday Show (Cambridge)
Dec. 19


Egg-A-Go-Go will be at the Bust Craftacular (making my triumphant return to the Cyclorama after the end of the BBB, RIP), Picnic Portland and Gather Here's Handmade Holiday. I hope to see you there!

XOXOXO

Baltimore and Shenandoah National Park

In May, Curtis and I went to visit my brother Jack and his girlfriend Kristin down in Baltimore. Their place is in Fell's Point which is a cute neighborhood right on the harbor. It's experiencing quite a bit of growth, with all of the old factories and warehouse spaces being turned into housing.

On Tuesday we went to Shenandoah National Park! We started at the North entrance of the park and drove about a quarter of the way down the Skyline Drive.



We stopped at a few scenic overlooks and took a short hike before we turned around and headed back to Baltimore. Shenandoah is BEAUTIFUL. I especially recommend it if you like driving and enjoy hiking.



Jack and Kristin recently got a plot at the Patterson Park Community Garden. It's a beautiful place!





After visiting the plot, Jack took us on a walk through Patterson Park and the Butchers Hill neighborhood of Baltimore.





During our stay in Charm City we ate some great food. Dinners at Fork & Wrench and Peter's Inn and breakfast on our departing day at Milk & Honey (below).



It was a VERY nice visit and a great trip. Maybe next time we go we'll see a few museums - this time you couldn't pay us to stay indoors, the weather was perfect.

As a bonus, the day we went to Shenandoah was our 2nd wedding anniversary! It was a good one! :)


~ Sarah

Community Garden 2015!

Hello Spring!



Yesterday was Memorial Day - the official unofficial start of the safe-to-grow-things-outside season here in New England! This is the first year I don't feel completely behind schedule working in the garden. I was able to get out early and turn the bed over before our first group clean up day. Some of the other gardeners even remarked how EARLY I had gotten started on my plot! [insert smug garden expert face here]



We had already started a few seeds indoors and when we went off to Baltimore last week, I put them in the ground under some scrappy little tents. This is my second year starting tomatoes from seed and I hope they are as successful as last season!



Everything is blooming! The tulips are goneby but irises are opening, the lupine are incredible and the poppies are getting ready to burst their little fuzzy pods. And I should mention the weeds are also having a great spring. Despite the fact we haven't had real rain in ages. I heard last night that we are 5 inches under where were should be for rainfall since March 1st. Oof. Needless to say, we are going to water pretty regularly.



This is our plot currently. I am starting some climbing vines under those water bottle greenhouses. The bottles are more to protect the seeds from digging squirrels than anything else but hopefully they are also helping to keep some moisture in. The tiny tomato babies are also out there. And I planted seeds for: echinacea, calendula, chamomile, beets and peas. Bulbs for ranunculus and freesia are at the close end. The sedum and black-eyed Susan that Bill gave me last year are doing GREAT.



I'm trying to keep up with my garden journal this season. I always start strong and fade out as the season wears on (how many times do I need to put "went to weed and water - AGAIN" in the log?) but this year I hope to at least keep track of what grows and what doesn't.





I posted some of the pages from my previous garden journaling efforts in my Behance portfolio.

How is YOUR garden growing? :)
~Sarah

Post for the Parks - a response!

So, I received my first response to one of my Post for the Parks pieces yesterday. And it wasn't exactly what I had been expecting.



Mount Rainier National Park sent their painting back to me - business card and all. An interesting development!



Along with the painting was this form letter:


(If this is too small to read, click here for a bigger version.)

I have to admit, I was a little sad since I don't think that this response matches with the intended nature of the project. BUT this is a good lesson in realizing that people interpret things differently. Who am I to expect anyone to want to keep an unsolicited item?

It hadn't even crossed my mind that a park would have a museum collection or that my little sketch would be seen as wanting a place in that collection. Now I feel like some kind of ego maniac. I actually had imagined that this would end up stuffed in a drawer in "staff offices" but hey, it's neat to have it back!



Receiving this return is making me think more about art and ego and assuming what someone's response to work will be. Because part of this project is about not seeing the pieces as precious and museum-worthy, I feel a little bad (and slightly embarrassed) that the package was opened and my project viewed in such a way. Who am I to assume that another person will accept the burden of caring for this painting (since generally people think paintings should be cared for)? I didn't intend for it to be treasured but how is anyone else supposed to know that?

