swap with me 2011 - 52 swaps in one year

I'm here to announce a new project that I will be undertaking in 2011.

The goal: Accumulate one new print per week for an entire year. No money involved, only swapping.

I'll be posting one print per week on a new blog I've created that will be up for trade for another print from the first artist to claim it in the comments. I think it's going to be a surprising project with great results. I'm looking forward to see who will want my prints and who will want to give me theirs!

The project will take place here: http://swapwithme2011.blogspot.com/

Follow the project, if you will! And if you'd like, participate! It is equally open to friends and strangers. The first print is up already, waiting to be claimed, though the project begins January 1, officially.

so long, 2010

Dear friends,

I have completed my first quarter of graduate school! I'm home for the holidays until a few days after Christmas.

I've been doodling a lot for One Lonely Apricot via Etsy and am actually working on my 30th commissioned doodle right now! It's hard to believe how much work I've gotten in just a little over a year.

I have a lot of new art projects in the works, and I'll try to keep you posted! I hope to update a lot more in 2011, once the holidays are over. 2010 was very good to me and I have high hopes for next year as well.

Cheers!
Kristen

the beginnings of grad school

Dear friends,

I apologize for being away for the past little while. It seems life in grad school moves at a slightly faster pace than normal (and considering its normal speed, who knew that was possible?).

Here are two pictures from my studio after I had just moved in. It's filling up rather quickly now, with various objects (like terrariums I am making and photographing with homemade pinhole cameras) and photographs. The top photo above was taken right after I taught my first class a month ago...that's right...I'm teaching...a college class!? I know, it's a crazy thought! It's actually pretty fun. I have 25 students and my class is Intro to Photography.

I'll try to keep up with posts more. Here's to fall!

Kristen

bikes!

I've done so many wedding maps this month! Sometimes it feels like a marathon, but in a good way!

To celebrate my move to a more bike-friendly city next week (my, time flies!), I am now offering custom bicycle portraits on my Etsy. I'd been wanting to add something custom for those of us who aren't planning weddings for awhile, and finally this idea came to me! I've got many more ideas for One Lonely Apricot, so stay tuned.

number nineteen

Today, One Lonely Apricot has been featured on the blog of Kate, owner of I Do Details event planning, located in Charlotte, North Carolina! You can read the article here! Her father received one of my save-the-dates in the mail and she liked it enough to track me down and interview me. Thank you so much, Kate, it means a lot!

Speaking of One Lonely Apricot, I've been a little absent from the blogging world (I've been preparing for my impending move to graduate school!) but One Lonely Apricot has been going strong. I made my first map in May of last year and am currently working on my nineteenth design! I am interested to see where One Lonely Apricot goes from here, and I have many ideas if I can only find the time to make them happen.

july, july

From my third visit to Tara's farm. Amazing.

soaking up summer

It's really hot these days, but I am doing my best to soak up a carefree (relatively speaking) summer, and my last in Arkansas! Farmers' marketing, knitting (trying to knit, that is), sewing, crafting, cooking, baking, gardening, biking, photographing...

oh, botany

Spring is nearly over! I enjoyed this spring so much. I felt a special appreciation for each new flower and vegetable that came into season. I feel more alive and connected with the earth when I live with the seasons in mind! Summer is coming up officially next week (but it's so hot here it may as well have started a month ago). It is not my favorite, mostly due to the heat, but I am trying to find things to like about it. So far I am liking the variety of vegetables in season, reading a lot (just finished Into the Wild, loved it), and filling my windowsill with tiny plants.

On my living room windowsill now I have chocolate mint clippings waiting to be eaten (they smell amazing and I have a lot, give me your recipes!), a thrifted milk jar full of zinnias, a terrarium with wild strawberries and moss growing inside, a terrarium of my roommate's housing jade, Thai basil clippings sprouting roots, and my herb garden! And in my bedroom I have three succulents, an ivy plant, and a recycled yeast jar (one of the pretty brown glass ones) full of tiny white flowers. Lately my obsession for all types of plants has been growing and growing. I'm ready to move so I can acquire as many as I want and not feel guilty! I have so many botanical aspirations! The first things I want are an aloe vera plant and a small side table full of succulents. The succulents I have are in thrifted white milk glass planters, which I've seen an abundancy of, so I have plans to get a dozen or so more and fill them with various succulent varieties. I'd also like to get some field guides so I can identify plants better. I'm in love!

instant pictures are back

I got a Fuji Instax and shot a wedding with it! I love it. I thought it could never be as good as my old Polaroid, but it's the perfect substitute, and the camera itself is super cute (I got the mini)!

success in the garden

1. Nature has quite the sense of humor. All of our lettuce died except this head that decided to travel outside of its designated area and grow out from underneath the box! But thanks to this one lonely head, we can say that none of our crops died out completely (yet). Everything else is starting to flower, and I check on each plant every day with anxious anticipation.

2. The peas have been doing amazingly well! We are eating fresh peas almost every day now, and they taste sooo good! I don't want the pea season to end.

3. I acquired a lawn ornament for our garden at a yard sale for 50 cents! It needs a name. We have signs and a rabbit now, so our garden must be official.

fresh and local

Homemade pizza featuring local potatoes and squash.
Nothing else like it!

b&w color process film

Corey with some of our pepper and tomato plants!

My Japanese eggplant!

Grub! Yuck.

Corey and his bike.

