Photos from Sunday's Makers Market

The Evanston Made Makers Market was this past Sunday. It was nice to see so many collectors and connections. Although it was a very hot and humid day, we were in a covered area so there was no issue with rain. All in all, it was a good day. 

The next one is on October 2nd - hope to see you there!

The Other Art Fair - recap in photos

 

It was a fun and busy weekend at The Other Art Fair - Chicago. If you stopped by and said hello, thank you. If you missed it, I'll post the next shows I'm in for 2022 in another post.

meet the collector: Tina (and family)

Purple Flowers III by elisa ann lindstrom (top) & the drawing that Tina's daughter drew of the piece (bottom)

I have known Tina for 20 years now. She's taken me on many hikes and taught me a lot about nature, hiking and some basics on knowing different types of trees.  In many ways I have her to thank for reminding me about the amazing and cool aspects of nature.

1) Your husband bought you the Purple Flowers III as a birthday gift.  He said you had been looking at it a lot. What was it about the piece that you liked? Overall, I like your art because it seems very Zen to me, in the sense that there is some potential for movement, but in a peaceful way. It's like you've caught a moment. I like your Purple Flowers III because of the color, of course, but also because the flowers could be swaying in the breeze. It has a Japanese feel to me in the way the space is just as important as the flowers. I think Frank Lloyd Wright accomplished this in his architecture.

2) You are an avid hiker and nature lover.  This may be a broad question, but what about nature pulls you in?
I have always liked playing outside, going barefoot, swimming, digging holes, finding worms, collecting rocks and shells, planting things, and learning about natural resources. (I hope you still remember what Sassafras looks like!) I remember always looking out the window while sitting in class, and I always petitioned my teachers and professors to let us sit outside. My favorite teachers actually did sit outside sometimes. It was distracting for some, but for me it was LESS distracting! John and I have always liked to bike and hike together, or walk along the beach. I am not sure why I never went camping until college. I guess I just needed to find the right people to go with! My first roommate, my second roommate and I went on some awesome trips during college breaks. I like the variety of nature, animal songs, colors, breezes, the way plants and animals are uniquely suited to where they live and what they eat. I feel like I'm part of the world when I'm outside. You ask,"What about nature pulls you in?" I guess I would say it pulls me "out." I like canoeing and kayaking because I can see a whole new perspective from the water. It's very peaceful.

4) You and your husband are raising two little girls "in the woods" as you like to say. Was the proximity of the woods in your backyard and a lake a block or so away a big part of why you bought the house?
We do like the space in this house. We had planned on buying a house with a large yard or woods but we had not necessarily decided we needed a lake! Both were factors in our decision to buy this house though. We like having deer pass through the yard or hawks fly over.  One day a fox was sunning itself on our front doormat, which also gave him a good spot for camouflage. We are less happy when the coyotes, fisher cats and skunks are around, but they are fascinating to watch.

5) Your oldest daughter drew a picture of the painting, do you think she may be a budding artist?
I think both girls have their own sense of space and style in their art!  My older daughter seems to like sculpture a bit more (Play-Doh!) and my younger one likes painting-especially her whole hand. I will give them opportunities to try different types of art and ways to be creative and see what they decide!

meet the collector: Phil

A few months ago I wrote about how I was saying goodbye to the last pieces in a series of 10 bird paintings. The main collector of the series is Phil. He has 6 of the 10 pieces. I thought it would be fun for you to get to know him a little better:

The 6 pieces from The Bird Series that Phil owns

The series was bought for your office, what do you do for a living?

P: I'm a psychotherapist in private practice.

What brought you into this field?

P : I wanted to be a therapist from a young age. I was initially interested in the field because I was an extremely nosy child. I was always so interested in the inner workings of people's lives and wanted to know all the details whenever anyone had a problem. That combined with experiencing a trauma as a child and having a general sense that there was so much more going on with people then what meets the eye.

What do you love about your job?

P: I love the idea that I may be helping a person facilitate changes in order for them to have a better life. Not always the case, but when it happens it reminds me that I am doing the work that I was meant to be doing. 

Why did you buy the series?

P: I bought the series because I love the colors and there is something about the solitary bird that I can identify with. You know the bird isn't always alone, but doesn't need to be with others all the time.

