OK, so it was only a half-second flash, but if you watched yesterday’s Nightline broadcast about online humor you might have glimpsed my “sprouts” photo flying by amidst some other featured Etsy/Regretsy folks.

My friend Sarah gave me the old rocking horse, which was gathering dust in my guest bedroom until Sunday’s shoot. When I met up with this model for the first time, I knew she’d be perfect for this. Her long, dark hair totally inspired me. It’s amazing I’ve been able to find anyone to model for me at all, when I’m known for saying things like “You have awesome creepy-photo-shoot hair!” over coffee. During our first meeting. Because, you know, social skills really aren’t one of my strong points, apparently.

Thankfully, the lovely woman who modeled for this shoot was so easy to work with and practically knew what I wanted before I had a chance to voice my thoughts–always a good sign. She’s a natural.

It’s been a while since I’ve thought about working in black and white, but the stark contrasts in this series made it a perfect fit. Huge thanks to my new model friend for braving the humidity and the creepy toy overload. I’ll be posting more in the upcoming days, both here and at Flickr!

It’s been a bit quiet around here. I’ve been working on a new website for Calobee Doodles and that’s taken up much of my limited free time and concentration. Before Ellie, I could sit down and crank out a layout like this in a day, but now I have to do everything in 15-minute spurts. Ellie has much more important business to attend to, like singing infinite rounds of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” and ensuring that every square inch of our living room floor is covered with Duplos at all times.

There had been little progress on the photography front until Saturday, when I met up with an interested modeling volunteer. The hardest part is finding people to pose for me, especially this time of year when the university has cleared out. But now we have a shoot tentatively scheduled for next Sunday, so I’m poring over my notes and trying to decide where to begin.

I think I’m going to try to go back to doing one shoot per month. When I originally set that goal a couple years ago, I produced a lot of work and felt really good about it, and it gave me plenty of time to prep for each shoot and still keep up with the rest of my crazy life.

And on that note, it’s back to the Duplo minefield!

I am just now getting around to listing some of the new photos from last month in the Sixhours shop. I’ll be adding a few more sizes and variations in the coming days. Of course, you’re always welcome to convo me if you’d like a specific size!

And in Calobee Doodles news, I have a 16×20 poster of numbers & fruits that needs a home. It’s an extra from a shipping mix-up. It’s all boxed and ready to go, and I’ll even ship it for free! Head over to the shop to purchase if you’re interested.

It was a busy weekend! We spent a good part of Sunday in Ellsworth, eating lunch at Jordan’s and stopping to browse at the Big Chicken Barn. The Barn is my absolute favorite place to look for photo props and supplies… it’s full of old stuff, odd and ends, rusted tools, gadgets, gizmos, cameras, and vintage Pyrex–oh, how I love thee, vintage Pyrex. As if that wasn’t good enough, the entire upstairs is filled with used books, so I never have a problem getting Tim to come with me.

I always leave the place feeling inspired, and I rarely go away empty handed. This time I picked up a drawer full of old glass bottles… I’m obsessed with them lately. There are so many different shapes and sizes and colors.  I have a few ideas for a photo shoot involving these things. I have a lot of ideas for photo shoots, just not many people to model for me. I really need to start a search again, but I’m feeling shy. I need to get over it so I can get to work!

Overall, we had an excellent weekend with Miss Ellie, too. I know every parent says this, but I have it on good authority that my kid is the best kid ever. She was dragging me around the store at top speed (is there any other speed for a toddler?) and cackling like a mad scientist the entire time. It’s amazing how much energy she has! It’s draining sometimes, but also incredibly fun. I honestly didn’t think having a kid would be this cool. Rewarding, yes. Fulfilling, sure. But I didn’t expect to have this much fun chasing around an 18-month-old.

It helps that I’m starting to feel more like my old self–comfortable as a mom, but also as an individual with creative goals. For a while the two seemed mutually exclusive; there was just no time in the day to do everything, and obviously Ellie takes priority, so a lot of my projects were done in short spurts or put on the back-burner. Over the last six months it’s gotten easier to juggle work, Ellie, Tim, and creative projects. Ellie still needs lots of love and attention, but she’ll also play alone for longer stretches now. Tim and I are pretty good about judging when the other needs a break; he’s especially great about taking Ellie on “daddy/daughter” grocery shopping trips so I can have an hour to myself here or there. And we’ve made a point of scheduling more date nights, to remind ourselves that we’re not just parents–we’re still a couple, too. It’s a balancing act and I won’t go so far as to say I have it down, but I’ve definitely noticed an improvement!

I already mentioned it briefly, but if you’ve happened to pick up a copy of the infamous Regretsy book lately, you might find a certain photograph of mine. In fact, you don’t even need to open the book… they used the same photo on the back cover (something I didn’t notice until I’d already had the book for several weeks–I’m about as sharp as a spoon.)