I would be interested to know what other people think about unsolicited art - art itself being something that as a society is a loaded thing (Is it art? Is it good art? Is it worth something? Is it worth saving? Should it be precious? Should it be garbage?) and how its value might be interpreted in a way you didn't intend.

So now I pack all the pieces back into the very official Department of the Interior manilla envelope and stash it away. It's my responsibility once again.

Oh! My favorite thing about this returned package is that in the bottom right corner of my form letter is a red scribble, the loop-dee-loop kind made when trying to get a pen's ink flowing. I LOVE IT.

So, to make it official:

Mount Rainier National Park Parcel -
posted: January 22nd, 2015
returned: February 17th, 2015 (All items returned except mailer and backing board/cello sleeve painting was shipped with/in.)
received: February 26th, 2015

Thanks for following along!
xo
Sarah

And P.S. let me just say PARK CURATOR?! I had no idea there was such a thing. What a dream job that must be!

----------------

P.P.S. In case you are wondering, below is what MY form letter reads. This letter goes out with each piece...

Hello [whichever] National Park,

Greetings from Boston Massachusetts. I am working on a project that involves making a small painting inspired by each of our National Parks. I am researching each park, creating the paintings, and then mailing the paintings to the parks.

Each week of 2015 I will be mailing out a painting to one national park and also posting the painting online. I am completing the paintings and mailing them in the order in which the parks gained their National Park status. I am using the addresses listed as the official mailing addresses of the parks, some are not located within the actual parks – if you want to forward this on to someone within the borders of the park, please do!

This project is part examination of treasured wilderness protected by our government and part thank you love letter to those who work so tirelessly to preserve special places for the plants and animals that live there as well as human visitors.

No response is required or expected, I am simply sending my art on ahead of me to the parks I haven’t visited yet and back to the parks I have been to.

Sincerely,
Sarah Coyne

Some Press for Post for the Parks!

Eep!

I am so so honored that the ladies behind Letter Writers Alliance have chosen to feature my project on their blog!



If you're into snail mail and aren't familiar with LWA, you're missing out! They host letter writing socials, sell stationery & letter writing supplies, and talk about mail related things on their blog. And you can become a LIFETIME LWA member or only 5 dollars!

I see this project as having two components - the painting but also the SENDING. Even though the research, sketching and painting are the more time-consuming aspects of PftP, sending the originals out in to the world to the very parks that inspired them is just as important. It's tremendously flattering to have this element of the project catch the eye of some real professionals!

You can read their post about Post for the Parks here!

So thank you Kathy and Donovan! Happy posting!

xo
Sarah

Posting to the Parks - Parcel Parts

My new obsession project, Post for the Parks, is now officially underway. I have mailed paintings to three National Parks - Yellowstone, Sequoia and Yosemite.



Along with each painting are a few extra bits that make each package more substantial.


(click to see full-size on flickr)

To make this seem a little more official and to add a bit of 'paperwork' for myself (since the National Parks Service is a U.S. government branch), I am mailing out each painting with a business card (with the tumblr URL on the back), a form letter (customized for each park), and a certificate that accompanies the painting. The painting and certificate are packaged in a cello bag (I was going to skip the bag but someone mentioned a cup of coffee + an original watercolor = recipe for disaster on someone's ranger station desk) which goes into the wax paper/glassine bag with the business card. Everything is then stuffed in a chipboard mailer, sprinkled with postage stamps, and off it goes!



I'm enjoying the painting, documentation and the packing processes equally.

If you want to see more photos of my process, I started an album on Flickr and along with the main tumblr, I just started posting the finished pieces to a special instagram account as well.

Thanks for following along!
xo
Sarah

A video posted by Sarah Coyne (@eggagogo) on Jan 14, 2015 at 1:40pm PST

A New Project - Post for the Parks

Whoa. It's been a LONG time, blog friends. Apparently I took the summer and autumn off from posting. Good for me.

ANYWAY. HELLO!

Things have been great, I've been drawing things, painting things, printing things and I'm working on something new that I'm so excited about.

What it is... A personal project involving painting and mail. A project celebrating one of my favorite things about this country - the preservation of wild spaces.

How it came about... I was laying in bed a couple months ago, unable to sleep, trying to think of a new project that had a set number of pieces and a process that would put the pieces out into the world. I would document the process online as is done with things like this these days but I wanted it to go further - and farther.

I thought about an alphabet or something about the seasons but those numbers (26 or 4) seemed too small, I needed something a little more ambitious. The thing with a set number I came up with was the U.S. National Parks.


