The Farmer's Market, ACL, & Tattoos!

A few weekends ago, I was informed that there was a Farmer's Market here in Belton! I was so surprised as Belton is such a small, quiet town. Even for a college town, there's not much available to the average college kid.

However, after talking to one of the ladies that runs part of the Farmer's Market, she said she would love for folks to come out and sell some art! ...And so we did!

Thus, my art partner-in-crime, Lauren, and I went out to try and make a buck! 

We drug a fairly small, but heavy table (provided by the UMHB art department) out to the street and set up our "booth":

 

We had such a difficult time with the wind. Luckily, I had some books to help act as make-shift paper weights!

Lauren and I enjoyed interacting with people and seeing their reactions to our artwork. 

My zombie seemed to be the hit of the day,-in both positive and negative ways. Most people looked at Lauren's beautiful watercolors and then got to my zombie at the bottom. It was hilarious to see their faces change from pleasant to disturbed and concerned. One older man was even bold enough to say, "You should come by the office sometime, we have pills for that."

I argue that because I make those things, I don't need to take pills!

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The day didn't stop there! Shortly after getting back from the Farmer's Market, a friend asked me if I wanted some free ACL tickets for that night. 

I thought, "Wait. What? Free? ...Is this real life?" 

How many times in life does THAT happen? Of course I said yes! My good friend Cody and I hopped in the car, picked up the tickets (thanks Joe!), and we were off to Austin!

(After walking forever) We saw TV on the Radio, My Morning Jacket, and even heard a bit of Stevie Wonder! We visited our friends at DriveByPress and picked up some wicked hand pressed shirts as well! It was a trip well worth making!

 

As if it hadn't been a long enough day already, Cody decided since we were in Austin it was time for him to get his tattoo. He'd been wanting to get it for quite a while, so I figured, what the heck-it's the weekend! 

We went to Atomic Tattoos in Austin. Everyone was extremely nice and after a bit of a wait, Cody had a tattoo!

 

It was a very, very long day, but full of spontaneity and FUN!

On to the next one!

~Aubrey

Part II: Mochalux Coffee August Artist of the Month

(Life is insane! Here's Part II, belated as usual!)

As mentioned in my previous post, besides having the honor of being Artist of the Month, I was also Special Guest for an event at the end of the month!

There were some great musicians that played, great coffee, great people-and me! I arrived at about 1 PM and ran my booth until the events of the evening at 8 PM. I had a fun time meeting and talking to some interesting folks! (Thanks to all of my friends and family too for coming out to support me!)

I made a few sales, and even more wonderfully, raised a generous amount of donations for the A21 Campaign! (Please click to learn more about A21. Sex trafficking IS slavery and it is WRONG, and still very real and rampant. Let's help stop it!)

During the day was obviously slower than the evening, but I maintained the booth. TJ was kind enough to sit with me and keep me company. When I got hungry, he went out and got us some burgers! He takes good care of me. Before he left though, I made him draw me a picture on my idea of a guest list. I had a bunch of rolls of printer paper that I just rolled out with a bucket of crayons and markers!:

(I forgot to take a picture but he drew me an evil burger man!)

Here's everyone at the evening events!

I can't thank the folks of Mochalux enough for providing me with such an opportunity! It's incredibly refreshing to find a business that truly desires to perpetuate young artists and musicians (AND makes great coffee and tea!).

I look forward to showing at Mochalux again in November or December!

I hope this inspires other young artists, or whomever, to keep on after your dreams.

You really can do whatever you put your mind to!

~Aubrey

Part I: Mochalux Coffee August Artist of the Month

Pardon my tardiness on this post, but it's finally here!

This August I had the pleasure of being Artist of the Month at Mochalux Coffee & Tea Co. in Arlington! It was such an awesome experience, and I am beyond grateful to Autumn and Adam for making it happen! You guys were incredibly helpful, and your down-to-earth spirits made it a non-stressful experience, (as some art shows can be!). Thank you, again!