Side note: I don’t know if I’ll ever get over the little thrill of seeing one of my photos in print while browsing the book store. I’m always tempted to take the book in question up to the counter and buy it, even when I already own a copy. I’m a dork!

I haven’t made a big deal about this mostly because the Etsy community seems heavily divided on the Regretsy issue. Some argue that it’s demeaning to artists and craftspeople, while others think it’s all in good fun. Personally, I can understand why some people who’ve been featured on the blog are offended–unlike with the book, they didn’t ask to be written about or poked fun at. As someone who tends to look at her work with a sense of irony, I know my stuff can be weird and I don’t mind people playing on that. It’s interesting that the photo they chose for the book is also my most popular print; the “weird aesthetic” appeals to more people than you’d think.

However, a good portion of my customers at my other shop are Etsy business owners, and I was a little nervous about alienating them. Would they think less of me for being part of the Regretsy project? But then I reminded myself that I’m catering to different audiences with my illustration and photography. There might be some overlap, but the chance of losing all my customers for this one publication is slim.

More importantly, I have to be me. The person who doodles cutesy, happy, fluffy little girls is also a person who giggles at dead baby jokes, even though they’re in poor taste. What can I say? I have a dark sense of humor, but it’s that sense of humor that allows me to create my art. I can’t ignore that for the sake of making a few extra bucks.

I just realized I said I’d post pictures of the new bathroom two weeks ago and then I never did. Well, here you go:

It’s so nice to have our less-often-used stuff out of the way but easily accessible should we need it. We have plenty of room to add a third shelf and maybe some smaller shelves alongside the sink. It’s a glorified closet, but it’s DONE! Now I can focus all my worry on the other 599 projects we should be working on but aren’t.

Last week was rough, which is why I’ve been so quiet… Ellie had a cold that turned her from a sweet, darling little girl into Fussy McFusserton, Queen of Whinyland, so we spent a lot of time trying to keep her from imploding in frustration. She’s pretty much over it, but now I have a pesky sore throat and the sniffles. It just goes to show that sharing is caring. Hello, Caro, and welcome to Whinyland!

I’m itching to pick up my camera and play with some new photo props I bought at the Big Chicken Barn several weeks ago, but between bathroom renovations and sickness and custom work, I haven’t been in the right frame of mind. I’m taking a few days off this week, though, so hopefully I can shake this cold quickly and get some work done.

We’ve been in the midst of home renovations this week, and it’s finally (mostly) over. After three days, and with only a couple minor roadblocks, our contractor put in new floors, patched the walls, and installed a laundry sink.

This probably sounds like a weekend DIY project to some people… but we are not those people. Don’t get me wrong–Tim’s handy in the sense that he can probably rig some kind of quick fix in a pinch if something breaks, but we’re not “Hey, let’s totally remodel this room because we haven’t done that in at least six months and we have three hours to spare” kinda people.

Just to give you a sense of where we fall on the Homeowner’s Laziness Spectrum. *ahem*

Given our position on said spectrum, I surprised myself a little when, the day after the contractor finished, I suggested to Tim that we head to Home Depot to look at paint chips and shelving for the new room. You may or may not remember, but it took six people and several months just to finish Ellie’s room. The bathroom project is much smaller and less complicated, but still, I figured we’d get around to painting it sometime in the next, oh, six years.

But then I saw the paint chips and thought, “To hell with it–I’m going to get it done this weekend.” And by “I” I mean “we” and by “we” I mean “Tim, I’m going to make you do all the trim because I hate the detail work.”

Several hours, one temper tantrum and a gigantic mess later, we have a pretty blue bathroom instead of lime green.

We also have a pretty blue kitchen sink and some pretty blue clothes, a pretty blue cat and hey look! My hair, it’s pretty! And blue! And despite getting paint over every square inch of ourselves and our kitchen, I think we have enough left over to do the upstairs bathroom tomorrow–because obviously I’m high on the fumes to want to do this again.

Here’s a quick before-and-after look:

(The idea is to turn this into an over-sized closet/pantry area that also happens to have a toilet. Once the paint dries we’ll put shelves above the toilet and next to the laundry sink, enabling us to free up some much-needed cabinet space in our pretty blue kitchen. I’ll post more pics when it’s complete.)

I’ve had this idea in my head ever since I found this old sewing machine at Goodwill over two years ago. I love the way this photo came out, and there are a handful of others in the series. I’ll probably re-shoot a few of them because the angles weren’t quite right.

These days I’m much less hesitant to try the same ideas over (and over) again… sometimes I feel like I’m “stuck” on the same themes, but I find it’s better to work through them than try to ignore them or force myself to do something I’m not as excited about, even if it means some repetition (this applies to the rest of my life as well–thanks to therapy for all those helpful insights!)

I have yet another shoot scheduled this weekend (because if I’m going to jump back in, I might as well do it with both feet, no?) this time with my dear friend Hannah, whom I haven’t seen in ages.  It will be so great to work with her again! Now I just need to figure out what we’re going to do… my thoughts are all scattery this week.