(Sketches)

Here's what I'm going to do... I am researching our 59 national parks, I am filling a small sketchbook with loose painty sketches for each of the parks, and I am making a little watercolor painting inspired by each of the parks.


(Painting for Yellowstone)

Each week of 2015 I will be mailing out a painting to one national park and also posting the painting online. I am completing the paintings and mailing them in the chronological order in which the parks gained their National Park status. I am using the addresses listed as the official mailing addresses of the parks, some are not located within the actual park but hopefully they'll get close.


(Sketches)

This project is part examination of treasured wilderness protected by our government and part thank you love letter to those who work so tirelessly to preserve special places for the plants and animals that live there as well as human visitors. It's also an exercise in routine and process for me. A way to create art I care deeply about but I don't consider so precious that I won't just send it off into the world.

I'm not expecting any response from the parks, but wouldn't that be fun! I am simply sending my art on ahead of me to the parks I haven’t visited yet and back to the parks I have been to.

And there it is, Post for the Parks.


I might document it here occasionally but mostly it will have its own internet space at: Post for the Parks on tumblr. And I'm sure there will glimpses of it on the ol' instagram as well.

It feels great to have a personal project with deadlines and a set schedule for creation. I hope you'll follow along on the journey.

And you know something is super official when you have a stamp for it. :)


If anyone is reading this, I would love to know about your thoughts/feelings/ideas about the National Parks. Do you have a favorite? Is there one you've visited more than once? I've only been to three of the 59 but I hope to add a few more to my list soon.

Thanks for reading!
xo
Sarah


(A photo from my recent trip to a state park - the White Mountains in my native NH.)

Wildflower Revolution illustrations & a garden update

Hello!

Recently I had the great pleasure of working with Jennie of Wildflower Revolution to make a logo and some illustrations for her herbal business.

First I worked with Jennie to create a simple logo that could be used on her Etsy banner and packaging.







Jennie makes tea blends and asked for an illustration that she will use on the tea cards and other printed things.

From Sketch to Watercolor to Digital Image to Printed Materials...










I also made her a REAL LIFE version of her banner to display at fairs and other events. Here it is in-use at Herbstalk!

The banner is cotton that I hemmed, screen printed (the rose) and hand painted (the pinks and text). It was a VERY special project.

It has been so nice working with Jennie and getting to draw all kinds of beautiful helpful plants. We are talking right now about some summer illustration projects and I can't wait to get started!

Aside from drawing plants, I've been tending to them too. Our community garden plot is VERY happy this year (and actually getting all of the attention it deserves after a lot of neglect in 2013 what with the wedding and being in Europe for almost a month!).





Currently photosynthesizing away in our garden we have a few varieties of squash, beets, 10+ tomato plants, lots of basil, calendula, sunflowers, sedum (a gift from a fellow gardener a few plots over), nasturtium, sweet peas and a few weeds. :)

Here's a look at our plot from the beginning of May to today!


That's it for now!
xo
Sarah

spring is for making - part 1

Hello!
Spring was barely upon us the last time I wrote about stuff and now it's in full swing! (The local news has even been calling the past week 'summer' but they're pushing it.)

I have been so lucky lately to work on some really incredible projects, I'm going to wait to show you photos of those... BUT I have some EVENTS coming up!

TOMORROW
Thursday June 5th I will be at JP Knit and Stitch for First Thursday! I will have some paintings and new screen prints up displayed amongst their beautiful things in their beautiful shop. Please stop by and say hello!


THIS WEEKEND
Saturday June 7th and Sunday June 8th - Herbstalk!
I painted the poster for the event and have had the pleasure of working on some extra projects with two of the herbalists involved! I will be exhibiting prints, paintings, stationery and some other printed goods in the marketplace both days. It's free! There are also classes both days on herbal healing, urban gardening and that kind of great stuff.



I will share some of my special projects after this weekend. But until then, here are some other things I've been working on!

New stationery and prints of my bouquet piece...


Some new garden-y screen prints that will be making their debut at first Thursday and Herbstalk...


In other news, our neighborhood has been looking REALLY GOOD lately.






I don't know if it's some kind of spring fever or what but I feel creative and productive and can't wait to tackle the next thing. Here in New England - as in a lot of other places - we had a loooong cold winter and I think I went into super hibernation mode, saving all my energy and making for right now! Fine by me. Off to do some more of it!

xo
Sarah