Nicole Northway: glitter fish visions

Hey there, friends. This is your weekly update in Instagram. 1. I'm obsessed 2. I'm doing the March photo a day challenge 3. Pinterest is also consuming all my "me" time. Notice the sweet braids below via a Pinterest tutorial. Nice! I also made some delicious cookie dough fudge last night and built a pretty sweet sketchbook lecture for my Drawing 1 students.

Last weekend Cody and I finally got a day date in! We went to the Green City Market, yum! I changed the shop hours to open at 12 instead of 11, so I have more time to myself in the a.m. I've been having a hard time balancing all of the different selves I have going on at the moment: painter, teacher, small business owner, jewelry designer and my other interpersonal roles. I love the shop (One Strange Bird), but I am also teaching 3 classes at Columbia while I am in the start up phase. All of this equals about 50 hours a week at seven days a week. Finding time to make my own work, follow my interests, and spend time with the people I love the most has been a great challenge. I am hoping I will find more of a balance as the store gets more streamlined. Wow! I have learned so much in these couple of months.

That is Cody Kirchner contemplating potato varieties

I also started up my sketchbook practice again! Yay! Sketchbooks and journals have been a part of my life since I was a little one. I have a giant shelf in the house full of crazy ideas and harebrained schemes. I figured since I am talking to my painting and drawing students about the importance of using a sketchbook, it would be a perfect time for me to get back into the saddle. I feel like I have been on a roller coaster since about May. First the Etsy shop went crazy and then I opened the store. It has been a whirlwind and I have had very little time to reflect, let alone doodle. I do know that drawing and writing make me happy and that is the goal for 2012, so here it is!

Above is a picture of some vegetable dye samples I made at one of our art workshops at One Strange Bird. (You can see classes here: http://www.onestrangebird.com/adult-classes.html)

Jess Egan, one of my brilliant student interns taught us how to dye linen, cotton, and feathers with berries, onion peels, turmeric, and red cabbage. It was a blast and we will create a tutorial for you soon.

Also this week, just in time for the amazingly talented Cory Sever's opening in our gallery at One Strange Bird, we got our window lettering! Now hopefully people will be able to tell what we are, what we do, and what we sell. (and hopefully quit trying to buy my plants and displays) I also feel like it makes us look pretty darn classy.

The week was trying to say the least. To reward myself for getting through it, I decided to buy myself a 12 pack of glitter! I really just freaked out when I saw the hot pink glitter and had to buy the whole thing just to get that ONE. Sheesh... This small effort to add more "play" into my studio practice justified the price.

I had a moment of inspiration this week and got a couple of new (and really strange) ideas for paintings. I can see it in my head, but not all the way, so I figured I could start by doing a little set up of part of it. I am hoping the final painting will be this cascade of flowers, boobs, birds, legs, and drips. I set up this sweet still life to practice my flower skills. It has been a second....

This work will still fit into the "Shipwrecked Sailor" series, but I am into a wild part of the "story" where the main character meets up with some other very strange humans (all women) who subsist on only flowers. (This is the story I am making up btw) These flowers allow them to have visions and access a dreamlike state. They have built these elaborate alters and effigies in honor of their powers and I want to make a painting to show you what it looks like!