When I first came in to check it out, I immediately saw their "vision wall", and knew I was at the right place. The end says "we invite you to sit back and imagine what you CAN ACHIEVE and dream what you CAN BECOME." It challenged and encouraged me.

 

My mother did framing for a few years in college, so she was heaven sent with helping me frame all of my work. We managed to keep the framing affordable, but still make it look great. 

What would we do without moms, right?

The end result:

 

Some of my mom's friends came to look at my work while setting up (Thanks guys!):

Business cards!

The blessings didn't stop there though! Part II is tomorrow!

~Aubrey

P.S. If you're in the Arlington area, be sure to check out Mochalux! They're also on Facebook!

Music Monday: Neon Indian

I suppose I should just admit that any of my Music Monday picks are always songs that I play often. Maybe a little too often. However, I'm always impressed when a song can stick with me, because I'd say there's more songs that don't than do!

My pick of the week is a sparkling little gem from Neon Indian's new album, Era Extraña. The whole album is very classic 80's meets Daft Punk. Some of it's a little too obscure for my taste (the instrumental stuff), but over all it's decent! (Also, I had no idea they started out in Denton, TX,-very close to my neck o' the woods!)

I recently saw the video for their single, Polish Girl, and fell in love. It has light painting, catchy electronic beats,...and a robot man! Plus, I love the way Alan Palomo dances in the video. I dig it.

So draw some stars on your face, hit the lights, and tease your hair!

I've got some exciting announcements and blogs coming your way this week! Stay tuned in! :)
Peace, Love, n' Art!

~Aubrey

Music Monday: The Kooks

It was an extremely crazy weekend!!

I entered three pieces into a Grand Prairie art show, which was yesterday, September 11th.

Going back and forth between school and home (it's about a 2 hour drive), I had to get the rest of my framing finished. I got some cheap but relatively nice looking frames for my pieces, but I had to figure out how to put wire across the back of them! Luckily the gals at Michael's were able to come to my rescue.

Anyway, shout out to my ever so supportive boyfriend, TJ, for helping me run errands this weekend! While we drove around, he popped in a cd he wanted to share, and it just so happens to be my Music Monday choice!

This week's Music Monday pick is the new album from The Kooks, Junk of the Heart. It's fantastic! We listened to it all weekend and then TJ let me keep it to jam on my drive back to school.

The sound of the album is contagiously happy and extremely catchy. It's also very personal to me because the happy-go-lucky sound and sweet lyrics remind me of Teej!

Here's The Kooks song Junk of the Heart (Happy), from their album Junk of the Heart!

I've got a case of the Monday blues today, hoping this week shapes up!

~Aubrey

Screen Printing!

This semester I'm taking Screen Printing in my Printmaking II class!

I'm so excited to learn it and get started!!

Here's my good friend and professor, John, showing us a demo:

 

(Thanks Lauren for the photo)

He ended up making a cooky little devil with boogers coming out of his nose!

 

All my inks and supplies came in this weekend, so I'm ready to get started!

We're also all building our own mounts for the screens and such (from plywood). It's going to be a fun class! Can't wait to show you what I create!

-Aubrey-

Music Monday: Young Galaxy

Be prepared, this is actually an album I'm for once not obsessed with!

Okay, so it's about 50/50.

I've listened through Young Galaxy's new album Shapeshifting, a few times over, but I just can't get behind it 100%. Some of the songs just don't phase me. They're not the worst thing I've ever heard, but it's not something that gets stuck in my brain!

Anyway, about half of it is pretty decent though! Maybe I just need to listen to it through a few more times. All I know for sure is that their song "Cover Your Tracks" makes the album. I can't stop listening to it (ah! There's the obsession) and singing along.

I saw someone on Tumblr say "It's like Donkey Kong Country 2 but DELUXE!" I'll have to agree. If you guys listen to the whole album, tell me if you think I'm wrong about it, but here's Cover Your Tracks!

On to the second week of my Senior year! Some posts from classes coming soon!

-Aubrey-