Me and my sad, but loved, bike! I'm getting a new one soon so I wanted to document this one, which my mom handed down to me and I used all during college.

These photos are from the first trial of some film I bought on clearance for 90% off! Ilford XP2 Super. C-41 Process black and white. 400 ISO. It turned out perfectly! I love it. Just the right contrast, not too much grain.

More soon. I have a lot.

the wait

I might not have posted this before, but for the past two+ months, I've been working at Target. I'm really enjoying myself there. My coworkers are fun to get to know, and it's nice to take a few months off from the responsibility of school before I move to Ohio and start my graduate program in the fall. Even though I am almost working full time and doodling on the side, this is the least busy I've been in forever!

I normally work on the sales floor, but last week I was trained to work in the photo lab. I'll be working one photo lab shift per week for now. Right now I have five rolls of film waiting to be developed and shared, but I am waiting until my photo lab shift so I can process them myself! The darkroom is still quite a bit more magical than the C-41 processing machine, but it is fun nonetheless and I am glad I'm getting this experience. So, in my next post, you can look forward to new pictures of mine and Corey's garden, my second visit to Tara's farm in Vilonia, kittens, a walk around campus with Casey, and a few bike rides with Corey.

Gardening updates: I harvested my first basil clippings from the heirloom Italian basil I have been growing on my windowsill the past two months! Also, one of our heirloom peas has its first pea pod! It's really, really magical. Our hard work is starting to pay off.

The Conway farmers' market opens in five days, and I could not be more thrilled! Although our garden is looking good, we still have a ways to go before we'll harvest much, and I am tired of buying my veggies at the supermarket! Corey and I are testing out different bike routes to take us downtown. Lately I have been riding my bike more and driving my car less. It feels great!

Look out for that picture post on Tuesday.

spring is nice

I've been enjoying this spring season so much! With just about a month left until the real first day of summer, this is what I have been up to lately:

- Tending to the garden.
- Going for evening bike rides. (Corey and I are working on perfecting our route to the farmers' market--it opens a week from Saturday!)
- Picking flowers to brighten up my apartment.
- Cooking and baking healthful meals and treats.
- Organizing my apartment to make moving easier in a few months.

Lately I have been making an extra effort to enjoy the simple things in life, which I believe is an important thing to do. Spring is a good time to reflect on that.

honeysuckle magic

As I get older and wiser (at least I hope that's what I'm doing!), living in tune with the seasons has become a basic goal and desire of mine. Nature has so much to offer that is easy to take for granted when we live as if every season is in existence all year (fresh tomatoes in winter? c'mon!).

This spring, I have been spending lots of time in Corey's backyard (I lack one of my own). We have picnics and thoughtful discussions, and spend many hours in the garden. It's come to mean a lot to me to be able to spend quality time outdoors without driving to a park or taking a walk on campus (because this town is certainly not pedestrian friendly!).

And so I couldn't help noticing the large quantity of aromatic honeysuckles growing along Corey's fence. And when I came upon this article, I knew just the perfect use for them--honeysuckle sorbet. If you like the scent and taste of honeysuckle, you should make this sorbet. It tastes like summers of my childhood. And all you need are honeysuckles, water, sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon.

What else have you made from wild plants? This topic has become a fascination of mine.

on succulents and color film

These are the beautiful succulents of my friends Jessica and Brandon. They will soon spread out in their front flower bed and cover the entire thing! I think they are so beautiful, kind of like little sea creatures on land. I have three planters on my windowsill that I haven't been able to get anything to grow in so I am about to pick out three succulents and plant them! I am just decided the best place to purchase them and what varieties to get. Suggestions?

Lately I have been photographing in color film and I can't get enough (I started for my local food project)! I don't care what people say, I like it so much more than digital. Even if their quality gap may be quickly closing (and I'm not using the highest quality film right now by any means), film wins in originality, depth, and brilliant colors. Digital is so dull until after editing! I think there's just something to be said for most analog practices, but maybe I am just old fashioned. Whatever your preference, though, if you have a camera, go out and take some pictures today! You will be glad you did.

paroikia, paros, cyclades, greece

I found some film in my closet that had been used but never developed. I had it processed, and was delighted to find that half a roll was from when I studied abroad in Greece! It has been nearly two years. I have two additional rolls that still need to be done. I was hesitant to see if the first roll would turn out.

I like surprises like this.

That was a really good summer.

Paros, I miss you!

peas and garlic

1. Pea sprouts in the garden Corey and I are growing!
2. Wild garlic found and identified in Corey's backyard--a LOT of it.
3. Heirloom garlic at my friend Brandon's garden, cultivated from his grandmother's garlic.
4. Brandon and Jessica's cat.
5. Brandon and Jessica's seedlings before transplanting. Many of these popped up in their compost bin so they potted them!

My local food photography project is going really well. I'm having such a good time with it. Gardening with Corey is also fun! Our plants are getting bigger. I can't wait until we are able to eat something we grew ourselves.

playing in the dirt

I'm loving having a garden! I can't wait until we get to harvest something. It seems like we've been waiting a long time already, since planting the first seeds about 7 weeks ago.

There's something magical, rewarding, and therapeutic about getting your hands in the dirt. It's wonderful.

I've worked on two gardens before but this is the first one that I've had any real ownership over. So it's just a little different.




More pictures to come! We've planted strawberries, lettuce, peas, tomatoes, sweet peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, catnip, and poppies. Only a little of each...the garden is about 30 square feet total.