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First Fridays in the Kansas City Crossroads Arts District are kind of a big deal. The neighborhood is known for having numerous art galleries, and many of them stay open late and have special events on the first Friday of the month. The city closes some streets to have pop up booths, music, and food vendors. And it's packed with people! Driving through the Crossroads (or anywhere near it) is nigh impossible on those nights. It's been a few years since I've been to a First Friday (because fighting crowds makes Jen a grumpy grump grump), but I'm familiar with the event's...

I may have to eat my words: I have loudly protested that sketchbooks simply weren't for me, but over the course of a little over a year, I completed 5 sketchbooks!  It seems sketchbooks are a thing for me, as long as they have a theme; I completed 3 of these because they were used for a very specific purpose. Two of them were used solely for my 100 Days Project to keep it all together. The third was used to paint skies and sunsets.  Having multiple books available also seems to help. My palette knife painting process is very...

It's been about a month since my last "weekly" summary (which, let's be honest here, had already stopped being weekly!) so I figured it was time to reinvigorate my blog with some fresh content and let you know what's been going on in the LBW world.  June started off super strong with two big art events, but had a disappointing finish. I did a sidewalk sale event in Mission KS, which was a bust. I made my fees back, but definitely did not my enough to make it worth my time (and my husband's!) to sweat our buns off and...

I have two pieces that will be featured in the Summer Small Works Show at the Kansas City Stockyards Gallery! The show opens tomorrow, July 16, and runs through August 13, and it's my first time being part of an in-person juried art gallery show. The opening reception is tomorrow July 16 from 5-8pm, and is free to attend. I'll be there at the beginning for a bit!Both of my featured paintings were created in one layer by palette knife with watercolor paint straight from the tube. Watercolor is a fascinating medium and I love the surprises it creates. And even when...

Well, it's been a few weeks since I posted one of these. Whoops! I was super busy with the weekend art shows and still recovering from the weeks of insomnia / the new meds. Last time here. I haven't been painting a ton because we've been really busy. I have events every weekend this month, and it's been super hot so they're wiping me out. I have done pretty well at the ones I've had so far though! Food. Art. Drink. was very successful. I made almost as much in sales that weekend as I made all of last year!...