Lia Griffith Artist Interview Series
Happy New Year my friends!
This year has started really slow for me. Everyone in my household came down with the stomach flu, which delayed work on my home studio. It's been a long time since I've been so sick that I've been bedridden for 36 hours straight. It was also the very first time that my husband and I were both sick at the same time, lying in bed together (and not in a good way LOL). Not surprisingly, Tristan was Patient Zero as he had vomited and had diarrhea just before it hit us. Last weekend, we finally finished painting 3 of the 4 walls in the studio room and had enough time to put together an old Pax wardrobe for storage. Poor Tristan was just sitting in his highchair for 2 hours straight, playing with cups and eventually, just sucking his thumb and watching us. I like to believe we are teaching him patience! Hopefully this weekend we can clear the other half of the room, finish putting together some bookcases for my papers, and then clean off the grime off the floor.
In the meantime, I've tried to continue to be present online.
First, my feature in Lia Griffith Artist Interview Series finally got posted. You can read it here.
You all know how I feel about Lia and Lia's paper! I was so honoured to have been asked to appear in the series, along with all those wonderful artists like Jennifer Tran (@_papetal_), Quyhn Nguyen (@pinkandposey), Amity Beane (@florabeane), Tiffany Holloway (@nectar.hollow), Margie Keates (@thelovelyave), Suzonne Stirling (@suzonnestirling), Lucia Balcazar (@luciabalcazar), Susan Beech (@apetalunfolds), and Meredith and Cherie Eastburn (@amaranthuspaperflora). I started off my paper flower journey with Lia's tutorials so I feel like I've finally come full circle.
I've also become more involved with The Paper Florist group on Facebook. We have a Maker's Meeting mid-month where we come together (live!) and discuss our monthly flower and a topic of interest - everyone is welcome to join! On alternating Tuesdays, we have a Facebook Live Tuesdays session on a topic of interest related to paper flowers and the business of paper flowers. You can tune in on alternating Tuesdays at 1 pm to hear Amity, Quyhn, and/or I talk and answer viewer questions.
Last year, Amity and Quyhn came up with the idea for an online community of paper floral artists, and called it The Paper Florists Collective. This year, Amity, Quyhn, and myself will be working on this project to make it come to life. We truly believe that every one of us can elevate our art by sharing our experiences and knowledge, connecting with others, and encouraging each other on. Eventually we hope to have an online directory of paper florists and a paper florist conference, amongst our other goals. If you're a paper flower maker, make sure you join our community!I admit, I'm still trying to consistently post on Instagram, at least once a week. Blogging, not so good. Pinterest, I've totally been neglecting. I definitely have some catching up to do!