What do you like about the series?

P: To me, it's the same bird.  The same bird in different moments of time. Enjoying solitude.

Why your office?

P: Honestly, because I work a lot. I have them above the couch so they are always in my sight!

meet the collectors: Courtney and Tim

About this time last year, I posted some pictures of what was going on in my studio on my Facebook Fan Page. Courtney, who is probably one of my biggest collectors, saw the pictures from the Winter Connections collection and said she wanted them.  She and I emailed back and forth about it and decided that she would buy them later if they were still available. Then I got an email from her husband, Tim, who wanted to buy them as a gift for Courtney (top secret). He bought them and we planned out how I would get them to him without Courtney knowing.  It was a lot of fun being a part of this romantic surprise.  Since it's Valentines Day, I wanted to interview them so you could hear their story:

two of the Winter Connections pieces in Courtney & Tim's home

Tim, how did the idea come to you? 

T: Courtney liked the set and kept talking about saving up for it, so I decided to come up with a scheme to surprise her for Valentine's Day.

Courtney, did you have any idea he was up to something? 

C: I had no idea! I was prepared to save up for them and hope they were still available by the time I could purchase them :-) I had just had a surgery and was recovering-- he gave them to me and said they'll be nice to look at while you are recovering. It was very sweet.

How did you two meet?

C: We met at work. I thought Tim was super cute and I told one of my coworkers. She walked over to him and said you should ask her out (unbeknownst to me). So, when I went to the copier that was located near his cubicle, he came over and asked me out. He was shy and super cute about it. We went to lunch and the rest is history!

What is your favorite romantic gesture Tim/Courtney has done for you? 

C: Tim gave me a red swingline stapler-- we both love the movie. It just appeared one day on my desk.
T: Courtney asked me to marry her at our favorite dive restaurant. She slid a little box over to me and I opened it-- it said "will you marry me?"

C: Also, we both are pretty quiet and shy so for the first few months of dating we ended up writing love letters to each other every day-- every day! I have at least a hundred from him and he does from me. We're goofy that way ;-)

From the artists studio... new drawing

I have a new commission through Etsy that I'm excited about. I was asked to draw a slightly different and larger version of Audience. This means 5 lines instead of the 3 that were in the original piece and a lot more birds. I've already drawn all of the birds - now it's time for the color!
*update: this is not the new commission - the couple wanted me to draw something different (which I will post soon). So now this drawing is finished and can be found on my Etsy shop here.

(still in progress)
copyright elisa ann lindstrom

From the artists studio... Us in Four Seasons is finished

Us In Four Seasons
copyright 2010 elisa ann lindstrom

From the artists studio...

Us in Four Seasons
(still in progress)
copyright elisa ann lindstrom

Color! I've gotten to the color stage of the drawing for the trees. I love this stage because of the fun I have thinking of which color to add next. There are more layers of color needed but I thought I'd update you with the most recent pictures. Hope you had a great weekend.

From the artists studio...

Here is the latest update to the commissioned group of 4 pieces I had mentioned in an earlier post. Now that three of the drawings are almost complete, I need to draw the final piece and then I'll be one step away to adding color! Hope you have a great weekend!

From the artists studio...

I mentioned in a previous post that I was asked to do a set of 4 drawings based on "Us" through the four seasons. Here is one of the drawings (still in the beginning stages). I had drawn out four outline drawings for this project and was pretty pleased with them until I revisited a photo of the original drawing and noticed that they were not representative of the "Us" as well as I would have liked (they were way too close up to the tree). Hopefully this one is closer to the original. You can see my previous post here.

From the artists studio...

"Us"
elisa ann lindstrom 2009

I've been asked to draw "Us" in four drawings to reflect each season. I'm very excited about this project and I hope it brings me new ideas for drawings for Etsy. Right now I'm very involved in ideas for the children's corner - which is wonderful and fun but I haven't come up with a lot of new ideas for my drawing section. So this will be great. I'll blog/post about it as much as I can so you can see the progress of the drawings.

lions for leo

One of the moms in our playgroup wanted me to draw some cards for her son. I really got excited about this project and I think once all of the commissioned pieces are done, I'm going to add a children's section to my shop with drawings and note cards.