Hello!
Remember earlier this month when I promised myself to stay focused?
Hahahahahahaha…
I did stay focused long enough to make a coloring book or two, illustrate a make-believe chocolate bar, and finalize the plans for the literary fest I’ve been thinking of for years. All of which I’ll share with you today, plus include some coloring pages for Tapioca Paid Subscribers. I hear it can be relaxing and meditative…
Keep reading for more!
Wandering Words
Connecting readers and writers is something I, as an author and avid reader, am extremely passionate about. Even more so now that I have teens with an attention span of .4 seconds, no thanks to YouTube shorts and TikTok. So over the last few years, I’ve been toying with the concept to bring pop-up literary stations to the region. I proposed my idea to the Springfield Regional Arts Council, who agreed to host these pop-ups at Artsfest on Walnut this year, and even more exciting, have been granted up to $6,000 in matching funds from a philanthropic organization!
If everything goes according to plan, this year’s Artsfest will also include:
Story Dispensers - vending machines dispensing microfiction and poetry in the form of trading cards
Poetry on Demand - keepsake bespoke poems crafted on the spot during Artsfest, authored by some of the region’s finest and funniest
Larger-than-Life Magnetic Poetry - interactive magnetic poetry
Author Tables - local and regional writers selling their work
The most exciting part is that every creative whose work gets chosen WILL BE PAID. We’ll be purchasing the art and stories, and paying the writers. Such a novel concept, am I right?
So I could use some help:
Are you an author or writer interested in participating? Please fill out this survey to help me gather interest!
Are you someone who can spare $20 for a story? I’ll be setting up a fundraising platform next week for small donations to help support art purchases.
Do you know of a business looking for a sponsorship opportunity that could reach 20,000 people over the weekend? Let’s chat!
Want to help plan, recruit talent, and volunteer during the festival? Let me know, I’m setting up committees now!
Long-term, I’d love to see this as a weekend-long event on its own, celebrating the magic of storytelling in all its forms. But, given my magpie mind, we’ll start one line at a time. More soon!
Going Coconuts
This year I’m trying to develop my commercial art skills, and have loved taking online classes through Make Art That Sells. I’m currently enrolled in a hand-lettering course, where the first assignment was to design a chocolate bar package, focusing on the lettering.
Digital illustration is *such* an overwhelming process for me because the options are endless. This exercise opened my eyes to a new process, to start with good old-fashioned analog painting first. I forgot how much I love smearing paint on paper and working abstractly and intuitively. It’s truly been years. And rather than using an Apple pencil, I used a glass pen and ink to sketch out lettering.
While painting, I knew I wanted to do a coconut theme, but then the coffee beans emerged as part of my mark-making process, and the Coco-Moco Nut bar arrived.
Askinosie watch out, there’s a new nut in town! (Don’t worry Shawn, I’ll stick to eating chocolate and let the master make.)
Live Colorfully
This month Tapioca Dance paid subscribers will have access to some coloring pages I put together* as a passive-income experiment. I’ve got Zodiac pages, Easter Eggs, and floral mandalas, so pick your page, grab some markers, and enjoy some meditative bliss. Links after the break!
To everyone else, thank you as always for reading and supporting my passions. It is not lost on me how lucky I am to be able to share with you my coconut-brain and all its ideas and explorations, for better or worse.
*leveraged the use of pre-made templates and combined them to make something new. Illustrations are not my own.